CCleaner 6.40.11562 Latest Version Download

CCleaner is a system optimization tool developed by Piriform, now owned by Avast. It has been around since 2004 and remains one of the most downloaded Windows utilities in the world. Millions of users run it regularly to clean junk files, manage startup programs, fix registry errors, and keep their computers running without slowdowns. If your PC feels sluggish or your storage is filling up faster than expected, CCleaner is one of the first tools worth considering.

What Is CCleaner?

CCleaner is a PC cleaning and optimization application available for Windows, macOS, and Android. Its primary job is to remove temporary files, cached data, browser history, and other leftover junk that accumulates over time. Beyond cleaning, it includes tools for managing startup entries, uninstalling software, monitoring system health, and scheduling automatic maintenance.

The software comes in three versions: Free, Professional, and Business. The free version covers the basics well enough for most home users. The Professional version adds real-time monitoring, automatic updates, priority customer support, and scheduled cleaning. The Business version is built for IT administrators managing multiple machines across a network.

Piriform released the first version more than two decades ago, and the core functionality has stayed consistent while the interface has been modernized. After Avast acquired Piriform in 2017, the product attracted some controversy around data collection practices. Avast has since updated its privacy policy, and CCleaner now gives users clearer control over what data gets shared.

Core Features of CCleaner

Junk File Cleaning

The cleaning function is what most people install CCleaner for. It scans your system for temporary files created by Windows, your browsers, and installed applications. This includes things like Windows update caches, thumbnail caches, browser cookies, download history, and error logs. On a machine that has been running for a year or more without regular maintenance, a single scan can often recover several gigabytes of disk space.

You can select exactly which categories CCleaner cleans and which it leaves alone. If you want to keep your browser cookies to stay logged into websites, you can exclude those while still clearing cached images and download history. That level of control is useful because a blanket cleanup can log you out of every site you use and cost you time resetting passwords.

Registry Cleaner

The registry cleaner scans the Windows registry for entries left behind by uninstalled programs, broken shortcuts, and outdated file associations. Over time, these orphaned entries accumulate and can occasionally cause software conflicts or slow boot times. CCleaner identifies them and lets you remove them after creating a backup.

It is worth being clear about what the registry cleaner actually does for most users. On a modern system with a solid-state drive, the performance improvement from cleaning registry entries is usually small. The bigger benefit is removing leftover traces from software you uninstalled months ago. If a program’s uninstaller did a poor job cleaning up after itself, the registry cleaner handles what was left behind.

Startup Manager

CCleaner includes a startup manager that shows every program configured to run when Windows starts. Many applications add themselves to the startup automatically during installation, and over time, that list grows long. A machine with 20 or 30 items in its startup list will take noticeably longer to reach a usable desktop after booting.

You can disable or remove startup entries directly from CCleaner without editing the registry manually. Disabling an entry does not uninstall the program; it just stops it from launching automatically. You can re-enable any entry you disabled, which makes this a safe way to test whether a specific startup item is affecting your boot speed.

Software Uninstaller

The built-in uninstaller lists all installed programs and gives you a cleaner interface than the default Windows Apps and Features panel. You can sort by install date, which makes it easy to find recent installs you may have forgotten about. For system administrators or power users managing their own machines, this is a faster way to clean out unused software than navigating through Windows Settings.

Health Check and Drive Wiper

The Health Check feature runs a quick scan of your system and groups its findings into categories covering privacy, space, speed, and security. It is designed for users who want a simple one-click scan rather than manually selecting individual cleaning categories. The results give you a clear picture of what is worth addressing without requiring any technical knowledge to interpret.

The Drive Wiper tool is useful when you are selling or donating a computer. Standard file deletion does not actually erase data from a drive; it just marks the space as available. Drive Wiper overwrites that space with zeros or random data, making recovery much harder. For HDDs, this matters. For SSDs, the process is less critical because of how NAND storage works, but the option is still there if you need it.

CCleaner Free vs Professional

The free version handles manual cleaning, the registry cleaner, startup management, and software uninstallation. For a user who is comfortable running a manual clean once a month, the free version covers everything necessary. There is no time limit on the free version, and it does not nag you into upgrading after a trial period.

The Professional version costs around $29.95 per year for a single PC. The main additions are real-time monitoring that alerts you when junk files exceed a set threshold, automatic cleaning on a schedule, and priority support. If you manage your own machine and would rather have cleaning happen without remembering to run it manually, the Professional license is worth the cost. For most casual users, the free version is enough.

What CCleaner Does Not Do Well

CCleaner is a maintenance tool, not a performance booster. If your computer is slow because of an aging processor, insufficient RAM, or a failing hard drive, CCleaner will not fix that. Recovering 3 GB of disk space on a machine with a 128 GB SSD that was 90 percent full will help. Clearing browser cache on a machine with 16 GB of RAM and a fast NVMe drive will have almost no measurable effect on speed.

The registry cleaner also carries some risk if used without paying attention. CCleaner always prompts you to back up the registry before making changes, and you should take that backup every time. In rare cases, removing a registry entry that a program still needs can cause that program to malfunction. Most users never run into this problem, but the backup step takes five seconds and is worth doing.

CCleaner also does not include antivirus or malware removal. It does not scan for threats, and it cannot remove viruses. It is a cleaning and maintenance utility, and using it alongside a dedicated security tool is the right approach rather than expecting it to handle both jobs.

CCleaner System Requirements