How to use CCleaner Step-by-Step

This isn’t the place to read how wonderful CCleaner is. It’s just a step-by-step pictorial guide to installing it and the main settings to use to keep your computer running smoothly.

1) Download the latest version. If you already have CCleaner installed, you can update from there, but it takes you to this web page, so you may as well go straight there:

http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download

Click on the link that says ‘Download from FileHippo’

2) Click on the ‘Download latest version’ link, top right.

3) You will be asked to save the file (the version number will be the latest one)

4) Save it somewhere easy to find, like your Desktop. You will delete this file from your computer later.

5) If the download doesn’t start automatically, click on the link, as instructed.

6) Find the CCleaner installer icon on your desktop. Something like this:

7) Click on it and follow the setup instructions (some bits skipped in the screenshots below). The important thing is to uncheck most of the pre-checked items in the Install Options screen (third picture down).

8) After clicking on the Finish button, CCleaner will open. It will look like this on the left hand side. In the ‘Windows’ tab list, only check the items I’ve shown until you are confident you know that you want to do others:

9) Then click on the ‘Applications’ tab. Your list will look different to mine, depending on what you have installed. For internet browsers such as FireFox and Chrome, it’s safe to check everything except ‘Saved Form Information’.

10) When your selection is complete, click on the ‘Analyze’ button at the lower left. When it’s complete (100% in the green indicator bar at the top), click on the Run Cleaner button, bottom right.

11) The next stage is to check and clean the registry (second icon down on the left). You only need to do this very occasionally. Personally, I don’t check the bottom three items.

12) Click the Scan for Issues button, bottom left. When it has finished, click the Fix selected issues… button, bottom right.

13) At this point, I can’t show you what happens, because I had no issues at the time of writing. However, CCleaner will ask you if you want to backup the registry before fixing it. DO THAT. You may need to restore it IF you experience problems with your computer after. (I never have had to, but you never know!) All the issues are automatically checked – just click on the ‘Fix all selected issues’ button.

14) When it is finished, you can close CCleaner and delete the setup file (see Step 6 above) from your desktop. Do not delete the shortcut to run CCleaner! Normally, before you run CCleaner, you will want to close all other programs.

Steve Hards
February 2010