Software utilities for cleaning HDD files exist in several main forms. The most common of these are the free or commercial disk cleanup tools such as the free 'CCCleaner' software, that are used to get rid of useless files and folders and recover wasted space. Another unique group of programs is the privacy protection variety, these clean up internet tracks and typed URL entries in Internet Explorer, such as evidence removal cleaners. Then there is the porn cleaner product, which detects the exact source of pornography style images and movies or other suspicious items and allows deletion of these items. Still another class of drive cleaners is the data erasing program which can overwrite with 1s and 0s, random data from anywhere on the disk and even forensic methods cannot recover it.

One can significantly improve system performance by spending a little time cleaning out your pc system. The computer can run faster with a small count of files that are saved, retrieved and managed by the drive. Any space restored after cleanup is complete can only be of benefit by making space available for more important data. And when doing a defrag the outcome is improved when the hard drive is not cluttered with many useless files. And with your private data out of reach it is then unlikely that privacy could be compromised by others.

Many cleanup tools exist that look at the problem of the drive cleanup task by adopting different methods. Searching the internet reveals utilities that specialize in helping you clean porn and many of these also have other functionality too. However there are more things these applications can perform; as an example, several can delete private data, scan hard disks for porn or adult files, detect the presence of illegal or unlicensed software, and help with free space recovery.