I have been using CCleaner since someone recommended it on this site about a week ago. I've primarily used it for Registry Cleaning.

In the Registry section, under Registry Integrity, there are 13 choices of things for CCleaner to check. By default, they are all checked.

I have no idea what these 13 items are.

My Question, should I be scanning and fixing all 13, or are there some that I should exclude for registry safety?

Thanks...

The whole point of CCleaner is registry safety. CCleaner will identify ERRORS in your registry and show you the list before you say "Fix those issues".

I do all 13.

And in the Cleaner section, the main tool, I even utilize many of the Advanced options to keep some things cleaned up it doesn't do automatically. I include Old Prefetch data, IIS Log files and Hotfix uninstallers.

By the way, a new version was released today. Woohoo.

I do them all as well.

Yes do EVERYTHING and also use the file cleaning functionality as well.
The whole app is awesome.

That is great to know! I started imagining that when I did the registry clean, I may have caused some of these weird problems I've been having. It's very good to know it's safe.

From what I'm hearing from you all, I should be using all functions of CCleaner. Is there anything in the utility that I should NOT do?

As a novice, a lot of these terms are foreign to me. I've been Googling as many as I can, but some are still hard to understand.

There are so many categories in the File Cleaning section. Are there any I should NOT delete?

Does CCleaner delete more junk that a Windows Disk Clean?

I uncheck the cookies (both IE and Firefox) - I'm lazy and don't want to reenter my username and passwords to sites such as this.

NK, you can set it up so it saves certain cookies and deletes all others.

Options > Cookies ;)

Damn, I love learning new tips! Thanks Ben!

Thanks, and I agree. I want to keep those cookies as well.

So are you saying that it is safe, and a good idea to delete everything else in the Cleaner?

In Windows, I would want to save desktop shortcuts. My problem is I don't know what some of these things do (such as Index.dat files and MRUs).

In "Applications", if it lists an application (my Virus Scanner is on the list), does it clean it, or DELETE it?

Those are different functions on the left. When you access Applications, you're basically looking at the Add/Remove Programs list from inside the Windows Control Panel. This has nothing to do with Registry Cleaner functions which have only to do with the sections you see listed in that function.

This thing has LOTS of tools built in, each one separate.

JB,

If I understand the control panel, add/remove programs is accessed under the TOOLS button on left.

The Applications Tab I was referring to is accessed under the CLEANER button on left.

The other tab in the Cleaner section is Windows, which I (mostly) understand as deleting files?

Although not shown in my post above, my last question was whether I am "cleaning" these Applications in the Cleaner section, or "deleting" them.

(I have no idea what "cleaning an application" would be, so I assume it is a deletion as it is under the Windows tab. In which case I would probably not want to check any of those.)

I apologize if I misunderstood your answer.

Thanks... MSC

PS: I've been reading the CCleaner site, but not a lot of details there. Found some good info through Google so far. Still reading.

Ah, no, the Applications section under the Cleaner tool only cleans up junk that those programs create... like temp files and file lock flags... The Applications list will grow and shrink by itself as you Add/Remove programs it knows how to clean up after.

Oh I see. That's great. So it sounds safe to clean ALL applications.

As you mentioned earlier, I see ver 2.13 is out.

I have been doing research to find out if CCleaner works with Vista. The feedback is quite mixed. One person said it says "Vista Compliant" on the CCleaner website, but I couldn't find any mention of Vista on the site. Do you know? (just in case my next XP reformat goes badly)

Thanks JB...

I use CCleaner on ALL Mico$oft OS's and it works fine, even with Vista and Server 2008 ;)

Great Thanks.

If any new users are interested, I found a couple of good tutorials on CCleaner:

CCleaner Beginner's Guide
Complete Screen by Screen CCleaner Free Download Review & Instructions | CCleaner Download