Clean your computer with CCleaner

Everything the computer works with is stored somewhere on the hard drive. During normal computer use, the PC gets dirty, for example because programs temporarily store data and do not delete it (properly). That is why it is important to keep the hard disk tidy. Windows itself has some programs for that. Still, it can be useful to occasionally use the CCleaner program to clean up the hard drive.

Download and install CCleaner using the ‘CCleaner’ article. Read below how to use the program.

After downloading, the program will start immediately. All subsequent times, you must do this manually. Within Windows 10, click Start > CCleaner.

By default, the program opens to the ‘Status Check’ tab. On the left you will see five other tabs: ‘Custom cleaning’, ‘Registry’, ‘Tools’, ‘Options’ and ‘Upgrade’. In the right window you can see which options belong to the active function.

On the Health Check tab you can run a kind of ‘health check’ for the computer. After the ‘diagnosis’, have a standard cleaning performed.

• If necessary, click on the tab Status check.
• Click at the bottom of the window Skip and Start Status Check.
• If any programs are still running, CCleaner will prompt you to close them. This is not necessary per se, but it does ensure that more can be cleaned. If you do not want to close a program, click on the blue check mark for the program to remove it. click on Close and analyze or To skip.

  

• CCleaner analyzes the computer. This may take a while.
• You will then receive the result, for example ‘Your computer is not feeling well’. click on Help your PC recover.

CCleaner removes temporary and other unwanted files. The computer is clean again.

On the ‘Custom cleaning’ tab you can customize the cleaning. For example, cookies are deleted by default. These are small text files that programs store on your computer to remember things about you. Deleting cookies provides disk space, but also means that you have to log in again and again on sites like Facebook, SeniorWeb or Pinterest. That can be adjusted. You can read how this works in the article ‘Clean up your Windows computer without worries’.

We recommend making further changes to ‘Custom cleaning’ only for advanced computer users who know exactly which setting is intended for what.

For the advanced interested, the other tabs of the program are now discussed. Click on the tab Register and you will see a share menu appear on the right with the option to scan for errors. If you have a scan performed, an overview will be given of the problems found and the option to fix them.

The fourth tab is ‘Tools’. Click it to see CCleaner’s tools. Options include uninstalling programs and controlling which programs start at the same time as Windows. This function is also mainly interesting for advanced users.

This is followed by the ‘Options’ tab. In this menu you can change the settings of CCleaner. In principle this is not necessary at all, but for the advanced user it can be interesting to go through the options.

Finally, there is option ‘Upgrade’. Here you can (if you want) switch to the paid version CCleaner Professional.