Dan Bee

Many thanks Nukecad and Laurence. This was my error. I've had this software working nearly a year and totally forgot that I had cancelled the subscription back in January and was refunded. When it was recently deactivated by CCleaner I received the message I logged on here. My only excuse is that I am now a pensioner! My apologies to all.

I purchased CCleaner Pro on 31st Jan 2023. On 29th Nov 2023 I reported to CCleaner that I had been receiving the request to enter my Licence Key for the previous few weeks, every time I went to use my CCleaner Pro. The software would not start until I had done this. In my many years of computer operations I have never been asked to re-enter my Licence Key for any software I had used unless it had to be reloaded for some reason. Therefore, this immediately struck me as odd. Then, on 29th Nov when, once again having to re-enter my key, my CCleaner Pro would not accept my Licence Key stating, “Your Licence Key Doesn’t exist”. I have been unable to use my software since then. The CCleaner agent came back to me on 30th Nov recommending me to : "Uninstall CCleaner using Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs, then restart your computer, and then complete a fresh install of CCleaner". I was given the link https://www.ccleaner.com/go/get_ccpro to download from and then he asked me to double click the file to start installation. He then quoted my Licence Key back to me which was the same as I had in my records, and asked me to copy and paste it into the newly downloaded CCleaner Pro. I did all of this without mishaps, but then received exactly the same error message : “Your Licence Key Doesn’t exist”, which I reported straight back to him on 30th Nov. I have since tried several times to get a response but no one is talking to me. I have since noticed on https://www.ccleaner.com/knowledge/ccleaner-v6-18-10838?cv=v6-18-10838 that CCleaner had fixed a bug that appeared to be this problem, but it had not been fixed for me. From what I see from all of this, it appears that my Licence key has probably been deleted in CCleaner Pro's files, as reloading the software has not helped, which means I will need time added to my year's subscription for time I could not use it. It is annoying I am getting no response from them now. Has anyone else had this problem please and, if so, how was it fixed - if at all? Thanks for any help.

Thanks to all for helping me learn more about this. All your inputs have been much a[[reciated. I think that, on balance, I will trust Ccleaner's free space wiper as I can't see that anyone has had a problem with this version, but ensure I take a disk backup before doing it. A special thanks to Nukecad for your very detailed input. Wishing you all a great Xmas and hope you don't catch any viruses (Covid or otherwise).

Hi Andavari, 'Moderators' gave this link above. https://support.iolo.com/support/solutions/articles/44001869137-does-drivescrubber-wipe-free-space- Additionally, I have now also found this link : https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/i-am-unable-to-use-the-iolo-drivescrubber-software/9c72ea12-351f-465e-9591-0434ada6be20 It seems from both the above that this issue has not answered favouably.

Hi Hazelnut - Thanks for your contribution. Yes, that 1st link is where I found IOLO's comment. Augeas - Your answer made very interesting reading and it could certainly offer a possibility I will bear in mind. However, it doesn't help me forward with my anxiety over using CCleaner's Free Space Wiper. If IOLO has declared this as fact when it is their skill-set at fault, then I really wish I knew the right answer as it is haqving a marvellous effect of putting me off using Free Space Wiper altogether. Andavari - Are there any free space wipe tools you can recommend? Have you used CCleaner's? Thanks to all who have replied but I'd love to get to the bottom of this.

Iolo have removed this facility from their System Mechanic software due to, '...a significant change by Microsoft to the Windows file system for all Windows versions from XP through 10. It was discovered that using the Free Space Wipe feature can now also occasionally wipe valuable data, including critical portions of the Windows OS itself. Microsoft has updated the file system maintenance behavior in way that causes existing Free Space disk sectors to now frequently have valuable data in them. In other words, Windows is now dynamically and unpredictably shifting the location of data across the disk platter, making it unreliable to pinpoint where the free space actually is. Due to this change in Windows, Microsoft warns that there is no safe method for wiping just free space.' This statement on their website is of concern because CCleaner still has this facility operative. Can someone from CCleaner put my mind at rest before I use it as this is a facility I would really like the option to use 'if it is was safe'. If it can be used, what has CCleaner done to make it safe again?