I try to stay away from system cleaning tools like ccleaner, I am sure it is a great program but if you know where to go to clean up system temp files etcetera then having another program installed is just pointless. I actually think these kind of tools go a little overboard in cleaning things that really should not be touched such as certain log files which contain important information like program removal and installation so if the log file is removed then you can’t un-install / modify that program/s.

I also have a big issue with registry cleaners, now all a registry cleaner does is remove unwanted or redundant items and all that does in return is increase your startup time by 1 millisecond if that and also increase your memory footprint by a couple of kilobytes (if your lucky) the other main problem I always have is these registry cleaning tools always mess up currently installed programs and always remove things like game keys which drives me insane.

With todays large hard drives I find the below methods are only required if you are really desperate for hard disk space, own an SSD or are totally OCD

Here is a small list of things that you can do to keep your Windows 7 computer junk free so to speak.

Please note that this doesn’t do any thing to help with performance, these are basically house cleaning options, I have thrown in a couple of others as well.

1. Click start and type %temp% which will take you to your accounts temp folder, I normally sort them by date modified and anything older than about 2 weeks I select and while still holding the Shift key and then press the Delete key to say goodbye to these files for ever
2. Some apps use the temp folder in C:\Windows\Temp, Click start and type c:\windows\temp again I normally sort them by date modified and anything older than about 2 weeks I select, hold down the Shift key and then press the Delete key
3. The temp folder where windows stores files it has updated (windows update files etc) located at C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download, it is safe to delete the contents of this folder, especially when you have installed quiet a few updates, NOTE: after deleting this folder your Windows Update history will be lost but the updates are still installed, you just can’t tell which ones or un-install them, this is an extra cleaning tip if you have an SSD maybe and want some extra space
4. Some times Windows system files become corrupt with out you evening realising it, click on start and type “cmd” then pres “Ctrl+Shift+Enter” to run the command prompt as Administrator and then type “sfc -scannow” this will check the integrity of Windows system files, it will take a few minutes
5. Next would be a good combination of Virus and Malware cleaning tools, I run Microsoft Security Essentials, Malwarebytes Antimalware and have very good web browsing habits which also includes things like peer block and a good list of blocked keywords set-up in my router
6. System Restore is fine but it can build up quiet a few older restore points especially with its default size (64gb on a 500gb HDD, well for me anyway), press “Start and Pause” at the same time, click on the “System protection” link in the left, in the next window click on the system drive and click the “Configure” button, in the next window there is a button that says “delete” click that and you will be given an option to remove older restore points
7. Disk Cleanup actually covers a lot of the top options but not quiet as well, click “Start” and type in “disk cleanup” then select the drive you want to clean which is normally the default of “C”, tick the options that you want to clean such as
   

   Remove temporary Internet files.
   Delete downloaded program files like Microsoft ActiveX controls and Java applets.
   Empty Recycle Bin.
   Remove Windows temporary files like error reports.

   There is nothing to complex about the options in Disk Cleanup

I think that will cover most of them with out going to far into the workings of the operating system and really cleaning things up which normally kills things.