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Avast Cleanup - Getting Started

 

Avast Cleanup Premium is an optimization tool that scans your PC to identify unnecessary items and performance issues, freeing up disk space and improving the speed of your system.

This article assumes that the latest version of Avast Cleanup Premium is installed and activated on your PC. For detailed installation and activation instructions, refer to the following articles: Installing Avast Cleanup & Activating an Avast Cleanup Premium subscription.

If you are using Cleanup Premium for the first time, the application opens automatically after installation and you can click Start Maintenance scan to perform a Maintenance scan, or click Skip for now to continue to the Cleanup Premium dashboard.

Perform a Maintenance scan

A Maintenance scan is a comprehensive check of your system that detects broken or redundant items and tracking data.

To run a Maintenance scan:

  1. Open Avast Cleanup Premium and click the Maintenance tile.
  2. Tick the boxes next to the issue types you want to clean. The issue types that Avast ticks automatically are safe to clean without losing crucial data.
  3. Optionally, click a panel to view specific items on your PC, and further specify exactly which items are cleaned.
  4. Click Fix & clean to resolve the selected issues.
  5. Cleanup Premium cannot clear browser cache from a web browser unless the browser is closed. If prompted, save any work that is open in your browsers, then click Continue to allow Cleanup Premium to close your open browsers.
  6. If you are using Cleanup Premium for the first time, you may be prompted to enable Automatic Maintenance. Click Turn on if you want Cleanup Premium to perform Maintenance scans regularly without you manually triggering them.
  7. When cleaning is complete, click Done.

All selected issues are now resolved.

Enable Automatic Maintenance

Automatic Maintenance runs silently in the background with no actions required from you and frees up space on your PC by removing dispensable items, such as broken shortcuts and registry items.

To enable Automatic Maintenance:

  1. Open Avast Cleanup Premium and go to ☰ Menu ▸ Settings.
  2. Select Automatic Maintenance in the left panel.
  3. Click the gray (OFF) slider so that it changes to green (ON).
  4. Optionally, use the drop-down menu under How often should we clean automatically? to specify the frequency of Automatic Maintenance.
  5. Optionally, select the file types that Cleanup Premium has permission to remove during Automatic Maintenance. The file types that Avast ticks automatically are safe to clean without losing crucial data.

Automatic Maintenance is now enabled.

Manage background applications

Certain applications slow down your system by running silently in the background. Cleanup Premium scans for these applications, then allows you to safely put them to sleep and boost performance.

  1. Open Avast Cleanup Premium and click the Speed up tile.
  2. Click Show in the Background & startup programs tile.
  3. The Background & startup programs screen shows applications that are running unnecessarily in the background and slowing down your PC. Select one of the following options:
    • Sleep: Puts the individual application to sleep and removes it from the list.
    • Ignore: Allows the application to continue running in the background and removes it from the list.
    • Put all to sleep: Puts all listed applications to sleep.
If you use an application on a daily basis, we do not recommend putting it to sleep. Additionally, certain applications need to run in the background to offer full functionality. For example, if you put Skype to sleep, you may miss incoming calls.

The selected applications are now sleeping or ignored. You can open and use sleeping applications as normal. After you close the application, Cleanup Premium automatically returns its status to sleeping.

To manage a sleeping or an ignored application:

  1. Click programs sleeping or programs ignored at the bottom of the screen.
  2. Select one of the options below:
    • Wake: Immediately wakes the application and allows it to start running in the background.
    • Stop ignoring: Returns the application to your list of Background & startup programs, where you can optionally put it to sleep.
On devices with Windows 10 and higher, the Background & startup programs feature supports applications installed through the Microsoft Store. The relevant applications are installed in a Sleep state by default. You can wake the applications in the Background & startup programs screen.

Remove unnecessary applications

Cleanup Premium scans your PC for unnecessary applications, then allows you to easily remove and uninstall them, freeing up resources for the applications you do use.

  1. Click the Speed up tile on the Cleanup Premium dashboard.
  2. Click Show in the Unnecessary programs tile.
  3. The Unnecessary programs screen shows poorly rated applications and infrequently used applications that can be safely removed. The following options are available:
    • Rating: See the community and expert rating or add your own rating.
    • Ignore: Removes the application from the list.
    • Move to trash: Puts the application in the trash. It will be automatically uninstalled based on your Auto Uninstall settings.
    • Uninstall: Uninstalls the application from your PC. This action cannot be undone.
The Last used column shows the last time the application was used since Cleanup Premium was installed.

Manage trashed or ignored applications

  1. Click programs in trash or programs ignored at the bottom of the screen.
  2. Select one of the options below:
    • Remove from trash: Returns the application to the list above.
    • Uninstall: Uninstalls the application from your PC.
    • Stop ignoring: Returns the application to the list above.

Free up space

Cleanup Premium scans for and safely deletes system junk and web browser data to free up disk space.

  1. Open Avast Cleanup Premium and click the Free up space tile.
  2. Select the category that you want to clean:
    • System junk: Click Show in the System junk panel to clean unnecessary junk files on your PC.
    • Browser data: Click Show in the Browser data panel to clean temporary web browser files.
  3. Choose a filter to select items you want to clean. The following options are available:
    • Recommended: Selects only file categories that you can safely clean without losing crucial data.
    • All: Selects all listed file categories. You can then manually de-select any file categories you don't want to clean.
    • Custom: Manually select the file categories you want to clean.
  4. If you are cleaning Browser data, optionally click on Manage allowed sites to create exceptions for certain websites.
  5. Click Clean now.
  6. When cleaning is complete, click Done.

The selected file categories are now cleaned.

Manage Browser data cleaning

Cleanup Premium allows you to choose how long you keep your browser data before it is cleaned. You can also create exceptions for websites that you want to stay logged into.

To manage browser data cleaning, follow the steps below:

  1. Open Avast Cleanup Premium and go to ☰ Menu ▸ Settings.
  2. Ensure the General tab is selected, then click Browser data.

The following options are available:

Browser data cleaning

Click the drop-down menu under Cookies or Browsing history to specify how long Cleanup Premium keeps them in your web browsers.

After the selected period, Cleanup Premium will offer to remove these items during a Free up space scan.

Add Allowed websites

Add websites to your Allowed websites list to stop Cleanup Premium from clearing cookies on them. This ensures information such as login details remain saved.

This feature is available only in Avast Secure Browser, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Edge.

Choose one of the following options:

  • Enter the website URL (for example, example.com) in the upper text box, and click Add.
  • Select a website from the list of popular websites in the lower text box, and click Add.

The selected website is now excluded from cookie clearing.

To remove a website from the list, click the Trash icon in the relevant websites' panel.

Check your PC for problems

Open Avast Cleanup Premium and click the Fix problems tile to check for a variety of problems that may impact the performance and security of your PC.

For more information about the issues that Cleanup Premium may detect during a Fix problems scan, refer to the following article:

Undo actions

The History screen allows you to undo certain changes made by Cleanup Premium:

  1. Open Avast Cleanup Premium and click the History icon.
  2. Click Undo next to the action you want to reverse.

The selected action is now reversed.

Not all actions performed by Cleanup Premium can be reversed.

Further recommendations

View all application functions by clicking All functions (the grid icon) on the right side of the Cleanup Premium dashboard.

To learn more about Cleanup Premium, refer to the following article:

Avast Cleanup Premium is an optimization tool for Mac that includes a range of scans to detect unnecessary items and performance issues, freeing up disk space and improving the speed of your system.

This article assumes that Cleanup Premium is installed and activated on your Mac. For detailed instructions, refer to the following articles: Installing Avast Cleanup & Activating an Avast Cleanup Premium subscription.

Clear disk space

The Clean clutter option scans your Mac for unnecessary files and allows you to select which files are deleted to clear disk space. To run a scan and remove files:

  1. Open Avast Cleanup Premium and click Scan next to Clean clutter.
  2. Use the drop-down menu in the bottom-left corner to select file categories for removal. The following options are available:
    • Recommended selection: Selects only file categories that you can safely clean without losing crucial data.
    • Select all: Selects all listed file categories. You can then manually de-select any file categories you don't want to clean.
    • Select none: De-selects all listed file categories. You can then manually select the file categories you want to clean.
  3. After selecting the files you want to remove, click Clean.
  4. If prompted, enter the password that you use when you start your Mac, and click OK.
  5. Click Done to return to the main Cleanup Premium screen.

Remove duplicate files

The Find duplicates option scans your Mac for duplicate files. To run a scan and remove duplicate files:

  1. Open Avast Cleanup Premium and click Find next to Find duplicates.
  2. Tick the location(s) you want to scan for duplicate files. To add additional folders or external drives, click Add, and select a folder or drive.
  3. Click Scan.
  4. After the scan completes, click View duplicates.
  5. Use the drop-down menu in the bottom-left corner to select the files you want to remove. The following options are available:
    • Keep oldest: Automatically selects the newest version of each file for removal.
    • Keep newest: Automatically selects the oldest version of each file for removal.
    • Select none: De-selects all files and allows you to manually select files for removal. Tick each file that you want to remove. After you tick a file, Select none becomes Custom selection.
  6. After selecting the files you want to remove, click Clean.
  7. If prompted, enter the password that you use when you start your Mac, then click OK.
  8. Click Done to return to the main Cleanup Premium screen.

Clean your browsers

The Clean browser option allows you to easily remove cookies and other browsing data from your web browsers. The following options are available:

Run a manual scan

  1. Open Avast Cleanup Premium and click Scan next to Clean browser.
  2. Use the drop-down menu in the bottom-left corner to select the items you want to remove. The following options are available:
    • Recommended selection: Selects only the items that you can safely clean without losing potentially useful data. You can check the items that are selected for cleaning by clicking Details next to a browser.
    • Select all: Selects all listed items. You can then click Details next to a browser to manually de-select any items you don't want to clean.
    • Select none: De-selects all listed items. You can then click Details next to a browser to manually select the items you want to clean.
  3. Click Clean to remove the selected data.
  4. Click Done to return to the main Cleanup Premium screen.

Choose Browser History

  1. Open Avast Cleanup Premium and click Scan next to Clean browser.
  2. Click Manage allowed sites.
  3. Tick the box beside Only delete Browser History older than: and choose the frequency according to your preferences.

Schedule automatic scans

  1. Open Avast Cleanup Premium and click Scan next to Clean browser.
  2. Click Manage allowed sites.
  3. Use the drop-down menu next to a browser to specify how regularly you want Cleanup Premium to scan the browser for cookies and browsing data.
  4. Select the relevant internet browser panel, then tick or untick the boxes to specify the data you want Cleanup Premium to delete from your browser.

Automatic scanning is enabled for the selected browser.

Add allowed websites

  1. Open Avast Cleanup Premium and click Scan next to Clean browser.
  2. Click Manage allowed sites.
  3. Scroll to the Allowed websites section.
  4. Add a website using either Option A or Option B below:
    • Option A: Enter a website (for example, example.com) into the left text box, then click Add.
    • Option B: Select a website from the Choose from popular websites drop-down menu, then click Add.

The selected website is now excluded from cookie clearing.

To remove a website from the list, click the Trash icon in the relevant websites' panel.

Identify bad or similar photos

The Find photos option scans your Mac for photos that are blurry, badly-lit, or similar. To run a scan and review bad or similar photos:

  1. Open Avast Cleanup Premium and click Find next to Analyze photos.
  2. Tick the location(s) you want to scan for photos. To add additional folders, external drives, or specific photos, click Add, then select the folder, drive, or photo.
  3. Click Scan.
  4. After the scan completes, click Review under either Bad photos or Similar photos to see the photos that Cleanup Premium has identified.
  5. Click Got it to remove the pop-up message.
  6. Use the drop-down menu in the bottom-left corner to select the files you want to remove. The following options are available:
    • Custom Selection: Select photos according to your preferences.
    • Recommended: Selects the photos that Cleanup Premium recommends for removal.
    • Select none: De-selects all photos and allows you to manually select photos for removal. Tick each photo that you want to remove. After you tick a photo, Select none becomes Custom selection.
  7. After selecting the photos you want to delete, click Remove.
  8. Click Remove to confirm deletion of your selected photos.
  9. Click Clean even more or Review and repeat steps 5-8 above to continue reviewing and deleting photos.
  10. Click Done to return to the main Cleanup Premium screen.

Uninstall apps you no longer use

The Uninstall apps option allows you to easily find and remove applications you no longer use, to keep your Mac tidy and free up space. To uninstall apps you no longer use:

  1. Open Avast Cleanup Premium and click Show next to Uninstall apps.
  2. Tick the box next to an app to select it. You can also filter the list of apps using the Unused apps and Large apps categories in the left panel.
  3. After selecting the apps you want to remove, click Uninstall.
  4. Click Uninstall to confirm removal of the selected apps from your Mac.
  5. If prompted, enter the password that you use when you start your Mac, then click OK.
  6. Click Done to return to the main Cleanup Premium screen.

Manage startup items

The Manage startup items option allows you to turn off unnecessary processes that launch automatically when you start up your Mac, preventing issues like slowness or long loading screens. To manage your startup items:

  1. Open Avast Cleanup Premium and click Show next to Manage startup items.
  2. Click the green (ON) slider next to a startup item, so that it changes to gray (OFF).
  3. To view additional details and options, hover your cursor over a startup item and click the Information icon that appears.

Further recommendations

To learn more about Cleanup Premium, refer to the following article:

Avast Cleanup for Android is a mobile app designed to help improve the performance of your device and preserve storage space by removing unnecessary media, files, apps, and app data. Remove these items by transferring them to a cloud storage account and/or deleting them from your device. You can also optimize photos to consume less space.

This article assumes that the latest version of Cleanup is installed and activated on your Android device. For detailed instructions, refer to the following articles: Installing Avast Cleanup & Activating an Avast Cleanup Premium subscription.

Navigate Cleanup

  1. On the Home screen of your device, tap the Cleanup icon to open the app.
  2. The following options are available via the main app screen:
    1. Quick Clean: Scan for and delete dispensable items, including thumbnails, APKs, residual files, and hidden, visible, and shared cache.
    2. Boost: Hibernate apps that are running in the background, stopping them from slowing down your device and draining your battery.
    3. Tips: Review tips for clearing space on your device. The first time you use the Tips feature, you are prompted to specify which kinds of tips you want Cleanup to prioritize via the Analysis preferences screen.
    4. Media: Access an overview of the media that is stored on your device, including suggestions for clearing space.
    5. Apps: Access an overview of the apps that are installed on your device, including suggestions for clearing space.

Perform a Quick Clean

Quick Clean cleans your device by removing unnecessary files to free storage space. You can select which item types are removed before you clean.

  1. Tap the Quick Clean button.
  2. Tick the item types you want to clean. Item types are divided into two sections (you may see one or both sections, depending which data types are stored on your device):
    • Unneeded files: Data that has been carefully selected to ensure that it is truly dispensable, including thumbnails, APKS, residual files, and hidden, visible, and shared cache.
    • Files to review: Data that may not be valuable to you. We recommend reviewing items included in this group and only ticking items that are dispensable. All items are unticked by default and will not be deleted unless you manually select them.
  3. Tap Finish cleaning to delete the selected items.

Hibernate apps

The Boost feature stops apps from running in the background, releasing memory for other tasks.

  1. Tap the Boost tile.
  2. Tick the apps that you want to stop, then tap Force stop.
    You may need to grant Cleanup permission to force stop apps in bulk via your device settings. Tap Grant, then follow the on-screen instructions. If you do not grant this permission, you are prompted to hibernate each selected app individually.
  3. Tap Proceed.
  4. Wait while Cleanup hibernates the selected apps, then tap the back arrow to return to the main Cleanup screen.

The selected apps are no longer running in the background.

Optimize your photos

Cleanup allows you to optimize your images to occupy less space. Images that are already the same size as your device screen (for example, screenshots) are not optimizable. To optimize your photos:

  1. Tap ☰ Menu (the three lines) in the top-left corner of the main app screen.
  2. Go to Photo Optimizer ▸ Show photos.
  3. Photos are arranged in groups according to age. Tick the photo(s) you want to optimize, or tap Select all next to a group of photos to select the whole group.
  4. Tap the Confirm button at the bottom of the screen.
  5. Tap Continue to proceed with default optimization, or tap Setup to preview an optimized image. If you have a paid Cleanup subscription, you can additionally set the optimization level according to your needs.
  6. Under Original photos, tap Select (or Change) to specify what will happen to your original photo(s). The following options are available:
    • Send originals to cloud storage: Remove the original photos from your device and send them to cloud storage. If Cleanup is already connected to a cloud storage account, tap the email address connected to your preferred account. If not, tap Connect to cloud storage to connect the app to a new cloud storage account.
    • Just delete: Remove and permanently delete the original photos from your device.
    • Keep originals: Keep the original photos on your device.
  7. Tap Optimize now to immediately start optimizing the selected photo(s).
  8. When optimization is complete, tap the back arrow to return to the main Cleanup screen.

Your photos are now optimized to occupy less space on your device.

Define your Analysis preferences

When you tap the Tips tile on the main app screen, you can review tips for clearing space on your device. You can specify which kinds of tips you want Cleanup to prioritize via the Analysis preferences screen:

  1. Tap ☰ Menu (the three lines) in the top-left corner of the main app screen.
  2. Go to Settings ▸ Analysis preferences.
  3. Touch and hold the icon (four lines) next to a tip category and drag the panel up or down to reorder your preferences.

Cleanup shows tips according to your specified preferences.

Manage cloud transfers

'The cloud' refers to virtual storage space where you can keep media and files such as photos, videos, and documents. Cleanup allows you to easily transfer items from your device to a connected cloud storage account. To connect Cleanup to a cloud storage account:

  1. Tap ☰ Menu (the three lines) in the top-left corner of the main app screen.
  2. Go to Settings ▸ Cloud services.
  3. Tap Connect next to your chosen cloud service (Dropbox or Google Drive).
  4. Select your preferred account and tap OK. Enter login credentials if prompted.
  5. The account now appears under Connected. To sign out of an account, tap ⋮ More options (the three dots) next to the account and select Sign out.

You can be connected to multiple Google Drive accounts and one Dropbox account at the same time. If you are connected to multiple accounts simultaneously, you are prompted to choose an account each time you attempt to transfer data to cloud storage.

For more information about managing cloud transfers in Cleanup for Android, refer to the following article: Avast Cleanup for Android - Cloud Services.

Further recommendations

For more information about Cleanup Premium, refer to the following article:

  • Avast Cleanup Premium 23.x for Windows
  • Avast Cleanup Premium 4.x for Mac
  • Avast Cleanup 6.x for Android
  • Microsoft Windows 11 Home / Pro / Enterprise / Education
  • Microsoft Windows 10 Home / Pro / Enterprise / Education - 32 / 64-bit
  • Microsoft Windows 8.1 / Pro / Enterprise - 32 / 64-bit
  • Microsoft Windows 8 / Pro / Enterprise - 32 / 64-bit
  • Microsoft Windows 7 Home Basic / Home Premium / Professional / Enterprise / Ultimate - Service Pack 1, 32 / 64-bit
     
  • Apple macOS 12.x (Monterey)
  • Apple macOS 11.x (Big Sur)
  • Apple macOS 10.15.x (Catalina)
  • Apple macOS 10.14.x (Mojave)
  • Apple macOS 10.13.x (High Sierra)
  • Apple macOS 10.12.x (Sierra)

  • Google Android 6.0 (Marshmallow, API 23) or later


Updated on: 02/06/2022

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