If all you do with CCleaner is automatically clean your system and then assume that you are covered and your job is done, then you are making a big mistake. You can put valuable information at risk and slow down performance if the program is not configured correctly. And we all make this mistake, because very few people know how to use CCleaner properly - myself included. Of course, that was the case until recently, because recently I have seen a lot of tutorials on exactly how it works properly.
Here are 9 easy ways to use CCleaner super effectively:
CCleaner doesn't do what you think it does
Many people think of CCleaner as a maintenance tool that automatically improves their computer's performance. In reality, CCleaner cleans your drives by deleting temporary files or files that take up a lot of space. This frees up space on your hard drive, which can result in improved performance.
Why is this important to understand? Because if you use CCleaner every day thinking that computer will run faster, you are wrong. In many cases, you may end up running slower than before.
This is what you should do BEFORE cleaning with CCleaner
Before you run CCleaner… think about what exactly you want to clean. If you don’t care about clearing your cache and cookies, then set the program to ignore them. Alternatively, if you don’t want others to spy on your browsing history, then clear it frequently.
However, what happens if you clean your machine and it runs slower? This is because your computer needs some files to run efficiently. If you delete these files with CCleaner, performance will suffer. If you visit a few favorite pages every day, but clear the cache every few hours, you will see that these pages take longer to load.
This prepares us for the following advice:
Protect important cookies
CCleaner deletes all cookies by default – but you may want to keep some of them to continue browsing quickly.
You have two options for this. One, you can use CCleaner's Smart Scan to detect your most used cookies and protect them from common purges (like Google's). Alternatively, you can manually flag cookies that you don't want to tamper with.
Do the same with programs
You can apply “protection” to specific programs and files. This feature is especially useful if you find that CCleaner is obsessively trying to eliminate a file that you really want. You can exclude entire drives, folders, files, or archives. You can also protect specific file extensions.
If you use Registry Cleaner frequently, you will definitely encounter a problem
I don't recommend using CCleaner's Registry Cleaner regularly. A "clean registry" can help if your system is corrupted, but it doesn't improve your performance under normal circumstances and – in some cases – can be harmful. Leave this feature aside unless you're having problems running a specific program.
This feature offers much more than its name suggests
Startup is an optional tool that theoretically allows you to disable programs that run automatically when your computer starts. This way, you can access and edit your computer's startup process.
What few people know is that Startup allows you to disable or remove scheduled tasks and extensions . These options are already included by default in Windows, but you can take a look during one of your regular cleanup procedures.
Breaking the myth of hard drive cleaners
One of the big myths behind hard drive cleaners is that you have to run multiple scans to get a truly clean hard drive. But there's a solution to that, with Drive Wipe , you can clean your drive with a single click, completely removing junk files while leaving your programs intact.
Note that when you delete a file in Windows it doesn't actually delete it, it just removes the path to it so that the system can't see it, freeing up the space it was taking up and allowing it to be replaced. This allows for file recovery by those who know how. This is not the case with CCleaner, which overwrites old files as it deletes them. It's great for security, but you should only do this if you're sure you want to delete the selected files.
Forget this tool
CCleaner has a lot of side tools, the most unnecessary of which is Uninstall Programs. This is completely unnecessary and doesn't work as well as Windows Uninstaller. There are better uninstallers, like Revo, which you can download from Softonic.
…and finally, the Golden Rule
It doesn’t matter if you use CCleaner or another cleaning tool – never clean without first creating a backup of your important files. If the program deletes something important, the consequences can be disastrous. Fortunately, with a backup or restore point, you can recover computer in a few clicks.
