I am looking to “clean up” some junk on my computer. There are a lot of misplaced files, remnants of programs uninstalled, or just assorted junk to deal with. It is also a system with multiple drives and stuff all over the place.
Is it beneficial to use a program such as Revo Uninstaller and CCleaner to do this without their pro versions? Or are there other tools or means you all have had good success with?
Any advice is appreciated!
I’m not quite sure what the goal is here. To free up disk space? Or what exactly?
Generally the “junk” doesn’t really hurt the system because it’s just some files. The same goes for unused registry settings.
As for tools, the windows disc cleaning thingy under my computer is a good start, it won’t sort out old installs and such though.
You can use CCleaner, at least it hasn’t hurt me when I used it. I stopped using it a few years ago though. But CCleaner also won’t clean files of uninstalled programs. Registry cleaning is also possible with it, but the benefit is debatable at best. Registry doesn’t use a lot of space in the first place, and deleting the wrong registry keys might break your system more then it needs to. IMO the registry should just be left in peace unless you know absolutely what you’re doing.
If you’re looking to free up disc space, then something like JDiskReport has always helped me with that, though it is manual work as well.
There’s not really a great way to clean random files though.
I have been paying for iolo System Mechanic for years $25.
System Mechanic does stuff like CCleaner and Revo Uninstaller (I use revo too) on an automatic schedule. But the beauty of it is you can really dig deep and there are tons of extra functions. Sure many of them can be done in Windows or other utilities. I find it convenient reminder when I look at all of the tasks I can perform, to remember to perform them. One function I do a lot is when using memory intensive tasks that make my OS fragile (3D rendering) I use the Memory mechanic to clean the memory of stray gigabytes.
There have been times when my PC was broken and I was stumped. In desperation I tried System Mechanic and it brought my machine back from life support.
Warning: System Mechanic also provides access to the Windows Super control panel. If you don’t know what you are doing you shouldn’t mess around in there.
After rereading my post I realized I did a poor job of explaining what I was looking for. I want to clean up disk space, but I want to also make sure there are not duplicates of certain files across different drives. I want to make sure programs that have been uninstalled are actually entirely gone.
A lot of the tasks likely will require manually going through them, such as cleaning up my music library. But it sounds like CCLeaner and Revo are probably the best bet for my use case.
There’s honestly not a lot of options for that. Most tools that claim to remove duplicates actually just compare file names, and if you’re lucky also file size.
Obviously that doesn’t help much, but I don’t know of any tools that actually check file contents (or checksums), though granted I haven’t really looked for one so far.
That’s always an issue because uninstallers are notoriously unreliable, and there’s not really a way to check that.
There are 2(/3) main things you would need to check (and probably manually):
%appdata% (Roaming and Local), at least that’s where most programs store their settings, some do it under program files though.I believe Foobar2000 has a duplicate detector, I’m not sure about that though.
Back on my Windows 7 laptop, I had great luck with Baku. It would clean up everything you described and GBs above and beyond what the Windows Disk Cleaner would find. Then again I am not easily finding it in some quick Google searching. Oh god, what was I installing on my pc?!
I will have to check that out…
For duplicate files… not an easy answer. Advanced System Care has such a thing bundled in with a lot of stuff. Works fine. Careful with duplicate files not of the media type.
I believe ccleaner is has some current issues with privacy atm.
Disclaimer: While I am not overly thrilled with some of the things/ or with some of the ways ASC does things , It has been around for quite a while. It is something I use for my basket case people to help with basic Maintenance. Stacked with SuperAntispyware, ccleaner,Iobit uninstaller/revo uninstaller.
All in all does a decent job at keeping a system at a certain level. Caveat… will often undo any advanced system tweaking you may have done. Sometimes can be set to not undo certain setting but sometimes not.
I have personally used the duplicate file finder across multiple drives for a great many years and find it handy. Also the empty folder nuker
A Linux boot/install disk.
There has to be one…
I’m not actually joking that much any more.
But yeah, if linux isn’t your thing and you want to truly clean windows up, nuke and reinstall Windows.
Most of the “clean up” utilities are more trouble than they’re worth IMHO.
As above, if its just “cruft” it isn’t doing anything.
If your system has actual problems then i wouldn’t trust any of the claimed clean up tools available to do a proper job fixing it.
2c.
Nuking windows is typically something I do every year. I was just hoping it wouldnt need to come to that again. It also doesnt help drives aside from my C drive.
I agree with you on certain levels… but uneasy balance can be struck on windows with a little effort and the right approach.
If you are running a windows os boot drive and your data on a seperate drive, I would nuke about every 2 to three months just to keep everything tip top. Path of least resistance.
I would check out asc file optimize… It is better than what windows can do.
Not sure i agree with that.
If you are careful about what you install, a windows install can last a long time. My current win10 install is from 2016 for example (patched to current).
BUT… once things start going wrong, it’s a sinking ship…
I install and uninstall all the time. New software to play with, games, ect… I can see running it for awhile with known stable software/ or software that does not conflict with each other and greatly limiting what gets installed.
Yeah being vigilant with not installing shit-ware in the first place is the key.
Most of the clean up tools violate my rule of “don’t install anything that isn’t mandatory for what i want to do”.
The windows “free” software world is full of garbage and I include most clean up tools in that category.
OP: if you want to keep your Windows install and are looking to free up space, but the install doesn’t have any serious bugs/performance issues I’d suggest:
Using spacesniffer you can go after the big folders first. Why waste time sorting through hundreds of small files/folders when you can recover way more space by tackling the big ones first? Spacesniffer (just an exe, doesn’t need to be installed, can run from anywhere) can help with that.
Ya… my longest running windows to date is a windows 10 2 in 1 tablet. 32 bit
It has been a couple of years…mmm Not gaming on it :)~ But I use it like a tablet and reprocess audio with it via Viper4windows. Video streaming at 1980 by 1200 looks good at its size.
I use tree_size_free to make space and CCleaner for general spruce up.