Hard drive spring cleaning
Maintaining your hard-drive should be part of every computer users weekly if not monthly regimen.
A well maintained hard-drive ensures your computer is running at its peak, kind of like tuning your car. To make sure you are up to speed,this month we're exploring what software is out there to help with the task and rate them based on cleaning ability and use-ability.
Why clean your drive?
Whether you are using a PC or Mac, the constant ebb and flow of file creation and deletion can take up valuable space on your hard drive without you knowing it. That's why it's important to clear out all those files clogging up your hard drive.
What you need to do before you start.
Before you start cleaning your hard drive we advise backing up your important files, just to be safe. The last thing you want is an important file or folder being cleared and having no way to retrieve it.
What is shredding?
Before we get into the software side, it might useful to define shredding. Shredding refers to overwriting files a few times before deleting them; the purpose of this is to make it hard or even impossible to recover the files. You don't need to shred to clean up your hard drive, as simply deleting the files will do this. If you want to make sure that when you've deleted you can't undelete, then shredding is for you.
PC Cleaners
To get the job done here are a few software packages to get you started. By the way, if you think you have a better cleaner we would like to know, email us at amag@amnet.com.au and we'll feature it in next month's amag.
Eraser
Designed for shredding individual files, folders or even whole drives it provides a clean and simple interface and is relatively easy to use. A host of advanced features are also available, like a scheduler for creating a cleaning routine and you can keep your data secure with US Department of Defence and Guttmann method encryption algorithms. However it's not really that easy to use. When you start it feels like you're playing Russian roulette with your computer, so it's probably not suited to the average user. Overall we'd give it a B- grade.
CCleaner
CCleaner is a little more up-to-date in terms look and feel, plus it is really really easy to use. It lacks a few hard core cleaning features like cleaning whole drives, but does have the security of Department of Defense, NSA and Gutmann security. The registry scanner feature is pretty groovy allowing you to scan for issues within registry. Although, if you don't know what the registry is and the term DLL doesn't ring any bells you might feel a little nervous using it. Unfortunately it has no scheduler function and you can't be selective because it only shreds files it detects. With this in mind we think it warrants a A grade for everyday users and perhaps an A- for the really advanced user.
Disk Cleanup (Standard in Windows XP & Vista)
In the words of one former TV personality, '…it's not fancy but it's cheap'. That pretty much sums up Disk Cleanup; it will remove most of the unwanted files, like temporary Internet files and the Recycle Bin. However, it's pretty basic and although it does have a scheduler function, it's hard to configure, requiring you to create a command line (trust me it's not for the faint hearted). It also doesn't allow you to completely clean whole drives or even specific folders for that matter. We give it a C- grade.
File Shredder
As the name suggests it's a file shredder and it does that task admirably, using US Department of Defence, Guttman and many other forms of encryption algorithms. It allows the user to target specific files and even folders for shredding and has an easy to use interface. Where it loses ground to the others though is that it lacks a scheduler, it doesn't integrate with the recycle bin and you can't do a full drive clean. For this reason we think it deserves a B- grade.
Mac Cleaners
Here is the pick of the bunch for Mac users. Please note for Mac users none of these softwares offer complete drive cleaning, this can be done using Mac standard application Disk Utility found under Utilities in the application folder. It allows you to erase drives and includes the full suite of security options. Isn't it just great being a Mac user!
CleanMyMac
This appears to be one of the better disk cleaners for Mac in terms of ease of use, plus it allows you to remove unwanted or seldom used files. A handy feature for Mac users is its option to delete junk files from previously removed applications. That being said it lacks a scheduler so it's not for time poor users and is a bit light in terms of serious functionality. Security is pretty basic as well only giving you an “overwrite files several times” option, not quite US Department of Defence standard. Overall we give this a C++.
MacCleanse 1.4.7
Here is a disk cleaner that takes itself seriously. In terms of features you can clean pretty much every facet of your Mac, from caches to log files it's got your covered. In terms of the interface it's pretty basic but gives you information on what you are deleting which can come in handy if you're not an expert. It doesn't have a scheduler once again, a hindrance for the time poor and forgetful Mac client. We give it a B- overall.
OnyX
More of a system maintenance application but it does have some great cleaning options, allowing you to clean the caches, cookies, logs, trash and others. It lacks a schedule function which would make it better but its ease of use makes up for it. It is one of the best maintenance and optimization tools out there for Mac but it is not the most hard core cleaner, for that reason we're giving it a B++ grade.
In conclusion
That wraps up this months article on hard-drive cleaning, before we go one last hint: it's never deleted until you can't find it. To be 100% safe try using a recover program like Norton SystemWorks, because you would rather be safe than sorry.
Disclaimer: This article is intended for general information only and Amnet is not able to support these software packages. The user assumes all responsibility and risk for its use.
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