# Is CCleaner safe? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 9, 2009, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ccleaner-safe/509413 "2009-09-09T12:55:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ccleaner-safe/509413/1 "2009-09-09T12:55:47Z")
I’ve got an ancient (7, almost 8 years) PC and no plans to buy a new computer anytime soon. At this point the memory is crammed – despite my deleting photo files (the biggest space hogs I’m aware of, I keep virtually no music on this machine), I was unable to free up enough space to defrag it. Someone mentioned [CCleaner](http://www.ccleaner.com/), a freeware program that cleans the crap off your machine – but I’ve never heard of it before and am hesitant to download/run something like that willy nilly. Is this safe? Is it a good idea? Is there something else similar that is safer or a better idea? TIA twicks, everyone’s favorite luddite ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ccleaner-safe/509413/2 "2009-09-09T13:51:33Z")
I’ve run CCleaner on my machines for years. Very helpful little tool. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ccleaner-safe/509413/3 "2009-09-09T13:56:03Z")
Cool. Thanks, hon. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ccleaner-safe/509413/4 "2009-09-09T15:27:52Z")
Man, that puppy works great, doesn’t it? I went from 12% free space to 21% free space. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ccleaner-safe/509413/5 "2009-09-09T15:29:59Z")
CCLeaner is a great tool. I also highly recommend their other free piece of software, Defraggler to defrag your drive. ---
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ccleaner-safe/509413/6 "2009-09-09T15:56:23Z")
I run it every day before I turn off. It cleans out all the cookees, links, and garbage that was picked up during the day. It only takes a few seconds for a complete cleaning - if you run it every day. ---
**Author:** ![HookerChemical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/278dde/32.png) [@HookerChemical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HookerChemical)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ccleaner-safe/509413/7 "2009-09-09T15:59:59Z")
It’s a great program. Use it. Now, the caveat: make sure you don’t have it clean things you want to keep. I run multiple browsers, with different purposes. I want to keep the cookies for one of them, but not the others, so I’m careful to uncheck the cookies cleanup for that browser. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ccleaner-safe/509413/8 "2009-09-09T16:10:25Z")
You did mean your hard drive was filling up right? Running low on memory isn’t fixed by deleting files. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ccleaner-safe/509413/9 "2009-09-09T16:15:07Z")
Just for the record, hard drives are cheap and easy to install even for luddites. Adding a second for extra storage space may worth looking into. ---
**Author:** ![flyboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4da419/32.png) [@flyboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flyboy)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ccleaner-safe/509413/10 "2009-09-09T16:57:03Z")
I installed it a couple months ago and used it for about a week, and out of blue my computer died–the OS couldn’t find some file or other, even with the emergency disc in there. I couldn’t get much further past the post (couldn’t even get to safe mode), so I couldn’t get to the saved backup registry. I had to completely wipe the thing and reinstall the OS. I’d like to use it again, but I’m too leery right now. ---
**Author:** ![redshift](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bbce88/32.png) [@redshift](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redshift)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ccleaner-safe/509413/11 "2009-09-09T17:12:02Z")
CCleaner is a very reputable tool. The only problem is that it can clean your registry (and we all know how finicky that thing is). ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ccleaner-safe/509413/12 "2009-09-09T18:29:51Z")
CCleaner is great. It’s quick, easy, and does a good job at what it does. It’s essentially three different tools: 1. Cleaning up temporary / junk files, the main use. GREAT at it. 2. Cleaning the registry. This is rarely necessary, but I’ve rarely seen or heard of CCleaner causing problems, unlike some registry cleaners. 3. Managing programs that launch on startup. Handy, and easier than built-in techniques. But CCleaner really isn’t what you want for freeing up disk space. If you’re trying to find wasted space to clear, I highly recommend checking out a program called WinDirStat. It’ll produce a diagram to visualize exactly where all your disk space is going, and it’s great for finding wasted files. I discovered several gigs of useless files a while ago that apps like Ccleaner would never catch because they weren’t “temp” files, they were program files for a program I rarely used and didn’t realize generation giant junk files. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ccleaner-safe/509413/13 "2009-09-09T18:31:41Z")
_makes mental note to try WinDirStat_ Ees free gratis? ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ccleaner-safe/509413/14 "2009-09-09T18:32:03Z")
> [@flyboy](#): > > I installed it a couple months ago and used it for about a week, and out of blue my computer died–the OS couldn’t find some file or other, even with the emergency disc in there. I couldn’t get much further past the post (couldn’t even get to safe mode), so I couldn’t get to the saved backup registry. I had to completely wipe the thing and reinstall the OS. I’d like to use it again, but I’m too leery right now. Google “Ultimate Boot CD for Windows.” It’s a version of Windows that can boot straight from your CD drive, giving you access to tons of handy built-in tools to allow things like drive maintainence, data copying, and, importantly, registry restoration. Handiest CD in the world to have around when this sort of thing happens. I’ve fixed problems that would be a definite reformat without it in fifteen minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Cymbeline](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_cymbeline/32/9244_2.png) [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ccleaner-safe/509413/15 "2009-09-09T18:38:05Z")
I’m another who regularly uses CCleaner, and never had a problem. I highly recommend it! ---
**Author:** ![HorseloverFat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8e8cbc/32.png) [@HorseloverFat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HorseloverFat)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ccleaner-safe/509413/16 "2009-09-09T21:42:05Z")
I cant think of any legitimate reason to clean the registry. I find that a lot of people with mysterious computer problems are the ones who know just enough to be dangerous but not enough to be skeptical of the claims of other enthusiasts and software marketers. ccleaner is safe for temp files and other junk, but I would never, ever let it attempt to clean a registry. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ccleaner-safe/509413/17 "2009-09-10T07:46:06Z")
CCleaner is great, and works well. I’ve been using it since before the name was ‘sanitized’, back when it was CrapCleaner. But one warning: recently, when you install it, it tries to install the Google toolbar (or maybe it’s the Yahoo one). There is an option (already checked) to install it. You need to watch for this and uncheck it, or it will install that toolbar on you. Ironic: a product designed to clean crap off your computer tries to fool you into installing a piece of crap! (I consider that toolbar crap. If it was something I wanted, I could easily find it online & install it. But trying to sneak it onto my computer is a crappy action.) But I continue to use CCleaner, and install new versions (carefully) despite this. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ccleaner-safe/509413/18 "2009-09-10T07:53:52Z")
I’ve used CCleaner, but it has some pitfalls if you check the wrong thing, and most of its functions can be done by other programs just as well if not better, so I don’t use it anymore. It’s malware-free AFAIK. > [@HorseloverFat](#): > > I cant think of any legitimate reason to clean the registry… I can. A bloated registry with lots of obsolete and unused entries/values can slow down program execution. However, the cleaning process is fraught with danger, so I’m not sure which is worse, the disease or the cure. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ccleaner-safe/509413/19 "2009-09-10T07:59:24Z")
> [@HorseloverFat](#): > > I cant think of any legitimate reason to clean the registry. I find that a lot of people with mysterious computer problems are the ones who know just enough to be dangerous but not enough to be skeptical of the claims of other enthusiasts and software marketers. ccleaner is safe for temp files and other junk, but I would never, ever let it attempt to clean a registry. I only recently came across the CV that registry cleaners are a Bad Idea. I used to think they were a necessity. I ran Norton’s registry fix on a near daily basis when I had Win98. And until a few years ago I would run it quite often on Win XP. Typically, it would deal with two DirectX (ActiveX?) problems that slowed my system down. I never had a problem with this, or with reg fixers by less reputable companies. That said, I understand your concerns: the reg fixer necessarily operates on guesswork. I am more circumspect now. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ccleaner-safe/509413/20 "2009-09-10T08:39:29Z")
I use revo uninstaller to uninstall my programs and that cleans out almost all of the unneeded registry entries that get left behind by the self uninstallers of the programs. Corel is a great one for leaving left over registry entries all over the place. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ccleaner-safe/509413.md?page=2)