Why is CCleaner free?

I have been using this software for several months now and I recommend it at any chance I can, and nearly always have a link within my forum sigs.

I have to ask this though, why is it free?

It's capabilities are so advanced for the freeware field, that I almost can't believe it's free.

I'm not knocking it, far from it, just a general wonderment :D

I have to ask this though, why is it free?

Hi Pinky von Pout and Welcome :)

It just is free. But you are more than welcome to make donations. ;)

It is not really free. It is free as in "free of charge". But due to being freeware it is still restricted in some ways.

And if it wasnt free, I would never have used it. And would never ever even considered to buy/pay for it.

And if you're not careful, it installs crap like Yahoo! toolbar.

If it wants to be free, then it should be free from junk such as Yahoo! toolbar, and have the source code freely available too. And I should be allowed to freely modify it, distribute it, change it, alter it, etc.