CCleaner Enhancement: Remove Excess Files with CCEnhancer

Expanding CCleaner's Capabilities with CCEnhancer

The functionality of CCleaner, a well-known system maintenance utility, can be significantly broadened through the use of an external program. CCEnhancer, an unofficial tool, enhances Piriform’s popular application by substantially increasing the number of supported software titles.

Optimizing Disk Space with CCleaner

When the goal is to reclaim valuable hard drive space by eliminating superfluous files, CCleaner stands out as a highly effective solution. The application performs a scan of your computer, identifying and removing unnecessary data.

While not intended for weekly execution, it proves invaluable when disk space is at a premium.

Introducing CCEnhancer: A Complementary Tool

CCEnhancer builds upon CCleaner’s existing strengths. This tool aggregates user-contributed scripts, primarily sourced from the Piriform Forums, to extend CCleaner’s compatibility.

Specifically, it introduces support for approximately 450 additional programs that are not natively recognized by CCleaner.

Benefits and Considerations

Although you may not utilize all 450 supported applications, the likelihood of running a few of them makes CCEnhancer a worthwhile consideration.

As with any third-party software designed to modify system files, exercise caution and proceed at your own discretion.

Ensure a clear understanding of the installation process and the tool’s functionality before implementation.

Exploring CCEnhancer Further

If you are comfortable with these precautions, a closer examination of CCEnhancer and its capabilities is recommended.

Initial Setup with CCEnhancer

To begin, the primary step involves downloading the CCEnhancer application. Notably, this software is designed to be portable, eliminating the need for a traditional installation process.

Upon execution, a straightforward user interface will be presented.

While the font alignment in the provided screenshot may appear slightly off, the application’s functionality remains unaffected by aesthetic concerns.

Acquiring and implementing the supplementary scripts is achieved with a single click on the "Download" button. This action automatically downloads and configures all necessary components.

Supported Applications

Determining a comprehensive list of supported applications proved difficult, as one isn't readily available. However, the installed files within CCEnhancer can be searched using CTRL+F to identify compatibility with specific programs of interest.

Alternatively, a simpler approach is to install the scripts and then observe the changes within CCleaner. Newly added scripts are clearly indicated by a star (*) symbol, allowing for easy identification of CCEnhancer’s contributions.

It's important to note that the number of new items displayed will depend on the applications currently installed on your system. Despite this, users will likely discover a significant number of additional options.

CCEnhancer: Evaluating its Performance

The question arises: how much additional disk space can this utility potentially recover for the average computer user? To determine this, a practical test was conducted on a Windows 7 media center system.

Initially, a standard run of CCleaner was performed, excluding any enhancements provided by CCEnhancer. This established a baseline for comparison.

The initial CCleaner scan yielded significant results, freeing up 8GB of space on the "C" drive. This outcome was considered quite satisfactory.

Subsequently, CCEnhancer was deployed to assess the impact of its supplementary scripts. Given that 8GB had already been reclaimed, expectations for further gains were moderate.

The results were noteworthy: an additional 5GB of disk space was recovered after running CCEnhancer. This gain was on top of the 8GB already cleared.

This demonstrates that CCEnhancer can substantially augment the cleaning capabilities of CCleaner. Specific areas where significant space was reclaimed included the Dropbox cache, Chrome's temporary files, WinRAR data, the Windows Media Player art cache, and VirtualClone files.

However, the benefits extended beyond these specific examples. If you are skeptical, personal experimentation is recommended to verify these findings.

Portable CCleaner Support

If you utilize CCleaner in a portable configuration, rest assured that the latest improvements extend to this usage as well.

The application can be directed to utilize your portable installation file.

Configuring Portable Use

This functionality proves particularly beneficial when you intend to perform system cleaning across multiple computers directly from a USB drive or similar portable storage device.

By specifying the location of your portable CCleaner files, the tool will operate independently of any locally installed versions.

This ensures consistent cleaning parameters and avoids potential conflicts.

The ability to use CCleaner portably streamlines the process of maintaining numerous systems efficiently.

Final Thoughts

CCEnhancer represents a valuable compilation of scripts developed by enthusiasts, significantly augmenting the functionality of CCleaner. We encourage readers to share their experiences and the amount of disk space reclaimed thanks to its use in the comments section below.

Furthermore, suggestions for alternative Windows system cleanup utilities are welcome, as collaborative input enriches the community and fosters helpful discussions.