Baidu releases first public beta of Cleaner program for Windows

Martin Brinkmann
Feb 26, 2015
Software
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24

Remember Baidu Faster, the free PC maintenance program that Baidu released some time ago? It seems that the program may receive a name change in the near future as Baidu just published the first beta of Baidu Cleaner.

While it is not clear if Cleaner will indeed replace Faster, it is obvious that both programs share features.

Cleaner for now concentrates on removing junk and temporary files and data from the system. This works similar to other cleaning applications for Windows.

A click on the clean button starts the system scan and displays results after a short period of time in the program interface.

Results are divided into junk, privacy, plugin and memory groups each listing the items that Baidu Cleaner suggests to remove from it with Junk and Memory listing the storage space that you can free up in the process as well.

As you see on the screenshot above, some groups are divided into subgroups automatically. The junk clean group for instance divides the items that it found during the scan into system, visited websites, multimedia, application and Registry junk files.

A click on the arrow icon displays additional groups but no option to display file names and locations. That part is unfortunate as you have no control over what is being removed from your system.

While you may not have problems deleting the thumbnail cache for example you may want more control over windows hotfix files or Registry keys that the application suggests to remove.

According to a forum post on the Baidu website, the program supports "5000 of the world's most popular programs" and "more than 10,000 cleaning points" on the computer.

It did recognize many installed programs on a test system but it is difficult to verify the claim.

It is possible to check or uncheck any group or individual item before running the clean operation.

Since it may remove patch files and backup files, it is highly recommended to backup the system first before you run the operation.

Clean Genius, the second menu item of Baidu Cleaner is just a scheduler. A total of six reminders are available which are all enabled by default.  The program informs you in regular intervals about jumk file cleaning, bundled software (when software gets installed without your approval) and new startup items.

clean genius

Especially the bundled software reminder could be useful on may systems but that depends largely on well he notices these installations.

The Toolbox finally introduces three additional tools and promises to publish two more tools soon. This toolbox is actually very similar to Baidu Faster's toolbox but with less tools rights now.

Software Cleaner is a program uninstaller that combines regular removals of programs with a cleanup scan afterwards that attempts to pick up leftover files and Registry keys. It is interesting to note that all found files and keys are listed by the tool so that you can verify each item individually.

startup manager

Startup Manager lists startup items, services and Scheduled Tasks. Each item is displayed with its current status and a suggestion on how to deal with it. Suggestions are displayed for all items and while many make sense, some require a deeper understanding of the service or application. Windows Search is listed as optional for instance and while that is technically correct, it should not be removed on systems where it is being used on.

Large File Cleaner finally searches for large files on the selected partitions and drives. It provides options to filter by file type, for instance video or office, and to only display files that fall into a certain size group, for instance those that are over 2 Gigabyte in size.

large files

A click on a file opens the folder it is listed in.

Closing Words

Baidu Cleaner is a promising program. While there is room for improvement, making available a list of all files the program suggests to clean comes to mind, it includes several great tools that are useful when it comes to deleting temporary files, freeing up space, removing programs or managing startup items.

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Comments

  1. Jacob said on March 22, 2015 at 7:06 am
    Reply

    Baidu product ,definite crap 。 by 20% of Chinese Internet users。

  2. K0izo said on March 2, 2015 at 5:46 am
    Reply

    be aware of spyware and crapware on this baidu.

    off corse it was just another paid review post.

  3. dsad said on February 28, 2015 at 10:57 am
    Reply

    thanks god my os doesn’t need these “cleaning” placebo apps

  4. Sukhen said on February 27, 2015 at 6:47 pm
    Reply

    Baidu??? – No, no way in my domain

  5. santorini said on February 27, 2015 at 10:39 am
    Reply

    Interesting soft but unfortunately no portable version. Anyway good to know.
    PS Chinese software is ok im my opinion, hardware too. Free from the tentacles of USA (NSA).

  6. PJ said on February 27, 2015 at 9:49 am
    Reply

    As of 26 Feb 2015, VirusTotal is still giving Baidu Cleaner (beta) a 100% clean report.

    But then, VirusTotal incorporates the Baidu Antivirus engine, so is VirusTotal directly promoting Baidu crapware ? I have the feeling though that many anti-Baidu detractors use VirusTotal as an anti-malware bible of sorts.

    * Scan of “Baidu_Cleaner_Setup.exe”:
    virustotal.com/en/file/d0981eb0ff1ba7d305ad1689f788bfd665ea29d1ff9aca13b3a97c96015d9f0e/analysis/1424966563

    * Scan of download link given at Baidu Forum:
    virustotal.com/en/url/14a638869d218f3a59f185ab542f083c138341c170a8df14b0e2169baae6ded6/analysis/1425022626

  7. Var said on February 27, 2015 at 6:26 am
    Reply

    What a bunch of petulant kids some of these commentators are.

    The article is perfectly fine Martin.

    These idiots apparently are fine using Chinese made electronics but boo-hoo lest they started using some redundant software from there. These guys need to understand they are irrelevant, They are not NSA that Chinese are going to put specially build, expensive backdoors into this lame software.

  8. Serin said on February 27, 2015 at 4:27 am
    Reply

    I am a Chinese (living abroad) and I will NOT use software from big Chinese companies like Baidu or 360 any day as long as I have alternatives. Till now, nothing from these company is indispensable. Google was forced out of Chinese mainland market so that Baidu took the biggest share and guess what it has been giving back to the government in return.

    You are risking your sensitive digital information by using these pieces of ‘free-of-charge’ software. Go ahead if you don’t give it a damn but you have been warned.

    1. enon said on March 1, 2015 at 11:53 pm
      Reply

      well you’s probably a racist. heheh

  9. Fernando said on February 27, 2015 at 4:04 am
    Reply

    baidu, the chinese company, is a well know scammer with lots of fake reviews and bad comments by people that got tricked into PUP’s and PUM’s

    https://www.mywot.com/en/scorecard/antivirus.baidu.com

    he got paid to do the review or he is naive enough to recommend such malware (wich i do not believe)

    ghacks got rekt

    i was not expecting that
    sad days indeed

    but hey the web is full of illegal means to deceive people
    and ghacks is not exempt

    i think is time to leave, so popular back in the days, software downloads and reviews webpages for good because none of them are really clean nowdays

    oh yeah, i forgot to say
    of course, DO NOT USE any program, software, website owned or relate in anyway by Baidu百度, Inc

    1. Anonymous said on March 2, 2015 at 3:06 pm
      Reply

      Well WOT thinks Facebook is a good website … sooo that means WOT lost all accountability.

    2. PJ said on February 27, 2015 at 9:44 am
      Reply

      As a relative Baidu noob, I just tried the Baidu Search engine (baidu.com), & it gave me 0 results for a non-Chinese (& not very well-known) software app. I actually thought (& still think), “What a crappy search engine !”

      Thinking that Baidu Search perhaps indexes only websites hosted in China, I searched for “ghacks” & there are some 56,300 results, including the ghacks.net website as the 1st result. I had to exit the search page though, because some script there keeps hanging my browser.

      But before that, I discovered that the Baidu Baike Web-Encyclopedia has a short entry about ghacks:
      http://baike.baidu.com/view/3455948.htm

      And according to Baidu Baike, Martin’s Chinese name is 马丁 布林克曼 (MÇŽ-dÄ«ng Bù-lín-kè-màn), which transliterates to the following:-

      Horse (马) • 4th Heavenly Stem (丁) • Cloth (布) • Forest (林) • Gram (克) • Handsome/ Large/ Long (曼)

      1. PJ said on February 27, 2015 at 11:23 am
        Reply

        @Martin — Your encyclopedic Chinese name 马丁 布林克曼 conjures visions of a gold-monogrammed heavenly knight on horseback riding through the medieval forest. And it strongly suggests that you are equipped with a a handsome/ large/ long … lance ! :)

        But I think your last name as pronounced the authentic German way is somewhat better translated as either of the following (both pronounced identically in Mandarin-Chinese). Whichever way, you are still handsome/ large/ long.

        1) 冰刻曼 (Bīng-kè-màn) — Ice (冰) • Carved (刻) • Handsome/ Large/ Long (曼)

        2) 兵克曼 (Bīng-kè-màn) — Soldier/ Fighter (兵) • To overcome (eg. difficulty, challenge, enemy) [verb] / Gram [noun] (克) • Handsome/ Large/ Long (曼)

        Rather than Baidu Baike’s version 布林克曼 (Bù-lín-kè-màn), which is phonetically more suited to a surname like “Boo-lean-ke-mann”. But Boolean does sound more techie.

      2. Martin Brinkmann said on February 27, 2015 at 10:05 am
        Reply

        Interesting, did not know that :)

    3. PJ said on February 27, 2015 at 9:24 am
      Reply

      @Fernando — I am not familiar with Baidu software, & has never used any of them. Curiously though, your WOT link gives the Baidu Antivirus site the best possible rating (“Excellent”) for Trustworthiness & Child Safety. Likewise, WOT gives an “Excellent” rating for Baidu Search (baidu.com): https://www.mywot.com/en/scorecard/baidu.com

      Meanwhile, Google Safe Browsing indicates that over the last 90 days, baidu.com has:
      • exhibited 6 counts of suspicious activity
      • functioned as proxy to infect 99 sites
      • hosted malicious software that infected 516 domains
      http://www.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=baidu.com

      Hmm … since WOT thinks Baidu is so wonderful, is the Finland-based-&-owned WOT as trustworthy as its reputable name (“Web of Trust”) & its numerous fans boasted ?

      Or do you think that Baidu must alsohave paid WOT for the “Excellent” rating, just like how you claimed that Martin “got paid to do the review” ?

      Or perhaps Baidu paid Google to give it the most terrible & scariest report possible ! [… Feeling Alice-In-The-Wonderland-esque …]

  10. Nebulus said on February 26, 2015 at 9:37 pm
    Reply

    Baidu product. So… no, thanks.

  11. Mary said on February 26, 2015 at 8:54 pm
    Reply

    I do not understand why people have issues with this review. *confused*

  12. Meena Bassem said on February 26, 2015 at 5:17 pm
    Reply

    no offence, but i used to respect this blog a lot. now that you’re posting about crapware like baidu…. , i believe i should think again about that.
    please keep your site clean of that crapware.

    1. PJ said on February 27, 2015 at 8:46 pm
      Reply

      @Meena Bassem — Based on your esteemed line of reasoning, you might be interested to write an email of commendation to Comodo Group (of recent ‘Peddle PrivDog to Users’ fame). I just discovered that my Great Firewall of Comodo actually blocks me from the official Baidu Antivirus website, screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/h8vqiTP.png

      In addition, China’s own government & its state proxies are to be highly praised as well, because they are also very fond of condemning Baidu for doing all the wrong things …

      * Bashing Baidu: The Internet In China (27 Aug 2011):
      http://www.economist.com/node/21526943
      Quote: "Perhaps the most likely motive for CCTV's attacks on Baidu is that its journalists are trying to do their jobs. Public anger about toxic food, corporate mismanagement and official corruption has emboldened reporters."

      Meanwhile, you might wish to cautiously avoid &/or sternly admonish the following websites, all of which must be dubious because not only do they post neutrally or (sometimes) favourably about Baidu crapware, they even host the actual installers.

      • Softpedia.com (Romanian owned & maintained):
      http://www.softpedia.com/publisher/Baidu-Inc-93230.html
      Gives 4 out of 5 stars for all 3 of the Baidu software titles it reviews & hosts.

      • MajorGeeks.com (USA):
      http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/baidu_antivirus_0017.html
      http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/baidu_pc_faster.html
      Religiously hosts every single major & minor version ever published for every Baidu “award-winning” software title. Above are just 2 examples out of 166 pages of Baidu software programs.

      • TechSpot.com (USA):
      Hmm, must be a backup host for Baidu software … in case Softpedia or MajorGeeks simultaneously suffer an outage:
      http://www.techspot.com/downloads/5820-baidu-antivirus.html
      http://www.techspot.com/downloads/5873-baidu-pc-faster.html
      http://www.techspot.com/downloads/6688-baidu-spark-browser.html

      • PCMag.com (USA):
      http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2430255,00.asp
      In Feb 2014, the reviewer (former director of the Association of Shareware Professionals & former president of the San Francisco PC User Group) gave 1.5 out of 5 stars to Baidu Antivirus … because its detection-rate didn’t meet his expectations. And not because he thinks Baidu is malware, or that Baidu somehow failed to infest his system with crap. Such heretical IT professionals should be banned, eh ?

      • HowToGeek.com (USA):
      http://www.howtogeek.com/138771/htg-explains-how-latency-can-make-even-fast-internet-connections-feel-slow
      Mr Geek pings Baidu Search to illustrate the “impact of distance on latency”. Obviously he is not afraid that Baidu &/or the China government would “ping back” in the form of DoS attacks &/or implanted spyware; or that thousands of gullible geeky readers might be inspired to check out the malicious, malware-infested Baidu Search engine & its crappy software divisions.

      Gee, what’s wrong with first-world IT websites & techies nowadays !?!

    2. shady4ever said on February 26, 2015 at 9:12 pm
      Reply

      “now that you’re posting about ‘crapware’ like baidu……”

      – How about you support your opinion with evidence??

    3. RamboIT said on February 26, 2015 at 6:25 pm
      Reply

      Not all news is good news. Not all posts are going to be what we may want. I won’t consider trying Baidu cleaner until it’s matured a year or two. Ccleaner works very well. So, I’ll stick with it.

      I don’t think Martin deserves to be pummeled for posting anything that he thinks might be helpful. It’s his site. Like the rest of us, ignore what you don’t want or don’t like.

      Trolling isn’t cool.

      1. Edwardo said on February 27, 2015 at 5:00 pm
        Reply

        RambolT… I agree ! …. said it perfect!

      2. Tom Hawack said on February 26, 2015 at 8:26 pm
        Reply

        I agree as well. I am Martin in this that it’s everyone’s liberty to express their likes and dislikes, even if/when I disagree on the content. Let us be civilized… and smart, because I may perfectly well be wrong with the reasons of ny disagreement.

        Concerning Baidu software I’ll be frank, which does not mean I believe to be in the truth but only that this is, at this time, not even my truth but rather a more or less irrational feeling towards Chinese products, computer related included but not included the Chinese people, of course. Maybe I’ll discover those feelings vanished or will they be removed one day with evidence that I was on the wrong emotional path, but for now no Baidu.

      3. Boris said on February 26, 2015 at 7:34 pm
        Reply

        I agree. Not every product reviewed here must be great. Sometimes people need to know how crappy Chinese software is. Pretty much as crappy as every trinket they sell around the world.

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