Microsoft Says CCleaner for Windows Is Meh

[Exterminator]

Content source

http://news.softpedia.com/news/microsoft-says-ccleaner-for-windows-is-meh-494238.shtml

CCleaner is one of the top apps of its kind
There are million apps out there that can help keep your computer in tip-top shape and remove unnecessary temporary data or leftovers, and there is no doubt that CCleaner is one of the best.

But as far as Microsoft is concerned, CCleaner is not such an impressive app, and the company says that you'd better avoid it. Why exactly? Hard to tell, but it turns out that CCleaner isn't exactly Microsoft's cup of tea.

As reported by TheWindowsClub, Gov Maharaj, Principal Software Development Engineer at Microsoft, was performing troubleshooting in a live video session on Channel9 when he came across CCleaner installed on one user's computer. His reaction was a little bit unexpected:

“CCleaner is… how do I put it mildly… Don’t… let’s just move on!”

These apps could affect system performance
Such a statement could take many by surprise, especially because CCleaner has always been one of the best apps of its kind and millions of users rely on it to keep their computers in tip-top shape.

But Microsoft no longer recommends turning to registry cleaners or similar apps to clean Windows 10 because they could affect system performance.

“Some products such as registry cleaning utilities suggest that the registry needs regular maintenance or cleaning. However, serious issues can occur when you modify the registry incorrectly using these types of utilities. These issues might require users to reinstall the operating system due to instability. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved without a reinstallation of the Operating System as the extent of the changes made by registry cleaning utilities varies from application to application,” the company says in a FAQ.

And yet, there's no doubt that this isn't going to stop the millions of users running CCleaner from still relying on it for secure cleaning purposes, but it's clearly interesting to see a Microsoft engineer opposing such a popular app.

 

[Cats-4_Owners-2]

Concerns over registrys makes sense, but the disdainful reaction of Micosoft's Chief Software Development Engineer reminds me of TV commercials which urged us to use only OEM parts which were best serviced by only the trained technicians at the service departments of the very dealerships where we bought our cars!
In other words: Whom do you trust, how much do you want to pay, and upon what does one base the choices he makes?

exterminator20 recommended CCleaner for me a long time ago, & that's still good enough for me today!

 

[OokamiCreed]

Being that Microsoft is turning into... "something else"... I feel it's a good thing to use something they don't approve of... just my opinion. CCleaner is super convenient (I make heavy use of it and it's ability to right click the recycle bin to delete the contents). I will not be stopping the use of it on my computer any time in the foreseeable future.

Your more than welcome to add browser cleaning support for Chrome, Firefox, etc to cleanmgr. Just imagine how much trust and even higher market share you'd have if you support others unconditionally and stop tracking my location and what I'm doing on my PERSONAL computer...

 

[jamescv7]

Alright registry cleaners is really a cautious tool for that, however that depends on aggressiveness since CCleaner for the record received at least minimal issues that affects overall computer performance. The thing goes on that a simple program that provides database to clean those common logs, cookies and others without a fuss.

But if Microsoft does not in favour for CCleaner then how about other third party alternatives? For sure in such agenda, they recommend Windows Cleanup built in feature indirect or direct point.

 

[Maikuolan]

“CCleaner is… how do I put it mildly… Don’t… let’s just move on!”

I can understand the disdain and I think of reasons as to why to not use it, but, really, that sort of comment is... How do I put it mildly.. Extremely unhelpful and unproductive? If one is going to recommend against using a widely accepted product like that, then, one should actually give a proper reason as to why they're recommending against using it, otherwise their recommendation is basically meritless and will usually only lead to fear and confusion that may or may not be well-founded; After all.. There are plenty of users that entirely won't understand this sort of disdain, that don't have a thorough understanding of how these things work or why such opinions exist, and may actually be interested in learning more, but won't be able to from a comment as unhelpful as that.

Destabilising the OS registry is a legitimate, serious concern, and I've seen registry cleaners firsthand destroying entire operating systems before due to "cleaning" things that they shouldn't be, accidentally deleting important registry keys and the likes, but, fact of the matter is, not all registry cleaners do that, and they shouldn't all be painted with the same brush simply because some of them are shonky. That, and there's no denying that if Windows did a better job of maintaining its own registry than it presently does, the need for registry cleaners such as these wouldn't exist; Something internal, capable of cleaning and maintenance such as this, which perhaps could be configured from within Windows control panel or similar, if done properly, would suffice to render registry cleaners such as these obsolete for all but the most serious instances of messy registries. I'm extremely cautious about which sort of software I install on any system due to this and other similar concerns, but, I also know better than to paint every item of software of a particular nature or purpose with the same brush.