hello, noobie here. just downloaded ccleaner, and after it analyzed, it displayed a list to "clean".....but there were programs that i had downloaded not only because i needed or wanted them, but some that are just necessary...such as adobe flash player, etc. also stuff like my divx, bearshare, vlc player, realplayer, quicktime, windows media player etc etc etc....where i have videos and music etc that i want to keep. so just exactly what will be deleted should i hit the "clean up" buttton? just useless fragments and unnecessary trash that i will never miss? or will i do it, and then go: OMG what have i done???!!!! lol! yeh i'm scared! help!
Click the Analyze button first! It will show you a list of files that will be deleted. Note that it will also remove MRU (recently used files list) of some programs but those aren't listed by CCleaner.
Get more information and familiarize yourself with CCleaner at:
Edit:
If using the Registry Cleaner always make the Backup CCleaner presents you with! I'd recommend not using the Registry Cleaner at all until you're more comfortable with CCleaner.
thanks for the reply and i will ck out the link...but it DOES sound as though some really important stuff could be deleted! that's the vibe i'm getting from your response anyway! lol! and yes, i DID hit only "analyze" first; thus my concern for what all popped up on the "clean-up" list! thx!
CCleaner mostly removes useless stuff like browser cache/temporary internet files, logs, mru, temp files, etc., that clog your system and slow it down and make defragmenting take absolutely forever.
If you are at all leary of running it:
1. Download and install a disk imaging software such as Macrium Reflect Free Edition (freeware), DriveImage XML (freeware), etc., to backup your whole disk that Windows is installed on. Both are good freeware drive imaging tools!
2. Before using the disk imaging software run a chkdsk on your hard disk(s).
3. Make your backup with the disk imaging tool you have chosen. - This requires allot of free hard disk space and can't be saved on the drive Windows is installed on. You could opt to burn the backup image on DVDs but if you have allot of data even DVDs are impractical.
Now if anything goes wrong you'll have a full disk image to restore from. Although I doubt you'd have any serious problems!
After you analyze, right-click an item in the list and select "View detailed results." It''ll show you exactly which files will be deleted.