• Pros Good system-performance improvement. Real-time system monitoring. Lets you manage which programs launch when a PC boots. Simple, easy-to-use interface. Built-in secure-deletion tool.

Privacy-protecting features. • Cons Hacked and distributed malware to users.

Diner Dash uses a hand-drawn cartoon style that’s cute and family-friendly. Multiple difficulty levels and the ability to serve at any of the restaurants Flo’s unlocked as part of the career mode help to keep it interesting. The soundtrack and sound effects are adequate, but I wish there were more audio cues to let you know when it’s time to take action — you’ll hear the chef ring a bell when it’s time to pick up an order, but otherwise you need to keep a careful eye on the screen. Play diner dash for free.

• Bottom Line CCleaner Professional Plus recently suffered a massive hack that distributed malware to its users; until we see evidence that the source of the breach has been discovered and that it isn't liable to happen again, we can't recommend this utility. Editors' Note: Since we published this review on February 24, 2017, the standard and cloud-based versions of CCleaner. They have since been patched, and the US-based server to which the malicious code sent system information has been shut down. Piriform has released a guaranteed-clean update, version 5.34, but since the souce of the malware hasn't been identified, another attack is conceivable.

In many reviews, one of the most discussed CCleaner’s features is the Drive Wiper. Its intended purpose is to prevent recovering previously deleted information by wiping the free segments of the hard drives.

We don't recommend that you use CCleaner until the source of the problem has been located and eliminated. If you do choose to stick with CCleaner, we advise that you immediately update to 5.34, and turn off automatic updates until this situation is resolved. We have removed the 3.5 star rating from this review and will revisit the score in the future. The original review is below.

Piriform's CCleaner Professional Plus is one of many capable of giving a heavily used PC a new shot at life. It boasts many system-enhancing features, including a drive-wiping tool, real-time system monitoring, and privacy-protecting tools. Despite its many attractive features, however, license limitations and other issues prevent it from dethroning the Editors' Choice award-winning Iolo System Mechanic.

Capable of giving a heavily used PC a new shot at life. It boasts many system-enhancing features, including a drive-wiping tool, real-time system monitoring, and privacy-protecting tools. Despite its many attractive features, however, license limitations and other issues prevent it from dethroning the Editors' Choice award-winning Iolo System Mechanic. Plans and Compatibility Piriform offers three CCleaner plans.

The free version is, as you'd expect, the least feature-packed option. It has basic PC-cleaning capabilities, as well as privacy-protection tools that let you delete cookies, passwords, and other related browser files. The $24.95 Professional plan builds on the free option by offering more thorough computer cleaning, real-time system monitoring, automatic history cleaning, and automatic software updates. The top-of-the-line Professional Plus (reviewed here) is a $39.95 application that adds hard drive defragmentation and file recovery, though it's via two bundled apps rather than being built in—more on that in a bit. Unlike and Iolo System Mechanic, tune-up utilities that let you freshen an unlimited number of PCs, CCleaner Professional Pro offers a single license for your nearly 40 bucks. In the age of the multi-computer household, this license limitation is antiquated—and potentially pricey. Compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit, 8, 7, Vista, and XP computers, CCleaner Professional Plus is a lightweight app that downloads and installs quickly.

The app's left-side navigation column houses the tools that let you clean either the system files or applications, while the included Registry Cleaner lets you repair the often-troubled Windows registry. Regardless of the section you need to clean or repair, you begin by initiating a system scan to identify problem areas.

After that, you click Run Cleaner or Fix Selected Issues to finish the job. Doing so causes CCleaner Professional Plus to display how much hard drive space it has freed up. A related feature, real-time system monitoring, alerts you when you can save disk space by running CCleaner, which is useful. If your PC is anything like my gunked-up testbed, a cleaning can result in several gigabytes of reclaimed storage.