[Opinions] Bleachbit yay or nay?

[PuppyHome]

New Linux users coming from Windows still feel the need to "clean' their system after using it for a while.
Their brain is still wired that over time an OS will be polluted with all kinds of things over time.
A GNU/Linux system cleans itself much better as we know. Even when there is a need for cleaning up a bit the terminal does a good job at that.

However.....the tool Bleachbit (a Linux equivalent of Ccleaner) is seemingly heavily frowned upon from using. It could damage your system by removing "too much" for instance.

Personally I use it from time to time (couple of time per year on my daily driver only) and to be honest I have never once broken my OS by using it even back in the early Linux days. Not ever.

So for more experienced users who sort of know what they're doing there shouldn't be any problems, right?

I'm curious about the opinions and experiences of the fine people on the forums.
Do you use it? Are you one of those explicit nay sayeres? What are your experiences?

 

[arochester]

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[KGIII]

So long as you're aware of what you're removing (and why you're doing so), it's pretty harmless - but ti's unforgiving if you just blindly start deleting stuff.

 

[Brickwizard]

I have been using Linux for many years. I have never even thought about using any of the Windows user comfort tools as they are totally unnecessary, all I do a couple of times a year is deleted any old kernels I don't need [then run sudo apt autoremove]. Run through the browser cache and delete anything I don't need. And, uninstall any aps I no longer use or need.

 

[PuppyHome]

I have been using Linux for many years. I have never even thought about using any of the Windows user comfort tools as they are totally unnecessary, all I do a couple of times a year is deleted any old kernels I don't need [then run sudo apt autoremove]. Run through the browser cache and delete anything I don't need. And, uninstall any aps I no longer use or need.

That's what I am doing most of the times. Yet, sometimes i'll get a bit lazy and use BB to get it over with. I know, I know not the best approach.

That being said, I am starting to use Puppy more and more (especially EasyOs which can be debated whether or not it's still a Pup) so there's no use in cleaning at all when used correctly.

 

[mrcrossroads]

Bleachbit is good for complete wiping a computer to destroy all data you don't want recovered on Windows, not sure if it matters on Linux. A reinstall may be enough to destroy all data.

 

[bob466]

Beginners coming from windowz do a lot of things that screw their Distro...that's why we have this Forum but some people just wont take notice of what they're told.

Time and time again we say don't use cleaning tools because Linux isn't windowz and doesn't fill up with crap and triple system files like windowz does. If you feel the need to clean and can't resist the urge...there's a safe way to do so...
https://www.linux.org/threads/do-you-really-need-to-clean-mint.43752/

 

[wendy-lebaron]

I have discovered nothing, not even Bleachbit could cause my 11-year-old HP laptop with HDD (not SSD) to boot Spiral Linux KDE faster than 3-4 minutes, even though I have more than half of disk space available plus 4GB "swap". The disk is fine according to SMART report, but 11 years is a long time.

Once I did use Sweeper on Manjaro MATE without being sure about what it does. In the least it should clean up the thumbnails that the file managers and picture viewers build up over time. Also the "squiggle" files created by some text editors...

 

[camtaf]

Never had any need to do any 'clean ups' - I run small(ish) distros only, preferably WM based, & only add what I need/want to use.