CCleaner Options

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I run CCleaner 5.79.8704 on Windows 7 Professional 64 bit.  I have wondered if it is safe to ALSO run it against the Registry.  I am always leery of touching the Registry except in extreme problem solutions.

Looking at what it would remove there is quite a selection.

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I run the CCleaner Registry Cleaner a few times each month, and I’ve never had any problems caused by using it.

It offers to “back up the registry before making changes” and then saves any registry keys that it’s about to delete. If you opt to do that, restoring any deletions would only take a double-click of a very small .reg file (about 5 or 10 KB), but I’ve never found that necessary.

It doesn’t speed anything up as far as I can tell, but on one occasion it solved a program re-installation issue which could not be solved any other way.

So it’s definitely safe to use, but debatable whether it’s worthwhile for routine maintenance.

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Microsoft has changed the way the registry is processed over the years. Now, you should just leave it alone unless the system is severely compromised.

--Joe

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JohnW, Alex5723

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I use the CCleaner Reg cleaner ONLY to establish whether an uninstallation has been fully done with no residues left behind. If I find something, I’ll enter MSFT regedit and manually export the key/s (as a failsafe) then delete the residual keys within.
In many years of using this method, haven’t had registry problems on Win XP/Vista/7/8.1 systems. Usually the offenders are within HKLM or HKCU

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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Sondergard, JohnW, Moonbear

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Microfix wrote:

I use the CCleaner Reg cleaner ONLY to establish whether an uninstallation has been fully done with no residues left behind

I use the free portable geekuninstaller to uninstall software. The app cleans leftover folders, registry keys…

From time to time I use the free portable ccPortable. Never let the app touch the registry.

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with more portajunkware..ROTFL

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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I am not a fan of CCcleaner unless it’s your last option.  I’ve personally helped too many people who have had issues after running it.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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bbearren

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Susan. If CCLEANER is not recommended, What Is?

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A good backup. Using repair install over the top. If your goal is to clean up your hard drive, Treesize free and disk cleanup are a lot safer. If your goal is to clean up the registry that’s the dangerous part that the side effects may not show up for weeks.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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JohnW

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I don’t plan on cleaning the Register.  I have Treesize Free which is informative. I does not have an option to cleanup old data. Are you referring to an application(Disk Cleanup) or something in Operating system?

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I found Disk Cleanup going into Properties for the Disk I want.  I don’t believe it will work on my C: on SSD.

Thanks for information.

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Diskclean up works on SSD drives.

I use treesize free to find those big files that I forgot were on my machine and can then manually delete.  I often forget big iso files or other hogs.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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Susan Bradley wrote:

I am not a fan of CCcleaner unless it’s your last option. I’ve personally helped too many people who have had issues after running it.

I’m not a fan of CCleaner Full Stop.  I also have helped too many people who have had issues/pooched system after using it.

As for editing the registry, I’ve been poking around in the registry for a couple of decades, and am quite comfortable in editing it. As @Microfix does, I export a key before I edit/delete it.  No worries.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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Microfix

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Registry.  I am always leery of touching the Registry

Very wise. Registry is an indexed database. The keyword is ‘indexed’. Removing superfluous entries will not speed up your computer and would only save minimal disk space, if any.

Read this Change your setting if you wish to prevent data collection.

Group A (but Telemetry disabled Tasks and Registry)
1) Dell Inspiron with Win 11 64 Home permanently in dock due to "sorry spares no longer made".
2) Dell Inspiron with Win 11 64 Home (substantial discount with Pro version available only at full price)

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Bother, I can’t edit:

Microsoft’s official position on Registry Cleaners

Group A (but Telemetry disabled Tasks and Registry)
1) Dell Inspiron with Win 11 64 Home permanently in dock due to "sorry spares no longer made".
2) Dell Inspiron with Win 11 64 Home (substantial discount with Pro version available only at full price)

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I run CCleaner daily for cookie and temp file clean up only, and leave the registry cleaner out of it. It’s priceless for the ease of use for that alone!

But unless you know what you are doing with the registry, and that means confident manual edits, you should never, ever run a registry cleaner.

I was badly burned with a registry cleaner many years ago, and have never gotten over it. Live and learn, I suppose.

If you must run a registry cleaner, I suggest a full backup image first! Even though CCleaner can generate a backup .reg file beforehand, what if the cleanup renders your system un-bootable? How would you run that reg file?

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

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I stopped using CCleaner when it was acquired by Avast, but I used to use it regularly for many years, including its registry cleaning function, without issue

Nowadays, after reading here at AskWoody about the pros and cons of registry cleaners in general, I wouldn’t use a registry cleaner at all

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NaNoNyMouse wrote:

I stopped using CCleaner when it was acquired by Avast

I stopped updating ccleaner from around that time, still using v5.30.0.6065
Although I regularly update winapp2.ini files per device with a firewall rule on ccleaner.

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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SueW

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Susan Bradley wrote:

I use treesize free to find those big files

I use the free portable Largest Files Finder. The files listed are sorted by size.

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Susan Bradley wrote:

Treesize free and disk cleanup are a lot safer.

I described having to recover from a screw-up caused by my own actions, where I deleted the Microsoft Store and certain Store apps, or parts of them, rendering them inoperable.  I was able to recover a three-week-old Macrium Reflect image.

On reflecting on how I had done this, I believe that I may have made the deletions while running Treesize Free as an administrator.  I think that Treesize gave me permissions that I could not have exercised using File Explorer in the normal way.

A cautionary word!

Dell E5570 Latitude, Intel Core i5 6440@2.60 GHz, 8.00 GB - Win 10 Pro

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Microfix

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I have a Disk Cleanup (cleanmgr.exe) task run by Task Scheduler every night.  About once a week (late in the week before my drive images are scheduled) I run the Junk Files Cleaner of Revo Uninstaller Pro (when Revo changed to a subscription model, I didn’t; I’m on v3.2.1 which still gets periodic updates).

That combination keeps my systems as clean as I want them to be.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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CCleaner was recommended to me back in 2012 and I have found it to be very useful for easily cleaning up temp, junk, and leftover registry files from uninstalled programs.  I’ve personally never had a problem with it in Win 7.  I can’t speak for for the newest versions but the older version I use (5.46.6652) gives me control over what I want get rid of – but you do have to know what you can safely get rid of.

Being 20 something in the 70's was so much better than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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ScotchJohn wrote:

I described having to recover from a screw-up caused by my own actions, where I deleted the Microsoft Store and certain Store apps, or parts of them, rendering them inoperable

Over aggressive cleaning of Windows is always likely to cause problems. Leave Windows to do the cleanup, but use your own tools (Treesize) to clean up your own junk.

cheers, Paul

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wavy, ScotchJohn, JohnW

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ScotchJohn wrote:

On reflecting on how I had done this, I believe that I may have made the deletions while running Treesize Free as an administrator. I think that Treesize gave me permissions that I could not have exercised using File Explorer in the normal way.

I use Treesize to find my junk.

Then I only use File Explorer to delete it.

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

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ScotchJohn

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Treesize deletes as well. Much easier than finding it in Explorer.

cheers, Paul

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Paul T wrote:

Treesize deletes as well. Much easier than finding it in Explorer.

cheers, Paul

I just trust File Explorer a bit more for the cleanup part. Silly me.

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

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I too am a former ccleaner user.  I like the idea of tidying up my computer and removing old, unneeded files!  But ccleaner started giving me problems a while ago – it’s been so long I don’t even recall – I think it was issues with downloads, where before there were none!  I had used the registry cleaner, but never had issues.  I know it can be dangerous to mess with the registry and I am not comfortable going in there, like some here have mentioned they are.   So best for me to leave it alone.

I would like to clean up/delete files from programs/apps that I have uninstalled.  I try to search to find instances of files – but often the name isn’t even related to the program and they all leave so many remnants behind.   How can I safely do that?

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Revo Uninstaller Portable  works pretty well.

https://www.revouninstaller.com/revo-uninstaller-free-download/

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dmt_3904

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So does Geekuninstaller portable.

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