Guide | How To Configuring Piriform Software To Be Fully Automatic

[MrXidus]

Last Updated: 8th November 2012

Piriform is best known for its freeware program CCleaner. They also made Defraggler, a disk defragmentation tool that can be used to defragment folders and files too. It has received positive views on many websites.
CCleaner alone has been installed more than 950 million times onto nearly 25% of all the PCs in the world.

View Piriforms About Page​

Getting Started

This guide will be focused on easily setting up CCleaner and Defraggler to be fully automatic on your Windows based PC.

If you don't have CCleaner or Defraggler, You can download them from the official download pages below.

System Requirements: Runs on Microsoft Windows 8, 7, Vista and XP. Including both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

Download CCleaner | Download Defraggler

CCleaner Guide

(Images in this guide are hidden in Spoiler tags, Be sure to click Show Spoiler to see them.)

1. Let's open up the CCleaner interface.

2. Click on the 'Options' tab.

3. Tick the box that says "Run CCleaner when the computer starts"

Spoiler

What does this do? - The next time you power on your PC (After a restart or shutdown) and login to Windows. CCleaner will automatically perform a clean that won't require any interaction from you.

Advanced Guide To Auto Customization

The above step is simple and straight forward, However we can further customize what we would like CCleaner to do automatically, To do this, We are going to use Windows Task Scheduler to access advanced options.

I have uploaded my own Task Scheduler file for you to use. This can be easily modified to your likings, This is done to save time and a bunch of steps.

Download | CCleaner Auto.xml (6.0KB)

1. Open Task Scheduler. This can be done easily by pressing the Windows Key + R key on your keyboard. This will open the Run Window, Enter the code below inside the Run Window and click OK.

control schedtasks

2. Inside the Task Scheduler Library Window. Right click and click Import Task. Select CCleaner Auto.xml that you downloaded.

Spoiler

After opening CCleaner Auto.xml, A Window like this should show.

Spoiler

To make things easier for the both of us, I've already created some Trigger presets that can be accessed by clicking on the Triggers tab.

Spoiler

3. These Triggers are all disabled, You can choose to enable any selected one by clicking on either Trigger and then clicking the Edit button.

For this guide I'm going to choose "Daily - At 8:00PM every day" and Enable it by ticking the Enabled box inside the Edit Trigger Window.

Spoiler

Further Configurations We Can Apply

Auto Clean your PC when left idle | Image Link

Save battery usage on Laptops | Image Link

Information About Command Lines / Arguments (Optional)

You'll notice in the Actions tab I have added 3 command lines to the end of CCleaner.exe

What do they mean?

/AUTO - Runs the cleaner upon loading and then closes the application.
/S - Runs the program in Silent mode, Meaning the interface of CCleaner won't show or disturb you.
$(Arg0) - UAC (User Account Control) bypass. So you won't have to see the UAC window or click Allow if you have UAC enabled, A must have for AUTO Triggers.

>> To see more Command Lines and Arguments. Click here.

That covers the CCleaner part of this guide.

Defraggler Guide

Defraggler on the other hand is alot more easier to configure since the program itself already has a suitable scheduler built in.

This can be accessed by clicking Schedule within the Defraggler interface by clicking the Settings option.

Spoiler

By using what you've learnt with Windows Task Scheduler, You can apply the same use in Defraggler's Scheduler as they are very much alike.

You can see my settings in the example images below.

Spoiler

There's not much else to cover with Defraggler

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Enhance CCleaner's cleaning abilities with CCEnhancer

CCEnhancer is a small tool which adds support for over 900 new programs into the popular program CCleaner. The tool uses the winapp2.ini system built into CCleaner to easily add new rules and definitions for programs. The rules were sourced mainly from the Piriform Support Forum, with several sourced from other places around the internet.

Download Here (266KB)
Please make sure to read the Disclaimer!

I hope you've found this guide I've written myself helpful, If any images/links become broken, Please tell me right away.

If you have any questions or need help, Drop a post. Cheers.

 

[arsenaloyal]

excellent guide thanks for your hard work!

 

[BSOD]

Are you on the Piriform forum, btw?

 

[MrXidus]

Are you on the Piriform forum, btw?

Nope I'm not a member there.

 

[Spirit]

Very good tutorial MrXidus, thanks for share.
I still prefer doing all tasks manually on my computer may be its antivirus/antimalware scan,cleaning or defragging. The only task i allow to do my pc is updating antivirus and windows automatically.

Thanks

 

[MalwareVirus]

nice tutorial
thanx for sharing

 

[MrXidus]

Very good tutorial MrXidus, thanks for share.
I still prefer doing all tasks manually on my computer may be its antivirus/antimalware scan,cleaning or defragging. The only task i allow to do my pc is updating antivirus and windows automatically.

Thanks

Your welcome, You can always change your mind in the future, It certainly is convenient to have the PC take care of itself along with an auto updating / scanning antivirus.

Leaves you time to get the more important things done.

nice tutorial
thanx for sharing

Happy to help.

 

[Littlebits]

Excellent guide for those who want automatic functions.
But I prefer to do everything manually, one of the reasons that I like CCleaner and Defragger is they don't run automatically and use up system resources.

Thanks.

 

[Exterminator]

excellent guide as well as a convenient reference to setting these to run automatically

Excellent guide for those who want automatic functions.
But I prefer to do everything manually, one of the reasons that I like CCleaner and Defragger is they don't run automatically and use up system resources.

Thanks.

I agree,I like to run them manually too

 

[MrXidus]

Excellent guide for those who want automatic functions.
But I prefer to do everything manually, one of the reasons that I like CCleaner and Defragger is they don't run automatically and use up system resources.

Thanks.

If you were to have these 2 programs running automatically, Just how much system resources of yours would be taken up exactly? Not enough to severely impact your PC I'm guessing? Today's modern PC's are more than powerful enough to run such basic tasks as these... Unless you're still on Windows XP with 512MB RAM and a Pentium III processor then I can see the valid reason. Fair enough you can be conservative on your PC and the background resources that get used up, I myself disabled a handful of services I didn't need (such as the Fax and Printer service) right after I installed Windows 8.

Seems like the real reason is the placebo effect in doing so until someone starts bringing up figures and proof of an significant gain in noticeable performance.

Thanks.

 

[Littlebits]

Excellent guide for those who want automatic functions.
But I prefer to do everything manually, one of the reasons that I like CCleaner and Defragger is they don't run automatically and use up system resources.

Thanks.

If you were to have these 2 programs running automatically, Just how much system resources of yours would be taken up exactly? Not enough to severely impact your PC I'm guessing? Today's modern PC's are more than powerful enough to run such basic tasks as these... Unless you're still on Windows XP with 512MB RAM and a Pentium III processor then I can see the valid reason. Fair enough you can be conservative on your PC and the background resources that get used up, I myself disabled a handful of services I didn't need (such as the Fax and Printer service) right after I installed Windows 8.

Seems like the real reason is the placebo effect in doing so until someone starts bringing up figures and proof of an significant gain in noticeable performance.

Thanks.

Yes it is true newer system should be able to handle the resources but what about the users who sometimes maybe want to delete cookies, temp files, browser cache, recycle bin, etc. and other times wan to keep this info. They would still have to manually change the settings on CCleaner, since they already have CCleaner running to change its settings, when not go ahead and run it because it won't take very long?

CCleaner is very fast when used manually. Sometimes I want to keep info and other times when doing a complete system cleanup I may want to delete more info.

Thanks.

 

[MrXidus]

Excellent guide for those who want automatic functions.
But I prefer to do everything manually, one of the reasons that I like CCleaner and Defragger is they don't run automatically and use up system resources.

Thanks.

If you were to have these 2 programs running automatically, Just how much system resources of yours would be taken up exactly? Not enough to severely impact your PC I'm guessing? Today's modern PC's are more than powerful enough to run such basic tasks as these... Unless you're still on Windows XP with 512MB RAM and a Pentium III processor then I can see the valid reason. Fair enough you can be conservative on your PC and the background resources that get used up, I myself disabled a handful of services I didn't need (such as the Fax and Printer service) right after I installed Windows 8.

Seems like the real reason is the placebo effect in doing so until someone starts bringing up figures and proof of an significant gain in noticeable performance.

Thanks.

Yes it is true newer system should be able to handle the resources but what about the users who sometimes maybe want to delete cookies, temp files, browser cache, recycle bin, etc. and other times wan to keep this info. They would still have to manually change the settings on CCleaner, since they already have CCleaner running to change its settings, when not go ahead and run it because it won't take very long?

CCleaner is very fast when used manually. Sometimes I want to keep info and other times when doing a complete system cleanup I may want to delete more info.

Thanks.

Hmm, you basically dodged my point and my question. But to answer yours, The solution is very easy to do and once done you don't have to worry about the auto cleaner deleting the files /cookies / temp data etc you wish to keep.

First things first, when you first installed CCleaner, You were given this option.

Spoiler

Perhaps you clicked 'No' but now you want to keep them.

You can add which ever files or folders you won't want to be touched by CCleaner with the option below.

Spoiler

As for cookies, Easy does it with this option below.

Spoiler

Another feature shown below, Can help those not wanting newer cookies / cache files / temp data being deleted.

Spoiler

since they already have CCleaner running to change its settings, when (i assume you meant why) not go ahead and run it because it won't take very long?

Well the answer to that is in the thread title, This is configuring CCleaner to be fully automatic, The subject of talking about manual labour was not the purpose of this thread as that's the difference between a user that is fine with doing things themselves or saving time by having the system take care of itself as the guide helps with.

Sometimes I want to keep info and other times when doing a complete system cleanup I may want to delete more info.

Sure thing, You can tick/un-tick the required boxes of the info you wish to keep and of course, while you're at it run a scan if need be, otherwise exit CCleaner and let the auto-task do its job.

/TL;DR - Change settings if needed, auto cleaner does what it wants you to do. Manual labour discussion is not the point of this thread.

Thanks.

 

[Littlebits]

@ MrXidus
Don't get me wrong like I said this is an excellent guide for users who would like to use automatic option. But in spite of this thread being about automatic care, you have to understand not all users would benefit the same from using it, others might think since these products are so easy and fast to use manually what is the point. We all are different but I'm sure many users will find this thread very beneficial since you provided precise details and images to help them very easy set everything up correctly. This one of the best setup guides that I have seen in awhile.

This thread is already popular with members, it should be a stick thread for easy access.

Good day.

 

[MrExplorer]

Nice how do u make these moving images

 

[Ink]

Moving images? You mean .GIF (most common) or .APNG (not widely supported).

I might be wrong, but you can create .GIF images in Photoshop nowadays? MrXidus will provide a better detailed answer.

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You mention CCEnhancer, I prefer the alternate called CCleaner+.

 

[MrXidus]

Nice how do u make these moving images

Camtasia Studio 8 for recording and outputting the GIF then imported into Adobe Photoshop CS6 Extended for enhanced compression to reduce GIF file size for web usage.

Your welcome.

 

[MrExplorer]

Nice how do u make these moving images

Camtasia Studio 8 for recording and outputting the GIF then imported into Adobe Photoshop CS6 Extended for enhanced compression to reduce GIF file size for web usage.

Your welcome.

Thanks for the reply i will also try to make them but i am not really good at designing

 

[clyde]

Excellent guide there.I can think of a few friends that I will do this for.

 

[Tom172]

This will save many hours from my extremely busy life. Thank you.

 

[MrExplorer]

MrXidus - Can you please make a tutorial for ESET SS Config it would help for beginners to learn how to setup ESET SS protection better