14 DAY TRIAL // Light and easy to use. These are some of the attributes of any application, no matter what it does. Easy handling will always have an advantage in the eyes of the user. And when it comes to making your computer lighter and cleaner the same attributes are expected from the instrument able to fulfill these needs. Flexibility is also important when it comes to ridding your computer of temporary and unwanted files. Most of such applications are endowed with these qualities and some of them do an extraordinary job.
The only hindrance in using them is the price. The more the qualities, the higher the price. However, some freeware applications have succeeded in rooting on users' computers and it is a difficult job to replace them with a commercial disk cleaner. Generally users tend to install two or three applications that combined will reach the same result (and sometimes better) as a paid version of who a certain system optimizing software. I for one will still stick to CCleaner, EasyCleaner and Power Defragmenter in order to keep my computer running as fast as possible.
BeClean is a freeware application packed with very useful tools for cleaning the Registry, the Internet, History files, the HDD, Desktop and Start Menu. More than that, it allows the user customization so that other areas of the computer that are not so popular could benefit from its cleaning properties.
The interface is not much as the developer preferred functionality over good looks and the choice is not unfortunate at all. From the beginning the user is prompted to select the cleaners to be used for the current session. The software is aimed at beginners so a brief description of the tool is provided. After the choice has been made you can press the Start Cleaning button with no fear as the application is smart enough to create a backup of the registry first so in the case of an unfortunate event you can reverse the cleaning process.
The minimalist interface is equipped with a Settings button that permits easy configuration of the software. This way you can choose what areas should be included in the Registry, Internet and History cleaning process.
For the registry the regular options are available as in almost every other similar software on the Internet: Add/Remove section, application paths, help section, HTML help, Microsoft shared section, Run section, Shared DLLs and Sound Customization (this is a new one). But the user can add other locations by using the Custom area of BeClean Settings. Here there can be added new files and folders to be cleaned as well as registry keys. If you do not know how to handle this section then you'd better stay away as damage can be inflicted to your computer.
Internet Cleaning tool comprises the IE typed URLs, temporary files and cookies and downloaded program files. Unfortunately, there is no way to keep certain URLs and cookies out of the cleaning progress and this is one downside that cannot be overlooked. Also, IE based web browsers are the only ones affected by this feature, so running Mozilla Firefox or other web browser that is not IE based results in cleaning absolutely nothing.
Some softwares that come with Windows, like Paint, WordPad or Media Player leave behind a list of files that have been previously opened. These can be eliminated from History tab by checking the corresponding boxes. Other options available include clearing Run Menu command lines, last visited MRU from Common Dialog or the Recent Documents list in Start menu.
Backup tab displays the number of files that have been created before the cleaning took place. These are registry backups stored in the software's installation folder. Backup gives you the chance to restore those files in case something went wrong after the clean or delete them completely. I recommend keeping the last three or four registry backups, just in case.
BeClean can be configured to run at Windows start and perform a silent cleaning of the above mentioned locations. Silent means that you will not be displayed any dialog. The fact that BeClean is providing logs of its actions after the cleaning is definitely a big plus because it will give you a chance to analyze the files that have been eliminated from your computer and in the case of something important you can restore the registry backup.
Another option available in BeClean is cleaning the disks of useless files of dubious extension. For this the developer prepared a wizard to make it easier for you. It allows you to select the volumes you want to be analyzed and cleaned as well as adding more extensions to be taken into consideration during the clean. A final warning before the operation launches adverts that the process is irreversible so you should be careful with the file filter.
The Good
The application is free and extremely easy to use and if you have any doubt with regards to an option you can consult the Help menu.
The Bad
De-selecting some cookies and URLs would be a major plus in the value of the application.
The Truth
Always check the log after the clean is complete. I have not encountered any problem and in what concerns the "safety net" BeClean is rock steady. But better safe than sorry.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
