CCleaner TutorialCCleaner is a handy program from Piriform that performs the following maintenance operations on your PC:

File clean up Registry clean up Registry back up Program uninstaller Edit Start up entries.

ContentsCCleaner Tutorial...................................................................................................................................1

Installation.........................................................................................................................................1

Configuring CCleaner.........................................................................................................................2

Secure file deletion........................................................................................................................3

Cookies..........................................................................................................................................4

Include/exclude.............................................................................................................................5

Advanced.......................................................................................................................................5

Using CCleaner...................................................................................................................................6

File clean up...................................................................................................................................6

Registry editor...............................................................................................................................8

Tools/Uninstaller.........................................................................................................................10

Tools/Startup...............................................................................................................................12

Tools/System Restore..................................................................................................................14

InstallationCCleaner is a great program, but there is one issue that you’ll find with it and many other free programs. They have to make their money somehow, and they do that by installing other companies’ software as part of the installation. One of the installation windows has all boxes ticked and they probably shouldn’t be.

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Download CCleaner here. Run the download, choose your language and follow the prompts until you encounter this window:

You’ll notice all the boxes are ticked. The bottom one is a tool bar for your web browser that will only slow it down. The less toolbars you have in Internet Explorer or Firefox the better.

I un-tick all boxes except Add Start Menu Shortcuts.

From there the installation is straight forward. Once installed, it’s time to configure the program.

Configuring CCleanerThe default settings for the cleaner are pretty good for most users, but there are some things you may want to change. On the left-hand menu select Options

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I tend to leave these un-ticked but you may wish to select Secure file deletion.

Normal file deletion (recommended unless you have a tech savvy stalker) works the same as manually deleting files from Windows; it merely removes the entry from Windows file tables, like deleting it from a table of contents. It’s like removing your street number from your house. The house, and everything in it, is still there but Windows cant see it.

Normal file deletions is all you need to stop people accidently finding data you have deleted. This is ample for people with nothing to hide, who have their PC physically secured.

Secure file deletion

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Secure file deletion is useful for users with lots of sensitive data, especially users with laptops, which are more prone to theft. All “empty” space is overwritten a pre-defined number of times, with each overwrite rendering data harder to recover.

One pass overwriting means the disk is overwritten once with random data. A casual user cannot retrieve your data but someone with the right data recovery program can.

NSA (7 passes) is virtually impossible for a normal user to retrieve data. For a substantial fee there are companies that can access the data. You need to consider whether your data is important enough for anyone to spend considerable money stealing it.

Gutmann (35 passes) renders your data irretrievable by anyone other than powerful law enforcement agencies, but I think it’s overkill for a home computer.

One consideration here is disk life. Logic would say that each overwrite contributes to wear and tear on you HDD.

The other consideration is time. Thirty-five overwrites would really drag on.

Cookies

Cookies are left on your computer when you visit many websites. They help identify your machine to websites, sometimes to enhance your surfing by automating navigation, but sometimes for less-savoury reasons.

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This window allows you to choose which cookies CCleaner deletes. If, like me, you only use CCleaner monthly, you may as well use the default setting to delete all cookies. The ones you want will soon return.

If you are using the cleaner daily you may want to keep cookies from your favourite sites. Just drag them from the cookies to delete column on the left into the cookies to keep column on the right.

Include/excludeMost users will have no reason to modify these settings, but the method is fairly straight forward if you must. Simply click add folder or add file and navigate to the folder or file you wish to include or exclude. I don’t recommend this, as data loss is possible if you include the wrong folder.

Advanced

The only box I check in the advanced screen is Show prompt to backup registry issues. I’ve never seen CCleaner corrupt a Windows Registry but it doesn’t hurt to back up before changes just in case.

If you use CCleaner to protect your privacy you should ensure the tick box for Only delete files in Windows Temp folders older than 24 hours is un-ticked. Otherwise your history from the previous day will remain after you run CCleaner.

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Using CCleaner

File clean upCCleaner’s file cleaner removes temporary files that clog your system. Note that it only removes files from the user account you are running. All other users must run CCleaner from their user account.

The Cleaner window has a series of tick boxes that determine what CCleaner will clean. Most users need only accept the default selection.

I suggest you simply select Run Cleaner at the right-hand lower corner of the window.

If you’re concerned about privacy you can tick Wipe Free Space (at the bottom of the left-hand list), but this will severely slow down the operation.

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After you click Run Cleaner you will see the following screen:

This tells you how many MB of files have been removed. Cleaning is complete.

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Registry editorThe Windows Registry is a database containing the configurations settings for your operating system and programs. It can be manually modified by running the REGEDIT utility built into Windows, but this is too dangerous for the average user. Change the wrong setting and your system may never boot again.

Over time the Registry becomes cluttered with obsolete entries from general use, especially from installing and uninstalling programs. CCleaner is a safe and effective way to remove these entries.

You should only need to run the Registry cleaner once, after which you would only run it again after installing or uninstalling large or hard-to-remove programs.

Select Registry from the left-hand menu.

Select Scan for Issues

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Select Fix selected issues

You’ll be asked if you want to back up the registry, select YES. Choose a location to save the back up and click SAVE.

Choose Fix All Selected Issues then OK in the confirmation box that follows, then close the box shown above.

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You should see the following screen:

That’s it, your Registry is tidy and running to full potential.

Tools/UninstallerYou should always first try to uninstall programs with the Windows ADD REMOVE PROGRAMS utility (located in the Control Panel in XP, and My Computer in Vista and Windows7). If that is unsuccessful use the unwanted program’s own uninstaller (often located by hovering the mouse pointer over the program’s icon in the START menu).

There may, however, be programs or utilities that won’t uninstall this way for various reasons. There may be vital files or folders missing or corrupt, or it could be one of those pesky trial programs that hang around to annoy you. If the traditional method fails it is worth giving CCleaner’s uninstaller a go.

I don’t think it is as good as Windows’ own ADD REMOVE PROGRAMS in general, but I have seen it remove programs that Windows couldn’t. It is my third resort for removing programs, but here’s how to use it.

In the far-left menu select Tools then Uninstall in the adjacent menu. A list of installed programs appears in the right-hand column.

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Select the program you want to uninstall and click Run Uninstaller.

Agree to the confirmation box.

The following screens will vary depending on which program you are uninstalling, but you should soon see a screen like this:

That program is now removed from your system. You may be asked to restart your computer.

When you’ve finished you can run the CCleaner File Cleaner and Registry Cleaner (optional) to remove any left over entries.

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Tools/StartupThe last thing you want on your PC is all your programs starting when you power it up. Depending on the programs it can slow the boot-time immensely, and affect overall system performance. Read here for more information about which programs you might want starting when Windows does.

CCleaner’s Startup editor is a safe and effective way to choose which programs start automatically, and which ones don’t. Keep in mind you can still start programs you disable just by selecting them from the All Programs list in the Start menu as you need them.

To disable a program from starting with Windows select Tools and click on Startup. You’ll see a list of programs that do, and can, start when Windows does.

Below you can see a complete list of the programs starting on my system.

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You’ll notice I have most of them disabled. Let’s disable another one.

For this example I’m disabling a Java update scheduler from running at startup. Select the program you want to disable and click on Disable.

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Notice SunJavaUpdateSched now has a No in the Enabled column. Next time you boot your computer that program will not start until you ask it to.

Tools/System RestoreThe last utility in the Tools menu is System Restore, although the name is a little misleading because it does not restore your system. Rather, it allows you to delete Restore Points that Windows has made in the past. Windows periodically creates Restore Points, which can restore your system to a good working state if you indivertibly make changes that damage your system.

These Restore Points can take up a lot of HDD space, but they are there for a reason. Unless you are low on free space on your HDD I recommend leaving them alone.

If you must delete them select Tools and System Restore.

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The top (most recent) Restore Point is faded out to avoid complete disaster but you can remove any of the older points (preferably the oldest) by simply selecting them and clicking on Remove.

Select OK

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Notice there are now only two Restore Points. Just remember you now have one less option for recovering your system if you harm it. If the two remaining Restore Points are corrupt you are in trouble.

That’s it for now. I’ll re-publish this tutorial in much more detail when time permits.

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