I never expect miracles when it comes to cleaning the carpet. It's very old and probably wasn't regularly cleaned prior to us living here. It would definitely be gone if we weren't renting. I mainly just want it to not leave people with dirty feet or smell. With four kids, two of which that are in diapers, and two dogs there are a lot of messes. Although the carpet isn't noticeably clean there is an improvement after using this. It definitely smells better in the living room now. It worked well on cleaning the sofa too but can't speak on the effectiveness of the stain guard yet. It was easy to pour and has the typical carpet cleaner fragrance. I used the same brand of machine as well.