CCleaner is probably the name that comes to mind when you think of PC cleaning software, and it remains one of the best you can buy for price and performance.
CCleaner Professional full review
It’s been around for a long time – since 2004 – so for many it’s a PC cleaning program, but is it still the best?
Like many Windows applications, there is a free version of CCleaner, but it is limited to standard privacy protection (tracking files and browsing data) and cleanup. Here I’m testing the paid Professional version, which opens up a number of additional features, such as Speed and Security sections, as well as the ability to schedule a cleanup and monitor your computer.
Features and performance
Like most customization software, CCleaner Professional is simple and easy to download followed by a quick installation. It is 77MB in size and is compatible with Windows 7 and later versions.
After a short introduction explaining the features, CCleaner performs a health check in seconds, highlighting privacy trackers and unwanted files that need to be removed, as well as running applications that need to be disabled and applications that need to be updated.
On my test laptop, the search found 7,371 trackers, 792 MB of garbage, and one upgrade application – in this case Audacity. You can choose which garbage to delete, but only in groups of different types, such as Trash, Temporary Application Files and Temporary System Files.
There is a Custom Clean option that can analyze Windows and applications. Again, it took a matter of seconds (2.79 according to the app) and found to remove 1.9 GB; mostly cache files, and while that’s a good amount of space to free up, remember that cache files are used to speed up things like web browsing. Thus, deleting them can slow down some things.
In total, CCleaner was able to free up 3.09 GB of disk space. By comparison, MacPaw CleanMyPC manages only 1.68 GB. Note that the pro version allows you to schedule a cleanup, whereas SmartCleaning will automatically clean when you accumulate a certain amount of junk (500 MB by default).
The driver update does what it says it does and strives to make sure that everything is updated and therefore works as best as possible. There were 32 drivers found to update audio, Bluetooth, biometrics, etc. (152 have been updated).
The registry tool quickly found 271 problems, and you can look at them individually or just fix them all with a single click. A typical solution is to remove a registry value or key.
Finally, various other options are hidden in the Tools section, including the usual list of applications and browser plug-ins to remove. However, there is not much more information here than Windows or your web browser can give you.
The Duplicate Finder and Disk Analyzer are most likely to be of use to you. Note that the former cannot determine which files are needed and which can be safely deleted, so you are better off sticking to media such as photos and videos. Although many files were detected, I didn’t see a way to select them all for deletion at one time.
The latter can help you figure out what’s taking up space on your computer, perhaps without you even knowing it. For example, the test laptop contained about 7 GB of images, so moving them to an external drive or cloud storage would be an easy way to free up space.
Conclusion
CCleaner remains one of the best options for cleaning software, not only at one of the lowest prices, but also offering top-notch performance.
The interface may not be the most user-friendly, but there is a great selection of tools if you take some time to learn what’s where.
More importantly, the app does the job you pay hard-earned money for, and that’s certainly the case in our testing (although many will get decent use out of the free version). We just need a little more control over what gets removed.