Soft Cleaner

Computers often become slower as they age, especially if you use it regularly and download large numbers of files. Temporary files and Internet browsing files in particular, can cause a system to slow, so it can be important to remove them regularly. Soft Cleaner is an application that allows users to scan their system for any files that are not only unnecessary, but impacting the performance of a system.

Unfortunately, Soft Cleaner operates quite differently to several other scanning programs which can make it a bit difficult to navigate at first. The application operates as a window within a window when it is first started, a design choice that comes across as strange. When Soft Cleaner, a second launch button opens the interface within the non resizable window.

The Options menu, which is the only way to configure the application, does not have its own specific area or tab within Soft Cleaner. Instead, when users select the options, it appears as a floating menu that displays over an existing area. The options menu is a series of additional areas that can be searched and are automatically enabled to yes, with a click turning them to a no. The layout is extremely awkward and could easily be improved with a more conventional display.

The design does limit the customization of the scans, with basic options like selecting a particular drive, choosing file extensions or excluding a particularly file type from a scan are all missing. The scan option in particularly doesn't show a progress bar or anything similar, meaning it's hard to tell if it's actually working.

Aside from the scan, the only other feature it provides is the live analysis, which displays any temporary folders or files that are currently in use. While it is interesting to see, it seems semi redundant as most users want to scan and remove useless or limited files, not see files which are being used. The tab could have been used for a proper options menu, or to display more options, such as what happens to deleted files.

Soft Cleaner works, while it might not work well, it will scan directories and allow users to delete any temporary files. The design and layout are not particularly well implemented, the design is perhaps one of the biggest hurdles the application faces. The Option menu in particularly is extremely badly implemented and needs to be improved, with greater detail and customizable enabled, in its own clear, permanent area.