There's no doubt that when you browse the web you accumulate a huge amount of stored data. The sheer quantity is surprising; often gigabytes. A lot of this is just extra baggage, while other parts can be useful. Just what is and what isn't junk is a personal decision. For example, you may regard the information stored in your browser's history as a valuable resource, but you know that a lot folks see it as clutter or even an embarrassment. That's why the flexibility to choose exactly what you want to keep or delete is a key requirement in any browser cleaning utility.
It's in this area that CleanCache excels. Yes, there are a few other cleaning programs that also offer this feature, but when you take into account CleanCache's speed, ease of use, automation features, near-forensic thoroughness and breadth of browsers and applications it can keep clean, then you have a clear winner in this category. For the paranoid, it even provides wiping options that will overwrite deleted files up to thirty-five times, allowing you to be certain that you've erased your tracks.
CleanCache supports Windows caches, temp files and indexes, most windows browsers, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera and Mozilla, many popular applications, such as MS Office and MS Outlook, and you can even create your own definitions to clean up after almost any application you choose. As of this writing, the author's website appears to be down, so I have provided a link to the MajorGeeks download site instead. Note that this product requires the installation of the 26MB Microsoft .NET Framework on your PC.
Editors Note: A reader has suggested CCleaner, which is still being actively developed. After only a casual trial, it appears to offer most of the same features as CleanCache, though with a more modern interface. Its easy to miss some of these, especially those on the application tab of the cleaner menu. One great feature of CCleaner is its ability to preview the results (via the Analyze function) before it runs the cleaner and actually deletes any files.
CleanCache
Website: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4122.html
Author: Innovative Solutions
Date: Last Updated August 2006
Version: 3.0
Download File Size: 1.24 Mbytes
License: Freeware
Operating systems supported: Windows 2000/XP (Vista not tested)
64 Bit Capable: unknown
Portable version available: unknown
Other languages supported: No
Additional software required: No
CCleaner
Website: http://www.ccleaner.com/
Download link: http://www.ccleaner.com/download
Author: Piriform Ltd.
Current version: 2.0.7.575
Version date: April 28, 2008
License: Freeware
Download Filesize: 2,830KB
Operating Systems Supported: Win9x/Me/NT4/2000/2003/XP/Vista<
Additional Software Required: None
64 Bit Capable: No
Portable Version Available: Yes
Non-English languages supported: Albanian, Arabic, Bosanski, Bulgarian, Català, Cesky, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Dansk, Deutsch, Español, Français, Galego, Greek, Hebrew, Italiano, Japanese, Korean, Lietuviu, Macedonian, Magyar, Nederlands, Norwegian, Polski, Português, Português (do Brasil), Romana, Russian, Serbian Cyrillic, Serbian Latin, Slovensky, Suomi, Svenska, Türkçe
Other relevant information: None