Copyright: Help-file created with HelpMaker 2.1


Contents
Help created with evaluation version of HelpMaker 2.1

Contents

EasyCleaner version 1.5 Windows 95/98/NT

This help-file will help you use EasyCleaner.

With EasyCleaner you can speed up your computer by deleting invalid registry entries. You can also free disk space with EasyCleaner by deleting duplicate and unnecessary files.

Choose topic:

Requirements

History

Bug list

FAQ

Registry and cleaning

Duplicate files

Unnecessary files

Space usage

Options

If you have found bugs or you have something to ask about EasyCleaner or other things E-mail to me "toni.helenius@saunalahti.fi", you can also visit my homepage "http://www.saunalahti.fi/tonihele". From my homepage you can get the latest versions of EasyCleaner!

EasyCleaner is fully free so you can distribute it freely as long as you don't modify it!

EasyCleaner is made by ToniArts, Toni Helenius. This help was made by Toni Helenius.

Special thanks to Juho Jokinen "http://www.saunalahti.fi/juosjo" for drawing ToniArts logo. And to Uros Zupan "uros.zupan@siol.net" for testing EasyCleaner and for ideas. Also thanks to Timo Hampinen "hampinen@mbnet.fi" for testing EasyCleaner.


Bug list
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Bug list

Bug list:

Versio 1.0: No bugs found.

Versio 1.4: There were annoying bug in the registry cleaning part which prevented the user to delete all entries at the same time. The registry have to be searched multiply times if all entries were deleted. Also few problems in options saving.

Versio 1.5: Bugs fixed.

Help EasyCleaner's development: Report bugs, thank you!

N.B! If you get the error message:"Access violation at address xxxxxxx...", then tell me the address (xxxxx...). Thank you!


Space usage
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Space usage

With chart you can see your harddrives' contents easily. Chart is a good tool when your harddrives' free space is getting to small; you can see which directories/files use most megabytes, with it you can find some reasons for your harddrives' getting so full.

EasyCleaner's "space usage"-part has special options for Windows NT. See Options.


Unnecessary files
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Unnecessary files

Unnecessary files fill up your harddrives fast when you use many programs. Unnecessary files are usually created when you use programs (or when they crash). Usually you can find even thousands of megabytes of unnecessary files. Deleting them is perfectly safe, but you may still want to delete them to the recycle bin.

Normal search-setting searches these files: *.tmp, ~*.*, *.~*, *.?~?, *.aps, *.bak, *.bk?, *.bsc, *.dmp, *.ilk, *.pch, *.rws, *.sbr, backup*.wbk, *.$$$, *.ncb.

These files are mainly backups, temporary and other unuseable files.

Extra files-setting searches these files: *.fts, *.gid, *.mtx, *.nch.

*.NCH files are created when you read newsgroups with Microsoft Outlook. *.MTX files are created when a scanner-device is used. *.GID files are created when you execute *.EXE files. Usage of these files is currently quite unknown, but these files are still save to delete. You get mainly temporary free disk space when you delete these, because programs (or scanners) create these again when executed.

N.B! folders.nch, user.dmp files match the search criteria but they aren't unnecessary, EasyCleaner skips these files.


Duplicate files
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Duplicate files

Duplicate means a file which has one or more copyes. You can find even thousands of megabytes of duplicates. Duplicates usually come from backups and from programs which have been installed more than once.

Usually only one of the duplicates is important, rest of them can be deleted. You must know which one of the duplicates is the important one (or is there more than 1 important). If you have got more than one operatingsystem (ms-dos isn't counted), be careful, because different operatingsystems contain many same files. You might want to delete duplicates to the recycle bin (options).

E.g.

Duplicate files....

c:\Temp\windows.exe (unnecessary)

c:\Windows\windows.exe (important)

Skip: List of directories not to be searched from, separate directories with comma and directories which name contains spaces need quotes. E.g. Windows, "Program files", Ohjelmatiedostot.

N.B! Files-count is amount of the duplicates (so "Duplicate files...."-text is counted as one file). Bytes-count is counted by adding size from each duplicates (so a size from the file after "Duplicate files...."-text).


Registry and cleaning
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Registry and cleaning

Windows' registry stores huge amount of data about system, programs, settings etc. Registry can be found from every Windows except from 3.xx, Windows NT's and 95/98's registryes have only slight differences, EasyCleaner can read both of them.

When you execute a program it is most likely to save it's settings to the registry, then registry's size increases and reading from it gets slower. If you delete or uninstall a program it's saved settings might not disappear from the registry so the registry fills up with unnecessary data, registry will become "dirty". Dirty registry slows the computer down quite much.

EasyCleaner searches registry for entries that point to a non-existing directory or file. When you delete those unnecessary entries registry's size decreases and reading from it gets faster!

N.B! Deleting registry entries might be dangerous, so backup your registry before deleting. You can find programs to this from e.g Tucows (http://www.tucows.com). Deleting registry entries haven't caused any problems, yet...


FAQ
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FAQ

FAQ comes from words "Frequently Asked Questions". I have also collected questions about my programs in general to here.

Q1. Are ToniArts' programs year-2000-compatible?

A1. Yes.

Q2. Why EasyCleaner's registry cleaning-part's date-column always show date as 01.01.1601 12.00 (or 01/01/1601 12:00AM)?

A2. This only appears in some operating systems, reason not known. Doesn't seem to have affect on anything.

Q3. Deleting duplicates, can all duplicates be deleted on the same time and are duplicates unnecessary?

A3. All duplicates can't be deleted at the same time, because this is usually dangerous to your computer. Usually only one of the duplicates is important, but you'll have know which one of them:

E.g.

Duplicate files...

c:\windows\system\system.dll (important)

c:\temp\system.dll (unnecessary)

Q4. EasyCleaner's parts like registry cleaning- and unnecessary files-part list even thousands of unnecessary files/entries, are they save to delete?

A4. Usually yes, I recommend you to delete files first to the recycle bin (see Options), restart your computer and see if everything works fine then empty the recycle bin. In registry cleaning I haven't heard a single case where the computer has started to work strangely, but it is better be sure. So I recommend you to take a backup copy of your registry, you can find programs for this from e.g. Tucows (http://www.tucows.com).

Q5. EasyCleaner's unnecessary files-part lists only a small part of the unnecessary files, e.g. my c:\Temp directory is full of *.tmp files, but EasyCleaner doesn't find them. Why?

A5. Yes it finds them, but they don't meet the requirements. Go to options and uncheck e.g. "Empty files" from "Ignore"-list.


Options
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Options

Duplicates

Same date & time: Require same "editted" date and time from duplicates. Slows the searching down, but gives more accurate results.

Same name: Require same name from duplicates.

Skip empty files: Skips empty (0kB) files.

Treat floppy as master: Uses floppy drive like it is a normal harddrive, so e.g. A:\EasyHtml.exe and C:\EasyHtml\EasyHtml.exe will be read as duplicates.

Skip SYSBCKUP folder: Skips SYSBCKUP folder which contains system-data (Windows 98 ja 95).

Skip Desktop.ini folders: Skips Desktop.ini folders.

Require same size: Requires same size from the duplicates.

Unnecessary files

Normal search: Finds normal unnecessary files. More about Unnecessary files.

Extra files: Finds files which are created by programs. Deleting these will give you free disk space only temporarily. If you e.g. read newsgroups with Microsoft Outlook, you'll harddrive is getting full of backup-files created by Outlook. More about Unnecessary files.

Hidden files: Skip hidden files.

Read-only files: Skip read-only files.

System files: Skip system files.

Empty files: Skip empty (0kB) files.

Space usage

Unit: Show sizes in bytes, kilobytes or in megabytes. Or just count of items.

Show free disk space: Shows free disk space.

*Measure files by: Measure files in compressed size (NTFS) or without compression.

*Works only on Windows NT and NTFS drives.


History
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History

EasyCleaner's programming history:

Versio 1.0: First version. Included only the registry cleaning unit.

Versio 1.4: Many additions, like new interface and more functions.

Versio 1.5: Few bug fixed, some of the texts rewritten, increased speed, few unnecessary file identifiers added. And because of high demand; help.


Requirements
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Requirements

EasyCleaner's requirements aren't really tested, but here is somekind of speculation:

486/DX2 66MhZ

8mB RAM

about 2mB of free harddrive space

Windows NT 3.51 (or newer), Windows 95/98

EasyCleaner is most likely to work in every future 32 (or more) bits operating systems.