CCleaner Beginner's Guide

CCleaner is small but free and very effective tool which can help you to improve your PC performance and clean your registry. With more and more similar tools on market it is hard to decide which one you should choose but for me it’s not the same problem. When I first time heard for this software from one of my friends I was in doubt should I even give it a try but as you can see I did. With just few minutes with this excellent software I really start to like him, mainly because it is really simple to use him and you should not have to be on computer expert to setup or use his functions.

When you open CCleaner for the first time you can see that his main window is very simple but do not be confused because behind his simplicity of look lays very powerful software. CCleaner has four main sections which can be selected using the 4 icons in the left-hand navigation panel: Cleaner, Registry, Tools and Options.

Cleaner: This is the main feature of the program and this section is selected by default, which will allow you to optimize your operating system, by removing unused and temporary files. This feature also protects your personal privacy by removing traces and cookies of the websites you have visited in past and the files you have opened on the web.

Registry: Second feature which can be opened by clicking on “Registry” tab placed just below the “Cleaner” tab is a more advanced which analyses your computers registry and fixes any problems and inconsistencies that exist in your system.

Tools: This section allows you to manage installed programs and applications that run when you turn on your computer. It has almost same function as “Add or Remove Programs” tool which can be found in Windows XP and Windows Vista but with few advanced new features which Windows XP version don’t have.

Options: Here you can find a wide array of preferences for how CCleaner runs. Inside this tab you can also change Setting, Remove Cookies, Include or Exclude Folders and Files.

Now after you are familiar with CCleaner Features let me show you how you can use this tool.

Using CCleaner

It is quite easy to use CCleaner because with only few mouse clicks you can finish entire scanning procedure. To run the cleaner just click the Run Cleaner button. If you want to know what is going on behind CCleaner while he is scanning you can click on Analyze button. The output window above the buttons will display a log of the analysis or cleaning process.

The issues section will help you find errors and old entries in the system registry. Whilst this will make sense to an advanced user, to the beginner a lot of the options will mean nothing. But even if you are beginner you can experiment with this and if by error you remove something you shouldn’t you can use Restore buttons to return all settings in previous condition, of course if you backup those setting before you made a mass. To use, simply press the "Scan for Issues" button and once completed press the "Fix Selected Issues" button. You will be prompted to backup and helped throughout the process.

Now after you finished with cleaning you may go to Tools tab where you can two options “Uninstall” and “StartUp”. These two features you already have within your windows and they are not much different with those in CCleaner. First once “Uninstall” can help you to remove installed programs and second called “StartUp” list the programs which are running while windows is working and allows you to remove them. By removing those from StartUp” you can boost your computer performance but be careful because some programs are necessary and windows can’t work without them.

Well that’s it; this was quick guide for CCleaner.