Hello there! I have recently signed up for CCleaner Pro's trial and have been enjoying its file cleaning capabilities. However, after the trial ended, I was surprised to find that all the programs I had put to sleep were suddenly awakened. I am quite perplexed by this and would greatly appreciate some clarification. Thank you.
I don't see why that should be in any way perplexing?
It is exactly how any software trial works.
A trial is exactly that; it lets you try out features of a software to see if you then want to buy the full (Professional) version.
When a trail of the Professional features ends then those Profesesional features stop working of course.
If you want those feature to continue working then you have to purchase the full version of the software.
If you want Performance Optimizer (and the other CCleaner Pro features) to continue to work then you will need to buy a CCleaner licence.