System Cleaners

I get the impression that Ccleaner is usually considered here to be the least aggressive, and therefore probably the safest system cleaner. In quick succession I just ran Win 8.1 Disk Cleanup, WiseCare 365, Jet Cleaner, and Ccleaner. Disk Cleanup actually managed to leave me with 600+MB less free space than before I ran it. WiseCare and Jet Cleaner managed small reductions in used space, but Ccleaner Slim removed another 7793MB!!! The system appears to be fine after all of this but I do have a recovery image just in case

I may now do the same in Win 10, time permitting.

 

I was a bit unfair on WiseCare365 there - not familiar with it and didn't realise the cleaner wasn't included in the initial PC Checkup. Running it again after all the others it removed another 100MB so maybe Ccleaner is less aggressive.

plodr - maybe XP's Disk Cleanup would do better.

 

I just ran Glary's Utilities and then CCleaner. Glary's found 22 empty or useless registry items, 11 bad shortcuts, 119 tracks and 282mb of internet files. CCleaner found 265mb worth cleaning. Both are an older versions. Glary's also went and offered 31 software updates. The old CCleaner doesn't have that function. My actual IE cache is 232 mb. So both were pretty much in line. I didn't use the clean function in either case since this was just for comparison .

 

I've used CCleaner for years and see nothing wrong with it. I have also used ioBit's Advanced System Care tool with some success, as well as Glary's Utility. I have a client who has purchased SlimCleaner and he loves it. Of course he's also 86 years old and knows nothing about the computer.

 

The results will also vary depending on what all removal items are checked in each Apps. Some can have all items checked by default while others may have very few checked by default.

In my experience, I have found that CCleaner IS the less aggressive one, albeit the SAFER one. I use it with the default settings. CCleaner would be the only one of those types of Apps that I would recommend with the default removal items settings as is to someone not computer savvy. (The Files Cleaner function, not the Registry Cleaning function.)

On the other Apps that I use --- Wise Disk Cleaner, Wise Registry Cleaner, Glary Disk Cleaner, Glary Tracks Eraser, Glary Utilities Slim 2.56 (Old Version) and JetClean ... I tweak the settings as the default settings will have either very few items selected or some items selected that I don't want. Once I select all of the IMO safe settings, they do noticeably find more stuff than CCleaner.

Bottom line, I like the thorough cleaning job that all those Apps perform collectively. They all appear to find something that the others don't.

I AM though close to removing JetClean from my Toolbox. It hasn't been updated in ages. It makes me wonder how the blazes it could possibly still be appropriately equipped to be doing its job what with all the Apps it's supposed to clean --- having updated tons of times since the time when JetClean first came out. Besides, now JetClean has more often than not, given me an error message when it finishes its cleaning. Probably from being so outdated.

 

I like the RAM cleaner function in JetClean. Does any of your other suggestions do the same thing?

 

I don't believe the specific Apps that I mentioned as using have a RAM cleaner function. However, from the quick search that I took, I see that there IS a Wise Memory Optimizer in the Wise arsenal of tools. Here is the link: http://www.wisecleaner.com/wise-memory-optimizer.html I wouldn't be able to tell you how good it is or isn't as I don't use it. But, the 2 Wise tools that I do use, I do like them very much.

I've been curious about RAM cleaning / optimizing tools, but have just never pulled the trigger on actually trying them out. On my previous 2 computers my curiosity was stronger as one had only 2 Gig of RAM with Windows XP and the one before that had I believe something like only an incredibly low 256 Meg of RAM with Windows XP! But, with the OptiPlex 780 that was given to me recently, my RAM cleaning App curiosity is less as this computer has more breathing room with 4 Gig of RAM with Windows XP.

Anyway, that Wise Memory Optimizer is no doubt also part of the WiseCare 365 suite ... and the Glary Utilities suite almost assuredly has its version of a RAM cleaning function. Those 2 suites though, for some reason did not play well at all with my previous computer --- a Dell GX285 Small Form Factor. Both of them would seemingly rather quickly overwhelm the computer, lock it up or make it slow down to a crawl and the CPU Fan would speed up to the MAX to the point that it sounded like a helicopter at full throttle! I just about expected my computer to lift off the desk. That's why I had to settle for just using the 2 independent Apps of each (Wise & Glary) instead of the full blown suites.

 

and just as well! My 8.1 was nearly unusable when I booted it today. The four cleaners I ran (see #1) were all at their default settings and this confirmed my previous feelings that users shouldn't use them without understanding and regularly using an imaging program.

 

Interesting thread.
However, to compare the various programs the most important criteria to consider has been posted by Chim.

Also, by default, some of the programs will only delete files older than 24 hours, and will ignore certain files or file types.
And some of the programs are optimizers, some have realtime monitoring. While they might be better cleaners, I don't need realtime monitoring or optimizing.

FWIW CCleaner Free is probably the most recommended and used program of it's kind.
The default cleaning options and registry cleaner can safely be used by anyone.

 

You can run an expanded Disk Cleanup that can remove more.
I used to do this in Windows 7. I've run it in Windows 10 and it still works.

Open an elevated command prompt, meaning Run As Administrator.
(in Windows 10 it's now very easy - press Winkey+X then the letter A)
Paste the following line at the command prompt:

Code:

%SystemRoot%\System32\Cmd.exe /c Cleanmgr /sageset:65535 & Cleanmgr /sagerun:65535

Click on an item in the dialog box for a short description of what files will be deleted.
Click OK.
Do not close the command window while the cleanup is running.

You can put this in a batch file for easy access.
Open any text editor, like Notepad, and paste these two lines:

Code:

@echo off
%SystemRoot%\System32\Cmd.exe /c Cleanmgr /sageset:65535 & Cleanmgr /sagerun:65535

Save the file on the Desktop or any place you like.
Use an appropriate name like C-klean or whatever you like, with an exe extension, like C-klean.exe
I found that the .exe extension is necessary to "Pin" this to the Start menu.

Right click on the C-Klean shortcut and select "Pin to Start".
Then right click again and rename it with a .bat extension.
In the Start menu, right click the shortcut and select Properties.
In the Shortcut tab in the line labeled Target:, change the file name so that it has an extension of .bat

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It was updated to 1.50.29 in February 2016.
See here: http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/jetclean.html