Piriform CCleaner

 Often I get asked questions about what software should be used for keeping a computer running at optimal performance. You can pay hundreds of dollars on programs that claim to work wonders, and solve every problem under the sun, and there are probably some winners out there, but the program that I recommend to anyone that asks is CCleaner, by Piriform.

CCleaner is a freeware application with a myriad of applications, presented in a user friendly GUI

 The main application of CCleaner is a replacement to Windows standard 'Disk Cleanup' feature, Only CCleaner does it 100x better. Depending on how regularly you run the Cleaner, CCleaner shouldn't take more than 10 seconds to be open running, and have your computers Temporary Internet Files, Cookies, History and so on wiped from your computer. It also empties your Recycle Bin and any temporary files left behind by most programs (Including, but not limited to Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, Media Players, MSN Messenger, and many others.)

Ideally, you would want to run CCleaner as often as possible, and I have it default set to run the Cleaner whenever I log on. The beautiful part is, the Cleaner is so transparently small, you hardly notice it running at all, even at the initial start up when all of you programs are trying to catch your attention.  

 The second Valuable feature of CCleaner is its amazing registry Cleaner. The internet is absolutely plagued with programs that claim to speed your computer up by cleaning your registry. The problem with that is, the registry of an operating system is a very delicate thing, Mess with the balance too much, and you have quite a problem on your hands!

CCleaner's Registry Cleaner is the only registry cleaner that I have ever used for a continued amount of time, and have felt safe enough to recommend using it to anyone else. One of the surprising parts of the Microsoft Vista Operating System is that its surprisingly stable with regards to the registry. So Vista users, you won't need to run the Registry cleaner very often, however, XP users, speaking from personal experience, there has been alot of problems with my system that CCleaner's Registry Cleaner was able to sort out, frequently getting upwards of 100 registry issues per week.

The Registry cleaners safety is vitually assured, as it prompts user to save the registry file before deleting the key, so that any action is reversible. Although if the process damages the registry enough, this would be pointless. As far as experience is concerned, it seems unanimous that the registry cleaner is as effective as it is safe to use.

 The program is also equipped with features including a Program Uninstaller, A startup manager and a system restore function.

Piriform CCleaner can be downloaded via filehippo here