This is the long version — everything a Windows user needs to go from downloading the program to running it confidently every month. If you only want the first cleanup, the Windows 11 walkthrough is shorter.
1. Installing
Grab the build that matches how you work: the installer for your own PC, the portable folder if you move between machines. Details and system requirements are on the download page. Installation takes under a minute and asks nothing unusual.
2. Reading the interface
The left column lists cleaners grouped by application, each with checkboxes for the individual items that app leaves behind — cache, cookies, history, logs. Click any item and its description appears on the right. Read a few before checking anything; the descriptions are unusually honest about what you lose.
3. Your first pass
Check the cache entries for your main browser plus the general Windows temporary file cleaners. Press Preview. You now have a full list of candidate files with sizes and a running total, and nothing has been deleted. Scan it, then press Delete.
4. What to skip until later
- Passwords — clears saved logins, exactly as it says,
- Deep Scan — slow, and rarely finds much on a healthy machine,
- System entries marked experimental — the label is there for a reason,
- Free space wiping — useful before you sell a PC, pointless weekly.
5. Shredding individual files
File, then Shred Files, overwrites the chosen file before deleting it. Use it for tax documents, scans of ID, or anything you would not want recovered from a drive you are passing on. On an SSD, overwriting behaves differently because of wear leveling — full-disk encryption is the stronger answer there.
6. Making it routine
A monthly pass on browser caches and temporary files keeps a Windows PC tidy without drama. If you would rather not remember, the command line accepts individual cleaner names and slots neatly into Task Scheduler. The features page shows the syntax pattern.
7. Realistic expectations
Cleanup software frees space and removes traces. It does not make a five-year-old laptop feel new, and any tool promising that is selling something. For a slow machine, look at startup programs and background apps first, then read the best ways to clean up a Windows PC.