Maintaining your computer, no matter the operating system you are running, is an absolute must. A lot of junk files gather, especially in Windows. A bloated registry leads do serious performance issues and the myriad of useless data on the computer is affecting the well functioning of the machine as well. Keeping the operating system in tip top condition is a routine you have to perform regularly.

Third party replacements for built-in Windows maintenance tools are all over the place. A ton of defragmenters (many of them free), a myriad of uninstallers (too few of the good ones are free), tens of registry cleaners and track erasers are available to assist you in keeping Windows in the best of shape.

Ccleaner needs no introduction as it is probably the most popular secure cleaning tool on the market. It has proved more than once that its cleaning capabilities are trustworthy and does a highly laudable job. CCleaner garnered the best of reviews in time and gained its place in the top of the heap especially because of being a freeware.

Well, now it seems that it just got better. A new final version is on the verge of release as the second issue is in beta stage. Lots of changes and improvements have been made to this edition, assuring the users of the same fine reliability and trust as always.

The newest version is completely rebuild in C++ and incorporates all the requirements for a portable version. The looks have also been modified (for the better, I would say, although there are some peeps that will definitely contradict me).

So with a new look on its face, CCleaner lost nothing of its functionality. The same menu alignment runs down in the left hand side of the application window, but the contents are slightly different from the earlier version.

Cleaner menu has the same Windows and Applications tabs with minor improvements. Now Windows incorporates under System section two new options: Start Menu Shortcuts and Desktop Shortcuts. Advanced section under the same tab lost one Tray Notification option but preserved all the others (Old Prefetch data, Hotfix Uninstallers, Menu order Cache, etc.).

Applications were not unaffected by change either and besides the regular options for cleaning Firefox and Opera tracks, CCleaner will also deal with Paint.NET files, Google Toolbar, more multimedia programs (QuickTime is now included) and utilities (Spybot and Windows Defender) have been included. Windows section lost its MS Management Console but preserved Paint, WordPad and RegEdit.

Beta version of the application seems indeed to move faster and better. Previous version would not display all the junk files detected and supplementary runs had to be undertaken. This does not happen anymore, although I have to say that detection engine is not very much improved. Scanning for junk files with other programs revealed that there was more than CCleaner showed.

Cleaning the registry has also been changed for the better. You can still pick the sections you want the program to scan for invalid items. Version 2 of the software no longer presents File Integrity options, and the only alternative left is Registry Integrity. This section has not changed a bit and CCleaner will still search for missing DLLs, unused file extensions, ActiveX and Class issues, Application paths, help files, Startup inconsistencies, or obsolete software.

It works faster than ever and as accurate as possible. The only trouble is that it will not find all obsolete entries in the registry. So my recommendation in this sense is to use several registry cleaners in tandem in order to nail the most invalid files as possible. A good CCleaner companion is EasyCleaner, which is also a freebie.

Uninstall tool is a mere deploy of the uninstall file of the application you want removed. The advantage is that it loads faster and combined with the built-in registry cleaner you can get a fairly clean uninstall (it will not detect all the left-over files).

Startup section of the software is unchanged. There has not been any addition or removal of features. And it is still limited to deleting the entries. They are not eliminated right away and a restart of the application is required to enforce the changes of the startup list.

The last in the menu is Options. A few modifications were made in here and now it is richer with Exclude (Include is the new name for Custom option in the earlier version) option restricting cleaning activity in certain compute locations.

Customizing CCleaner for a better integration in the shell is the same as ever. You can add menus to Recycle Bin context menu, configure it to automatically check for updates, and run it whenever the computer starts. Also, secure deletion preserves the three deletion algorithms (Simple 1 pass Overwrite, DOD 5220.22-M 3 passes wipe and NSA's 7 passes method).

Advanced options let you set the software to delete only Windows Temp files older than 48 hours, hide warning messages (although I would do that after reading them first), automatically close the program after cleaning process is complete, prompt for registry backup, and display detailed logs for IE and Firefox temporaries.

All the settings you make can be saved to an INI file. This enables you to easily make the same settings on multiple computers by simply replacing the INI file.

The Good

All the functionality, ease of use and reliability of the previous version have been preserved. The interface integrates better in Vista.

Scanning is faster in this version.

The application can be run from an USB key, making a great addition for your portable toolkit (it also takes very little space).

Searching through uninstall list is easy as you can press the key with beginning letter of the application you need to remove.

Cookie management is ultra easy to handle.

The Bad

After uninstall there are still plenty of traces in the registry. Cleaner option works fine and fast but misses some files (during testing we scanned for junk files and there were at least 100MB left behind, though CCleaner removed about 400MB).

The Truth

The changes in this version are mostly cosmetic. There is no radical modification and the application preserves its functionality and ease of use. Though there are some glitches with file elimination, this is quite a normal as there aren't too many freeware applications to behave this good and many of the commercial ones are not as thorough as CCleanear.

I am going to break the rule this time and provide the real rating for the application, though it is in beta stage, it deserves to hear the truth.

Read CCleaner previous review HERE.


Here are some snapshots of the application in action:


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