CCleaner app now available in the Microsoft Store

This is a surprising “turning point”: After all the problems and criticism surrounding CCleaner, the app is now available for Windows 11 via the new Microsoft Store. Microsoft had classified the app as “undesirable” only some time ago. The CCleaner application, known as optimization software, was once the tool of choice many years ago if you wanted to tweak your system a little. But after a takeover and subsequent problems – CCleaner was hijacked around five years ago and used to distribute malware – the reputation was clearly damaged.

There have been a lot of issues and headlines around CCleaner in the past. This included compatibility problems with Windows 10. Microsoft crowned it all in 2020 when the company declared CCleaner to be an “unwanted” application via Windows Defender and thus again put a negative stamp on the tool.

In Microsoft App Store For Windows 11

But now all of this is forgiven and forgotten: Microsoft now sees the CCleaner case very differently. CCleaner is now available for Windows 11 from the Microsoft App Store – this is certainly a new beginning for the relationship between app developers and Microsoft.

But it also clearly reflects how Microsoft has changed in general. Not only CCleaner is available in the store, also browsers like Firefox and Opera, or like that Online magazine MSPowerUser aptly writes, “Apps that Microsoft has a long history of hostility against”. Microsoft gives the user the choice and at the same time offers “tested” security via apps that can be installed via the store.

You can basically do all the functions that CCleaner offers with the integrated Windows tools and scripts, but it is much easier with the app, as everything is accessible in a clear user interface. It is also commendable that Microsoft is letting go of the reins a little and allowing users to make their own decisions about apps.