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General discussion

PC system cleaners: Who's doing a better job of cleaning?

Jul 29, 2011 8:03AM PDT
Question:

System utility cleaners: Who's doing a better job of cleaning?


How come when you use 3 different utilities (CCleaner, Glary utilities, Advance System Care 4), they always find different things to clean? Is one doing a better job than the other? Is one cleaning out less and another cleaning out more than is needed? What gives? And who should I believe and is there any possible harm in these discrepancies? Any explanation around this mystery will help me better understand it all. Thank you.

--Submitted by: Guillermo O.

Here are some member answers to get you started, but
please read all the advice and suggestions that our
members have contributed to this question.

Purpose matters --Submitted by: stringboy
http://forums.cnet.com/7726-6138_102-5177221.html

PC System Cleaners --Submitted by: petelw
http://forums.cnet.com/7726-6138_102-5177753.html

The 7 P's --Submitted by: High Desert Charlie
http://forums.cnet.com/7726-6138_102-5177020.html

Thanks to all who contributed!

If you have any additional advice, suggestion, or opinions for Guillermo, click the "reply" to submit your advice, suggestions/opinions, or tips. Thanks!

Discussion is locked

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Back-Up
Sep 30, 2011 10:51AM PDT

Good advice

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Good Info
Oct 21, 2011 12:24PM PDT

Guillermo, thanks for the info, now where can I find you or a guy like you when I buy my new PC next month?
Whenever I buy a new computer I always get rid of the bloatware, but, I know that there is so much
other unnecessary stuff that I could be better off without, but I don't know which ones they are, and I don't want to take out something essential.
I need a roadmap of what is safe to remove.
Thanks for your expertise ..Ben Mcalister. sfsolo@sbcglobal.net

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oops
Oct 21, 2011 12:30PM PDT

Hi High Desert Charlie,
Im very sorry in the previous message I called you Guillermo, I was looking at the wrong part of message, forgive
me please. BEN Mcalister. sfsolo@sbcglobal.net

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Well, hmm..., it really depends on the bit rate mode...
Jul 29, 2011 12:46PM PDT

...you want to have properly cleaned out. First, identify which folder of which bit mode you want to clean and optimize your HDD afterwards.

I mean, that, you will need one for the main folder of the x64 applications and their registry entries in the registry and, a different one for the main folder of the x86 applications and their registry entries also.

So, having IObit's A.S.C. 4 will generally be for the x86(32bit) main folder's content of registered applications. Now, you will have to determine which one of the two others do a 64bit folder's and registry's best scan and fixes. Note: the one that will have definitions updates more often will be the most reliable, majority of the time. You might have to go to your archived retail boxes to confirm the whole thing out.

More useful advice: SmartDefrag 2.1 from IObit will do a full defragmentation and full optimization of your Hard Drive no matter the bit rate of processing ability these applications are designed and configured to run on your current machine.
Wink

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RE: System utility cleaners: Who's doing a better job of cl
Jul 29, 2011 1:50PM PDT

Before I quit the Microsoft scene, I used Comodo on every PC in the house. Clean-up, backup and a no problem anti-virus. Had it on for several years. The only problems were the nag to allow or deny system writes when any process attempted to modify the system or system files such as when installing/uninstalling or updating ... you had to know what processes were doing what. That means Comodo isn't for the beginner or the computer illiterate because it's easy to either deny a needful modification or to allow some cleverly disguised malware to make modifications. But that nag made you aware that Comodo was on top of everything. In all the time and on each PC we never had one problem traced back to Comodo other than the second problem of it being a resource hog if you goofed and scheduled more than one Comodo operation to run too close to another one or if you had some other hard working program running. I now run Linux-Mint on everything - no registry problems, no virus or anti-virus problems, no defrag problems, no overloaded resources - everything goes into real productive work processes. System maintenance involves a daily backup and an occasional check for system or program updates.

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PC Cleaning
Jul 29, 2011 2:18PM PDT

PC World did a side by side comparison of most of the regular software available for this issue you would do yourself a world good in reading it. They answer most of your concerns in better detail then what you will get here.

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(NT) How about a link?
Aug 5, 2011 3:29AM PDT
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Fixing Registry
Aug 5, 2011 9:36PM PDT

My favorite program is the RegistryHealer (vs 4.5 ; vs 5.0 just came out)
It backs up, removes some and - most importantly corrects where needed.
Not free but saved my bacon many times. Free try!
I also use ERUNT for independent registry backup.
<div menubottom="0" menuright="0" menutop="0" menuleft="0" activeid="-1" expanded="0" style="display: none;" id="divCleekiAttrib"></div><div menubottom="0" menuright="0" menutop="0" menuleft="0" activeid="-1" expanded="0" style="display: none;" id="divCleekiAttrib"></div><div menubottom="0" menuright="0" menutop="0" menuleft="0" activeid="-1" expanded="0" style="display: none;" id="divCleekiAttrib"></div>

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PC system cleaner
Jul 29, 2011 2:55PM PDT

It may depend on when the maker of each program has an update if program 1 puts out an update today and a glitch is made tomorrow and the second program puts out an update then the first program may not have the information to fix the problem. it may also be the programs you are using are generally used to clean up your system and can look at difrent areas. Angry its confusing.

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Best system cleaner - Advanced SystemCare PRO v4
Aug 5, 2011 4:10PM PDT

Advanced SystemCare Pro v4.XXX made such a fantastic difference in my Windows 7 machine. The best part is the Registry cleaner. I thought I was happy with RegCure... ASC4 is so far the best to come along...
I also use Norton anti-virus suite (Offered by comcast) along with ConstantGuard (r)

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I just can't trust that company...
Aug 6, 2011 6:52AM PDT

since I found out they stole the source code to MBAM. Do you really want something made in the PRC in your computer? Especially the way they treat dissidents? Shocked

I recommend:

CCleaner
Glary Utilities
Macecraft JV16 - this has been tried and true by IT pros for years.
Revo Uninstaller - to get rid of pesky programs and all the registry problems that go with them too!

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System Cleaners
Jul 29, 2011 3:02PM PDT

You didn't specify which OS you are using. I have several P4 and Dual Core desktops still on Win XP. The combination of MS Security Essentials, Advanced System Care 4, and (free) Malwarebytes keeps them humming. I like the comment to reload your OS from a backup - backup as that is probably the top drawer approach, but I just don't have that kind of time. And my limited experience with Win 7 confirms other authors' comclusion that it is much more stable than XP.

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I have been through this........
Jul 29, 2011 3:04PM PDT

I have had the same or similar problem that you describe. I am just a novice at computing but when I took my bloated and sluggish HP Pentium 4 to the the local shop, the tech there taught me a few things. First of all, he taught me that Norton was bad for Windows, and replaced it with Avast. Then he got rid of the several cleaners that I had and left me with CCleaner. He also showed me how to clean my PC myself. You simply go to Start < Accessories < Run. In the box you type %Temp% , then hit OK. Then you delete all the temporary files that are shown.

Works for me !

Don F.

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PC Cleaners
Jul 29, 2011 5:59PM PDT

I have tried Uniblue Power Suite and have not been convinced by this program. I ran my usual scan at start up, it found some errors in both, Speed Up My PC and Regcure, then promptly fixed these errors. I then saw a free scan offered by Uniblue, ran it out of interest and the results were quite a surprise to me as it found over 300 Errors and urged me to purchase the program to fix them. I contacted Uniblue to ask them to explain to me "how could this be after my installed version said it had fixed my issues. The reply I received from them was "some programs are more aggressive than others and this would be the reason the scan showed up more fixes were required".
I then emailed them back to say the free scan I ran was their own software, and not as they seemed to think, someone else s, and I still await a reply!! Sad

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One of the cleaners might be the problem
Aug 5, 2011 9:24PM PDT

I am using Win 7, and I have used all Windows versions ever since Win 1.5 (that was on floppy disk), One of the cleaners might have caused more registry errors to appear. I have tried a few cleaners. None are worth the money. I believe that MS Windows should clean up the registry after itself. However, I also believe that all installed software should maintain the registry entries it makes and alters, and MS should enforce this, make it a requirement. If a user installs and uninstalls software, eventually the registry will become bloated, and the PC will slow down, especially during startup. When Windows boots, it preloads a lot of stuff. The more software you have on your hard drive, the more WIndows preloads, and the longer it takes to boot. I think that if a user wants a faster and cleaner PC, he/she should not install and uninstall software. Second, do not run any PC games except for those that come with Microsoft WIndows. They will mess up your Windows installation. Buy a gaming system for games. Another thing, I have had PCs and built most of those ever since the 8086 PCs, one of the first. Those ran at incredibly slow speeds like 16 MHz. Today, my PC is a quad core 2.5 GHz 8 GB system I built in 2007. Even though the PC is thousands of times faster than the early PCs, it still takes several minutes to boot. Unbelieveably, software runs just as slowly as it did on the 16 MHz machines. In the log run, the best thing to do is to reload or restore Windows periodically. Also, MS has the power to fix this problem just as I have stated above.

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You may be waiting a long time for MS
Aug 6, 2011 4:22PM PDT

Mail1 I couldn't agree more that registry integrity being enforced by MS. There are several programs I use that can monitor the registry but because of internal Windows process etc is constantly being written to which make tracking changes that affect permanent operational integrity and efficiency difficult. However, I am sure that MS could do something better than system restore which is a heavy handed approach. The same applies to driver update. They are fraught with danger as often issues do not manifest themselves immediately and problems are notoriously difficult to isolate. Similarly I would like to know, without having to rumble around to find log files, what the hell the computer is doing at any one time so there is some explanation of PC behaviour eg stalling (usually a process or application is background processing or the like). The Task Manager, event logging etc are good but I want to know what my PC is doing right now if I feel the need to know. Also the repair function (in XP at least) often returns crispness of the system but what a drastic step! I fail to accept that the majority of registry is OK and there is either junk or a few rogue entries slowing things up. In short, all of these tasks can be accomplished but not without resort to third party software and lots of stuffing around. This is something MS can improve quite readily by providing onboard tools that provide feedback or a scanning services like Fix-it that will comprehensively analyse a system and detect structural issue. Cheers

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cleaning
Jul 29, 2011 7:18PM PDT

ibelieve cc cleaner and the rest of the junk file removers actually only mark the files for overwrite where as programs like clean my pc actually delete plus doing many other jobs this can be got on the h33t site

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Performance/Optimization Ghost Fixs
Jul 29, 2011 9:27PM PDT
Hello Fellow Computer Users
I have been using the same computer for over 10 years and to this date I have not had an issue with it other than that of running abit slower than the modern one's. One thing I will say, I have never had a system crash or as they call a blue screen. In regards as to the so called system cleaners, you can have the best one on your system set up and than add another, you will always end up with the conclucion that you need to clean your system out even though the original claims that your system is clean (No Such Thing). Once a file from where it may come from is planted into your hard drive it is there to stay, it is there even though it is hidden. I will agree and yes it is the best backup. You should always clone your harddrive after a clean install upto and including all secondary programs, fixs and updates, once this is done run your Windows cleanup, Windows Defragment Tool and than finally Run CHKDSK/R before cloning your drive to another source, priferably thumb drive, second harddrive external or internal, if not unto a DVD.
For the past 8 years the only programs that I have had on my 3 computes have been only 2 and they are,
(1) Nortons, of course there could be better or worse out there but this is my personal choice.
(2) PC Pitstop Optimizer which I have used since the beginning, needless to say again, it depends on what the user likes.
Since 2001, I have reinstalled windows from my personal backup 3 times, this was mainly because of system sluggishness. I freshinstall works wonders and that is only after you had formated your harddrive with a military format (It is time consuming but worth the effort, the thing is to zero out your harddrive.
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Uniblue
Aug 5, 2011 10:57AM PDT

is a SCAM stay away from it. If you DO manage to purchase a copy it will WIPE your system if you don't know what you're doing. This happened to me when I let it delete some files I didn't recognize as being essential! I had to reinstall the system.

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UNIBLUE is NOT a scam
Aug 6, 2011 2:46AM PDT

I have been using the Uniblue "Speed Up My PC" and "RegistryBooster2" for several years with no problems at all, and it definitely speeds up the system. I especially like the "Registry Defrag" utility which also makes a BIG difference the first time you use it. (after that it is primarily for maintenance purposes)

I think "janitorman" said it best when he posted you might have problems "if you don't know what you're doing". Apparently he doesn't. The directions are clear, if you read them. Also you need to make a backup of your files (it gives you this option) before completing the cleanup.

I am not an employee of UNIBLUE nor affiliated with them (or the parent company) in any way. I AM a tech professional who does not enjoy reading blasts against good companies from people who do not read directions of use their software correctly. While there ARE companies that are sellingless than capable software out there, this is not one of them. I recommend to ANYONE considering such a purchase to do their research on a prospective product before purchasing it.

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Kaspersky vs ESET NOD32
Aug 5, 2011 2:04PM PDT

Can anyone give me feed back regarding Kaspersky vs ESET NOD32, thanks. RayQ

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A little off topic but sure.
Aug 5, 2011 2:10PM PDT

NOD32 continues to win speed tests and folk that need small less heavy protection flock to it.

Other than that, I'd take either.
Bob

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System utility cleaners
Jul 29, 2011 9:35PM PDT

Iolo System Mechanic is the best (my opinion). I have been using it for years and my old PC runs just like a Cadillac.

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System Cleaners
Aug 5, 2011 12:49PM PDT

I have been using System Mechanic for seven years. In that time I have never had a virus on my computer. The program runs in the background and cleans the system until it is absolutely humming!

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GMC Product? YUCK!
Sep 3, 2011 12:02AM PDT

GMC Product? YUCK!

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System Cleaners
Jul 29, 2011 11:51PM PDT

I think Tuneup Utilities is the best, I have tried the others. You just set it up and leave it.
and now and again it will prompt you how you can improve the running of your PC.
It is very light on resources, like I say you can run it and forget it.

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Tuneup Utilities is the BEST
Aug 5, 2011 12:50PM PDT

I fully agree with jororich that Tuneup Utilities is the best software for the PC.

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Re: cleaners
Jul 29, 2011 11:57PM PDT
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Purpose matters
Jul 29, 2011 11:59PM PDT

Hi Guillermo,

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Uniblue Registry Booster
Aug 5, 2011 2:04PM PDT

Uniblue's programme PowerBoost is very good and has the backup feature. Where do I find Smart Defrag 2 and what anti-malware programme would you recommend?