It’s inevitable: Sooner or later your hard disk is going to get clogged with leftover files, orphaned registry entries, and fragmented files that can slow down everything.

Using the Windows Disk Cleaner and Disk Defragmenter programs can help but, they are quite slow and not as efficient as they could be. Here are two great free applications that are far superior. CCleaner This thorough hard disk cleaner scans for Undeleted Temporary Files, Memory Dumps, Internet Caches, and more. It also has an option to scan the Registry for numerous problems. You can even back up the Registry beforehand. Multiple options allow to you customize what to scan. For example: If you wanted to keep your Recently Typed URLs but delete Cookies, it’s as simple as checking or unchecking a few boxes.

AusLogic Disk Defrag Defragging your hard disk on occasion is always a good idea. But using Windows Disk Defragmenter is too slow. Auslogics Disk Defrag has the option to use more of the CPU, speeding up the process significantly. Plus, after all the files are scanned a detailed report is available. While it may not always be possible to completely clean out all the useless files and defragment 100%, these programs can at least make it easier to manage your PC.