Likewise, although CCleaner-esque utilities commonly have extra tools besides a file cleaner, such as the ability to manage your startup applications or uninstall software from Windows, these features are already well covered by the operating system and will be given minimal regard throughout our picks. CCleaner Alternatives We Testedīefore we get to the alternatives, it's worth noting that there's always the mindset that any junk file scanner is redundant with Windows' built-in Disk Cleanup tool along with the ability to manually delete unwanted data, but in our experience CCleaner-style programs make it easier to perform a system-wide file cleanup and they can be useful for freeing up storage on low capacity SSDs, for instance, where a few extra gigs can make or break the performance of your Windows installation. With that said, if you have been looking for a new junk file cleaner / all-in-one Windows optimizer, we've tested the best alternatives we could find. The developer is also promising more transparency in the next release of CCleaner, so you have better control over data and what the utility is gathering.

Most recently, just last month, the company was forced to pull the latest update following an outcry over privacy issues and obscure tactics to keep the utility running in the background.īut does that make CCleaner a bad application that should be frowned upon?ĭeveloper Piriform retracted CCleaner's last update due to the controversy, so if you are running v5.44 of the software, now listed as the most recent version on the developer's site and TechSpot's download section, the above should be a non-issue. On the other hand, users had long been complaining about bundled software and popup ads appearing in the utility.

Nevertheless, to be fair, this has happened to many other developers, big and small. You may recall last summer (two months after being acquired by Avast), it was disclosed that the tool had been infected with Floxif malware.

Going from 6MB in February 2016 to around 15MB around its v5.41.x release in March this year. While CCleaner has certainly grown up since its 'crap cleaner' days, it's certainly gotten more bloated over the years as well. However since security giant Avast acquired it last year, it's been a stormy ride that's had many doubting how effective or trustworthy the tool really is. For a long time CCleaner has been the most popular system-cleaning tool for Windows, extending its reach to other platforms like macOS and Android phones.

Reginout system utilities vs ccleaner