For example, when you visit How-To Geek, your browser downloads the How-To Geek logo that we display at the top of the page. RELATED: Why Is My Browser Storing So Much Private Data?Ĭache files are bits of web pages-images, scripts, stylesheets, HTML files, and more-that your browser holds onto. This is because CCleaner is set up to delete your browser’s cache files by default. However, this would actually slow your computer down in real use. You could use CCleaner constantly, running it every day with the default settings. It will even wipe out other potentially privacy-risking data, such as the list of recently opened file names in Microsoft Word, Adobe Reader, Windows Media Player, VLC media player, and other common Windows applications.ĭeleting Cache Files will Slow Down Your Browsing, and They’ll Just Come Back Later It will go beyond that, erasing the cookie data stored by the Flash Player. For example, CCleaner will erase your browser history, cookies, and cache files for any browsers you have installed - Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, even Opera. CCleaner will remember your choices for next time, so you can just open it and click the Run Cleaner button in the future.ĬCleaner has another purpose: it will also delete private usage data. If you’re happy, click the Run Cleaner button to actually delete the selected files. Just select the types of data you want to delete, click the Analyze button, and look over the data CCleaner will delete. For example, it will erase cache files for other browsers like Chrome and Firefox, or delete the useless setup folders NVIDIA’s graphics driver installers create when you update your graphics drivers, which can consume hundreds of megabytes each. It takes the Disk Cleanup concept and runs with it, extending it to more data in Windows and third-party programs that the Windows Disk Cleanup tool won’t touch. You can run this tool at any time to free up disk space.ĬCleaner does do these things and more. In a way, it’s kind of like Windows’ built-in Disk Cleanup tool, which frees up space on your hard drive by deleting useless files-old temporary files created by programs, temporary Internet files for Internet Explorer, Windows error report logs, and more. RELATED: 7 Ways To Free Up Hard Disk Space On Windows Two, it erases private data like your browsing history and list of most recently opened files in various programs. One, it scans for and deletes useless files, freeing up space. The real question we should be asking is: do you really need CCleaner in the first place? CCleaner Is Disk Cleanup On SteroidsĬCleaner has two main uses. It’s widely recommended, online and offline-but this week, it acted as a piggyback for malware. These days, it seems like every Windows user has heard about CCleaner.

Do i need ccleaner monitoring