by a Thinker, Sailor, Blogger, Irreverent Guy from Madras

What is the Best freeware System Cleaner for Windows? - Part 3


In this concluding part of article we are going to see the results of the tests on 4 system cleaners or junk file cleaners for Windows. The 4 system cleaners are available for free as standard versions.
  • Advanced SystemCare -free - 5.4
  • SlimCleaner - free/portable build - 3.0.22099
  • DiskMax -free - 4.5.6
  • WinUtilties - free - 10.53
After the test of System Ninja, (see part 2), I had written and posted the article on India’s Win at the Under-19 Cricket World Cup. Hence there was a bloat in Google cache and Live Writer - about 10 MB.

Advanced SystemCare

Advanced SystemCare 5.4 works exactly as I expected it to. It correctly located all the Temporary files, cache, cookies and the like.  Nothing less, nothing more.  As a junk file cleaner doesn’t do something special when compared to CCleaner, BleachBit or System Ninja.

advanced_system_care_thumb1_thumb

SlimCleaner

SlimCleaner 3.0 is a product that did not convince me of its superiority over others - though you can create a portable version after installing a regular SlimCleaner on a PC. SlimCleaner didn’t find anything special (remember System Ninja and old Google Chrome files?) which the others didn’t find. SlimCleaner looks for an internet connection to update its ‘cleaner’ database. That, in my book at least, makes me turn away from it.

slimcleaner_thumb1_thumb

DiskMax

DiskMax 4.5.6 is the slickest system cleaner tool I’ve ever come across - though it too calls up home when started. While Diskmax is so pleasing to the eye and is also the fastest in scan speed, this is one (of the two) tools I rather prefer *not* to use. Diskmax doesn’t display a list of files/errors it has found, nor does it wait for your approval to delete them. Its just ‘Whiz, Bang, You’re done, ma'am’.

diskmax_thumb1_thumb

WinUtilites

WinUtilities 10.53 is another one which has a ‘Whiz, Bang, You’re done, ma'am’ attitude. Over the years, off and on, I’ve come across many users who’ve recommended WinUtilities. Without being portable and with its unwillingness to show me exactly what files are being deleted - it is definitely a no-no for me.

winutilities_thumb1_thumb

Conclusion
As I wrote before, it is left to you. For the moment, I’m going to keep using CCleaner & BleachBit.  As you can see there are definitely 3 (possibly 4) out of 8 which I’ll not use. The remaining 2 are neither here nor there.

Note
There are other junk file cleaners which were good, but have been abandoned or not being aggressively developed anymore, like
  • FCleaner - July 2010
  • NCleaner - July 2007
  • KCleaner - ??
  • XCleaner - taken over by Sunbelt/VIPRE
  • EasyCleaner - ??
And I’ve had the bad experience of OS corruption with
  • jv16 PowerTools or PowerTools Lite, and
  • Comodo System Utilities. (update:  CSU doesn't corrupt anymore.  Tested in December 2012)
Part 2 - Results of 4 other system cleaners:
What is the Best freeware System Cleaner for Windows? - Part2.
Part 1 - Details of criteria and conditions of the tests.
What is the Best freeware System Cleaner for Windows? - Part1


Related posts:
What is new in BleachBit 0.9.4
Saturday Routine for clean, fast PC



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