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I want use CCleaner on Ubuntu 10.04. But I do not know whether it is necessary or not.

Is it necessary? Are there any benefits from using it?

Jjed
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    If you're talking about applications like CCleaner, please say so. – Lekensteyn Jul 21 '11 at 08:37
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    No it can't, simply because that's a WINDOWS application. – Uri Herrera Jul 21 '11 at 08:43
  • @Uri Herrera, I know but some linux user use that application and they believe it helps. –  Jul 21 '11 at 08:45
  • First thing those Users should know it's that Linux =/= Windows. – Uri Herrera Jul 21 '11 at 08:51
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    @gcc: make them run sleep 30, perhaps he'll got the feeling that it helps too. Put it in a shellscript of course ;) – Lekensteyn Jul 21 '11 at 08:51
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    If you're looking for a cleanup utility for Ubuntu, check out BleachBit (in the Software Center). There's also a Windows version available, but of course it doesn't work the same way as the Linux version. – Oxwivi Jul 21 '11 at 08:55

4 Answers4

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CCleaner is a windows application, even if you run it with Wine, it won't make any sense to do so because it removes files based on their file paths which is totally different on Ubuntu. Other programs ran by CCleaner have similar issues and registry cleaning will only affect the wine settings of CCleaner.

So, in no way is CCleaner beneficial on Ubuntu.

Lekensteyn
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    +1, regarding file paths, it presumably will only affect files in ~/.wine/drive_c/ – enzotib Jul 21 '11 at 08:51
  • And if you've too relax shared folders, you might have your home directory wiped in the worst case scenario. – Lekensteyn Jul 21 '11 at 08:53
  • So it would potentially be useful to clean up aspects of your ~/.wine directory, then? – intuited Jul 22 '11 at 00:48
  • @intuited it's not worth to install ccleaner just to clean the few temporary folders and registry of your Wine installation. – Lekensteyn Jul 22 '11 at 07:07
  • @Lekensteyn: what's the fundamental difference? Does CCleaner mostly clean operating system stuff that doesn't get cluttered under wine? Or are you assuming that people only have a couple of programs installed under wine and that they do not make heavy use of them? Some people could be using wine for most of the things they do — not that there's likely to be a good reason for it, but it may be the case for some people. – intuited Jul 22 '11 at 14:03
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    @intuited: I indeed made the assumption that people mainly use native programs and have a few wine programs installed. I've used CCleaner in the past mainly for clearing browser stuff which is done very well. Also check their features page, most junk files are just created when using a full windows system with IE and other default services. In my opinion, it's not worth the time to run CCleaner for Wine programs. – Lekensteyn Jul 22 '11 at 14:19
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CCleaner is a Windows program so it has no effect on Ubuntu. If you want to clean up your system use BleachBit. It is in the Ubuntu Software Centre. This program also cleans your Firefox directories and cookies.

Julien Chau
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Bleachbit is the equivalent. Watch your settings (especially with browser settings). Also run:

sudo apt-get clean

This command removes previously downloaded archives which can safely be removed. Those archives are only used for faster reinstallations of programs.

You can also save a tonne of space by removing old unused kernels. You can save further space by uninstalling LibreOffice / OpenOffice.org and installing Abiword if you only use writer, install gnumeric if you also require spreadsheets.

Lekensteyn
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Here a command to remove by typing (better to copy and paste from here) ALL old unused kernels by typing a single row:

sudo apt-get purge $(dpkg --get-selections | awk '((/^linux-/) && (/[0-9]\./) && (!/'"`uname -r | sed "s/-generic//g"`"'/)) {print $1}')
marcobra
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