Ashampoo Homepage
Security
Previous Topic  Program Info  Next Topic   
File and folder optimization is much less risky than editing and cleaning up the registry. In most cases it is very unlikely that applications or your Windows® system will malfunction or stop working completely when Ashampoo WinOptimizer Platinum Suite deletes files and folders identified as redundant.

Important: See Filters & Exceptions for additional security information.

Redundant files identified by their extensions

Ashampoo WinOptimizer Platinum Suite identifies some file types as redundant on the basis of their filename extensions. This is almost always safe, but only almost. For example, for reasons best known to the programmers the Eudora® e-mail program has an important file called donotdel.tmp (this is included in the Exceptions list and won't be deleted by Drive Cleaner). If either you or an unknown program use extensions like .tmp and .bak for crucial files Drive Cleaner will identify them as redundant.

If this happens simply locate the files in question in the Recycle Bin and restore them. (Yet another good reason to check everything thoroughly before emptying the Recycle Bin -- see below.)

This risk is particularly high for older applications written before the current conventions were established, especially DOS programs.

All deleted files are stored in the Recycle Bin

Files deleted by Ashampoo WinOptimizer Platinum Suite can always be recovered. Rather than actually deleting files directly, Ashampoo WinOptimizer Platinum Suite simply moves them to the Recycle Bin, where they are stored until the bin is actively emptied by the user.

Useful Tips

1)Empty the Recycle Bin before optimizing  

If your Recycle Bin is already full of other deleted items it is much more difficult to identify items deleted by Ashampoo WinOptimizer Platinum Suite. It is thus a good idea to empty the Recycle Bin before optimizing so that you can find items quickly if you need to restore them.  
 
2)Test your system before emptying the Recycle Bin after optimizing  

After optimizing you should always check that all your applications are working properly before emptying the Recycle Bin to delete the deleted items permanently. Then you can recover the items and get the applications working again if necessary.  

Remember, once you have emptied the Recycle Bin you cannot recover the files that it contained without specialized data recovery tools!