Windows' disk-cleaning tool is a good start at removing useless or outdated flotsam and jetsam from your hard drives: Choose Start**Programs (or All Programs)**Accessories**System Tools**Disk Cleanup.
But the program fails to empty some key temporary files, and doesn't protect your privacy as well as it could. The free Disk Cleaner utility provides a host of very thorough options for hiding the names of the files you used and Web sites you visited recently.
It also removes a host of unneeded files from your system. You can save custom settings so you don?t have to remember which boxes to check off each time. And command-line switches let you clean your disk with one swail foop without further intervention from you.
--Scott Dunn
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