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CCleaner tops our list of free registry cleaners for several good reasons. In addition to being completely free and working with all versions of Windows, two additional things really stand out.

On the one hand, I never had CCleaner causing a problem in the Windows Registry, which some less well-done registry repair tools do regularly. And two, because it is optionally available in a portable format (that is, it does not need to be installed).

Read our full review of CCleaner below for a list of features, pros and cons, my opinions about the program and some basic instructions, or go straight to the download page linked above.

Download CCleaner only on the Piriform website (CCleaner.com), which we linked above! There are malicious programs that look and look like CCleaner, but charge for cleaning. See Why is CCleaner asking me to pay? for more.

This revision is from CCleaner v5.67.7763, released on May 28, 2020. Let us know if there is a newer version that we need to revise.

More about CCleaner

The latest version of CCleaner works with 32 and 64 bit versions of Windows 10, Windows 8 (including Windows 8.1 and Windows 8.1 Update) and Windows 7.

Three installation methods are available:

The "standard installer" is a complete installation of CCleaner, which includes an option to also install CCleaner Browser, another Piriform program.

"Portable", which we recommend, does not require installation.

"Slim" is the same as the normal installer option, but without the option of installing additional software.

The CCleaner is actually more than just a registry cleaning tool. It is probably more precisely called a system cleaner, because it actually cleans much more than just your registry.

With regard to registry cleaning functions, CCleaner , like all registry cleaners, is primarily concerned with removing entries in the Windows registry that refer to files, programs or other features that no longer exist.

For example, CCleaner will remove registry keys and values that point to programs and files that no longer exist in Windows. These skills are exactly the reason why running CCleaner, or another well-designed registry cleaner, is a great troubleshooting step when you encounter an error type "file missing" or "cannot find a file", especially when Windows starts.

Specifically, CCleaner will remove registry entries that point to the following, if they no longer exist: DLL files, file extensions, ActiveX objects, type libraries, applications and application paths, fonts, help files, installers, software, MUI cache, sound events, and services.

Outside the registry, CCleaner also removes temporary browser data, such as cookies, history and cache from all popular browsers. You can also do things how to empty the Recycle Bin, clear MRU lists, empty the thumbnail cache in Windows, remove old memory dumps and log files, and more.

The CCleaner also has a Tools area, where you can uninstall programs, view and change programs started on Windows, find and remove files that take up a lot of disk space, find duplicate files, remove restore points, and even clean a drive .

Pros and cons of CCleaner

As you can see, there's a lot to like about CCleaner:

Pros:

Installs quickly

Various installation options

Keeps cookies that you know you probably don't want to delete (like webmail logins)

Discreet inclusion of the context menu in the Recycle Bin

Long history of regular program updates

A backup file is created before any changes to the registry are made

Killer feature set

You can avoid scanning the registry keys and values you say to skip

Support for macOS 10.8 and newer

Available as an Android app

Cons:

The default download page is confusing and makes the program appear to cost money, which does not cost

The regular installer will add another program to your computer, unless you explicitly deny it

Thoughts on CCleaner

If it's not already obvious, I love the CCleaner. It's tiny, fast and complete. It does not announce the correction of all hidden problems, as so many "registry repair" tools do. You do what you do and that is good enough. I like it.

I really like that there are some ways to "install" CCleaner. And although I am generally a big fan of portable programs, an advantage of installing CCleaner is the addition of Run CCleaner and Open CCleaner right-click options to your Recycle Bin. If you plan on using the CCleaner for general system cleaning, this is a really useful feature.

My only real complaint about the CCleaner is the confusing download page, which you can see here. While we have a much clearer link to your build page elsewhere in this review, the standard CCleaner download page that most people end up in is a bit confusing.

At first glance, the download page makes it look like you need to pay for CCleaner if you want to do something. In fact, I get regular emails about CCleaner not being free. However, it is free, but you can choose to pay for the Professional or Business Edition versions for personal support, a software updater and some other features. CCleaner Free works 100% and will not ask you to pay anything to clean the registry or other files (but some of the free version settings work only if you have the Pro).

It should be made clear that while CCleaner is completely free, it is free for home users. Commercial versions of CCleaner are required if you plan to use the program for anything other than a home / personal setting.

Another trivial problem I have with CCleaner is that, at the beginning of the installer, you are asked if you want to install another program together with CCleaner. I've seen another Piriform program and Avast! Free antivirus announced here, but others can also be. If you want nothing more than CCleaner, just uncheck / decline any of the mentioned programs and continue to install CCleaner as normal.

In summary, if you think that a registry cleaner is needed to solve a computer problem, I recommend that you choose CCleaner. If you are interested in some of the other really interesting system cleaning features, know that among these programs, CCleaner is also probably your best bet. It is simply a fantastic program.

Piriform, the company behind CCleaner, also produces several other free and highly rated system programs like Recuva, which is a free data recovery tool, and Defraggler, a totally free defragmentation program and Speccy, a free system information utility.

How to use the CCleaner

The CCleaner is easy to install. Just go to the build page and choose the installation option you want.

Choose the standard installer or the slim version to install CCleaner as you would any normal program. Choose the portable version if you want to run CCleaner from a flash drive or if you prefer not to install another program on your computer. You will need to unzip the program before running it in that case.

Once installed, follow these steps to clean the registry:

Select the Record icon on the left.

Under the Registry Cleaner heading, make sure that all options are checked.

If you have a good idea of what you want CCleaner to "clean up" in the registry, limit the selection. For example, if you are getting an error when Windows starts over a program that is no longer installed, you can probably just leave the Run option at startup checked.

Choose Check for problems. CCleaner finishes checking your registry for unnecessary entries when the green progress bar at the top of the screen reaches 100%.

If you decide to cancel the scan in the middle, perhaps because it is taking too long to finish, you can still correct what was found before canceling it.

Choose Fix selected problems.

Although all registry entries found by CCleaner are checked by default, you can deselect any entries you want to keep. One of the great advantages of the CCleaner over the competition is that it does not overdo it. You are probably safe by removing everything you find.

Select Yes in the dialog box that asks "Do you want to back up the registry before making changes?".

If you are not asked to back up the registry, make sure you are next time activating Show prompt to back up registry problems in Options> Advanced.

Choose an appropriate location to save the REG file, then choose Save.

This REG file can be used to undo the changes that CCleaner is about to make to the registry. See How to restore the Windows registry if you later decide to use REG backup.

On the next screen, choose Fix all selected problems.

You can also choose Fix problem to remove all entries, one at a time, but you are probably not sure which entries should be kept or deleted. Fortunately, CCleaner does a good job of determining this for you, so it is best to just remove all of them at once, especially if there are hundreds or thousands.

Select Close after all changes are complete. This can take just a second or two, up to several seconds, depending on how many registry keys the CCleaner is removing or changing and the your computer's speed.

It is now safe to close the CCleaner or perform some other system cleaning task with the program.

It is a good idea, however, to repeat the steps above again, even if you have completed a registry cleanup with CCleaner. A repeated scan is necessary, as some items that were previously removed can create other objects that need to be removed; in this case, only a second scan (or third or fourth, etc.) is needed to exclude these new orphaned entries.

If you run an additional scan and the results are exactly the same as the previous scan (that is, the same entries were removed in both instances), you can stop repeating the cleaning process. One reason this can happen is if a process needs these entries and therefore the system is rebuilding them even after they are deleted.

The CCleaner is fully documented on the Piriform website and is a great resource if you need help.

Piriform's CCleaner Professional Plus is one of many tuning utilities capable of giving a used PC a new chance at life. It has many system enhancement features, including a registry repairer and real-time system monitoring, as well as extra features such as privacy protection and drive cleaning tools. The CCleaner is more expensive than the free Windows 10 integration tools, but is priced lower than some competing products, offers features that dramatically improved the startup time of our test bench and is easy to use and worthwhile invest. Still, the Iolo System Mechanic remains the choice of publishers in the category due to its complete cleaning tools and unlimited licenses.