PC cleaners, what are they?

Guy Martin.

Ever since the beginning of personal computers, one of the biggest nuisances has been the inevitable slow-down issue. You buy a brand new computer, and it is super-fast! You open a program, zip-blam! You surf the internet, zappo! Lightning speed! But then, you start installing programs, updating the operating system, temporary files get installed and left to clutter your system. And slowly, your computer starts to lose its speed, its pizzazz. Why does this happen?

Think about it like this. You have a four-drawer metal filing cabinet. Within each drawer, you have the manila folders in hanging folders and everything is alphabetized and categorized. If you need to find something, it's easy and fast to do because all of the files are in a neat and tidy order. And as you look for and view the files, sometimes when they are put back in the drawers, they get put in the wrong file, the wrong drawer. And as you add more and more files, it makes it more difficult, and takes longer to find what you need. To fix the issue, you need to go through and re-organize the files to make sure they are back in order. Obviously, this can be tedious and time consuming, but beneficial in the long run.

So, for our computers, which are a super sophisticated virtual file cabinet, we need a program that is equally sophisticated to manage our files. You see, every time you install a program, many temporary files are installed along with the actual program. And most of the time, those files are left in your system. And if you un-install a program, there are many residual files left behind. And as you open files, run programs, many temporary files are created and left in temp folders. Also, as you surf the internet, thousands of temp files are downloaded and stored in a cache of files. This is largely how your computer gets cluttered and slows down.

Enter, the "PC Cleaner" type programs. Over the years, there have been many programs developed to help clean our systems. Through the many evolutions of Windows operating systems, the most commonly used program has been CC-Cleaner. I myself, have not been a huge proponent of these programs. As a computer tech, I do my own cleanup, as these programs can sometime do more than you actually need, or want.

Microsoft has a new program that has been in beta testing for the past couple of years, and have now released it for Windows 10 and 11 users. And it is completely free. It's called "Microsoft PC Manager." I have been testing it for about a week now. I must say that I am impressed with what they have put together. In fact, I feel that it is safer and much more manageable than the other cleaners out there. Some of the key features are: PC speed and performance boost; storage management; pop-up management in apps; health checkup; temp file cleanup and more. There is also a "Toolbox" that contains shortcuts to many of the most useful tools in Windows, some very useful Web tools and a customizable section you can add web links that you use all the time. I have found it to be a very useful app to help maintain the health and speed of my computer.

You can download and install this app at this link: pcmanager.microsoft.com

Please, feel free to call, email or come in and visit my shop if you need help or have questions. I sure would love to meet you, even if just to shoot the breeze for a few.

For more information call Guy Martin at (661) 972-0448, email [email protected] or visit 20424 Brian Way, Unit 4 Tehachapi.