A cache cleaner is software that can be used when a computer user desires to erase information from his or her personal computer. Good versions of this software delete all traces of the information using government standards. After a cache has been cleaned to standard, files have been completely deleted and are unable to be recovered. This type of software can be useful to someone who keeps detailed financial or otherwise personal records on his computer or shares a single computer with other people.
The type of information that may be targeted by cache cleaners is wide and varied. Typically, saved passwords, Internet browsing histories and autocomplete entries are the things that the average computer user is interested in clearing. A cache cleaner can target anything, including but not limited to: caches, cookies, browsing and search histories, index.dat files, temporary folders and files, visited and typed URLs, run histories, open and save history for documents and recent documents. Quality software can modify all of these aspects of a computer and more.
Technically, the erasing of personal information and details can be done manually. However, many computer users invest in cache cleaner software so that they don’t have to learn how to clear information and then perform the task. When users opt to use cache cleaner software, they do so with the knowledge that they can clear a substantial amount of personal information with the pressing of a single button.
Users can choose to clear their caches once or at specific times. Some software allows users to choose a regular interval for cleaning, such as weekly. More concerned computer users may choose to have their caches cleaned as often as possible. For these users, caches can be cleaned every time they start and shut down their computers to safeguard all of their information.
Despite a cache cleaner’s ease of use and seemingly complete erasure of details, users may opt to configure their cache cleaner to only modify certain parts of their systems. For example, if a user does not want to erase the login details of a particular website, the user may prompt the cleaner to ignore the website from its sweep. The cleaner can then make the appropriate modifications based on user preferences and skip information that a user considers important to keep on a system. Advanced cleaner software may also allow users to change computer paths so that the detection of remaining files becomes more difficult for an uninvited guest.