GameKing

First, you will not lose any files. Actually, it is a little like the Format utility in Windows, the difference is that it formats only the free space on your hard drive. Simply speaking, as you use your computer you are adding and deleting files. However, the deleted files are not really deleted, they are marked as "available for use" in the File Allocation Table; this allows other programmes to write fresh data over the old `deleted`data. So, anyone with a little knowledge can recover your "deleted" data. Wipe Free Space checks your hard drive to find all the free space (some of which will have your "deleted" information) and then it writes random over the top of it. This makes your computer much more secure. However, the Wipe Free Space included in CCleaner is quite basic, and there are experts who can still recover your data. So programmes, such as Eraser, write over your "deleted" data as much as 35 times making it impossible for anyone to recover--albeit you will hear claims from some who say they know how to do this! Hope this helps.

I suspect that most of us realize two things: A multi-function programme, such as CCleaner, is not as good at cleaning your HD as a dedicated application, such as Eraser. A single wipe is not going to give you the best clean. However, I have a question that I don't think has been discussed here: If I run the Wipe Free option 2 or 3 times a month, will that give me the same protection as using a more advanced cleaner and selecting the "Clean SEVEN times" option?

I am using IE 6 and CCleaner 1.27.260 You may be right on the button here. All of these cookies predated my CCleaner installation. However, it seems strange that this app would require that ALL my old cookies be deleted? I have one that tracks all the mutual funds that I follow and it would be a pain to have to redo all of that.

I have several cookies that I MUST keep, so I went to the Options button and the Cookies option. It listed several "Cookies to delete" which can be transferred to the "Cookies to Keep" column. However, most of the cookies that I need to keep are NOT listed! Thinking that CCleaner was unable to see all my cookies I went to the Cleaner button, checked the Cookies box and pressed Analyze. Sure enough all my cookies are there. This means that if I Run Cleaner I will delete all of the cookies that I want to keep--and yet will not allow me to protect them from deletion.