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Resolved Question

Conservative use of CCleaner

Oct 22, 2011 3:29PM PDT

When I began using CCleaner, I configured it only to Empty Recycle Bin and clean Temporary Files in the System category. When the program upgraded, it also chose to include Windows MS Search in its tasks.
I like using CCleaner for above tasks and would like to know for which of the following additional files in the System category it is safe to use: memory dumps; chk dsk fragments; clipboard; Windows log files; Windows error reporting; DNS cache; cached fonts; start menu shortcuts; Desktop shortcuts.

Discussion is locked

michhala has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer

Best Answer

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I like the simple answer above.
Oct 23, 2011 4:17AM PDT

"I've found the stock settings to work well."

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Thank you, Robert
Oct 23, 2011 8:54AM PDT

Thank you, Robert.....it seems I am going to have to make my own decision, which evidently is difficult for me or I would not have posted Happy I am leaving the thread open just in case there is more to come.....
Miki

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My point of view
Oct 23, 2011 10:39PM PDT

I agree with the others, the "Stock" settings.

That's the one which CCleaner opens with. I did try to add others, but soon found that I was losing important data, so I reverted to the standard settings.

In case you have modified yours and CCleaner has remembered the new settings, Happy have a look at the image below to see what my 'stock settings' are for CCleaner v 3.11.1550 (64 bit version). The 32/64 bit versions should be the same.

http://imageshack.us/f/5/ccleanerstock.jpg/

You may have to enlarge the image using their magnifying option.

Does that help?

Mark

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Thank you, Mark
Oct 24, 2011 4:39AM PDT

I think I should have mentioned that I have the free version of CCleaner V3.10.1525 (64 bit).
The only modification I have done, Mark, is to clean in the System category the Recycle Bin, Temp Files, and MS Search. Before I clean, I analyze. I am a bit hesitant to rely too much on the software, but I am thinking of adding to the System category those that you listed in your image.
Thank you so much for the copy of your stock settings, which are very easy to read on my monitor.......I will most certainly take your choices into consideration.
Miki

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Best Answer....someone pls change
Oct 24, 2011 4:43AM PDT

The best answer to my question was from Mark Flax.....have no idea of how the wrong post was chosen......miki

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My fault.
Oct 24, 2011 9:08PM PDT

It's my fault Mikki. You can only select "Best Answer" or change it later if the person replying makes his reply as an "Answer".

I didn't do that. I 'replied' to a sub-thread post instead of Answering your initial post.

I've tested it here;
http://forums.cnet.com/7723-6622_102-545362.html

For all the "Answers" I can change my Best Answer choice. But for a "Reply" I can't select that.

Shame. I don't get many Best Answers. Devil

Mark

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That's not fair, Mark....
Oct 25, 2011 7:35AM PDT
Mark wrote: It's my fault Mikki. You can only select "Best Answer" or change it later if the person replying makes his reply as an "Answer".

I didn't do that. I 'replied' to a sub-thread post instead of Answering your initial post.

I've tested it here;
<a href="http://forums.cnet.com/7723-6622_102-545362.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><font color="#2964bf">http://forums.cnet.com/7723-6622_102-545362.html</font></a>

For all the "Answers" I can change my Best Answer choice. But for a "Reply" I can't select that.

Mark-- I wish it were not so. Your post to me is now serving as my guide to configuring the latest CCleaner to which I updated yesterday. It is the best and most helpful reply and deserves better treatment.
MESSAGE TO CNET: This post is written as my official "Occupy Cnet for Change" Happy
Miki
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Answer
Checkout CCEnhancer
Oct 22, 2011 4:01PM PDT

Checkout CCEnhancer as well.

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Answer
All of them
Oct 23, 2011 12:15AM PDT

All of them, BUT some of those things do have an associated cost.

Deleting Temp Internet Files -- which only applies to IE, which is not the wisest choice of browsers for various security related reasons --- will save a little disk space at the expense of making web browsing slower. If you take an average page from these forums, even though the pages are generated on demand, there are still several elements which the browser will store local copies of. Like the Cnet logo image at the top, all the little icons in the legend thing at the bottom, the newsletter image... So rather than having to download those again, the browser just pulls up the local copy, speeding up the overall page loading process.

DNS cache is along the same lines. If you go to a site a lot, like say google.com, it will keep the IP address google.com points to, so it doesn't need to go ask a DNS server to look it up for you. The only time you want to clear your DNS cache is if an entry seems stale. Meaning you're having trouble accessing a site, and you know (from asking others) that the site is working. It won't HURT anything, but it will have a small negative effect on your web browsing.

Log files and memory dumps can be useful in figuring out what went wrong if a program or the OS crashes. They're not strictly necessary, but are generally there for a reason.

The clipboard is generally stored in memory, so that one sounds particularly useless, but it certainly won't hurt anything to get rid of whatever may be there.

The Check Disk fragments are typically useless, but if you really know what you're doing, can potentially help you reconstruct a file that had the misfortune of becoming corrupted or damaged. Of course if you find that the program seems to be deleting a lot of these, then you probably have other issues, up to a failing HDD and/or bad RAM.

Cached fonts, are like anything else cached. It's done to speed things up. IIRC, this is used for font menus where they show a live preview of what the font looks like by writing the font name in the font. So the system can just store that, rather than have to go read each font file you have installed, get the characters needed from it, and then fill out the drop down box. That's why it might be slow the first time you go to pick a font in MS Word, but every subsequent time it's almost instantaneous. Because the system cached the results.

Start menu and desktop shortcuts again won't hurt anything, but might impede easy access to certain programs.

All too many people think of programs like CCleaner (or Cocktail and Onyx on the Mac side of things) as a panacea sort of program. Or this magic performance enhancer that reminds me of those male anatomy enlarging pills spammers are trying to scam people with constantly, since each one is about as effective at doing what the gullible user thinks it will. CCleaner is really intended to be more of a surgical strike kind of program, able to go in and target the specific areas needed, not a carpet bomb where you just kind of obliterate anything in the general area. And honestly, how much effort is it really to empty the recycle bin manually? It can't be any more effort than launching CCleaner and telling it to perform some action. And you shouldn't be using Internet Explorer if you don't like malware infestations anyway, so there shouldn't be anything in the TIF area to delete, but even if you foolishly continue using IE, the TIF cache is limited to a set size, and it will automatically start deleting files to make room for new ones when it reaches that limit. So, you might gain some disks space back after clearing that out, but any web browsing you do will just cause IE to start filling it back up.

My advice, is to just eschew all of these programs that claim to improve performance or maintain Windows in some way. Truth is, Windows doesn't really NEED much in the way of maintaining, what it needs is for users to keep out of its way with programs like CCleaner, registry fixers/cleaners, and all of those various "tweak" programs. If you avoid using Internet Explorer then your risk of malware infection drops significantly, and you can blissfully use Windows for months, even years, at a time without ever having to lift a finger maintenance wise.

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A lot of info, Jimmy.....
Oct 23, 2011 8:45AM PDT

......and I appreciate your detailed reply. That said, I knew the reasons for being for the files I was questionning deleting. Truth is I manually deleted Temp folders in my Win 98 and XP computers every night. I never used CCleaner until I got my Windows 7 new machine in January. I shut down every night and find it very convenient to have CCleaner do the Temps, Recycle, and MS Search. Probably will leave things just as they are.....Happy
Thank you, Jimmy......Miki

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Answer
Safe?
Oct 23, 2011 12:43AM PDT

User specific.
I've found the stock settings to work well.
CC does have a help file that explains the settings.
I suppose you could use trial+error and enable things and see what the results are.
I don't use it to empty the recycle bin buts that's my call.

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Thank you, Bob
Oct 23, 2011 8:48AM PDT

Methinks I am going to leave well enough alone and not get carried away Happy Appreciate your reply.
Miki