Windows Cleaner Options

G'day,

I've just downloaded CCleaner 2.04.543 and have a question regarding some of the options under the Windows Cleaner category.

Under the 'System' category there are the following two options:

  • Start Menu Shortcuts
  • Desktop Shortcuts

And under the 'Advanced' category there are the following options:

  • Old Prefetch data
  • Menu Order Cache
  • Window Size/Location Cache
  • User Asset History
  • IIS Log History
  • Hotfix Uninstallers
  • Custom Files and Folders

Now, I'm not sure what would happen if I select these and then press 'Run Cleaner'.

I was hoping someone could explain to me briefly what each of these options does, to help me decide whether or not I should be selecting them.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

  • Start Menu Shortcuts

    I think it checks for broken Start menu (Start button | Programs) shortcuts, and deletes these. Run once, then uncheck - this can make CCleaner run very slow.

  • Desktop Shortcuts

    Same as above, but for Desktop shortcuts.

  • Old Prefetch data

    Deletes old Prefetch folder entries (older than XX? days). Uncheck it if you don’t understand the concept of the Prefetch folder (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefetcher for information).

  • Menu Order Cache

    Will delete information on ordered menus.

  • Window Size/Location Cache

    Will delete information on windows sizes and locations.

  • User Asset History

    (Sorry, can’t answer this.)

  • IIS Log History

    Deletes IIS web server logs. Uncheck if you don’t run IIS on your computer.

  • Hotfix Uninstallers

    Deletes Windows Update uninstallers. This releases lots of space on your disk, but leaves you unable to uninstall any Windows or Office updates.

  • Custom Files and Folders

    (Sorry, can’t answer this.)

That helps a lot - thank you for taking the time to answer!

  • User Asset History

I think this should read 'User Assist History'; nevertheless, I don't know what it accomplishes.

Also TW.87 have a read here

http://www.internetrotsyourbrain.com/ccleanerbeginnersguide/

That's great - thank you very much!

Also see the CCleaner Beginner's Guide.

The User Assist History I think is a record of whenever you get an error. For instance a Blue Screen of Death, Windows tries to diagnose the problem and tell you how to avoid it in the future. That information is kept until you delete it using CCleaner, the Disk Cleanup tool in Windows (right-click the drive in My Computer, properties, it's on the first page I think, it is for Vista, can't remember for XP) or some other program. You should be safe to remove it but you don't have to if you don't want to.

Custom Files and Folders are things you define within CCleaner in the Options, Include menu. By default there shouldn't be anything there.