Among all known optimizer programs, the CCleaner application occupies a special place and is very often recommended by specialists to free up space on the hard drive by removing unnecessary elements that can be attributed to the most ordinary computer garbage in Windows systems. In the application itself, to carry out such operations, several main directions are provided, which we will learn about by considering each of the actions in as much detail as possible.
Clearing free space in CCleaner: what are these actions?
First of all, you should decide what exactly is meant by disk cleanup. In principle, even any novice user will not hesitate to answer that the essence of such a process is to delete unnecessary or unused files. Partly it is. However, if you look at the tools for cleaning up free space in CCleaner, what kind of operations these can be, you will only understand when considering the basic functions that can be performed in this program. The user is offered several options:
- quick cleaning of temporary system files and objects of installed programs that may appear during their operation;
- the most complete uninstallation of installed applications and cleaning the registry;
- complete mashing of disks, which allows you to get rid of even those objects that are even physically present on the disk even after being deleted from the Recycle Bin.
Clean up CCleaner free space: quickly delete temporary files
The first and most frequently used method of freeing up additional disk space consists precisely in removing temporary components that can be created automatically when a particular process and program are launched, as well as due to browsing the Internet when a huge number of cookies, image thumbnails and other files are loaded onto the hard drive. temporary components that are not automatically deleted by the operating system or browsers upon completion of their work (even in the notorious Internet Explorer when activated and output).
So far, this is just the initial information on clearing free space in CCleaner. What kind of operations this is, in theory, is a little clear.
In practice, the removal of such computer debris is done directly in the cleaning section, which opens by default when the program starts, where you just need to click the analysis button, and after receiving the test results, remove the selected components. In principle, it is not necessary to change the parameters offered by the application itself. But if necessary, you can not delete any specific objects that you need, for example, to speed up page loading in your browser.
Uninstall programs and registry actions
CCleaner for Windows 10 and systems of earlier generations just as easy to get rid of too large programs and outdated or incorrect registry keys. If anyone does not know, all the keys in the system are presented in the form of separate files, which, however, when trying to manually delete either from the registry or from the "Explorer" is not so easy. In addition, you need to know what can be removed and what cannot be, because you can play this way even to the point that the whole system will “fly off”.
Removing installed applications by the principle of operation is a bit like what special uninstallers like iObit Uninstaller produce.
To uninstall, the service section is used, where for the selected program the uninstall button is pressed, rather than the uninstall button, because the second operation simply hides the application in the list of installed ones.
Upon completion of uninstallation, you can immediately use the registry cleaning section, where according to the scan results after confirmation, automatic cleaning and correction of incorrect entries will be performed.
Erase discs
Now let’s dwell on the most interesting method of clearing free space in CCleaner. That, probably, everyone already guessed. We are talking about the so-called mashing of disks, the result of which will be the release of space, and the inability to restore files that could theoretically be found.
Any file or folder even after deleting it from the Recycle Bin from the hard drive does not disappear. Such objects are simply renamed due to a change in the name of the first character to the $ sign, which automatically makes them invisible or unreadable in the system. By this, by the way, the principle of searching and recovering deleted files of most simple applications is built. But they still occupy a place, so it turns out to be clearly less than it should have been after the removal, although few people pay attention to such trifles.
But mashing just allows you to get rid of all such hidden components. To avoid doubt, evaluate the free space of the partition before and after cleaning.
When erasing, you can use four types of actions in which a different number of passes is performed. The more they are, the less likely it is to recover data after deletion. Accordingly, you can clean up either only free space (as if unoccupied), or delete absolutely everything. But the second method can be applied exclusively to logical partitions and external drives, because deleting files of Windows itself in the system partition will not work in any way.