Is CCleaner safe?

I have been using Window Washer to cleanup my system, but after noting that a number of you use CCleaner, I decided to d/l it and give it a go.

As a test (of sorts), I first cleaned my system using WinXP's Disk Cleanup, followed by Window Washer, and lastly CCleaner. After WinXP's cleaner did it's job, Window Washer found and cleaned another 9MB of files that remained. After WW did its job I ran CCleaner and it found 122 more files (about 33MB) that it would have deleted had I proceeded, but I was afraid to 'pull the trigger'!

Some of you (pvsurfer, most recently) have mentioned that CCleaner is extremely aggressive (which my test confirms), so I'm wondering how many of you consider it safe to blindly allow it to perform its cleaning actions?

 

I have tried it in the past, and I think there is a registry back up tool in it. I would use that so that if anything gets messed up, you can restore your registry.

 

yes i use it daily.

 

I'm referring to its file cleaner (not its reg cleaner) and as far as I can see, there is no backup provision for the files it deletes!

Sean

 

I consider both cc & ww unsafe at least. But then I use DustBuster with no problems. But I do not reccomend DB to those that don't research it & look over it's blacklist.

 

Use it regularly, no problems here at all whatsoever with Win2K SP4+patches.

 

Sean~

Allow me to qualify my remark to which you are alluding. I used CCleaner for a few months but I always ran an analysis first and reviewed the files it was about to delete before running a cleanup. On quite a few occaisions, it found certain files it was about to delete which I did not believe was a good idea. At the time I was using it, it did not provide any means of recovery (in the event of a mistake) and to me, that is a serious deficiency! I also had an incident where it messed up some of my System Restore Points. I can't account as to how that happened, but it did happen immediately after running CCleaner! I don't know if the product has since been improved in those areas as I abandoned its use about a year ago in favor of System Cleaner (imho, a much safer product, but not freeware).

SC makes it easy to backup the files it's about to delete to a zipped archive which you can later restore via an easy to use wizard. On top of that most important safeguard, it simply does more (for me) than CCleaner. If you are interested, you can read about SC here... http://www.pointstone.com/products/systemcleaner/

Cheers, ~pv

Afterthought: I hope no one takes my comments as a sales-pitch for System Cleaner as I'm sure there are other file-cleaners that adequately backup the files they are about to delete and provide means for recovery. I'm just conveying my experience as one way of addressing Sean's basic concern.

 

Hi Sean,

I've been using it for a long time, no problems!

rico

 

are u talking about reg? why would u want to back up temp files.. u get retrieve those thes recovery tools.

 

I've used it for quite a while and never had any problems. I would recommend that you go through each setting and decide if it's something you want cleaned. I don't use it's defaults but modify to fit my desires and usage patterns.

 

I would say it's completely safe, with the exception of its registry cleaner. All registry cleaners can potentially be dangerous. I have used it since its early beta testing and have no problems whatsoever.

 

I've been using CCleaner for over a year and LOVE IT.
I can't believe the guy who made it doesn't charge people for it, over 12million downloads, makes me wonder when he's gonna clamp down and say, ALRIGHT, $10 please.
But from what I hear, he created the program to just help others, good guy, good guy, great program.

 

No problems with CCleaner here either, so far

I took it from Blackspear's security settings recommendations. I try and use the registry cleaner sparingly as I am a novice in that area but to repeat, no problems so far

Cheers

Jon

 

I use/like CCleaner too. It also keeps my cookie folder clean and keeps the cookies I want.
It runs on reboot, is quiet and simple. No wonder this software is a free bestseller.

 

I wish he'd add secure deletion though.

 

Where is Blackspear's settings for CC?

 

Here they are

Cheers

 

and this

 

What about Cookies? Why did you not check Cookies?

Do you use anything for the registry?

Hope I'm not too far off the course here, but what's your impression of Tuneup Utilities 2006?

 

Cookies are harmless, I don’t worry about them at all.

I use to use RegSeeker, but have had issues with MS Office and the latest version, so for now I’m leaving the registry alone.

Never used it, and it would be better to start a new thread to ask about peoples experiences with it.

Cheers

 

Hi,
I used TU2004 and now TU2006. The best there is. Never found a single FP with it. No problems with it ever. Clean GUI, simple, effective. Excellent.
Mrk

 

Thanks for your input.

I really should do as Blackspear suggested and start a new thread.