Since version 2.15.815, CCleaner’s Secure Delete feature can be accesed via a command line option. It’s very useful, but for most users it’s a drag to open a command line window and to run the ccleaner.exe binary with the file/folder to delete as a parameter. The process can be simplified if CCleaner’s directory is added to the PATH environment variable, so that you don’t have to enter the full path to ccleaner.exe. Still, we can do better than that…

Introducing the CCleaner Secure Delete script, a simple script for the Windows command line shell. Simply unzip the script on your desktop or another handy location, then drag files or folder you wish to delete onto it. The script will tell you what is about to be deleted, than call ccleaner.exe. If you’re sure, confirm CCleaner’s dialog and that’s it!

Any suggestions or tips are welcome.

You can either download the script, or create it yourself (just make sure you give the file a .cmd extension). Here’s the script’s contents:

Note: If you have installed CCleaner somewhere other than the default location, you will need to edit the script and put in the correct installation path.

Note 2: A similar result can be achieved by creating a shortcut to ccleaner.exe and changing its “target”, like in this screenshot (add a space and the text “/delete” after the double quote at the end). You can add a comment as well (it will be displayed when you place your mouse pointer over the shortcut icon). don’t forget to name the shortcut something meaningful such as “Secure Delete with Ccleaner”.

Piriform’s CCleaner software has reached a new version: 2.15.815.

Beside minor bug fixes and a few changes, there’s a new and very interesting feature. CCleaner now has a command-line switch which enables secure deletion of certain files or folders. To use it, open a command prompt window in CCleaner’s install directory and run:

(1) ccleaner.exe /delete FILENAME.EXT - to secure delete a single file
(2) ccleaner.exe /delete FOLDER - to secure delete a folder
(3) use wildcards such as * and ? to delete multiple files or folders: ccleaner.exe /delete *.txt - to delete all txt files in the current folder

After the command is ran, CCleaner will ask for confirmation that you really wish to remove the files or folders then proceed to securely deleting them.

Note: file or folder names that contain spaces should be enclosed in double quotes (eg: “file name with spaces.txt”)

Update: I have created a simple script that enables secure delete via drag and drop with CCleaner.

Fresh in the tracks of the last version, today we get a genuine YABR: CCleaner 2.14.763.

All it does is fix minor bugs related to Firefox 2 cookie handling. (Or does it? :D)

Yes, it’s true! CCleaner now supports the unreleased yet Windows 7! Definitely not a YABR, although I’m curious in what ways is Windows 7 different from Vista cleaning at this point

What else is new? Well, Chrome cleaning has been improved, Opera cookies are better baked managed and Autocomplete Search only works on XP now.

Of course, there’s also the usual batch of bugfixes (mostly UI and performance related)…

To use the portable version, get the zip package below and unzip it to a folder on your USB drive. It includes all the language packs in DLL files, but you may delete the ones you don’t need (english is embedded in the executable itself, so if you don’t need other languages, all lang-XXXX.dll files can be removed).

My favorite cleaning software got an update today, as if to prompt me to proceed to cleaning my PC. Fair enough, PC cleaning has been done after installing the new version (2.13.720).

Highlights include: Firefox 3.1 support (not very excited about this since I’m not a Firefox fan - more about this some other time), individual item cleaning/analysis by right click (extremely useful) and a fix for an Index.dat handling related issue that caused a crash.

The GUI has been improved by adding some icons and fixing some bugs.

Download links follow; for more about this update, scroll down further.

*** CCLEANER 2.13.720 DOWNLOADS AND OTHER USEFUL LINKS ***

Get it now: Download CCleaner 2.13.720 (no toolbar)
exe installer, 872KB, MD5 sum: 3687FC06504A2D1930F430EB7122C713

Get it now: Download CCleaner 2.13.720 (portable version)
ZIP archive, 854KB, MD5 sum: 86489786E776115FF59F90D4B13E8FF2

*** WHAT’S NEW IN CCLEANER 1.40.520 ***

- Added support for Firefox 3.1.
- Added right-click cleaning and analysis for individual items in the tree.
- Added icons to tree parent items.
- Added cleaning for Windows Error Reporting files.
- Added Include/Exclude list editing.
- Improved TypeLib registry cleaning.
- Fixed Index.dat bug that could cause a crash.
- Fixed bug with INI warning messages.
- Internal architecture improvements.
- Fixed minor GUI errors.

A few days ago, Piriform unleashed a new version of its PC cleaning tool: CCleaner 1.40.520.

Among the notable changes are the improvements to the program’s compatibility with Windows Vista’s User Account Control (UAC) feature.

However, posts on the official CCleaner forum indicate some (new?) bugs still plague the program’s functionality when UAC is enabled. Namely, when storing settings to an .ini files, they will not be saved correctly. The same UAC incompatibility affects CCleaner’s “Issues” scanner which fails to function as designed in most cases.

It must be noted though that running the program as Administrator, which bypasses the UAC, enables CCleaner to work as it should. Another solution would be to disable UAC completely, but this might put your computer in danger if you are not an advanced user. If you still wish to do so, simply choose one of the four ways to disable UAC.

The new version also brings forth some improvements to the secure delete routines, to the uninstall tool, Windows Live toolbar cleaning, updates to UI translations and other minor bugfixes.

*** CCLEANER 1.40.520 DOWNLOADS AND OTHER USEFUL LINKS ***

Get it now: Download CCleaner 1.40.520
exe installer, 2.59MB, MD5 sum: D87AA7E21132FB58510CACEF21DAFC26

Or: Download CCleaner 1.40.520 without toolbar
exe installer, 641KB, MD5 sum: 4D8A8A1A3D4707C133CCA8BF8DC25E73

You might want to try:
Take the CCleaner Feature Tour
Visit CCleaner Homepage

*** WHAT’S NEW IN CCLEANER 1.40.520 ***

- Fixed problem with Vista UAC compatibility.
- Fixed bug in Secure Delete when emptying Recycle Bin.
- Fixed bug in Secure Delete with 0 byte files.
- Fixed bug in Uninstall Tool with non-standard entries.
- Resource file loading optimizations.
- Updated Windows Live toolbar cleaning.
- Added Bulgarian translation.
- Updated several translations.
- Updated installer engine.
- Minor bug fixes.

It’s time for a new CCleaner release. We want our regular share of improvements and fixes.. and new features!

It’s here and it has a new secure file deletion routine (twice as fast, according to the developer, hmmm).

The usual improvements to cleaning were not forgotten: better Internet files removal, Recycle Bin handling and cleaning lots and lots of temp files.

Support for two new software pieces has been added: AntiVir PE Classic and Premium. There’s also a dropped product: PerfectDisk 8.0. According to the CCleaner forums, this was done because the program’s logfiles are somehow hardcoded into the program itself.

Last but not least: new translations! (Bosnian and Macedonian).

I tested this version on Windows Vista and it worked like a charm for both installation and cleaning.

Read below for more changelog info and, most importantly, download links…

*** DOWNLOADS AND OTHER USEFUL LINKS ***

Get it now: Download CCleaner 1.39.502
exe installer, 2.58MB, MD5 sum: 54F1D8A7C57CE4BEF7BF147C6A1B53F3

Or: Download CCleaner 1.39.502 without toolbar
exe installer, 628KB, MD5 sum: 5F1E73D99A3599F3B08FD1907A6C1100

You might want to try:
Take the CCleaner Feature Tour
Visit CCleaner Homepage

*** WHAT’S NEW IN CCLEANER 1.39.502 ***

- Performance improvements deleting Internet Cache.
- Fixed bug in Recycle Bin cleaning.
- Fixed overflow error with a large number of temp files.
- Added AntiVir PE Classic and Premium cleaning.
- Removed PerfectDisk 8.0 cleaning.
- Optimized file size for language DLLs.
- Added Bosnian translation.
- Added Macedonian translation.
- Updated several translations.
- Minor bug fixes.

More than a month after the last release, Piriform unleashed today a new version of their renowned cleaning utility CCleaner.

CCleaner 1.38.485 further improves the program’s compatibility with Microsoft’s Windows Vista, adds support for Internet Explorer protected mode cookies and includes some fixes for Firefox cookie cleaning.

The scanning speed has also been improved and some changes have been applied to the translations.

Among the usual fixes, a strange UI-related bug has been resolved.

Read below for more changelog info and, most importantly, download links…

*** DOWNLOADS AND OTHER USEFUL LINKS ***

Get it now: Download CCleaner 1.38.485
exe installer, 2.56MB, MD5 sum: C3C18F106AF704F33B200C6DE7C9E452

Or: Download CCleaner 1.38.485 without toolbar
exe installer, 607KB, MD5 sum: C0FD96E79700A53E5A3DE0B043928A0F

You might want to try:
Take the CCleaner Feature Tour
Visit CCleaner Homepage

*** WHAT’S NEW IN CCLEANER 1.38.485 ***

- Fixed resize crash at very high resolutions.
- Optimized Firefox cookie cleaning.
- Fix bug with language setting in INI file.
- Scanning performance tweaks.
- Updated several translations.
- Added support for IE protected mode cookies.
- Vista compatibility fixes.
- Minor bug fixes.

That’s how this CCleaner release can be summarized: improved compatibility with Microsoft’s newly launched Windows Vista and with 64-bit Windows versions. Both are important, especially the first, now that Vista’s been launched and started popping up in stores and in major PC manufacturers’ offers.

Apart from these improvements, some interesting additions are included in CCleaner 1.37.456, such as the ability to save the program’s settings in an INI file instead of placing them into the Windows Registry; this allows for easier recovery of the settings in case of registry failure or if the program itself is copied to another computer.

More leaning routines have also been added to CCleaner for the latest releases of popular software titles such as Adobe Reader 8.0, IZArc, OpenOffice 2.1 and PerfectDisk 8.0.

See below for the downloads and detailed changelog information.

PS: Another thing worth noting about Piriform’s products is that they’ve recently launched a new title - Recuva (recover) - which is a freeware file recovery tool. It will be covered here as soon as I get the time to test it.

*** DOWNLOADS AND OTHER LINKS ***

Get it now: Download CCleaner 1.37.456
exe installer, 2.55MB, MD5 hash: A0376CAD407B272DAAFFFC560C03DEE3

Or: Download CCleaner 1.37.456 without toolbar
exe installer, 606KB, MD5 hash: 035B6072ECEEEEB0A3276C9BDC248E66

You might want to try:
Take the CCleaner Feature Tour
Visit CCleaner Homepage

*** WHAT’S NEW IN CCLEANER 1.37.456 ***

- Added support for loading/saving settings to an INI file
rather than the registry.
- Added summary log for cleaning Firefox/Mozilla temporary files.
- Added file drag-and-drop support to the Custom File list.
- Improved Vista compatibility.
- Improved 64-bit OS support.
- Added filename wiping to secure deletion.
- Added cleaning for Adobe Reader 8.0, IZArc, OpenOffice 2.1,
PerfectDisk 8.0.
- Updated cleaning for Nero and Flash Player.
- Several performance improvements.
- Major language translation updates.
- Minor stability improvements.
- Minor bug fixes.

The latest CCleaner release introduces an important addition to its cleaning routines: Office 2007 handling.

Aside that, Piriform’s product was also updated with the usual tweaks and optimizations, as well as bugfixes.

See below for more information and download links…

*** WHAT’S NEW IN CCLEANER 1.36.430 ***

- Fixed bug with Hotfix and logfile cleaning.
- Added Office 2007 cleaning.
- Minor tweaks and optimizations.

*** CCLEANER 1.35.424 DOWNLOADS ***

Get it now: Download CCleaner 1.36.430
exe installer, 1.42MB, MD5 hash: 57BA27CAEFDA2A4DF6DFCF0ED2976E04

Or: Download CCleaner 1.36.430 without Yahoo Toolbar
exe installer, 600KB, MD5 hash: 30451ECDC420851E7AE7F81E22D146CA

You might want to try:
Take the CCleaner Feature Tour
Visit CCleaner Homepage