Below is a description of the items in each of the tabs of Cleaner Settings.

 

 

1. Select the drives to scan in the "Drives to Scan" listbox (by default the internal harddrives are selected).  To select more than one drive hold down on the Ctrl button.

2. The Time Buffer is an added measure of safety.  When using the Time Buffer, only files more than two weeks old are found and cleaned.  Check the "Use Time Buffer" checkbox to use the time buffer.

3. Go through the other tabs and check which items to include in the Run Settings scan.  There are three buttons on the left at the bottom which you can use to either set the checkboxes to their default settings ("Set to Default" button), or mark all of the checkboxes ("Check All" button), or unmark all of the checkboxes ("Uncheck All" button).

 

 

Each item has a ranking (see each item below) as to how safe it is to remove.  The rankings in order from safest to least safe are Completely Safe, Safe, Mostly Safe, and Not So Safe.  The items are ranked lower in safety if there is a chance that the file could be a needed file or if there is the possibility that deleting it may have an adverse effect.

The dropdown boxes that accompany the checkboxes allow you to choose what to do (when the Clean button is clicked) with what is found: "Delete File, Move to Zip", "Delete Zip after 1 Week", or "Move to Zip, Do not Delete Zip".

 

· .TMP Files - Safe - Temporary Files

· .BAK Files - Safe - Backup Files

· ~ Files - Safe - Temporary Files

· .GID Files - Completely Safe - Help's Temporary Files - These files are created when a Help file is run.

· .OLD Files - Safe - Backup Files

· .000 Files - Mostly Safe - Backup Files

· ScanDisk Undo Files - Safe - ScanDisk''s Lost Fragments (if you are not having a problem with your harddrive since a ScanDisk was done, throw these out).

· All Files in Temporary Folders - Safe - Files in the Temp and Tmp Folders - Files with today's date are not shown here.

· Empty Files - Safe - Files of 0 bytes size

· Empty Folders - Mostly Safe - Folders with Nothing in them - some programs may require certain empty folders.

· "Copy of" Files - Safe - Backup Files

· "Backup_of_" Files - Safe - Backup Files

 

 

Each item has a ranking (see each item below) as to how safe it is to remove.  The rankings in order from safest to least safe are Completely Safe, Safe, Mostly Safe, and Not So Safe.  The items are ranked lower in safety if there is a chance that the file could be a needed file or if there is the possibility that deleting it may have an adverse effect.

The dropdown boxes that accompany the checkboxes allow you to choose what to do (when the Clean button is clicked) with what is found: "Delete File, Move to Zip", "Delete Zip after 1 Week", or "Move to Zip, Do not Delete Zip".

 

· Old Files (1999) - Mostly Safe - These Files have not been used since 1999 - If they belong to a program which you no longer use, please uninstall the program first.

· Old Files (2000) - Mostly Safe - These Files have not been used since 2000 - If they belong to a program which you no longer use, please uninstall the program first.

· Old Files (2001) - Not So Safe - These Files have not been used since 2001 - If they belong to a program which you no longer use, please uninstall the program first.

· Old Files (2002) - Not So Safe - These Files have not been used since 2002 - If they belong to a program which you no longer use, please uninstall the program first.

· Broken Shortcuts - Completely Safe - Shortcuts point to and run other files - These Broken Shortcuts point to files that no longer exist.

· Shortcuts to Web - Mostly Safe - These Shortcuts point to and run files on the internet - Deleting these may wipe out your Favorites list or other such lists that point to internet locations.

· Shortcuts to Disks - Mostly Safe - These Shortcuts point to and run files on diskettes or CDs.

· Recycle Bin - Safe - Files in the Recycle Bin - Deleting these files will empty the Recycle Bin.

· Recent List - Completely Safe - Old Entries in the Recent List.

· Internet Cache - Completely Safe - All Files in the Cache of IE and Netscape.

· Internet History - Mostly Safe - All Files in the History List of IE and Netscape.

· Internet Cookies - Mostly Safe - All Cookies used by IE and Netscape.

 

 

Each item has a ranking (see each item below) as to how safe it is to remove.  The rankings in order from safest to least safe are Completely Safe, Safe, Mostly Safe, and Not So Safe.  The items are ranked lower in safety if there is a chance that the file could be a needed file or if there is the possibility that deleting it may have an adverse effect.

The dropdown boxes that accompany the checkboxes allow you to choose what to do (when the Clean button is clicked) with what is found: "Delete File, Move to Zip", "Delete Zip after 1 Week", or "Move to Zip, Do not Delete Zip".

 

· .DMP Files - Mostly Safe - Dump Files

· .FTS Files - Mostly Safe - Help Search Files

· .~MP Files - Safe - Temporary Files

· .$$$ Files - Safe - Backup or Temporary Files

· .TEMP Files - Safe - Temporary Files

· .CPY Files - Mostly Safe - Backup Files

· .??$ Files - Mostly Safe - Temporary Files

· .~* Files - Safe - Backup Files

· ._MP Files - Safe - Temporary Files

· .SYD Files - Safe - Backup Files

· .ERR Files - Safe - Error Files

· .??~ Files - Safe - Temporary Files

 

 

Each item has a ranking (see each item below) as to how safe it is to remove.  The rankings in order from safest to least safe are Completely Safe, Safe, Mostly Safe, and Not So Safe.  The items are ranked lower in safety if there is a chance that the file could be a needed file or if there is the possibility that deleting it may have an adverse effect.

The dropdown boxes that accompany the checkboxes allow you to choose what to do (when the Clean button is clicked) with what is found: "Delete File, Move to Zip", "Delete Zip after 1 Week", or "Move to Zip, Do not Delete Zip".

 

· ._DETMP Files - Safe - Temporary Files

· .DD_ Files - Safe - Junk Files

· .___ Files - Mostly Safe - Temporary Files

· .$DB Files - Safe - Temporary Files (dBase IV)

· .--- Files - Safe - Backup Files

· .~$~ Files - Safe - Temporary Files (1st Reader)

· .BK? Files - Safe - Backup Files

· .DB$ Files - Safe - Temporary Files (dBase)

· .MS Files - Not So Safe - MS Product Backup Files

· 0*.NCH Files - Safe - Temporary Files (Outlook Express)

· BACKUP*.WBK Files - Safe - Word Backup Files

· .?~? Files - Safe - Temporary Files

 

 

Each item has a ranking (see each item below) as to how safe it is to remove.  The rankings in order from safest to least safe are Completely Safe, Safe, Mostly Safe, and Not So Safe.  The items are ranked lower in safety if there is a chance that the file could be a needed file or if there is the possibility that deleting it may have an adverse effect.

The dropdown boxes that accompany the checkboxes allow you to choose what to do (when the Clean button is clicked) with what is found: "Delete File, Move to Zip", "Delete Zip after 1 Week", or "Move to Zip, Do not Delete Zip".

 

· Windows Printer Spool Files - Safe - All files with the ending *.spl in the Windows\Spool\Printers directory which are more than one day old.

· Juno Ads Files - Safe - Files used for ads in Juno.

· Fast Find Cache Files - Safe - A list of the files on your computer (this list speeds up Find procedures, but it can also show others what files you have had and what you have done online).

· INDEX.DAT Files - Safe - File used by Windows Explorer to keep track of what has happened in that folder.

· DESKTOP.INI Files - Mostly Safe - File used by Windows Explorer to specially set up a folder.

· Online Services Files - Completely Safe - All files in the Online Services directory (these files come with Windows and are always out-of-date).

· Old WinUpdates - Safe - Backups for Windows Updates downloaded automatically from the Internet which are older than 2 months.

· Old Restore Points - Safe - Restore Points older than 2 months.

· Deleted IE Emails - Mostly Safe - Emails in the Deleted Items section of Internet Explorer (deleted items in old unused installations of IE will also be removed).

 

· Clean Registry using settings in the Registry Cleaner section - if this checkbox is marked, the Clean PC and Run Settings scans will run the items marked in the Registry Cleaner section.  The Remove Tracks scan always cleans certain parts of the Registry (see the Remove Tracks section).  To see what is marked in the Registry Cleaner section click on the "Go to Registry Cleaner section" link.

 

 

The Temporary Folders and Internet Cache options on the other tabs only look for the current user's folders.  The items on the Others tab scan the entire PC for the coresponding folders.  These will find old, unused folders and other users' folders.

This can be very helpful, but may also be damaging depending on your situation, so please be careful.

 

Each item has a ranking (see each item below) as to how safe it is to remove.  The rankings in order from safest to least safe are Completely Safe, Safe, Mostly Safe, and Not So Safe.  The items are ranked lower in safety if there is a chance that the file could be a needed file or if there is the possibility that deleting it may have an adverse effect.

The dropdown boxes that accompany the checkboxes allow you to choose what to do (when the Clean button is clicked) with what is found: "Delete File, Move to Zip", "Delete Zip after 1 Week", or "Move to Zip, Do not Delete Zip".

 

· All Temp Files - Safe - Files in all Folders called Temp, except the Current User''s Temp folder.

· All Tmp Files - Safe - Files in all Folders called Tmp, except the Current User''s Tmp folder.

· All Internet Cache Files - Safe - Files in all Folders called Temporary Internet Files, except the Current User''s Temporary Internet Files folder.

· All Install Files - Mostly Safe - Files in all Folders called MSSTARTUP, which is Microsoft''s Temporary Installation Folder, all folders that start with the word, INSTALL, all MSCREATE.DIR folders, and all ~MSSETUP.T folders.

· All Outlook Setup Files - Mostly Safe - Files in all Folders called Outlook Setup, which is Outlook''s Temporary Installation Folder.

· All IE Setup Files - Mostly Safe - Files in all Folders called IE Setup, which is IE''s Temporary Installation Folder.

· All ShellIconCache Files - Safe - All files called ShellIconCache, which is a temporary cache of icons.

· All Office Garbage Files - Safe - Temporary Files for Office

 

 

     Set up your own scan configurations on this tab.  First check the checkbox before "Remove Files" and then set the three settings on that line.  To understand it more, read the whole line as a sentance starting with "Remove Files".

The first setting after "Remove Files" tells what the text in the textbox applies to.  The five options are "Ending with", "Beginning with", "Using the Wildcard - ", "In the Folder of", and "Include SubFolders of".  "Ending with" looks for filenames that end with the text in the textbox.  "Beginning with" looks for filenames that begin with the text in the textbox.  "Using the Wildcard - " looks for filenames that match the text in the textbox.  Selecting the last two options in the dropdown box will open an Open window.  What is chosen in the Open window will be put in the textbox.  "In the Folder of" will find all of the files in the selected folder, but not in any subfolders.  "Include SubFolders of" is the same as "In the Folder of" except that all files in subfolders are found too.

Next to the first dropdown box is the textbox.  The wildcards, *, ?, letters, and numbers may be used in the textbox.  * stands for any number of any character.  ? stands for any one character.

The last setting of the line is a dropdown box with tells what to do (when the Clean button is clicked) with what is found: "Delete File, Move to Zip", "Delete Zip after 1 Week", or "Move to Zip, Do not Delete Zip".

Each item has a ranking (see each item below) as to how safe it is to remove.  The rankings in order from safest to least safe are Completely Safe, Safe, Mostly Safe, and Not So Safe.  The items are ranked lower in safety if there is a chance that the file could be a needed file or if there is the possibility that deleting it may have an adverse effect.

 

 

If there are directories (also known as Folders) on your hard drive which you do not want scanned during Clean PC, Remove Tracks, and Run Settings, list those directories here.  Use the "Select Directory to Skip" button to add directories.  All subdirectories of the listed directories will also be skipped.

To remove a directory from the list, select it and click on the "Remove Selected Item" button.  More than one item may be removed this way (use Ctrl or Shift to select more than one).