PC Decrapifier, Revo Uninstaller, CCleaner... safe for a noob like me to use?

Ok so I have an 8 month old laptop (Dell Vostro 1500 running Vista Business) and have read various guides on this forum about notebook maintenance and they've recommended these programs to get rid of stuff I don't need.

I've downloaded and used CCleaner on my notebook and was about to install PC Decrapifier and Revo Uninstaller to get rid of other "unwanted" programs... However reading the FAQ's and comments has made me nervous, because they recommend keeping backups of everything just incase it deletes something it shouldn't so I can recover it... but I have absolutely no idea what is needed and what is not and so would have to trust the judgement of these programs.

The thing that has put me off most though is rival programs saying stuff like "many of our competitors claim to delete unwanted programs and files but actually end up deleting vital things, but we offer safer... blah blah blah" and to be honest it could delete vital things and I wouldn't know that it has done that OR how to get them back.


So basically what I'm asking is am I worrying over nothing? And if there's a risk how great is it? And is it worth the boost in performance you get from getting rid of these "unwanted" files left by Microsoft and the like?

I don't mind CCleaner so much because it just gets rid of cookies and temp files, but I mean these other programs seem a lot more risky to someone like me who has no idea what they are deleting.

Thanks in advance.

 

I can't speak for Revo Uninstaller, but I have used PC Decrapifier on numerous PCs I own and have never had any trouble with it removing system files that were needed. I've used it on maybe 4 or 5 PC's in the last year without issue. Hope that helps. Rather than a backup, you might want to just use the System Backup/Restore in Windows Vista and create a Recovery Point just in case if you are uncomfortable.

Here's a walkthrough on creating a restore point:
http://vistasupport.mvps.org/create_a_system_restore_point.htm

 

Ok cheers, I'll stick with CCleaner for now and maybe try a few things in NBR's Vista guide.

 

I've tried all 3. With Ccleaner there is a registry cleaner as well...you can use that and it won't delete anything important. Revo Uninstaller I use to uninstall apps, I delete everything it is able to without harm. It makes automatic backups in case...PC Decrapifier is ok...I don't use it because all it does is remove bloatware and I rather do that with RevoUninstaller.

 

CCleaner itself is safe and comes with a registry cleaner, program uninstaller, and can clean out some of the stuff you don't need. That said, any of these programs could mess up your computer if you go uninstall happy and don't know what you're doing. As a general rule, if you don't know what a program is, don't uninstall it. Check to make sure it's safe to uninstall.