CCleaner question

RedLad said:

I will remove it. But I am a bit freaked now if I have been 'hacked' or if there is some other dodgy sh*t running in the background as a result of installing this program. Is there any need to be worried about my system? It does seem fine though. All of the things are going through my head like could someone have access to my Gmail, Instagram, Twitter etc. as a result of me having used CCleaner for so long. Even my login for this site for heavens sake! Couldn't actually sleep the other night thinking about it all of that!

Or, is that me just overthinking it? The version is 5.78, and was installed in the first quarter of 2021. But I had been using it for the past few years.

They added an emergency updater in case it ever happens again.

CCleaner v5.36 - Announcements - CCleaner Community Forums

How was it hacked?

CCleaner Was Hacked: What You Need to Know

So if like me you never auto updated or installed that particular version then there's no problem. If you never update there's no problem except that some cleaning rules might stop working and new cleaning rules won't be added. You can get around that. See Posts #5 & #9 here:

Is Ccleaner safe to use with SSD drive?

Then it entirely depends upon how comfortable the user is with configuring settings and knowing what items to select/ ignore/ add to inclusion/ exclusion lists. Or if you're comfortable letting windows built in tools handling cleanup then fine unless space/ privacy is an issue.

Just for info:

What's your favorite 3rd party cleaning app?

Your system so it's your choice if you want to use it or not. If you don't know how to use it and want to use it anyway always have a system image backup/ restore option in place.

I use CCleaner [formerly called Crap Cleaner] but it's only the Portable version, doesn't have to be installed which is better for my clients as they don't need to use it as much.

RedLad said:

OK, I just downloaded it. I will install it.

My main thing I used CCleaner for was every time I finish an internet session and I'm turning off my PC, I'd run that to erase any cached data and any temp files that get gathered along the way. I was thinking it was good for flushing out the logins that I use online for Gmail etc as I never leave them logged in on my PC. That is just habit.

So I guess the best way to do a clean of all of that is an old manual way? I have this video about clearing out caches in Windows 10.
�� How to CLEAR All Cache in Windows 10 to Improve Performance & Speed Up ANY PC! - YouTube

Surely there would be a quicker/better way to do this would there?

I've never bothered clearing caches unless I have a specific problem I'm debugging, then I'll just do it through the browser app itself.

There's a lot of bunk out there on YouTube etc about speeding up your PC ....... I stay away from that crap unless it comes from a reputable source.

RedLad said:

My main thing I used CCleaner for was every time I finish an internet session and I'm turning off my PC, I'd run that to erase any cached data and any temp files that get gathered along the way. I was thinking it was good for flushing out the logins that I use online for Gmail etc as I never leave them logged in on my PC. That is just habit.

So I guess the best way to do a clean of all of that is an old manual way? I have this video about clearing out caches in Windows 10.
 How to CLEAR All Cache in Windows 10 to Improve Performance & Speed Up ANY PC! - YouTube

Surely there would be a quicker/better way to do this would there?

What browser(s) do you use?

Just for consideration:

StoragErazor – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US)

Clear Cookies and Storage Button – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-GB)

GitHub - Cookie-AutoDelete/Cookie-AutoDelete: Firefox and Chrome WebExtension that deletes cookies and other browsing site data as soon as the tab closes, domain changes, browser restarts, or a combination of those events.

see installation (Firefox, Chrome, Edge Chromium)

Then there is Click & Clean for Chrome, Edge or old versions of Firefox. Quantum is not supported.

Click&Clean | Security and Privacy Software

RedLad said:

Thanks for this

- - - Updated - - -



Yeah but I remember sometimes after running CCleaner it would say over a gig of space had been freed up after it did its thing. Most times was only about 50MB or so I think.

But imagine letting that build up by not clearing caches manually even - you'd clog up your system with alot of thrash! Unless CCleaner was telling fibs, I am not sure.

That video I posted has some decent points in it, it isn't really crap. But I do agree there are some cowboys out there with useless videos.

My Firefox cache is 1 GB right now and no thrashing ............

Just an FYI:

So if you want pages to be stored in cache and load faster you'd need disk cache but i really don't notice much difference just using RAM cache.

@RedLad,

Is your boot drive a SSD or HDD? Your specs don't say and that would be a huge factor with disk thrashing if a HDD.