Best software to clean your system

[Humberto]

Among the things that we rot the life of a PC user, the ability of Windows to slow down as its use, often tops the list, the fault in large part to the registry that swells during installations and uninstalls, not always clean, software. The phenomenon has a name, "WinRot" and the solution to the problem is often radical reinstall Windows when using the PC becomes really unbearable. To a lesser extent, temporary files and other historical data can also play a role in the slow performance.

In addition to this well-known problem for Windows users, there are other cases where a more general cleaning is needed, if only when the temporary files and other historical beginning to take a result, when these are not duplicate photos or files that are multiplying because they watched her drive. It could also refer to the installation of multiple software that you do not necessarily want to remove, until the space comes out. To help you do the cleaning at the beginning of the year We have selected our favorite free software solutions any one to clean your temporary files and your registry database, tools, uninstall software, defragmenters detectors duplicates, you will probably find what a little free space on your hard and improve the performance of your system, even slightly.

Warning for beginners:

Some software presented in this selection, including tools to clean the Windows registry are not used lightly. During our tests, we have not seen instability following their use on our machines. We must be aware that the cleaning of any operating system is not without danger. If you're in doubt, do not use this software without the aid of a person with a minimum of experience in the operation of Windows or Mac OS X.

Glary Utilities

It no longer Glary Utilities, the free alternative to commercial cleaning solutions that are System Mechanic or TuneUp Utilities. The software offers its competitors as a series of modules to clean and optimize the various components of Windows registry cleaning, removal of unnecessary shortcuts, eradication of dangerous startup entries, cleaning temporary files. The interface, simple but effective, has little to envy to a TuneUp Utilities and modules seem to do their job properly, without causing instability particular. As stated above, vigilance will still be necessary. Finish with an appreciable: Glary Utilities offers a module for removing traces of navigation and even an anti-spyware.

Download Glary Utilities for Windows



CCleaner
Formerly known as, evocative, but unflattering, of Crap Cleaner (Cleaner m. .. "), CCleaner is designed to clean unneeded files that can clutter your PC (temporary files, download history, newspapers, cookies ...) and the registry (key unused ActiveX controls, help files, application paths ...). The interest of the software is to be rather light and minimalist: here, not many modules, but a simple interface to launch a general cleaning, checking or unchecking what you want to clean. It is certainly fast enough, but may be a little scary for a newcomer who will not know too much what to check. However, CCleaner is a reference in its genre.

CCleaner download for Windows



Onyx
While Macs are far less concerned than the PC to the degradation of system performance, it is still necessary to clean your Mac OS X from time to time, and for this task, it is not necessary to get further than the excellent OnyX a concentrated tools and optimizations gathered in a free software. In addition to the many "tweaks" proposed, the software offers tools for maintenance and cleaning including the use of scripts or BSD reinitialization index Spotlight and Mail, the deletion of the browser cache, history, values filling out forms, cookies ... All of which are programmable through a feature "Automation" which can launch one or more tools with one click. OnyX has the added advantage of offering several versions. The last, being developed, is only compatible with Mac OS X 10.5 but the publisher still offers versions for Tiger, Panther and Jaguar.

Download OnyX for Mac OS X



AusLogics Disk Defrag
Find a free defragmentation tool, replace the module integrated into Windows is not easy. Among the candidates are minimalist but nonetheless excellent Auslogics Disk Defrag. The program of this small freeware, it is useless to look for advanced features of an O & O Defrag or a Perfect Disk. Nevertheless, it is only the minimum necessary, but it does very well, as we noted in our tests guide defragmentation: The software was clearly the best defragmenter free and even paying the luxury of not ashamed Diskeeper face. To have in his kit!

Download Auslogics Disk Defrag for Windows

[Humberto]

Double Killer
If the hard drives tend to fill with temporary files unnecessary duplication may also be a major source of employment. Nevertheless, the track is a tedious task, which avoids DoubleKiller. The software performs a selective in your files and hard drives, to eliminate possible duplicates and recover the space occupied unnecessarily. The strength of Double Killer lies in its configuration options. You can define the filtering rules to duplicate (if the names are identical, if the size is the same, if the dates of creation are the same whether or if the cyclic redundancy check (CRC) provides the same result). Some types of files can also be ignored. The icing on the cake: DoubleKiller is portable so you can run it from your USB drive.

Double Killer download for Windows



VisiPics
Digital photos are part of the file types that may appear in duplicate on your hard drive. To deal more specifically your images to find duplicates, we can also advise the excellent VisiPics. This free application allows you to find and eliminate the pictures several copies on your hard drives. For this, the software uses several methods: comparison of fingerprints and application of five types of filters to detect traces similarities. It will recognize and clones of an image even if the pictures have different sizes, resolution or orientation. The software interface is rather difficult at first but control relatively quickly. As for formats, the picture is complete: JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP, PCX, TIFF, TGA, RAW is the game. What more can we say except that VisiPics is also optimized for dual-core processors? A pearl essential for photographers crowded with hard drives!

VisiPics download for Windows



Remove Empty Directories
The household on its hard drive is one thing, but to clean up the tree can also be of great help. A force to copy and move files from one folder to another, it may be that many files the hard drive while they are still completely empty. This is especially a problem that may be experienced users managers like iTunes music library, which tend to automatically create folders when you change the name of an album or artist to move music files, but leave behind old directories. Remove Empty Directories allows you to search and delete these directories empty, but it does not stop there, since options allow software to ignore certain files specified by the user. You can tell the software to consider all empty directories that contain only files of type Thumbs.db. Easy to use, lightweight Remove Empty Directories is the perfect tool for manic own trees!

Download Remove Empty Directories for Windows



WinDirStat
In order to clean its hard drive, a good way to save time is to know what are the largest files: the task is far from easy, but several programs are responsible for your help. This is the case with WinDirStat. This little tool scans your hard drive and displays a visual representation of its occupation in the form of rectangles of color. The colors represent different file types and size of rectangles is proportional to that file. Clicking on one of them, you can see how the file tree it relates. It is also possible to highlight all the files corresponding to a specific type. Despite his advanced age, WinDirStat remains one of the most effective tools in this category.

WinDirStat download for Windows

[Humberto]

PC Decrapifier
If a PC may require a thorough cleaning after a few months of use, a brand new PC out of the box is also an excellent candidate for a sweep. It may not be like that manufacturers provide their computers with a variety of software, often in trial version (antivirus software, Microsoft Office ...), toolbars indispensable promotional and shortcuts, including to ISP. With a core of key suspects (including Norton Internet Security, Norton AntiVirus, Norton Symantec Live Update, Microsoft Office Trial, Roxio Express, Trend Micro PC-cillin Internet Security, Yahoo!, Orange Internet, MusicMatch Jukebox, McAfee, Google Toolbar, Google Desktop, Dell URL Assistant, or AOL), PC Decrapifier will dispose of them for you. For this is simple: you have to start to create a restore point (it is always recommended) and start the scan. The software displays the list of applications found, you can uncheck at leisure. Difficult to make more efficient ...

Download for Windows PC Decrapifier



Norton Removal Tool
Security software from Symantec (Norton Antivirus, Norton Internet Security, Live Update ...) are traditionally accompanied by an unfortunate reputation: the difficulty that one may have to remove them from your hard drive, especially that they are often provided in trial version with a PC nine. Even if the publisher to yellow boxes has improved on this point since the latest versions of antivirus software, Symantec still seems aware of the problem and offer up propore tool uninstall Norton Removal Tool. This one is in charge of eradicating all traces of Symantec software. Software AntiSpam, Antivirus, Ghost, GoBack, Internet Security, Password Manager, Personal Firewall, SystemWorks, Confidential Online, Internet Security Add-on Pack, Save and Restore and Norton 360 are supported in their versions from 2003 to 2009 . If you experience difficulty Symantec uninstall software properly, the solution can be found at Symantec itself. Which one is never better served than by oneself ...

Download Norton Removal Tool for Windows



Revo Uninstaller
The uninstall tool built into Windows is not necessarily the ideal solution for removing software. There are tools and more ergonomic and more powerful, especially RevoUninstaller. The free tool offers first algorithms quite successful, claiming more effectively uninstall software recalcitrant, including removing registry keys that the tool built into Windows would pass. But the originality of Revo Uninstaller also lies in its interface, with a particular mode that allows Target to uninstall a program by pointing to its icon, or drag the latter to a window. To not do things by halves, the software includes several modules to remove the software when Windows starts (in the autorun line) or to clean up the historical navigation or Microsoft Office.

Download Revo Uninstaller for Windows



AppCleaner
End this selection with an application essential to users of Mac OS X. While most Mac applications are contained in their files and do not require a simple transition to the trash to be removed, others can create files or folders to other locations on the disc. AppCleaner is part of the software to to clean more thoroughly. However, unlike its competitors, it is absolutely free! It is nevertheless effective and easy to use. Just open the software and drag and drop application icons that you want to uninstall the area provided. AppCleaner detects all files relating to this application and you to remove them. The interface is a model of elegance and simplicity and it is very effective. Try it!

AppCleaner download for Mac OS X