If you use Windows at all, you really need to use CCleaner, available at http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner. Originally short for “Crap Cleaner”, that’s exactly what it does: clean all the crap that accumulates on your Windows box, things like temp files, cookies, log files, & other detritus. It does more than that, however. You can clean your Registry (although the merits of doing so are debatable, to put it mildly1), uninstall programs, remove programs from the system startup list (helpful since they can be hidden in a variety of places in Windows), delete System Restore points (I keep three or four; anything older can be nuked), & more. It’s free, easy to use, and it works.

Now the company that makes CCleaner has released a version for Macs, which you can get at http://www.piriform.com/mac/ccleaner. Here’s the thing—I’d love to tell you if it’s any good, but the damn thing won’t open on my Mac. Bounce bounce bounce bounce … forever. I re-downloaded & re-installed, & got the same thing. I am therefore declaring CCleaner for Mac a P.O.S. Uninstalled.

One more thing: why should I use this when I already have the excellent Onyx available, which does everything CCleaner does & more? Oh, and it opens & runs as well. What a nutty idea.

  1. That said, I still do it. It just bugs me to have that unnecessary garbage in there. I know, I know—OCD at its finest. ↩