I’m doing this little writeup at the request of a friend whose computer is running very very slowly, and because I’ve found this little utility to be highly effective.
And, because I recommend it so many times a day, it’ll be easier for you all to get there, from here !
It’s free. It’s easy to use. It does several different tasks that each speed up and free your computer. It runs FAST.
Now politely titled “CCleaner” it’s actual original name is Crap Cleaner because that’s what it does.
First, go to Piriform, Ltd to download the latest version. http://www.ccleaner.com/update/
Save it to your desktop or preferred folder.
Shut down or deactivate your antivirus/security program and then run the setup program. (Once the program is installed, turn your security back on.)
Configuration:
When you run the program it will look like this:
Select the “Options” window and select/unselect the features as you prefer them. I unselect the automatic update as I can check myself periodically and don’t need it to check every single time I use it.
I’d also save yourself some time by selecting “Close program after cleaning”. Fast is good.
When you run the Cleaner function it removes all of the temporary and junk files that Windows creates – per their description: “This is the main feature of the program, which will allow you to optimize your system, by removing unused and temporary files. It also protects your personal privacy by removing traces of the websites you have visited and the files you have opened. (It’s important to point out that it does this without removing any files you’ll still need!)”
I use this feature at least daily, as it keeps you lean and runs in mere seconds.
Startup: Here’s the really slick one – I had a friend ask me to tweak his laptop recently so I turned it on and watched it take 9 MINUTES to boot up to a useable state ! He had about 9 or 10 unneccesary applications all running at startup and each one of them took turns s-l-o-w-l-y “calling the office for messages”, one after the other. After disabling the unneccesary ones we did a restart and his laptop NOW booted to a useable state in about one minute and fifteen seconds !
That pretty well covers it. Any time you’d like to learn more, go back to the download site’s Crap Cleaner page and click on their link to “Quick Tour” of the features.
