CCleaner Proper/safe way of use

[Derick]

I've downloaded the CCleaner recently and i like it. But i am not sure the way to use the Registry cleaner,so it is dangerous? and shuld i use it?

[Corona]

The safest thing to do before you run CCleaners' registry cleaner is run System Restore (XP, Vista) and create a new restore point for your PC before you start. Another excellent restore application to run as double insurance is ERUNT.

 

CCleaners' registry cleaner is about the safest one out there, BUT, know your installed applications and system files better before you trust it to delete everything it finds. The good part is if you run "Scan For Issues", it will do just that. It will scan them. It won't delete anything. After it's done scanning, every item is checked for removal. You have the option at that time to uncheck items you're not sure about. If you see names that you're not familiar with, uncheck them just to be on the safe side. If at that time you feel confident about removing those other files, click "Fix Selected Issues". If you feel unsafe about the whole thing, just quit the program (X out) and nothing will be touched.

[Nergal]

As Corona insinuated the CCleaner reg cleaner is only as good as your knowledge of your own computer. The Best practice (IMHO) is three fold

 

1) Go in small Chunks (this will help when restoring reg entries that you backed up see 2) go checkmark by checkmark

2) Back up each time you clean and name each file, not the default but the name of the tree you are cleaning and the date you cleaned it.

3) DON'T Just Click and clean. If you don't know what something is Google it. Start by googling the entire reg key then if you get no (helpful) results pare down your search. (Helpful results might include someone's hijackthis log if someone has pointed out what something is, but usually these are a mess to go through). Many things are found by CCleaner that doesn't mean you don't use/need them examples below

a) security Programs (i.e. Symantec/Norton, Mcafee) will often have reg entries that aren't "related" to anything, this helps keep hackers from being able to easily disable your security.

b)File Extensions often just because a file extension is not assigned to a program this doesn't mean that a program doesn't exist on your computer that needs these extensions. (ex from my computer .amz is assigned to the Amazon File Downloader but still shows up in unused file extensions)

 

That said, some of the Recent Changes to CCleaner's reg handler have greatly improved my accidental removal of entries I need. so really the most important items in my list are 1 and 2