How-To Geek
PC Cleaning Apps are a Scam: Here’s Why (and How to Speed Up Your PC)

PC cleaning apps are digital snake oil. The web is full of ads for applications that want to “clean your PC” and “make it feel like new.” Don’t pull out your credit card — these apps are terrible and you don’t need them.
If you do want to “clean your PC,” you can do it for free. Windows includes built-in PC cleaning tools that can do almost all of what the average PC cleaning app will do for you.
Let’s Investigate a PC Cleaning App
So what do these apps do, anyway? To investigate, we ran MyCleanPC — don’t try this at home; we installed this bad software so you don’t have to. MyCleanPC is one of the most prominent PC cleaning apps — it even advertises itself with television commercials.
First, let’s look at its Frequently Asked Questions to see what it promises:
“The full, paid version of the MyCleanPC software will attempt to remove issues found with your PC’s registry and hard drive, including removal of junk files, unneeded registry entries, Internet browsing traces, and fragmented portions of your hard drive.”
We’re already on thin ice here — Windows can remove junk files, clear Internet browsing traces, and defragment your hard drive without installing additional software.
MyCleanPC offers a “free diagnosis,” which is little more than an attempt to scare people into thinking their computers have thousands of “issues” that can be fixed for an easy $39.99 payment.
After running a scan, you’ll see an alarming count of the number of problems on your computer. It found 26267 issues on our computer. That’s an extremely alarming number — but what exactly is an issue?
- Every browser cookie and history entry counts as a single issue.
- Every temporary file counts as a single issue, no matter how tiny it is.
- Invalid registry entries are considered issues, although they shouldn’t actually slow down your computer.
- Our registry can be compacted a bit, but this shouldn’t make a noticeable different in performance
- Every fragmented file counts as a single issue. MyCleanPC is measuring fragmentation based on the number of fragmented files, leading to a scary-looking 21.33% data fragmentation statistic. For comparison, the Windows Disk Defragmenter tells us we have 2% fragmentation.

Now that they’ve scared you, this is the part where you would take out your credit card and give them $39.99 to clean your PC.
Don’t Believe the Hype
Temporary files are not slowing down your computer, and neither are browser history entries or cookies. Registry entries are generally not a problem — there’s a reason Microsoft once created a registry cleaner of their own before discontinuing it and advising people not to use registry cleaners.
Yes, your computer can be slow because its file system is fragmented. You can fix this by running the Disk Defragmenter tool included with Windows — the Disk Defragmenter runs automatically on a schedule, anyway. Most people shouldn’t have to worry about defragmenting their hard drives anymore.

How to Actually Clean Your PC
Let’s say you want to clean your PC just like a PC cleaner would. Here’s what you can do:
- Run the Disk Cleanup tool included with Windows. It’s focused on freeing up space on your hard drive, but it will also delete old temporary files and other useless things. Just tap the Windows key, type Disk Cleanup, and press Enter to launch it. You can even schedule a Disk Cleanup to clean your computer automatically.
- Clear your browser history or — even better — set your browser to automatically clear its history when you close it if you don’t want to store a history.
- Run the Disk Defragmenter included with Windows. This isn’t necessary if you use a solid-state drive.
- Don’t bother with a registry cleaner. If you must, use the free CCleaner, which has the best-tested registry cleaner out there. It will also delete temporary files for other programs — CCleaner alone does much more than these PC cleaning apps do.
A test performed in 2011 by Windows Secrets found that the Disk Cleanup tool included with Windows was just as good as paid PC cleaning apps. Note that this is true even though PC cleaning apps fix “registry errors” while the Disk Cleanup app doesn’t, which shows just how unnecessary registry cleaners are.
So yes, it’s been tested — PC cleaning apps are worthless.

Speeding Up Your Computer
The best tools for speeding up your computer are things that a PC cleanup app won’t do for you:
- Uninstall software you no longer use, especially programs that run at startup and browser plug-ins.
- Disable unnecessary startup apps to improve Windows’ boot time.
If you regularly see errors on your computer:
- Run an antivirus program and an antimalware program to scan your computer for malware-producing error messages.
- Google error messages you see regularly to find fixes for them.
Don’t forget the nuclear option:
- Reinstall Windows to start over from a clean slate. If you’re using Windows 8, use the Refresh Your PC feature.
- Check for hardware problems if you continue to experience blue screens or other PC problems after reinstalling Windows.

At worst, PC cleaning apps are digital snake oil. At best, they do a few marginally useful things that you can do with tools included with Windows. Don’t believe the hype — skip the PC cleaning apps.
I always have to laugh when one of those commercials come on the tv about cleaning your computer. Unfortunately, there is a large cross-section of people out there who own computers and don't know the first thing about maintaining them (I tend to think they are the same ones who buy cars and think they don't need maintenance or just call a repair service to take care of it when it breaks down). Within the past week or so, I taught my wife (with minimal guidance) how to reformat her hard drive and reinstall Windows, due to her laptop getting slow. She actually did it twice (the second time was her own choice) but in the end, she was proud of the fact that she did it, it wasn't that difficult after all and computers aren't as intimidating as people would think. Preying on those who feel intimidated by the simple maintenance of a computer should be smacked. The internet is chock full of articles and forums that deal with pc maintenance and with a little time and patience, you can save yourself a boatload of cash, not to mention gaining some decent knowledge of the very thing that helps us through daily life. Being a tech guy, I NEVER suggest these programs or even the GeekSquad, for that matter. I have a sister-in-law who is ignorant beyond belief and with a recent virus she got due to using some paid program (probably the same people who make the pc cleaners) for music, she chose to take her laptop in to Geeksquad...they charged a boatload of money for something she could have done herself. It's a shame that people who own computers won't take the time to learn.
A danish "free help to get your PC cleaned" site forces you to go through this guide (danish), and it really speeds things up. A part from instructing you to use Ccleaner, it also instructs you to use AdwCleaner. Just thought it might be worth adding to the article as well. I've got great results with it at least.![:smile: smile]()
As P.T. Barnum once said "There is a sucker born every minute".
These programs do stuff that you can do without paying, and less!
Yeah they don't do much that Windows can't do themselves, these types of application pray on less technical people. False advertising at its worst and surprisingly its going un-noticed. Doesn't UK trading law state that a product must be sold as advertised and any advertisements must not be misleading?
There's an Apple user born every minute, oops I mean a sucker born every minute!![:smile: smile]()
Though why do uninstallers leave registry entries when uninstalling? If it's not settings that you explicitly asked to be kept or a license shouldn't the uninstaller remove what was added when the program was installed?
Why are they allowed to pull of such blatant scams... These things should be criminal charges!
I sometimes use my vacuum to clean my PC.
these things are a scam...
on a side note, water is wet
If you want to actually clean your PC, we wrote up an article about that too![:smile: smile]()
http://www.howtogeek.com/72716/how-to-thoroughly-clean-your-dirty-desktop-computer/
I have a different approach. Instead of learning how to stay on top of various and never ending Windows problems, in my opinion I believe that I should be able to use my computer without constantly worrying about viruses, spyware, malware, registry, old temp files, cookies etc. My solution was - LINUX. It works perfectly, has non of those problems and is free, fast and loaded with options of applications etc. So, yes, talking about this exhausting fight to keep your own PC fast enough and clean from all those threats, worrying what is real and what is a scam. Paying for every little application and getting robbed because your OS is such a useless crap, is not the way anyone should live. Cheers!
I found it amusing that the sponsored ads with this article (the little text ones we usually ignore) were for PC registry cleaners.
Why do you even go there? This has nothing to do with anyone's choice of an operating system. I use OSX as well as GNU/linux, windows as well as a BSD firewall...so when using an Apple product, such as my Macbook Pro, that I've had and used since 2008 without a problem, I am a sucker? But I'm not when using either of my windows machines because...? What if I boot linux, in this case Arch which I have installed on my Macbook Pro...am I ok then? GAWD...the narrow mindedness that is prevalent in comments such as yours leads me to believe there is little hope for creative thinking; it's far more important that we we labeled and categorized...and then forgotten if we differ.
Dude chill out, I also use most of the OS'es you mentioned in your message. Stop showing off how many systems you know how to use and laugh at the joke. If you truly are a tech and not a user, you also know how proprietary Apple is and how appropriate the joke is too. You haven't had a problem with a Macbook Pro since 2008? It must not be connected on a Windows domain, otherwise you experienced multiple issues and you're not being honest. Maybe you use it at home and just surf the Internet and check email. Chill dude, obviously you're a Mac user, no Windows user runs out to protect them, we just laugh. There's a reason why you use all those systems, because they all suck and they're all great at the same time. I usually can't justify spending over $2K when I can spend half as much and get the same job done. I've had the Windows system I built for 9 years and never experienced an issue, no viruses either. At poker we say, if you can't spot the sucker, chances are it may be you.
Chill out sucker, I spelled dude wrong again!
For those wondering why Windows Defragmenter shows 2% and other defragmenting software shows much larger number, here's a detailed explanation of this http://blogs.msdn.com/b/e7/archive/2009/01/25/disk-defragmentation-background-and-engineering-the-windows-7-improvements.aspx
This article is the single most important information on computers I have ever read. It should be printed and distributed in every PC sold anywhere. When friends of mine have asked, "How can I learn more about computing? -- without hesitation I have replied that subscribing to "How To Geek" is the best place to start. Thank you for your expertise, and the willingness to share it with us.
I'm very glad you've published this article, and a little surprised. At the head of your Mon 22Apr'13 newsletter was the headline, "Easily fix and optimize your PC!". Being a reputable newsletter and one I've trusted for many years I read this article and installed the Reimage 2013. I only became suspicious when having ananlysed my machine it asked for money to fix the problems. Going back to the newsletter and re-examining the article, I couldn't believe HTG was authoring such an article, I found the tell-tale 'Sponsored' tag. I'm still smarting at being suckered-in but thankfully my natural caution set off alarm bells when money was mentioned. I really was convinced that the product was good, greatly helped along by appearing to be a HTG-authored article.
I don't blame HTG for this but it shows how potentially scamming programs can leverage good reputations to get a foot in the door and greatly increase their genuineness.
I'm NOT saying Reimage is a scamming program but it does use the modus operandi of scamming programs.
Removed by moderator.
Spending less than you and accomplishing the same job, most likely make more than you too. If that's the definition of a retard, I bet more people wanna be retards. That's why 90% use Windows and 10% use OSX. I guess you failed math, among other things.
I know, I use Windows, Linux and OSX and support them as well. But if you're going to be "neutral" and take part of this conversation, you should have also stated that calling somebody a retard is not necessary either. Maybe you were hired to be his lawyer? Personally and professionally, I can do anything with Windows that I can do with OSX. It's about 99.99% secure because I am the one using it. That's much higher security percentage than most OS'es can claim. Users get malware and viruses, not the OS. At work we have computer images, worst case scenario, I can restore a system in an hour. I've never had to with Windows 7, at home or work. I support about 200 machines and my environment has 2000 machines. Can you explain what you meant by "not secure?" Why is it "secure" for us and not you? Do you need help? I'm a sys admin and Id be happy to help you. Windows works for me, it also works for millions of others, secured and/or not secured. Regardless, it costs less and Apple is proprietary (stubborn) and I started out by making a joke. Chill people, and laugh. It ain't that hard.
Microsoft releases many patches because it is a good company not because it's a bad company. As a matter of fact, if you look at the statistics, better yet, Google it for yourself, you will find that MS is even far superior than Apple at patching their systems. Yeah, Apple is late at patching and does not address functionality and security in a timely fashion. Considering that most malicious code writers create viruses and other nasty software, to say the least, for Windows products, MS does a wonderful job. What's Apple's excuse for charging top dollar and not delivering with higher standards? Since I support Dell and Apple, I can personally tell you that Dell's tech support deserves more credit than Apple. The stats you see published on the Internet are completely off and they have brainwashed people into thinking they're purchasing a superior product when purchasing a Mac. Does Dell make great computers? Most certainly not. I can only protect my environment and my personal computers, but I can assure it can work. You only get as much out f it as you're willing to put into it. You had to put in time to learn Linux didn't you? But it works now, right? Someway, somehow? Again, they all suck and they're all great. At the end, it depends which one you want to learn how to use efficiently. I like to save money and get it to work. If I picked the most expensive systems to work on, I wouldn't have a job and the company I work for would have a lot less money. Which means, no bonus for me and other people. If you really want to blame a company for viruses, blame Adobe and Java. Apple hates Adobe, literally. You know it.
This is not a term paper. We don't have to put our "sources" at the end of the article. The Windows Secrets article was linked within the post itself, which you would know if you had bothered to actually read it.
Secondly, please don't use signatures on your forum posts. See the Welcome topic for more information.
anyone get the link to Keith A. Schmidt's website? it would be interesting to see all the valuable information this genius possess.
i've said the same thing, except i think people should be licensed before they can connect any device to the internet
I agree, Linux is very powerful and it's the certification that has increased in salary the most recently and maybe over the last few years. Even in Windows the command prompt and the even more powerful Powershell should not be underestimated. I tell junior technicians to learn Powershell, but they all want GUI. They will learn one day. I'm happy you did and I wish you continued success.
I have to agree with you again! I started off with a rude joke, you can be the mean guy now, tag you're it.
Clearly, we can see you are a true professional and that's good enough for me. I'm enjoying the conversation and I know we have much more to contribute.
So tell me more about Sabayon. I was a user when it first came out. How has it changed since then? Which other distros do you use? We use Redhat, CentOS and Ubuntu here at work, I also use Mint at home.
Have a great weekend!
Hi everyone. I've visited How To Geek several times over the last few years, usually when I've had a problem to solve. I visited today to post a question and then leave, then I saw the funny pics and laughed and laughed till my sides hurt, then I started to look through the questions and landed on this one. I read each and every comment, and am impressed to see all the different points of view. For me, this is what discussion forums should be about ie a frank and open discussion with everyone being allowed to express their points of view. I'm not even on the first rung of the 'geek' ladder. I'm female and in my sixties and am willing to learn. I appreciate all the effort that people like you are prepared to invest in helping people like me, without folks such as you I probably still wouldn't know how to switch the thing on, lol. I've been on here for hours now so no time to post my question as I just must go and eat something. I'll be back!!!
Thanks for this great howtogeek article i was in need to get my pc cleaned haha i use this site everyday looking for new PC tips and i also turn these written articles in videos for people who find it easier to follow someone doing it rather than writing so here is my video for this topic, i always link howtogeek in the video description and i hope you all enjoy it, if anyone has any problems with me doing this please contact me i do not want to upset the site admins or anybody![:smiley: smiley]()
Thank You!
Yes, emphasis on advertisement there. Not something we are directly suggesting.![:smile: smile]()