Alan_B

When a "good" application is un-installed, it cleans up after itself. iTunes appears to be the other sort of animal. When you install it, it dumps lots of other Apple rubbish on the system, and when you un-install it the Start menu link is definitely removed, but what else is removed is any-one's guess. In your case you still have *.itl files, which suggests that iTunes failed to remove at least some of its folders and files, and CCleaner will have seen enough iTunes rubbish cluttering your drive it to have every reason to think iTunes was still present and still needed its *.itl files. Regards Alan

Hi ActiveX/COM Issue InProcServer32\C:\Windows\system32\wuaucpl.cpl HKCR\CLSID\{5F327514-6C5E-4d60-8F16-D07FA08A78ED} It is obvious to me that if CCleaner FOUND and proposed removal of the above, it was still present and had NOT been deleted by CCleaner. It is therefore obvious that CCleaner was not responsible for preventing Windows Updates. You have to look elsewhere, and I think we all know what I am looking at. I believe that Registry Booster probably "cleaned" something it should have left alone, with the results that :- 1) Windows Update stopped working, and; 2) Afterwards CCleaner CORRECTLY recognised ...\wuaucpl.cpl as JUNK because it could not work any more - the links / pointers / references that should have launched it were long gone. It is generally accepted by any successful P.C. user, that you should only have one real-time anti-virus product in operation. If you simultaneously run two they suspect every action of the other as a virus activity to be nobbled. Mutually Assured Destruction. I PROPOSE a similar rule, do not use different registry cleaners. If one of them takes out a bit that is needed, the other one will subsequently want to take out everything that is now crippled, and every time you run the alternate cleaner you lose a bit more Windows till all you have left is DOS !!! Regards Alan

Hi Your I.S.P. probably holds a record of every web-site you visit, especially if the I.S.P. and Phorm have a partnership. Your I.S.P. probably also records every time you connect on and off the internet. Regards Alan

Warmth Thanks for the info. I never Googled because I understood that Piriform did not support Beta releases, so I was sure it had to be a typo. (nb I do not install Beta releases of anything anyway !!!) Regards Alan

Is it possible that DOCUMENTS are not at risk, only the recent shortcuts. i.e. if these are deleted, the only effect is that the File menu in Word will no longer remember what document you last accessed, BUT the file will still be present, and you should still find it with Windows Explorer, and double clicking it should still launch Word and open the document (and that will automatically add it to the "recent files" list). Regards Alan

As you have been advised, Firefox must NOT be running when you wish to clear its cache. PLEASE USE Windows Task Manager FIRST :- If you have "closed" Firefox, then Firefox will NOT be listed on the Applications tab. NOW select the Process Tab and click on Image Name to sort in sequence, and look for a Firefox Process. Sometimes a process continues to exist when the "application" has been closed. If you see a Firefox process, then select that process and click on the "End Process" button, then start CCleaner and clean the Firefox cache. This is ALWAYS the cause (and a perfect cure) when CCleaner fails to clean the cache for me. n.b. If CCleaner is running before you kill Firefox, perhaps it will not recognise its execution until you close and then restart CCleaner. I have never seen any such problem because I always take extra effort to help the computer do what should be done, and even then Windows gives me grief !!! Regards Alan

Is 3.1 a typo, or a Beta release ? I am using Firefox 3.03, and there are no updates available to me !!! Regards Alan

Hi I do not know why "This problem has gone away...as mysteriously as it first appeared. " I have the impression that chksk was used, and failed to correct the problem. That suggests the individual disk sectors have no checksum errors, and that what can now be read is what was originally written together with checksums. It says nothing about the integrity of the INFORMATION (as distinct from raw DATA), so the error is more likely to be at a higher level - where the information was composed. The error message was "\System Volume Information\_restore{000CD547-0129-4B27-B8E2-A61171E8ACE7} is corrupt ..." That tells me that the overall folder is corrupt, and not the individual folders for each of the dated Restore Points. In this situation it might be better NOT to create a new Restore Point and then delete the old points, because the new point will still be held in a corrupt container. Instead I suggest that System Restore should be totally turned off, then perhaps a reboot for luck, then look to ensure that "\System Volume Information\_restore ..." has been removed - and if it is still present get rid rid of it - if you succeeded in cancelling System Restore then with a bit of luck Windows will be less insistent upon rejecting any attempt to delete it. Get rid of it - even if you have to go into SAFE mode and/or "take ownership of a file." Once System Restore has gone, THEN you can restart System Restore, and it should now RECREATE a brand new "\System Volume Information\_restore{000CD547-0129-4B27-B8E2-A61171E8ACE7}" in which to place a new Restore Point, instead of trying to re-use a corrupt folder. rich_roc hopes this problem does not come back. Hopefully the above may help if it does return. Regards Alan

I totally disagree with the above. Windows itself will prohibit the removal of some files. This prohibition could be due to Windows deciding "This is a vital system file and I will die without it." This prohibition could be due to malware deciding "I'm going to live for ever - and you are not going to kill me." This prohibition could be due to some valid process (possibly due to a Windows service) that is running. This prohibition could be due to badly written legitimate software that has damaged file permissions. If Windows allows me to delete a file (e.g. via the DOS command DEL) only then would I think of blaming CCleaner for not deleting that file. Regards Alan

Hi I think I recognise "Unused File Extension .aca - Agent.Character.2 HKCR\.aca" and all the others. To be exact, I think I recognise "Unused File Extension". If Windows encounters a file with the extension ".XYZ" it does not wait for you to double click, instead it seems to look up its file associations to see what it should do if you ever did give it a click, and then it seems to add another item to the registry things of "Windows does not know what to do with this ....", and CCleaner then wants to purge a new entry of "Unused File Extension .XYZ". It looks to me as if you have many files with extensions such as .aca, and that they have no file association, so if Windows THINKS you might want to double click that file, its another "Windows does not know what to do with this ...." I believe it is not the existence of a File.XYZ that causes "Unused File Extension .XYZ", BUT that Windows thinks you MAY wish to double click and so it takes pre-emptive action. I have not scrutinised the exact cause and effect, but it seems that if the file is displayed by xplorer2, and Windows thinks I may be about to hover over it, those are grounds for it to add to "Windows does not know what to do with this ....". Simple explanation - if Windows thinks you are "looking at it funny" that's another "Windows does not know what to do with this ....". Perhaps a different Antivirus product is installed and its new file scanning is detected as "looking at it funny". Perhaps the latest CCleaner is scanning a bit different and this is detected as "looking at it funny". Perhaps the latest Microsoft Patch Tuesday update has altered the definition of "looking at it funny". Sorry, I have no cure, just thoughts based on similar aggravations I have suffered on a far smaller scale. Regards Alan

Hi I believe this thread should have a different title, and that it belongs in a different forum. I only came here last night because I had 2 minutes to kill, and a "Your daily new posts digest ( Piriform Forums )" email intrigued me with what looked like being a rant about a despotic I.T. director placing an embargo against some Freeware just because he had the authority. I suggest that a more appropriate forum is "CCleaner Bug Reporting", and a more suitable title would attract the attention of many more experts, AND ADDITIONALLY, it might appear adjacent to other bug reports that have nothing to do with Screwdriver, but could stem from the same root cause, and this would automatically speed up the recognition and the correction of the problem. Sorry, but I was too tired after a hard day, and failed to explain :- You if you capture a REGSHOT Snapshot hive / file "IMAGE", it can be captured to the C:\, but I always prefer to use a partition on an external drive to avoid having to remember during subsequent evaluation of various comparisons, that certain new files such as C:\IMAGE_2, C:\IMAGE_3, C:\IMAGE_etcetc do NOT appear as a result of the actions by software under investigation, but are the result of triggering REGSHOT many times between capturing C:\IMAGE_1 and C:\IMAGE_FINAL - it also cuts down some of the changes that System Restore or Comodo Firewall might detect and result in additional changes to the registry - which is more "changes" that REGSHOT faithfully reports, taking you further into the realm of "can't see the trees for the forest" Regards ALAN

Hi I have 30 years experience creating software, and also identifying and fixing colleagues creations. I suggest a few simple tests should be done by some-one to quickly identify what is going wrong. DO NOT restart or reboot the computer during these tests. 1. Use CCleaner to purge the old files, and repeat until it finds nothing else to purge. 2. UN-check every option box under both the Windows Tab and the Applications Tab. 3. Close down CCleaner. 4. Install Screwdriver. NOW Determine at which of the following stages an unfortunate file deletion occurs. I suggest using Regshot to compare Before and After each stage. Regshot will show all FILE changes and deletion deletions - most useful for this purpose, it will also show any registry changes - but these are irrelevant for this purpose. It MAY be useful to take and store on a different Drive a Snapshot hive / file "IMAGE 1" for subsequent comparison. A) Launch CCleaner. Did Regshot show an immediate file loss ? Check that all Windows and Application boxes remain unchecked. C) Use Analyze. Did Regshot show an immediate file loss ? D) Use "Run Cleaner". Did Regshot show an immediate file loss ? Check every WINDOWS Tab option you normally use. E) Use Analyze. If there are files to be cleaned, DO NOT CLEAN. Instead Uncheck the option boxes until Analyze can no longer find anything to clean. Did Regshot show an immediate file loss ? F) Use "Run Cleaner". Did Regshot show an immediate file loss ? Check every APPLICATION Tab option you normally use. G) Use Analyze. If there are files to be cleaned, DO NOT CLEAN. Instead Uncheck the option boxes until Analyze can no longer find anything to clean. Did Regshot show an immediate file loss ? H) Use "Run Cleaner". Did Regshot show an immediate file loss ? Now is a good time to take and store a Snapshot hive / file "IMAGE 2", and compare with "IMAGE 1" incase something happened when configuration options were adjusted. I) Run and then Close Screwdriver. Did Regshot show an immediate file loss ? (Of course no files can be lost - unless a registry change we were not looking for has told Screwdriver to re-configure with self-destruction consequences.) Assuming no files have been deleted or otherwise lost, then take a coffee break - you will need it !!! FOR each and TAB (WINDOWS and APPLICATION) perform the following { FOR each and every option box in this TAB perform the following { Start Regshot to capture changes that are made :- Use Analyze and take a screenshot / screendump of all the junk it WILL remove for this particular option; Use Run Cleaner and take a screenshot / screendump of all the junk it HAS removed for this particular option; Compare the "WILL remove" with the "HAS removed" lists; Take second Regshot image to complete the capture of FILE changes made, and compare with the "WILL" and "HAS" lists; } NEXT option box } NEXT TAB I said you would need a coffee break !!! K) Run and then Close Screwdriver Did Regshot show an immediate file loss ? Did ScrewDriver run correctly, or is it now crippled. Hopefully you have now identified a particular set of option boxes that cripple screwdriver, or alternatively you may have encountered some totally unexpected consequence to an innocuous mouse click that should not have deleted anything. If Screwdriver still runs correctly, then perhaps POTENTIAL damage was inflicted, e.g. some (deleted) files are only MARKED for deletion, which I believe requires a computer restart, so NOW is the right time to reboot the computer, and re-test Screwdriver. Hopefully the above should identify to CCleaner programmers what exactly needs to be fixed, and will also show screwdriver users which option(s) to avoid until it is fixed. Regards Alan

Microsoft have published a good intention for System Restore, which is that :- 1. It ignores user documents etc so they do not lose their recent edit corrections, 2. It restore the system files so Windows will behave as it used to behave before Patch Tuesday or whatever else damaged it. In practice there are grey areas where it cannot decide in which category the file should be. Often a Restore Point is automatically created without permission or notification, so I have no chance to first use CCleaner. DO NOT EVER use Restore Point to go back UNTIL you first use CCleaner. If you fail to use CCleaner then the Firefox and Java caches are not purged. These caches are in the grey area - Windows does not know what to do. What it does is look at the latest ??????\cache etc that is in your user profile, and look at the earlier version within the Restore Point and realise they will not fit together, so by some mysterious unknown and possibly random mechanism it allocates an extra (2) to the name of one of them. This is where many of the extra (2) files come from. I forgive the occasional difficulty that UN-intelligent software has in making a perfect decision, and that the best thing for it is to make both versions available for a subsequent user choice. WHAT IS TOTALLY UNFORGIVABLE is that it does not GIVE me information upon what it did; instead it gives me a glimpse on the screen of the location where 2 files exist, and which came from what; BUT there is no means, other than pencil and paper, to record this so I may take any corrective action, and once the computer has booted a search for files created in the last 5 minutes does not get that information. Please forgive the rant, but in this modern internet broadband era, if computers require pencil and paper we might as well go back to the "good old days" when we communicated with quill pens - or for speed we went to the railway station for a clerk to punch it into a telex machine !!! O.K., rant over. This is how System Restore creates spurious (2) files, and there are no clues available to guide the user in which to keep. This demonstrates that System Restore has admirable intentions, but less than competent execution. I am sure that Microsoft have tried to improve System Restore, and the continuing problems suggest that even with all their resources, and all their designers private knowledge of what they created, every attempt to fix one thing inevitably leads to breaking the software in a different way. If M.$. cannot fix it, what hope has anyone else. If CCleaner should have a go at it I think these forums will be overloaded with requests for help from people who "gave it a go".

Hi xpsunny In answer to your post 9 " My point is: If Windows inbuild cleanup utility can delete the restore points.....why can't CCleaner can? " I really can't do better than quote your post 3, i.e. EXPLANATION Hardware bugs permitting, software generally does what it is coded to do - but not necessarily what the programmer intended. Software documentation may be partly based upon knowledge of design goals (possibly unfulfilled) and partly upon observation of results from some tests. Microsoft publishes documentation to benefit users - in the past they have been criticised for not releasing internal information that would help their competitors. Regardless of any secret knowledge, Microsoft do not know everything about their software. If they did, Patch Tuesdays would be a thing of the past !!! Software does what it does - not what you (or Microsoft) want it to do. Software does not always do the same thing - oops here comes another Patch Tuesday. If Microsoft are unable to ensure that the default Windows Cleanup utility will always delete old Restore Points, what hope has an independent third party software supplier. Upon reflection, I think the creators of CCleaner may have the ability to take a shot at doing it - but there would be so many major disasters that CCleaner reputation would change from SAFE to RISKY. Regards Alan

Hi 1. When is a file older than 48 Hours ? Answer - when NOW is more than 48 hours after the relevant date. 2. What is the relevant date ? Answer - I do not know - but here are 3 possibilities I know of :- a) Created (eg 12 February 2007) Modified (eg 12 June 2008) c) Accessed (eg 24 July 2008 - YES TODAY - DAMN STUPID WINDOWS) The three date types appear with the DOS command DIR on nice computers. Unfortunately with Windows XP there is no proper DOS, only a feeble imitation CMD prompt. This also has a DIR command, but can no longer show all three dates simultaneously you have to append option /T:A to see the date (Accessed) (or append /A:C or /A:W for either of the other dates.) Using Windows Explorer you can see all three dates simultaneously - if you are very quick, Unfortunately you don't have to do much more than see a file's name listed for Windows to put access date = NOW It was a sad day when I had to leave DOS behind and learn to live with Windows. End of rant On with life So, three different sorts of dates. I do not know which is relevant, or if there is any other I am not aware of. I suspect the relevant date is "Accessed" - this is the date used by "Disc Cleanup" when deciding which files are more than 30 days old and due to be compressed. Regards Alan

Hi An auto run off the registry cleaner would complete the hat-trick of switching off System Restore and downloading free-ware of uncertain origin. Very good for an exciting life !!! Whenever I run CCleaner, it always finds redundant files to remove. It almost never finds any registry issues. When it does find registry issues then after fixing I run again just incase, and it is very rare to get any extra issues. I have never needed to run it 3 or 4 times - perhaps I do not ride my computer as hard as some people !!! Real Life example of disaster :- CCleaner purged all junk files and registry issues - as seen from my user profile. I logged out and my daughter logged in, and as seen from her user profile CCleaner found more junk and registry issues. I set up her profile to be much less aggressive than my profile in removal of junk files. Although I had told her never to clean the registry, I was prepared to do so for her because it is an old computer that has had 4 years to accumulate some issues. Also as a matter of interest I wondered what CCleaner could see from her profile. I WAS HORRIFIED. There were VERY MANY "Missing shared DLLs" and sundry other registry errors, which were typically due to being un-installed, with a remedy of removing the registry entries. Fortunately I recognised the file path that was missing - it was an application that I had used and was still there the last time I looked. Had I removed the registry errors I guess I would have broken the application due to TWO ERRORS :- The second error is that CCleaner did not recognise that the registry entries designated a file path in my user profile that was invisible from her user profile. THE PRIMARY ERROR was that when I first started using Windows XP I was given a teach yourself "Step by Step Windows XP" book published by Microsoft Press, and this included a CD that was to be installed. Those Microsoft imbeciles stupidly arranged that it would be installed in my private user profile, inaccessible to other users, or perhaps they were not stupid - just immorally greedy and insisting that if multiple users want to learn then each user has to buy their own copy - acorns don't fall far from the tree !!! n.b. After seeing this potential disaster, I unchecked absolutely every box under Registry Integrity, just in-case my daughter ever made a mistake and clicked the wrong button. I often clean the registry, but I ALWAYS inspect and evaluate what is about to be done. Invariable my experience has been that it refers to something I remember un-installing in the last few days - but if this does not apply I back-off and Google and reconsider before I cleanse. Regards Alan

I did something similar, excepting :- 1. I added a check to the option "Run CCleaner when the computer starts" 2. I therefore did not touch the registry. I did NOT like the results, so I reverted to NOT using an INI file. When the INI file is NOT used, the configuration is held in the user profile. My daughter's profile has a TAME configuration so that nothing bad can happen, and nothing important can be lost. Because I have 30 years experience as a professional Real Time software engineer, I risk a more aggressive configuration, but I always "analyze" and review every file on the hit list before they go. In Options / Include I stipulate a few extra temporary file locations to be purged, including some within my user profile e.g. C:\Documents and Settings\Dad\Local Settings\Temp\*.* My profile will not permit C:\Documents and Settings\Daughter\Local Settings\Temp\*.*, and my daughter's profile does purge her Temp but not mine. When I tried the INI file approach I found it was a one size fits all thing, i.e. we both have a TAME configuration or an AGGRESSIVE configuration. Additionally, trying to stipulate two user profile temporary folders is a hurdle I gave up on. I concluded that that INI file would only work if there was a separate INI file in each User Profile, and since CCleaner.exe requires the INI file to be in the same folder, that would require installing multiple instances of CCleaner.exe in multiple user profiles. This was some time ago, so the situation MAY have altered. Regards Alan

Hi I am sorry, my explanation was to concise. This has never happened before !!! I omitted to explain a stage I deliberately omitted from my recommendation. It is too late for Philip, but this may help others who see and act upon this thread. SYSTEM RESTORE IS NOT NEEDED - DO NOT WASTE TIME WITH IT !!! I suggested SYSTEM RESTORE at the point where you have broken the system, but if you are carefully checking only one extra option at a time, and running CCleaner with that extra option, if you test the system and determine it is not broken, then you can check and test the next option, only when you have broken the system do you need to do a SYSTEM RESTORE. End of explanation Regards Alan

Most times there is nothing to clean - nothing is broken. Sometimes there are many things. You tell me what is wrong, but not the reason. For the reason I have to click on "Fix Selected Issues" even before I know if I want to fix them. Then I have to tell it if I want a registry back-up, Then I have to select each item in turn before I am given further information. Invariably, for me at least, when there is something to fix I have just removed a package and there will be many dozens of things to fix, and invariably the reason will be "are often left behind after uninstalling software." I would find it so much easier if the reason was announced on the main screen against each item. It would halve the number of entries per screen, but scrolling through twice as many pages is no problem at all. Then after a quick scan of every item, I can "Fix Selected Issues" and decide upon registry backup, and then I would not need to review and fix each and every issue in turn, instead I could simply click on "Fix All Selected Issues". Regards Alan

Typically I get several screens of details to scroll down. If CCleaner is going to remove a total of 300 MBytes I REALLY REALLY REALLY want to know if it includes a 99 MByte installation. I want to reconsider, and ask myself if this is something I have recently installed and paid a licence fee. It would be so helpful if for each file the size appeared on the extreme left, before the path and file name. Then I can immediately scan down the list to see which are the BIG ones to consider, and it would be even better if it always used bytes, instead of intermingling bytes, KB, and MB. As it stands, my eyes get very tired zigzagging along the very irregular right hand edge of the file paths. Because of this, when I am uncomfortable with the total size, I launch Firefox and run analyze again so that "Firefox/Mozilla cache cleaning was skipped", and if that brings the total down from 300 MBytes to 1 MByte I can cross my fingers as I click "Run Cleaner" - after which I can close Firefox and clean its cache also. Regards Alan.

Options / Settings gives only two choices for deletion, Normal and Secure. A further choice of "Delete to Recycle Bin" is very desirable. If an over-ambitious deletion broke Windows or anything, it would all be mended by restoring from the Recycle Bin. This would by synonymous with the Registry Backups that are available after an over-ambitious Registry purge. After cleaning, the saving of disk space is deferred whilst the unwanted stuff is in the Recycle Bin. In this state the computer can be shut down, and if it restarts cleanly and the computer still does the things you want, then the Recycle Bin can be purged with confidence that nothing there was needed because Windows etc. was happy without it. This would be especially useful as a default option for new users of CCleaner. n.b. It would be appropriate for "System => Empty Recycle Bin" to have an extra choice that applies Secure deletion to its contents; and for user convenience, if either option is checked, then (secure) deletion of the Recycle bin is done first, after which everything else that needs deleting would now go into the freshly emptied recycle bin. Regards Alan

Hi I suggest being less ambitious !!! With a restored system that connects to the internet :- Run CCleaner with all 9 off Advanced settings unchecked, test Internet to make sure it is not broken by anything else; Mark one of the 9 check boxes in advanced settings, run CCleaner, test Internet etc. etc. Mark another check box in advanced settings, run CC and test internet etc. etc. and so on and so on. Finally, Internet will be broken and you now know what box killed it, and you can refrain from doing that one again, or you can come back for more specific advice - or just possibly the system might have mended itself !!! nb Once you identify which box killed it, restore the system and resume testing the subsequent boxes - perhaps there might be more than one killer box. The only boxes I have checked under Advanced are "Old Prefetch Data" and "Custom Files and Folders". Regards Alan

TEMP and TMP are environment variable defined as C:\%USERPROFILE%\Local ... etc. They are controlled via :- My Computer -> Properties -> Advanced -> Environment Variables -> User variables If you delete these two variables for each child's account, they should default to C:\Windows\TEMP which is controlled via :- My Computer -> Properties -> Advanced -> Environment Variables -> System variables There-after whenever they create temporary junk it should, with luck, no longer go in their private TEMP folders, but in the communal TEMP which is immediately available to you for cleaning. Alan

I suggest extreme caution before removing a *.CAT file. I need to remove .NET Framework, and I cannot, because Windows XP cannot find a *.CAT file in order to determine the sequence in which to remove various items. If you are satisfied with a Hotfix and remove the capability to undo it, the corresponding *.CAT file is not needed any more for that purpose - but it may still be essential when you need to remove the whole "whatever" that was hotfixed. Alan

I believe CCleaner already does this twice over. i.e. there are two methods you can use :- 1. Absolutely standard, "straight out of the box", settings saved in User profile registry - not Cleaner.ini When the computer starts up, I log in as me. Only when I want does CCleaner run upon my command and analyze everything, including Windows itself, (apart from my daughter's documents which Windows XP excludes from access), and then with 30 years computer experience I scrutinise and decide to purge or not. When my daughter logs in as her, CCleaner immediately starts, BUT it only analyses her stuff which Windows blocks from me, so she cannot kill Windows, and she will easily recognise if CCleaner wants to purge photos of her pets 2. Use a different folder for each user profile, each folder having a customised CCleaner.ini file with settings for that user - it will also need its own copy of CCleaner.exe Alan