1557. Don't Use CCleaner Without a Backup

Now you've done it: I followed your advice and tried out CCleaner, the app that's supposed to magically clean up my computer. Now, every time I try to open a Microsoft Word document, I get a warning about temp folders and nothing really works right. What are you going to do about it?

Well, Doug of course your first mistake was believing anything I tell you. In actuality CCleaner is a very nice utility but you must have a backup before you use it and my mistake was not telling you that explicitly. 

So anyone out there if you’re listening and you’re thinking about using CCleaner, don’t unless you have a backup already. My friend Barry called me because this exact same thing happened to him and I had to help him clean up his computer. He didn’t have a backup but luckily his computer had taken a restore point about a month before he used CCleaner. 

A restore point in Windows allows you to restore your computer to a previous state. You can manually create a restore points or you can count on your computer to automatically create them occasionally. We have a link on our website which shows you how to create and then use restore points to clean up your computer. 

So if you have used CCleaner against your better judgment and have done it without a backup and now your machine doesn’t work right because, well whatever, a restore point might make it possible to put your computer back to its previous state. A restore point can useful but a full image backup is really what you should have before doing anything that could compromise the state of your computer. 

Restore Point Creation.