What is CCleaner?

CCleaner

CCleaner (also known as Crap Cleaner), developed by Piriform, is a utility program used to clean

 potentially unwanted files (including temporary internet files, where malicious programs and code tend to

 reside) and invalid Windows Registry entries from a computer.^[6] A public version 1.01 for Mac OS X has 

been released^[4] along with a Network Edition. In its technology is added the possibility of defrag the drives

 and access to the system information in the online service Agomo, developed by Piriform.^[7]

CCleaner

Developer(s)	Piriform
Initial release	23 September 2003; 10 years ago
Stable release	Windows: 4.11.4619[1](25 February 2014; 14 days ago)[±] Mac: 1.07.236[2] (30 October 2013; 4 months ago) [±]
Operating system	Windows XP and later[3] Mac OS X 10.5 and later[4]
Platform	IA-32 and x64
Available in	47 languages[5]
Type	Utility software
License	Freemium
Website	www.piriform.com/ccleaner

Features

CCleaner supports the cleaning of temporary or potentially unwanted files left by certain programs, 

including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera, Safari, Windows Media Player, eMule,

 Google Toolbar, Netscape, Microsoft Office, Nero, Adobe Acrobat, McAfee, Adobe Flash Player, Sun Java, 

WinRAR, WinAce, WinZip, GIMP and other applications^[8] along with browsing history, cookies, recycle bin,

 memory dumps, file fragments, log files, system caches, application data, autocomplete form history, and

 various other data.^[9] The program also includes a registry cleaner to locate and correct problems in the 

Windows registry, such as missing references to shared DLLs, unused registration entries for file extensions, 

and missing references to application paths.^[8] As of v2.27, CCleaner can wipe the MFT free space of a drive, 

or the entire drive itself.

CCleaner can be employed to uninstall programs. In addition, CCleaner allows the alteration of start-up programs, 

similar to the Microsoft Windows MSConfig utility. Users can disable start-up programs.^[10]

 As of version 2.19.901, CCleaner also allows users to delete system restore points.^[11][12]

Critical reception[edit]

CNET editors gave the application a rating of 5/5 stars, calling it a "highly-recommended" and "a 

must-have tool" in spite of some minor glitches. In addition to that, CCleaner was awarded the April 2009

 Editor's Choice Award by CNET.^[13] As of January 2014, it has for a long time (more than a year)

 been the most popular software on FileHippo, and also has a 5-star editor's rating on Softpedia.^[14]