It’s not just free space that’s gained by using a disk cleaning utility on your storage devices. System performance will also be improved and stored data will be organized as it won’t be mixed with junk files and traces left behind by the operating system, web browsing and applications. Wise Disk Cleaner is a free application that goes light on system resources and can do all of the above, but also carry out advanced cleaning tasks and essential disk defragmentation.
Installation & Requirements
Wise Disk Cleaner’s install process is not complicated at all despite the fact that not all the dialog boxes are standard. The ones worth mentioning are the newsletter subscription offer and the information & download link provided for Wise Registry Cleaner, a similar tool for cleaning the registry which is also free. In other words, during the installation no other programs will be offered for installation. Only the download link is provided for Wise Registry Cleaner and it can be skipped.
Wise Disk Cleaner works on Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, 2008 and 7 and since it’s a small application, the hardware requirements are lower than any of the supported operating systems.
Interface
The interface of Wise Disk Cleaner is modern-looking and uncluttered. The four tabs, Common Cleaner, Advanced Cleaner, Slimming System and Disk Defrag provide all of the program’s tools organized into relevant categories.
The Common Cleaner tab, lists all the junk files and traces that can clutter hard drives and lower the system’s performance. All of the categories as well as the sub-categories can be selected and deselected even after the program completed the scan process. A scheduler is offered in the right sidebar, where there are a few related options available along with the possibility to include the Advanced Cleaner tool during the scheduled cleanups.
The second tab contains the Advanced Cleaner tool, which has the ability to search for useless files on all the drives, not just the system reserved one. After the scan process is complete, the Advanced Cleaner function can clean only recommended items, all items or you can manually select individual entries in the list. The Advanced Settings of this tool allow the user to mark invalid shortcuts and empty files to be detected during the scan. Also the scan can be refined based on file formats as the user can select them manually, only the recommended ones, all of them and even add new file types.
The Slimming System tool offers the possibility of removing various files kept by the systems, but not necessarily useful anymore, such as the Windows Installer baseline cache, Obsolete Windows Installer, Sample Pictures, Music, Videos as well as Windows Wallpapers. The safest way to use this function is to carefully examine the listed entries before you press the “Slimming Down” button.
Last but not least, the Disk Defrag tab offers basic disk analysis and defragment functions. Full optimization of the selected drives is also available, meaning Wise Disk Cleaner will defragment and rearrange all the files to merge free space into a continuous section.
Pros
– Lightweight utility with multiple disk cleaning capabilities.
– Deletes temporary and junk files, download, browsing and form history, invalid shortcuts, cookies and other junk files.
– Easy to use task scheduler to automate cleanup.
– Advanced options are offered for disk cleaning such as choosing and adding file types and including empty files.
– Disk defragmentation capabilities with full optimization function included.
Cons
– None worth mentioning.
Alternatives
Conclusion
Wise Disk Cleaner does a really good job at keeping storage devices clutter-free and optimized. Since it can be successfully used by novice and power users alike, and it offers just the right features to remove useless files and keep hard drives organized, Wise Disk Cleaner can be classified as high-quality freeware that pretty much anyone can benefit from.
