Want Alternative to CCLEANER

[Wendy]

I’ve been using CCLEANER for a long time - it was recommended to me by someone who knew a lot more about this than I do and told me it was good. But lately it’s been not working right in cleaning up things. It keeps refusing to clean up Avast Browser things - it keeps saying the browser is running and it has to be closed. But I had already closed it. I even tell it to close it again and it doesn’t - just sits there. I wind up telling to ignore that and have with a bunch of junky files not being cleaned up and instead getting backed up when I run my backup, making the backup bigger.

Also, I tried to look into this and came across that there have been big security problems with ccleaner - that it actually downloaded malware onto people’s computers. So besides the problem with the cleanup, I’m no longer comfortable using that software. I feel that I can’t trust it.

Would someone please recommend a good and safe alternative to ccleaner?
Thanks

[phillpower2]

Not sure why you actually need it but BleachBit is an alternative.

If you are running Windows 10 you don`t need Avast either which is just as well as Avast was also found to be passing on users web browsing activity to marketers through a subsidiary named Jumpshot.

[Bruce]

best alternative I’ve come across is Glary Disk Cleaner.

Avast and CCleaner are owned by the some mob so they would have a vested interest in not cleaning Avast too deeply.

CC does not download malware, it does however do some things users did not like when they first introduced the new features a few years ago; things like storing info in the registry to let them know when they should prompt you to install Chrome if you don’t already have it, and when to tell you about updates, and prompt you to upgrade from Free to Pro versions. all these little ‘backdoors’ were put in around v4 or so and ticked a lot of the fan base off, me being one, although I waited till v5.40 till I jumped ship, I still use v5.40 occasionally (FileHippo used to have old versions, may still do, haven;t check for ages).

[Wendy]

Thank you for yo0ur suggestions. I’ll leave this open for another day or so in case anyone else has recommendations.

[Rustys]

Why use a third party cleaning software when you can use the one that came with Windows and the browsers?

You can set the browsers to automatically clear themselves when you close them.

When CCleaner was purchased by Avast I quit using it. Besides that you should never use the registry cleaning function with most of these third party cleaners. Some have even removed files that are critical to Operating Systems functionality.

Most have taken the control out of the users hands and have crippled system over time.

[Bruce]

+1 with Rusty.
the inbuilt cleanmgr is very good - but sadly not easily customisable.
actually, the main use I have with CC now is the startup window and the scheduled tasks tab, nice quick access to both areas that I often check, especially after installing new software to see what it has done to the system.

here is the official word on reg cleaning from MS; Microsoft support policy for the use of registry cleaning utilities - Microsoft Support

[Wendy]

A big plus with ccleaner is the cookie cleanup. I mark the ones to keep and it deletes the ton of others that get stored on the computer every day. I looked at Glary Disk Cleaner but I didn’t see where it has that ability.

As for the browser, I’m not sure where the self-clean settings are.

[Rustys]

As for the browser, I’m not sure where the self-clean settings are.

Depends on the browser some you can manually clean the ones you want to as well.
I have to search for it since each browser is different.

Have no idea why you are deleting the cookies any ways they are insignificant.

https://www.thesafemac.com/the-myth-of-the-dangerous-cookie/

[Bruce]

I set my browsers to clear everything as they exit, so cookies, history, cache etc are always cleaned then.
but in Glary, if it doesn’t clean cookies with the Cache box ticked for your browser, use the Custom Files and Folders link along the bottom and add whatever extra areas you want cleaned.