The Cleaner 2012 for Windows

The Cleaner 2010 provides a simple collection of tools for making your computer safer. Its easy design simplifies the process of hunting down malicious spyware and malware. We were impressed by this program but ultimately disappointed by its trial limits.

The program's interface feels very professional, with its sleek graphic design and intuitive navigation. The first misstep was its totally uninformative Help file, which left us wanting more. The major issue was the program's function, however. It appears to work like many virus-scanning programs we'd tested before, except it focuses solely on malware. In addition to a full hard-drive scan, it offers a shortened scan that targets the traditional places where Trojans and spyware like to hide. This version would seemingly shave several minutes off the full scan time. When it finds questionable items, it puts them in Quarantine. We had to deduce much of this, though, since The Cleaner doesn't actually perform a fully functional scan during its trial. The program does include a neat feature for running a report, but this can't function without running a scan. This program looks like a winner, with its professional design and appealing options, but we just couldn't be sure because of its limits.

The Cleaner 2010 has its real time scan disabled during its trial period. While it had a professional layout and a seemingly helpful functionality, because of its trial limits we can only assume it lives up to its billing.