Does anyone still use tune up utilities like CCleaner?

Quit using CC when all that brouhaha came out. Tried it once after that--it's really OK but having tried to use Speccy and it not detecting most of my hardware, I just said "the heck with it" to Piriform in general.

I routinely use Windows Settings app to remove junk files. For a more "spring-cleaning"-like experience, I run the donors' version of PrivaZer. I used to use Wise Disk Care free--on a whim, I ran PrivaZer free and it picked up about 208 more cookies than Wise--just for starters. It was a little shameful there so I quietly switched.

Windows in-built is capable enough but prefer a more thorough clean now and then. This machine doesn't need add'l optimizing, just the Disk Optimizer when needed.

plat said:

Quit using CC when all that brouhaha came out. Tried it once after that--it's really OK but having tried to use Speccy and it not detecting most of my hardware, I just said "the heck with it" to Piriform in general.

I routinely use Windows Settings app to remove junk files. For a more "spring-cleaning"-like experience, I run the donors' version of PrivaZer. I used to use Wise Disk Care free--on a whim, I ran PrivaZer free and it picked up about 208 more cookies than Wise--just for starters. It was a little shameful there so I quietly switched.

Windows in-built is capable enough but prefer a more thorough clean now and then. This machine doesn't need add'l optimizing, just the Disk Optimizer when needed.

PrivaZer picked up by Zemana as a Trojan:

I saw a number of people here make a point of saying how you should never use the Registry cleaner tool provided by CCleaner. Is there any such cleaner out there worth using? My main concern is previous uninstalls where garbage may have been left behind that Windows doesn't automatically clean up.

Mkg Bits Count said:

PrivaZer picked up by Zemana as a Trojan:

If something like that comes up, I run the .exe past Jotti scanner. You can also upload it to VirusTotal, which has about 3x the engines as Jotti. I am virtually certain this is a false alarm.

Zemana has issues with false postives and I've found it much slower to whitelist relatively new builds of various software than other like scanners. About a year ago, Zemana "detected" the latest .exe of MSI Afterburner as a Trojan. I submitted the false positive to Zemana directly, twice! After four months, it was still coming up so I gave up on Zemana from then on.

I've used PrivaZer off and on for several years. It has a learning curve to it, that's for certain, and there's some jargon in there that may be unfamiliar to average users. To each his/her own.

cytherian said:

I saw a number of people here make a point of saying how you should never use the Registry cleaner tool provided by CCleaner. Is there any such cleaner out there worth using?

Nah, I wouldn't use a dedicated registry cleaner myself but many do. It seems a "niche" kind of thing and some may approve, some may disapprove, all with reason.

As an alternative, I've heard some uninstallers, particularly paid ones, can take a snapshot before and after you install a software. Then, when you want to remove it from your system, the uninstaller can scan and flag all the residual bits, including those in the registry, removing them following a restart.

I use HiBit Uninstaller which doesn't have this snapshot feature (yet). But it will remove many (not all) residual registry entries from uninstalled software upon reboot. After 6 months of use, no issues whatsoever. But that's been my experience and wouldn't dare to generalize....

cytherian said:

I saw a number of people here make a point of saying how you should never use the Registry cleaner tool provided by CCleaner. Is there any such cleaner out there worth using? My main concern is previous uninstalls where garbage may have been left behind that Windows doesn't automatically clean up.

In the vast majority of cases, garbage left behind by sloppy uninstallers does not hurt performance in any way that can be noticed. An aging installation of Windows can in fact bog the system down more significantly as a result from each time having upgraded/updated Windows to a newer version or build so, even if you never installed/uninstalled anything much besides Windows updates and driver updates, doing a clean install of Windows 10 every once in a while may prove to be a more worthwile solution than what I like to describe as "typical Windows 10 homeopathy". Some people go as far as to install apps to a VM just for keeping the OS all Spic and Span, when the reality is that running a VM even when it's not warranted is still rated very high at the top of the list of avoidable performance hogs so a user's misinterpretation of what's the real purpose of virtualization tends to be often counterproductive. While I agree that apps like Revo Uninstaller (among a few other, similar ones) might still be useful at times, a more resilient tactic that I like to use is called Sandboxie Plus. It's not always perfect, and, making an incremental image with Acronis True Image before I start to experiment is still the only way to be sure, but I am a pragmatist so, I like to combine multiple tactics in a layered kind of approach, or mindset. IMO use the nice, vanilla scented, Cape Cod polishing cloths with the separately sold horsehair brush, and add in a bit of fresh procmon. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sys...nloads/procmon