Should you still use CCleaner on Windows 10?

Should you still use CCleaner on Windows 10?

Applies to: Anyone who uses CCleaner (especially Windows 10 users)

What is CCleaner?

They sell themselves as “The world’s most popular PC cleaner!”. The program offers lots of services, from Registry cleanups to ‘faster computers’ and privacy protection.

Our advice for Windows 10 users

Windows 10 is very good at looking after itself with regards to updates and making sure programs are fully uninstalled. It also has some good built-in system tools which run automatically to keep things up and running properly (like auto disk defragment tools).

We recommend you don’t use CCleaner on Windows 10. There are some fairly rare cases where it might be the best option to fix a particular problem, but in general we believe (especially the registry cleaner bit) causes more harm than good. If you think it might fix a problem with your computer just drop us a note first and we can talk it through.

What should I use instead?

We would suggest MalwareBytes, this not only scans for malware installed on your computer but removes tracking cookies and other things designed to do the same thing. The thing it doesn’t do, and why we don’t recommend CCleaner, is it doesn’t make registry changes and other potentially damaging things to your PC. If Online Privacy is something you are interested in, you might like Tim’s new book Privacy Truth and Lies or drop us a note below with any questions you have and we will do our best to answer them. (Sorry blatant advert there!)

Our advice for everyone else / if you are going to use it (Windows 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, XP)

We can’t stop you using CCleaner, but my one tip is: Make sure you backup anything important before you start, and if you are going to use the ‘registry cleaner’ (we strongly advise you not to use this) then make sure you have a backup of your registry before you start. If you don’t know how to do this then we would suggest you don’t run the registry cleaner tool.

Basically we suggest you don’t use this tool until you speak to us first… This is because some of the options can have bad effects on your computer.

  • Windows 8.1, 8: We would advise not using CCleaner, however we don’t have strong views on not using like we do on Windows 10
  • Windows 7: If you have been using it without problem you can carry on using it, however, if you don’t currently use it we would probably only suggest you use it in extream cases, drop us a note first and we can go through the options with you
  • Windows Vista: Please upgrade your operating system, Windows Vista is no longer supported by Microsoft and is unsafe to use online
  • Windows XP: Please upgrade your operating system, Windows XP is no longer supported by Microsoft and is unsafe to use online
  • Windows 3.1: Ahhhhh no way! I still have this on floppy disk somewhere…

Conclusion

I hope this makes our stance more clear. But a 1 sentence summary is

Don’t use CCleaner, use MalwareBytes instead, because it doesn’t do stuff to your registry.

In the words of The Beautiful South, “Don’t use CCleaner have Malwarebytes instead”? Or did I mishear that?!

Stay Safe
Mike =)
PS: I’m not paid by MalwareBytes in any way for this (maybe I should ask for some…)