'profitpages' asked on'May 24 2008, 08:49 AM' post='104173']
That CCleaner get a registry defragmenter.
This would be a Great Idea if Mark Russinovich had not written a GREAT one as part of the only Microsoft "product" I can always recommend wholheartedly - a FREE product at that, and that's the Sysinternals/Winternals package available FREE
I think it's Pagedefrag, but MS has done another series of 'improvements' to its website, and I was unable to tell. Once installed, it defrags the registry every time you restart or log in. It is beautiful, tight, bomb-proof and complete (now if they'll let Mark write the Next Windows ,,,)
Meanwhile, today I discovered a much more serious problem with CrapCleaner, and I hope this letter has gotten through in 3-4 parts to the Corporate site. Unfortunately, due to insane spam and I suspect the random DoS attack, we no longer get real e-mail addresses from companies, but a window where we can put an (in this case, undisclosed) number of characters. Here it is in its entirety and glory:
To the folks who have brought us CrapCleaner and other fine shareware:
I feel almost like I'm insulting you to report what I regard as a 'serious' flaw in the current build, one probably dating back some years.
I also feel that I have to, so you get the feedback necessary to make a great product better.
Specific case: Was using v.2.07.575 Registry Integrity to clean Mom's Machine - ran across programs that could not be found, most due to incomplete removal
under XP-pro
Under 'Applications' The program declared moviemk.exe, the MS video editor absent, an Open with Application Issue, or simply not reachable as listed in HKCR\Applications\moviemk.exe
A quick file search and edit found the file was *not* located as specified in the Registry and I quickly updated the Registry location. (I've been doing this a while, the first computer I *owned* was a '65 Straight-8. With 2 32KWord hard drives, 14" across)
Situation fixed, I called for another exam of Applications and found it reporting the SAME problem. A logout, which *should* kill any CCleaner logs, etc. Logged in again (mom and dad wanted their computer back, so I did not have time to try a full shutdown and cold reboot) and it was still there as before, though a search of the registry location listed showed the change had taken.
Part of this is INDEED a Microsoft problem. I just opened the same program on *my* machine to find that the location given in HKCR\Applications\moviemk *also* do not match the correct installed point of %system%:\Program Files\Movie Maker\moviemk.exe !
An MS install error is a common-enough occurrence that I've come to expect them, and just clean-as-they-show-up. But I was surprised that CCleaner does NOT dump old files, I guess in the name of efficiency, at logout.
Please! go over the "dump old logs" section of the best free log cleaner available, and make it indeed dump all logs at least after a session ends, whether the correction is made through CCleaner or Regedit (a possibility - using another tool may cause CCleaner to keep the "error" on its active list, though its answer, deleting the entire entry, is *not* something I wish to do. (side note: On parent's machine, I had initially BACKED UP the error I believed an accurate report, deleted it, then, when I found the moviemaker
backup file, reinstalled and edited it - so CCleaner doesn't really even have that excuse.
<btw> If I could program, I'd volunteer to try to write 'smarter' sections for the Tools set so it could offer something better than "delete the Registry Entry as a solution to a problem. No skill there, though.
In general, we need some way to apply pressure (and how do you apply pressure to someone programming out of a labor of love? to produce anti-malware and anti-Windows inherent errors caused by hiring 100 programmers to do a job that should be done by no more than 5 top-level guys/gals, supervised by someone who is going to make sure Module A has all the tabs and slots in the right place for Module B.
In the Malware field, Symantec, doesn't work or play work with Avast!, which hates Webroot, while Ad Aware and Spybot S&D seem to fight it out for the glory of declaring who caught what, etc. etc. etc. If I want to devote the time to sending things through a hardware firewall, soft firewall, and five different scanners, that should be my paranoid's option (a bomb went off on a family machine May 4, and thanks to Spybot failed to change the registry to shut down all anti-spyware - whether it was done for Cinco de Mayo,the 40 the anniversary of the Paris Student Uprisings, the 38th anniversary of the Kent State murders, who knows?
Spybot caught and blocked a screenful of attempted registry pages and the thing blew itself to Write-Only Memory, At least that guard was playing well with Zone Alarm and Symentec that day.
Aleksandr
