How to Download, Install and Use Ccleaner 2012 Free Edition
Go To CCleaner Website., Choose Your Version., Download CCleaner., Start the installation process., Continue through the installation selecting your desired options., Open CCleaner., OPTIONAL - Select Files to Delete., Analyze Your System., OPTIONAL...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Go To CCleaner Website.
Go to www.piriform.net/ccleaner, and click "Download" to be brought to the downloads page. -
Step 2: Choose Your Version.
This article assumes the "FREE" option.
You can download the free version from either FileHippo or from Piriform themselves.
This article uses the "Piriform" option. (If you love what the Free edition does, please consider going back and purchasing the professional or business editions!) , Your download should start automatically. , Once you have successfully downloaded the file, open the "ccsetup" installer you have just downloaded.
If windows asks you if is okay to run this file, click run.
Install CCleaner then select your desired language (this guide will proceed as if "English" was selected.) and click next, read the end user license agreement, and click "I accept". , It is highly recommended to have the "Automatically Check for updates to CCleaner" box checked.
Once you have selected your options, hit "Install". , The first time you run CCleaner, a prompt will show up asking to intelligently scan for cookies to keep.
What this does is for websites like gmail and hotmail, it will NOT delete your "Remember Me" login information and keep you logged in.
This is optional, but recommended for ease of use. , On the left side of the screen there will be two tabs called "Windows" and "Applications".
In these tabs you can pick and choose what you want deleted or not.
For example under the "Applications" tab, maybe you do not want CCLeaner to delete your Google Chrome or Firefox's history at all.
The default settings are fine for the average user, but there are also advanced options at the bottom of the "Windows" tab that if you are an expert user you can select. , If you don't want to select anything manually, you can just click analyze right away and see what is to be deleted from your computer.
Or, if you don't even want to do that, you can trust CCLeaner and just click "Run Cleaner" right away (Skip to Step 10).
Once you hit "analyze"
CCleaner will scan your system for the files specified (either the default specifications or the ones you have chosen), and give you detailed information on what types of files are to be deleted.
This may take some time.
It will also tell you the approximate size (in kilobytes, megabytes, or gigabytes etc.) that will be deleted.
This will vary from system to system.
If you run CCleaner often, your system will not have as much collected junk files as a 5 year old computer running this for the first time.
NOTE:
At this point, no files have actually been deleted yet. , You can right click any of the shown pieces to be deleted and click "View Additional Details" if you want more information on what is to be deleted. , After specifying which files are to be deleted and analyzing, you are now ready to run CCleaner and start deleting! When you click "Run Cleaner" a message will pop up saying "This process will permanently delete files from your system, do you want to proceed?" CCleaner is designed in such a way that by default it only targets files that the average user would not even notice are gone.
Don't worry though, all of your personal pictures, movies, and files are completely safe.
This will only delete old and unused system files such as internet caches, temporary files, etc.
You can click "Do Not Show Me This Warning Again" if you don't want that prompt every time.
CCleaner will now delete the files specified, which may take some time to complete. , After cleaning, CCleaner gives you a results page showing exactly what files were deleted. , (See Warnings section first!) Select the registry tab on the left side of the CCleaner window, and click "scan for issues".
It is common to get a lot of issues.
Your computers registry can get cluttered over time. , This will show you the details of registry entries to be deleted.
There is information on what the registry value is and why it is not necessary, such as "unused registry key" or "invalid file reference".
When you are satisfied, click "Fix Issues". , It will prompt you if you want to back up changes to the registry, this is optional but recommended.
Good practice is to back them up onto offsite storage such as a USB drive.
You can cycle through every registry issue you have here and fix them all individually, or click "Fix All Selected Issues" to do it all in one shot.
CCleaner will fix each issue for you! -
Step 3: Download CCleaner.
-
Step 4: Start the installation process.
-
Step 5: Continue through the installation selecting your desired options.
-
Step 6: Open CCleaner.
-
Step 7: OPTIONAL - Select Files to Delete.
-
Step 8: Analyze Your System.
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Step 9: OPTIONAL - View Additional Details.
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Step 10: Run Cleaner.
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Step 11: View Details.
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Step 12: OPTIONAL - Registry.
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Step 13: OPTIONAL - Registry - View Your Results.
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Step 14: OPTIONAL - Registry - Fix Your Issues.
Detailed Guide
Go to www.piriform.net/ccleaner, and click "Download" to be brought to the downloads page.
This article assumes the "FREE" option.
You can download the free version from either FileHippo or from Piriform themselves.
This article uses the "Piriform" option. (If you love what the Free edition does, please consider going back and purchasing the professional or business editions!) , Your download should start automatically. , Once you have successfully downloaded the file, open the "ccsetup" installer you have just downloaded.
If windows asks you if is okay to run this file, click run.
Install CCleaner then select your desired language (this guide will proceed as if "English" was selected.) and click next, read the end user license agreement, and click "I accept". , It is highly recommended to have the "Automatically Check for updates to CCleaner" box checked.
Once you have selected your options, hit "Install". , The first time you run CCleaner, a prompt will show up asking to intelligently scan for cookies to keep.
What this does is for websites like gmail and hotmail, it will NOT delete your "Remember Me" login information and keep you logged in.
This is optional, but recommended for ease of use. , On the left side of the screen there will be two tabs called "Windows" and "Applications".
In these tabs you can pick and choose what you want deleted or not.
For example under the "Applications" tab, maybe you do not want CCLeaner to delete your Google Chrome or Firefox's history at all.
The default settings are fine for the average user, but there are also advanced options at the bottom of the "Windows" tab that if you are an expert user you can select. , If you don't want to select anything manually, you can just click analyze right away and see what is to be deleted from your computer.
Or, if you don't even want to do that, you can trust CCLeaner and just click "Run Cleaner" right away (Skip to Step 10).
Once you hit "analyze"
CCleaner will scan your system for the files specified (either the default specifications or the ones you have chosen), and give you detailed information on what types of files are to be deleted.
This may take some time.
It will also tell you the approximate size (in kilobytes, megabytes, or gigabytes etc.) that will be deleted.
This will vary from system to system.
If you run CCleaner often, your system will not have as much collected junk files as a 5 year old computer running this for the first time.
NOTE:
At this point, no files have actually been deleted yet. , You can right click any of the shown pieces to be deleted and click "View Additional Details" if you want more information on what is to be deleted. , After specifying which files are to be deleted and analyzing, you are now ready to run CCleaner and start deleting! When you click "Run Cleaner" a message will pop up saying "This process will permanently delete files from your system, do you want to proceed?" CCleaner is designed in such a way that by default it only targets files that the average user would not even notice are gone.
Don't worry though, all of your personal pictures, movies, and files are completely safe.
This will only delete old and unused system files such as internet caches, temporary files, etc.
You can click "Do Not Show Me This Warning Again" if you don't want that prompt every time.
CCleaner will now delete the files specified, which may take some time to complete. , After cleaning, CCleaner gives you a results page showing exactly what files were deleted. , (See Warnings section first!) Select the registry tab on the left side of the CCleaner window, and click "scan for issues".
It is common to get a lot of issues.
Your computers registry can get cluttered over time. , This will show you the details of registry entries to be deleted.
There is information on what the registry value is and why it is not necessary, such as "unused registry key" or "invalid file reference".
When you are satisfied, click "Fix Issues". , It will prompt you if you want to back up changes to the registry, this is optional but recommended.
Good practice is to back them up onto offsite storage such as a USB drive.
You can cycle through every registry issue you have here and fix them all individually, or click "Fix All Selected Issues" to do it all in one shot.
CCleaner will fix each issue for you!
About the Author
Charlotte Brown
With a background in writing and publishing, Charlotte Brown brings 3 years of hands-on experience to every article. Charlotte believes in making complex topics accessible to everyone.
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