BleachBit — The Complete Guide: Clean Temp Files and Caches with No Ads and No Pro Edition
BleachBit is an open-source cleaner (GPL-3.0) for Windows and Linux. It deletes temporary files, program and browser caches, logs and application leftovers, and it is a clean alternative to commercial cleaners — no ads, no registration and no paid edition, even for company use.
BleachBit
Andrew Ziem and contributors
Cleans temporary files, browser caches and logs to free disk space, with a preview and secure deletion. No ads and no Pro edition.
Get it from the vendorWhat you get
- Per-program cleaning — a checkbox for every browser, program and system component.
- Preview — a list of files and the space to be freed before anything is deleted.
- File shredding — delete beyond recovery, for example before handing over a computer.
- Command line — scheduled cleaning on a Linux server or lab computers.
- Your own rules — define extra folders to clean in a configuration file.
How to clean without losing data
Always run the preview first and go through every checkbox. Some options delete saved passwords and cookies, which logs you out of every website. Shredding and deletion cannot be undone, so make sure you have a current backup of your project folders before a first, aggressive cleanup.
Related tools
To see what is really filling the disk — WizTree or WinDirStat. To find duplicate files on the project server — Czkawka.
WizTree
Antibody Software
An extremely fast disk-space analyser — finds huge model, mesh and result files in seconds.
Get it from the vendor
WinDirStat
WinDirStat team
A visual map of disk usage — find huge model, mesh and result files that are filling the drive.
Get it from the vendor
Czkawka / Krokiet
Rafał Mikrut (qarmin)
Finds duplicate files, similar images and videos, empty folders and big files, in a fast open-source tool with no ads.
Get it from the vendor
QDirStat
Stefan Hundhammer
A WinDirStat-style disk-usage map for Linux: a folder tree and a coloured treemap that show what takes up space.
Get it from the vendorThe bottom line
The honest way to free a few gigabytes of system junk: genuinely free, transparent about what it deletes, and usable on a server too.