Several benefits can be gained by cleaning up your computer. Most computers can have their performance appreciably improved when they have a smaller number of files that must be manipulated and backed up on the computer in question. Any space restored as a result of the cleanup procedure can be put to better use. And the act of defragmenting the drive is vastly improved when the system has plenty of free space at hand. Also with all unneeded private files backed up and cleaned up the possibility is limited that they are taken and abused by other computer users.

An enormous range of cleaning tools exist which interpret the problem of cleaning up a hard drive in their own style. Some porn detection software that can also clean up Pokemon style porn are now available and these are able to detect and remove unwanted material without user intervention. But this is not all that these software tools can do, many can also clean up orphaned data, scan and remove inappropriate material, discover and clean copyrighted material, and help with free space recovery.