Piriform actually offers three CCleaner plans. The free version is, as you'd expect, contains the bare bones. It has basic PC-cleaning capabilities, as well as privacy-protection tools that let you delete cookies, passwords, and other related browser files.
The next step up is the Professional plan. This builds on the free option by offering more thorough computer cleaning, real-time system monitoring, automatic history cleaning, and automatic software updates.
Finally, above that, is the top-of-the-line Professional Plus. Here you also get some monitor hardware as well as hard drive defragmentation, and file recovery software. The latter two are not part of the CCleaner suite though.
The main benefits of this first level paid for service over the 'freemium' version are the Real-time Monitoring, Scheduled Cleaning, Automatic Updates and Premium Support.
You download the software directly from the Piriform site. It's quite a lightweight app and it both downloads and installs quickly.
I installed it on to my laptop, just in case something terrible happened.
Once installed you are given a variety of options, including shortcuts.
Next, you are invited to run CCleaner Pro. Naturally, this is exactly what I did.
As well as covering Windows browsers and such, flicking over to the Applications tab, you will find your other browsers and installed applications too.
Additionally, the included Registry Cleaner lets you repair the often-troubled Windows registry.
Once CCleaner Professional has worked its magic, it will display how much hard drive space it has freed up.
A cleaning can result in several gigabytes of reclaimed storage. In fact, CCleaner Professional freed 1.2GB and I consider myself quite good at keeping the junk down. The amount of dead Windows Registry files that were listed was impressive. I dread to think what space can be freed on my main machine.
However, having the program running all the time seems to slow my system down. It also appeared to make booting up take longer. Unfortunately, this could negate the speed you managed to reclaim through cleaning your system.
Personally, I'd suggest unticking the three boxes within Monitoring to stop CCleaner running in the background
These are no doubt handy to have, but I'm not sure if these should only feature in a premium version. Flipping that around, would you pay extra just for the ability to schedule software updates?
If you are a freemium user, head on over to Piriform’s Community Forum (https://forum.piriform.com). They often have answers to your questions ;)
Is the Pro version worth the investment over the free one? Well, on the hand, fifteen notes isn't that much. However, on the other, is real time monitoring and scheduling updates worth 3 pints of beer and a packet of crisps? Well, that's a decision only you can make.
