cleaner

A sleek, professional interface gives a good first impression, but this privacy tool caused big problems for our testers.

Content Cleaner for Vista scans your computer for questionable material. Its interface is well-designed and intuitive. It's a simple process to set up and perform a scan, whether you scan a preset area or create a custom search. The easy-to-understand command buttons for configuring the settings are prominently displayed on the left. To help speed up the searches, you can manually select the types of files you want to include in the scan, such as audio, video, and image files. … Read more

If you need to free up system memory or if you think you do but aren't sure, this little tool will provide the help you need.

Instant Memory Cleaner provides an easy-to-use front-end interface for Microsoft's command-line ClearMem and FreeMem commands (for XP and Vista, respectively). It installs an icon to your system tray, and its color provides a handy clue about your system's memory use. When the icon is green, the system's free memory is more than 30 percent of the total physical memory; yellow means less is available; and red means its time for … Read more

This isn't the most feature-packed Windows optimization utility but we found it one of the easiest to control. Advanced WindowsCare Personal's simple interface offers two main options: Repair and Repair And Optimize. The former fixes Registry entries and cleans out your operating system. The latter does the same thing and tweaks Windows for maximum performance.

If you run into trouble, the Restoration option can return your system to its original configuration. The Advanced menu provides fine control over repairs and optimizations. Afterward, I noticed only one improvement, a reduced amount of used RAM, but that's not insignificant. … Read more

Correcting a long-standing oversight by Apple, AppCleaner completely removes unwanted programs from your Mac OS. Dragging applications to the Trash just isn't enough because almost every app installs various support files in several different places all over your computer.

AppCleaner is one of the best utilities around to help you track down and delete these files. It provides a slick, 3D interface and two options for deletion: you can either drag and drop applications onto AppCleaner's main window, or you can have AppCleaner list potential applications--and even widgets, plugins, and screensavers--to uninstall. The program will then show you … Read more

As a software reviewer, I download a lot of programs to test them out. Some are great programs deserving of a space on my hard drive while others just are not up to snuff. With all the available software here at CNET Download.com, you've probably found a few gems worth keeping, but you've inevitably also downloaded a few programs that just didn't work out. We understand.

On a Windows machine, you can go to the control panel and choose the Add/Remove programs tool to find and uninstall software you don't want. But on a … Read more

This powerful application offers extensive utilities to improve your system's performance and protect your privacy. Glary Utilities' well-organized interface allows users to easily choose from several tools. It cleans unwanted junk files and removes invalid and broken shortcuts, freeing up valuable disk space.

There's a registry cleaner that allows you to scan, remove, and back up faulty entries. You also can wipe out Internet Explorer traces and tweak start-up programs and memory optimization. Privacy-conscious users will certainly appreciate the inclusion of a government-standard file shredder to securely delete data. Users who are looking for an effective and easy-to-use … Read more

The Auslogics Registry Defragger looks good, but it's hard to tell if this or any Registry defragger or cleaner works. What's the challenge? Simple: It's not easy to gauge if these programs are effective because you'd need to benchmark your CPU against a range of programs before and after the Registry cleaning to properly test for any improvement, and that's an extremely time-intensive process.

Still, Auslogics is known for making effective Windows utilities, so perhaps we should give them the benefit of the doubt until more conclusive evidence is in. In any event, when you … Read more

It's spring: Time to clean out the junk. I'm not talking about old photos and Word documents, but rather the system-sapping stuff that Windows accumulates over time: temporary system files, unnecessary Registry entries, unwanted Web histories, and the like. Freeware favorite CCleaner promises to kick all that crapola to the curb, leaving your system cleaner and, theoretically, faster.

CCleaner scans your machine for temp files and other clutter, then shows you what it found and gives you the option of deleting it all. (Alas, there's no undelete option, so proceed at your own risk.) You can then … Read more

Given all the bizarre turntables that show up on Crave, we thought this would be yet another one of them upon first glance. Instead, it turned out to be an example of another popular trend we don't understand: ultrasonic cleaning gadgetry.

The SWV-08AM "megasonic cleaning device" from Conway supposedly will eliminate all the disgusting "dirt and agrochemicals" on the surface of everything from fruit to frying pans with little or no detergent, according to Engadget. And it has a built-in "P-Sediment" filter (doesn't everyone?) to maintain the ultra-purity of its water. Germaphobes, … Read more