Ever throw away something you needed later?

Pros: Nice interface, fast, easy to use.

Cons: Every time I have used CCleaner, I later find out that it has completely deleted some files I needed. Twice it erased my Adobe Photoshop Elements registration info, so I had to re-install it twice. Some other problems with MS Word and other Office settings that I had to re-do. Some cookies that I didn't know it was going to delete. And the big one - it somehow deleted Microsoft Common Console relationship to Administrator Options in the Control Panel, so those Control Panel shortcuts failed to work. I had to find, download, and re-install that Console package.

When CCleaner deletes junk files, they are gone forever. A cleaner that lets you save backups of deleted junk files is better. I like Ace Utilities. It's not free (however you get free updates forever after paying), but the default junk file cleaner settings are good, with detailed options that allow you to remove more old files if you want to - allowing you to remove as much as CCleaner does in default mode - but with deleted files either sent to the recycle bin or zipped and stored in a location of your choice, in case you later find that you need them. (Ace also has a registry cleaner, stand-alone cookie controller, etc, etc. I'm glad I bought it.)

I'll never use CCleaner again.

Posted: 14-Feb-2008 07:26:53 PM

Good registry cleaner with a lot of other useful functions

Pros: I've been reading the pros & cons of Registry Mechanic vs. those of Ace Utilities. From my experience, Ace is faster, uses less memory & CPU, and does a darn good job of registry cleaning. It has many settings for different knowledge levels, and of course backup settings for registry files deleted AND junk files deleted. I tested both products, and yes, Registry Mechanic will find a few useless registry entries that Ace didn't; but on the other hand Ace will find ones that RM didn't, plus useless Junk Files, plus a lot of other functions. Registry Mechanic does heavy advertising, and gets good reviews from sites, but Ace has better overall USER ratings. I tried a bootleg Ace Utilities for a couple months and liked it so much that I finally paid for it; now I'm testing RM in the same way, but doubt I'll ever be inspired to pay for it. Also, Ace's stand-alone cookie manager is great!

Cons: Hasn't been updated for a while. It would be nice to see more frequent updates.

Posted: 19-May-2006 06:08:15 AM