A new version of an app comes out, you update. No brainer. Except in the case of CCleaner, which has been all over the place in terms of privacy and security in recent times. Fortunately, it looks like the system maintenance app is back on track as of version 5.46.
How does that Dark Knight Rises quote go again? "You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain"? Turns out, this applies to software as much as it does to superheroes. CCleaner, once the premiere tool against crap-installing programs, is becoming the very thing it was designed to fight.
Reports are emerging that the CCleaner outbreak targeted computers at some specific companies. Evidence procured from data on a command-and-control server shows that 20 of the 700,000 affected computers belonged to companies such as Samsung, Cisco, Sony and Microsoft.
This morning, Piriform, developer of PC maintenance tool CCleaner, announced it was breached by hackers who infected an estimated two million users with malware. Prifirom says the incident has since been resolved, but encourages users to update the software to prevent further compromises.
Windows 10 comes bundled with a number of tiled apps built-in, like Calendar, Mail, Maps, and others. You can't get rid of them the usual way, so here are two ways to uninstall them.
Dear Lifehacker,
I've heard you (and others) recommend CCleaner as a maintenance tool for Windows, but I'm not really sure what to do with it. Should I just clean everything? Will that really make my computer faster? I'm a little overwhelmed here, help!
Windows: CCleaner is easily one of our favourite utilities. Now it has updated to version 5.0 and learned a sweet new trick: analysing your hard drive to find which files are taking up the most space.
CCleaner is one of those reliable system tools that always finds a way onto your Windows install. Most of its tasks can be done manually, sure, but it's the height of convenience to have your PC scrubbed at the click of a button. Developer Piriform this week pushed out version 5.0 and while there are some nice enhancements, it's nothing to write home about.
Android: CCleaner has always been one of our favourite maintenance tools on Windows. Now the app has come to Android with a variety of features to clean up, maintain and optimise your Android device.
Mac OS X: CCleaner for Mac has been in beta for a while, but now Mac users can enjoy the final version of one of our favorite Windows utilities. If you're a little starved for disk space or just want to engage in some early spring cleaning on your Mac, CCleaner is now finished, stable and ready to help you out.
Windows only: Only a month after its last update, one of our favourite Windows utilities, CCleaner, has released a new update that now adds full support for Firefox 4 and IE 9 (both released last month) as well as several other improvements.
CCleaner—Lifehacker readers' favourite Windows maintenance tool —has added support for Google Chrome in its latest release. Granted, the release first saw light about a month ago, but it's great to see CCleaner continue to add new browsers. Chrome cleaning includes cookies, download history, cache, browser history, and saved form info.
For those of you who prefer automating your computer maintenance on a schedule, the How-To Geek weblog explains how to automatically de-crapify your PC nightly. Setting it up takes little more than creating a scheduled task in the Windows Task Scheduler, but it's a great way to regularly clean out your PC with a set-it-and-forget-it routine. For more automated maintenance, check out how to set up a self-repairing hard drive.
Setup CCleaner to Automatically Run Each Night in Vista or XP
The How-To Geek weblog details how to create a keyboard shortcut that—when pressed—will automatically run the popular Windows maintenance utility CCleaner with your default settings in the background. The setup is simple, requiring you to create a shortcut and add the /AUTO switch to the end of the target. Then you can just assign a keyboard shortcut through the Properties window. If you already obsessively run CCleaner to keep your computer pristine (judging by the results of our Hive Five best maintenance tools, you probably do), this shortcut will make life that much easier. Create a Shortcut or Hotkey to Run CCleaner Silently
Windows only: Freeware application Click&Clean works in conjunction with previously mentioned favourite CCleaner to cover your browsing tracks with the click of a button. To use it, first make sure that you've already installed CCleaner and then download and install Click&Clean. Once installed, Click&Clean will add an entry to your quick launch bar. You can stop with that if you like, but Click&Clean also provides a Cleaner button for you Firefox and Internet Explorer toolbars—you just have to add them through the customise dialogs. Once there, clicking the toilet paper icon will automatically run CCleaner's browser cleanup tools to give your browsing session a deep clean. Click&Clean is freeware, Windows only. Click&Clean
