The Rating Scale Breakdown:
- 0 – 0.5 – Abysmal
- 1.0 – 1.5 – Terrible
- 2.0 – 2.5 – Poor
- 3.0 – 3.5 – Average
- 4.0 – 4.5 – Great
- 5.0 – Excellent
- Undetermined – Too soon to tell or lacking evidence to provide a solid answer
- Not Tested – Has yet to be requested or there is some limitations to prevent accurate test results
- N/A – Not Available and or Not Applicable to this program
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V. 7.0 D – “CCleaner” Freeware Review Template
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Price: Free
A. Installation CCleaner – 5.0 “Excellent” – Fast, Safe and Simple
B. Un-installing CCleaner – 5.0 “Excellent” – Fast, Safe and Simple
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C. Stability Of Program – 5.0 “Excellent” – Absolutely no stability Issues
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D. Cleaner
D1. Windows Cleaner – 4.5 “Great” – Works very well. Just 1 really important note a warning if you will. You will lose all your data on the items you have decided to check off. So check your list of “Windows Features” you are gonna clean first.
D2. Application Cleaner – 4.5 “Great” – Works very well. Just 1 really important note a warning if you will. You will lose all your data on the items you have decided to check off. So check your list of “Windows Applications” you are gonna clean first.
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E. Cleaner Quality Test:
E1. Windows XP – 5.0 “Excellent“
E2. Windows Vista – 5.0 “Excellent“
E3. Windows 7 – 5.0 “Excellent“
E4. Windows 8 – 5.0 “Excellent“
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F. Registry
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G. Speed of Analyze – 5.0 “Excellent“ – Again, it will be over in about 1 or 2 minutes at max. Unless you are running a really old rig. Then even then it is faster then most paid programs out there.
GG. Speed of Repair – 4.5 “Great“ – It will be over quite quickly you just maybe surprised. But be warned if you decide not to back-up your registry. Before fixing your registry ERROR(S) you’ll be doing it at your own risk / peril. I say that just to warn people. I have never had an issue and I have been using this program for about 10 + years now. Perhaps maybe even longer.
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H. Registry Cleaner Quality Test:
H1. Windows XP – 5.0 “Excellent“
H2. Windows Vista – 5.0 “Excellent“
H3. Windows 7 – 5.0 “Excellent“
H4. Windows 8 – 5.0 “Excellent“
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I. Tools
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I1. Un-installer – 3.0 “Average” – This option is shaky at best. This option often leaves a mess in its wake. But be warned not all of said un-installed programs components / files maybe completely gone. I often have to run a separate PC utility like Auslogic BoostSpeed or Registry Mechanic (Both are Paidware). If you want to go freeware you can give IObit Advanced System Cleaner 7. But be careful I have had very mixed results with it.
I2. Start-up – 4.5 “Great” – This option is the king of killing start-up programs and process. But there are some that programs for what ever reason fail to yield to this CCleaner option. Be warned you can cause your computer damage if you don’t allow certain programs to run on boot up. You may also cause MAJOR security holes in your PC.
I3. System Restore – 3.0 “Average” – It would be awesome if it worked every time. But sadly I only use this option as the last last resort.
I4. Drive Wiper – Not Tested – I’ve never tried it and don’t plan too anytime soon. Sorry, if you want to give this option a go. By all means let me know the fallout. I’d be more then happy to post your score on the next review we do.
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J. Options
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J1. Settings – 4.5 “Great” – Simple and to the point exactly what you want. You can even undo stuff you had to choose when you originally installed Cleaner.
J2. Cookies – 4.0 “Great” – this option is only great if you know what you are doing. and my friend this will take a wee bit of Computer Knowledge and a tad bit of Internet Savvy to pull of exactly what you want. And even then you may not get the outcome you want on the first or second go at it.
J3. Include – Not Tested – I have never used this option and have really no clue what it does. Beyond the very simplistic description it offers above.
J4. Exclude – Not Tested – Same as above. I have never used this option and have really no clue what it does. Beyond the very simplistic description it offers above.
J5. Advanced – Not Tested – Same as above. But it appears simple enough to navigate.
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K. Updating – 4.0 “Great“ – Needs to be updated manually. Sometimes your promoted when there is a new version of CCleaner out. And other times your not. I’m not really sure why that is. I have the option checked off.
L. CCleaner Support – Not Tested – Never needed it before and I doubt I will in the future. But I imagine if it’s anything like CCleaner itself. It would be pretty awesome.
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My Overall Score: 96.5/105
91.9 % = A +
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My Final Verdict –Part 1-: CCleaner still remains top of it’s class when it comes to the freeware model of PC Utility programs. They really don’t make freeware programs like this very often. I have never really had any real issues with CCleaner. Other then maybe it tries to do too much and it falls flat or stretches itself too thin.
Perfect examples of this are the uninstaller and restore features. Why not drop them and add that vim and vinegar in improving other aspects of CCleaner Free.
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My Final Verdict –Part 2-: I have to admit at first glance CCleaner looks too good to be true in it’s freeware package. Even my score is an almost perfect, which absolutely floors me every time. As I don’t normal see that type of score or quality in most programs. Let alone a freeware version of a PC Utility.
I honestly wonder if there will be a time where there will be a small cost to even the basic CCleaner version. I hope not. But I do believe it is possible sat some point down the line. That or they could strip the program down to be even more basic.
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1. http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download (CCleaners Main Download Page)
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Return To The Main Reviews Page
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Till The Next Review,
Danny
The Computer Savvy Weblog 