The Virtual Vanaprastha: CCleaner Information Page

The information in Virtual Grub Street's computer postings is the result of thousands of web searches. It can not, however, possibly be complete. The subject is vast and constantly changing. Moreover, vendor uninstall tools and other freeware removal tools do not necessarily remove all of an infection from your computer. Vendor uninstall tools, for instance, may silently leave cookies or other tracking software installed. It is suggestible to follow up a removal with one or more adware scans and/or to do an inspection using a HijackThis log. The information on the page is not guaranteed correct and any use you may choose to make of it is entirely at your own risk.

Intro. CCleaner is freeware that can remove Windows cache, temporary, history (incl. index.dat) and recycle bin files, cookies and more. According to its creators, it can also clean unwanted files from "Firefox, Opera, Media Player, eMule, Kazaa, Google Toolbar, Netscape, Office XP, Nero, Adobe Acrobat, WinRAR, WinAce, WinZip and more...". CCleaner can also be used to check Windows registry status. A back-up capability is provided as part of the package.

Description: According to Small Business Computing.com: "CCleaner's initial OS/browser analysis of our test system took a bit less than three minutes and uncovered about 2.9 GB worth of files to be eliminated. The actual cleaning process took around two minutes and reported an actual amount of 2.5 GB of space cleared (which we verified...)".

Versions. --

Latest Version Covered: CCleaner v1.25.201

File Size. CCsetup125.exe: 513KB.

File Type. C++.

Most recent update. CCleaner v1.25.201 (11/07/05).

Compatible Operating Systems: Windows 98/ME/2000/XP.

Downloads. CCleaner can be downloaded from the following locations:

The first listing is CCleaner's own page. The tool may have to be run with Windows in Safe Mode for some cleaning tasks. The download does not come with a User's Manual. A brief but informative online tutorial/manual is available here at the CCleaner forum.

The following example instructions for CCleaner are also selected from the CCleaner forum tutorial:

[At the] Windows [tab]:
On your left you have check boxes to select what you would like to clean or not to clean.
Tip: I recommend using the default checked boxes and running Advanced maybe once a month or so.
At the bottom of Progress you have Analyze and Run Cleaner.
Clicking on Analyze will create a list of everything CCleaner is going to clean. You can right click in the big white box and save the list as a text file.
Clicking on Run Cleaner will clean everything. You can right click in he big white box and save the list as a text file. Note: you do not have to run Analyze, if you do not wish too.
[At the] Applications [tab]
On your left you have check boxes to select what you would like to clean or not to clean.
Tip: I recommend having them all checked. Unless you are a business or use the documents alot, I would uncheck the Office box under Applications.
The Applications cleaning is tied in with the Windows cleaning, so it cleans them both at once. You do not have to click on each individual tab to clean Windows and Applications.

The tutorial can be downloaded from the following location: