Buster vs. The Vacuum Cleaner

Photo by ChrisChris

Just as housekeeping is important for keeping your home running smoothly, it’s important to keep up with “housekeeping” on your computer. By design, your Windows operating system can accumulate many megabytes of files as you browse the internet, edit documents, etc.

Over time, these files can contribute to an overall slowdown of your computer, as well as expose you to the risk of loss of privacy if your computer is stolen.

One solution is CCleaner, a free program from Piroform. CCleaner will delete the “temporary” files for Firefox, Internet Explorer and Opera and also clear out MRU (Most Recently Used) file entries for many applications, and empty the Recycle Bin.

The default installation works fine, but here are two important settings to consider: (Access these from CCleaner by selecting the Options tab, then selecting Settings)

  • Run CCleaner when the computer starts – As the option says, this will cause CCleaner to run whenever Windows boots up. Set it and forget it.
  • Secure Deletion – By default, CCleaner does not securely delete files. Choose “Secure Deletion (slower)” to enable secure file deletion. The DOD 5220.22-M (3 passes) option should be sufficient to prevent those deleted files from being recovered.

While you’re looking at the Options tab, click on the “Cookies” link. By default, CCleaner will delete all browser cookies. You may want to prevent certain cookies from being deleted. Here, you can specify whichever cookies you want to keep.

Takeaway: CCleaner helps keep your Windows computer running smoothly by automating a substantial part of housekeeping tasks. It also helps protect your privacy by allowing you to securely delete files from your system.

In our next article, we’ll take a look at Eraser, a free utility you can use to securely delete files on demand.