Willy2
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Posts posted by Willy2
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Did the folks at Piriform program the registry cleaner all by themselves ? Why do the Piriform folks want to invent the wheel again, in this regard ? Why not ""join forces"" with someone else ? There're a number of free registry cleaner out on the internet and they seem to perform a much more thorough job than the registry cleaner of CC.
A very good registry cleaner is - IMO - e.g. Eusing free registry cleaner.
So, let the folks from Eusing do the job of programming of the Registry cleaner and integrate that registry cleaner in CC and let the folks from Piriform take care of the rest of the Piriform progams.
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Augeas,
I have read your thoughts but I am simply not convinced. Even if Piriform won't include the suggestion made in post #1 then I think the options in the Include & Exclude menus should/could be rearranged.
The menu item B should - IMO - be placed above the menu items A, C, D and F. So that menu items that belong together are grouped together.
See the picture in the attachment. I updated/modified the picture from post #1 in this thread.
As I have said before: A discussion always stimulates the braincells. We'll have to wait and see whether the CC folks are willing to include my suggestions.
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Zorry,
Do you know in what files and/or folder(s) the history and those temporary files of ICQ are stored ? Then you could try to use the ""Include"" feature in CC. (""Options"", ""Include""). A good place to start looking for these files is the folder called ""C:\Program Files"" or ""C:\Documents and Settings"" (Windows XP).
Perhaps using Piriform's Defraggler could reveal in which folders that information is stored, as well. By using that program I learned a number of useful things about the Windows filing system.
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JDPower,
A lot of folks are simply too lazy to read the online manual. The manual of CC v2.29 offered (past tense !!!) an explaination of what ""recurse"" meant.
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I think I'll get a lot of criticism from Augeas and/or JDPower by posting my thoughts but that won't stop me. A discussion always stimulates the braincells. The letters (A, B, C, .... ) refer to the picture in the attachment. See below.
I think Piriform can improve the ""Include"" and ""Exclude"" menus in CC v2.30.
1. In v2.30 the user has to choose between ""Drive or Folder"" (A) and ""File"" (B ). This is - IMO - ridiculous. I think, the user MUST be forced to select a drive and/or a folder FIRST anyway, independent of which files are to be deleted. I think, the user even shouldn't be permitted to have access to all the other options in the menu when no drive and/or folder (A) is selected. Because CC at least must know which folders to include and exclude. So, selecting a drive/folder first must be mandatory.
2. I think the options (B ), (C ) and (D) should be grouped together, placed in the same rectangle, with an appropriate title e.g. ""File selection options"". The user should select one of these three rounded boxes.
Suggestions 1 & 2 combined would eliminate a lot of confusion and would improve the logic of the menus.
Of course, then the online manual has to be rewritten as well.
3. Perhaps options C and D can be combined into one option ???
4. When an user has selected a drive and/or folder (A) and an user wants to select a file (B ) then CC can use the information provided in (A) and automatically direct the user to/open that particular folder when an user clicks on ""Browse"" (E).
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Yes, indeed. But I after unticking that box I inmediately ticked that box again. Much too dangerous to untick that box.
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I am aware of that problem. A number of programs update software by placing (and installing) the new software in a separate new folder and don't remove the old software. (e.g. Java, Adobe Reader, Apple Quicktime). Even some of the update software is placed in a folder and never removed.
Does GOOGLE place that (update-)software always in a particular folder and aren't you able to add those\that folder(s) to the list of folders CC wipes ?? Click ""Options"", ""Include"".
If CC really skips these files then they probably are marked ""hidden"" and/or ""system"". I certainly would like CC to be able to erase these files as well. But as long CC doesn't include that option I use another program to the job.
I looked at the picture and I have a question: How are you able to list hidden files like "Pagefile.sys" ?
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""Recurse subfolders"" means ""Include subfolders"". So, subfolders will be searched as well for that particualr file. i.e. the file called ""thumbs.db"".
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The GUI of v1.36 behaves eratic. When I click on the scroll bar on the right hand side (marked by the blue cross) in order to move the screen either up or down, the gridlines and the information on the screen get all mixed up.
But when I scroll through the column (marked by the red cross) with the cursorkeys (either up or down) or use the mouse in order to move the the scrollbar (marked by the green cross) up or down then the gridlines and the information on the screen all properly align again.
The picture in the attachment gives an impression of the problem.
It looks like Recuva uses two separate software routines in order to move the information on the screen.
Perhaps Piriform needs to remove the gridlines ? Perhaps Recuva should give the user the opportunity whether he/she wants to see the gridlines or not in the main screen ?
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Alan,
I think I need to elaborate a little bit. One can not, as Augeas has pointed out, directly access a MFT entry and wipe that entry (although I am still not convinced it's impossible). One has to create a (zero length) file and then delete it. In that way one can guarantee that information in a MFT entry is rendered worthless. And then the problem you're refering to doesn't occur. So, ""wipe a MFT entry"" actually consists of two separate actions and doesn't constitute ""wiping"" in the literal sense of the word.
There's - IMO (!!!)- a smart way of knowing how many MFT entries are to be ""wiped"" (notice the quotation marks !!!). Every valid entry (including those marked ""deleted"") in a directory file, contains a pointer, pointing to an entry in the MFT. Reading, sorting and processing these pointers could provide the number of MFT entries that are used and/or empty. Then this information could be used to perform an intelligent ""MFT wipe"" process by limiting the number of ""wipe MFT entry"" operations. This, most definitely, would speed up the ""wiping"" process. And this could be the basis for a ""Quick and dirty"" ""wiping"" of the MFT. Although I recognize that every once in a while one should ""wipe"" the entire MFT as well.
These pointers also could provide the basis for a program (like CC or Defraggler ???) to compact the MFT. i.e. move all the used MFT entries closer to the beginning of the MFT. And that would speed up a every future ""cleaning"" of the MFT as well.
But this depends on how much information of the NTFS Windows is willing and able to provide to a program (like e.g. CC). Perhaps Piriform already employs that information for CC and Defraggler ?
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Alan,
I agree, that's certainly something I didn't take into account.
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Perhaps it's possible to introduce a ""Wipe Pagefile.sys"" option in CC ?? I mean that it shouldn't kill this file but merely clean its contents.
Sources on the internet suggest that this requires a (small) change in the Windows registry because it only can be done right before one shuts down one's computer ??? And I certainly DO NOT want to mess with the Windows registry.
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Interesting story, but I am still not convinced for the full 100% that a direct access to or extracting information from the MFT is impossible. But I don't want to continue that discussion.
I have read the information from the website of Microsoft on the topic MFT. (GOOGLE the words ""support, Microsoft, NTFS, MFT""). Very interesting, but it doesn't give a clear answer to the question whether accessing the MFT directly is possible or impossible. I also believe Microsoft is deliberately hiding (parts of) the real truth. e.g. Microsoft states that the MFT can not shrink and will grow only in order to accommodate a growing number of files on a disk. But my experience (thanks to Piriform's Defraggler !!!) says that this is rubbish. The MFT can - IMO - both shrink and grow and that interferes with one or two features in Piriform's Defraggler.
I DO think the MFT can be wiped independently of the ""Wipe Free Space"" (WFS) feature.
Everytime CC scans a drive/drives for files to be wiped it reads a lot of and perhaps all directory files on one or more drives. And then, without a shadow of doubt, it comes across (a lot of) files that are simply marked ""deleted"" but have not been ""wiped"". When a user has enabled the ""Secure file deletion (slower)"" option or the WFS option then an additional option could order CC to ""wipe"" all these files, who were marked as ""deleted"", as well, on every drive CC has scanned. The advantage of this is that this thorough cleaning prevents the MFT from growing too much and occupying a lot of/too much diskspace.
In order to accomplish this particular task in both and/or either in the ""Secure Deletion"" and/or in the ""Wipe Free Space"" an additional option (called e.g. ""Wipe MFT"") could be introduced.
In the WFS entry, I think CC should give the user the opportunity to choose between a thorough cleaning of the MFT (like it has been programmed in v2.29) or a ""Quick and dirty"" option (as described above). By ""Quick and dirty"" I mean that only MFT entries of files that have been deleted with a ""normal deletion"" are ""wiped"".
I hope it's clear what I mean.
As mentioned before , I hope the folks at Piriform - at least - will look into this matter and make a decision whether to incorporate or not any suggestions made in this thread.
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Augeas, prepare yourself for more steam coming out of your ears.
I don't advocate circumventing the NTFS and poking directly in the MFT or onto one's harddisk. It's simply too risky. The entire NTFS could break down and take down Windows with it.
Did you run the Wipe MFT Free Space (WMFS) option yourself ? Because the behaviour of this option contradicts your opinion. CC knows how much entries the MFT contains. It looks like it wipes all MFT free entries including the related pointers in the MFT.
Selective overwriting of the MFT impossible ? I am not so sure.
1. There's a counter on the screen (in %) that clearly indicates that CC knows which entries of the MFT are to be skipped. It indicates that on a computerdisk of mine the first approx. 27% and the last approx. 30% of the MFT entries are occupied. (How odd !!).
2. Aren't there in Windows (a lot of) carefully predefined entry points that allow programmers to use a lot of the features of the Windows NTFS system. (like writing/reading/deleting files/directories/MFTs, extracting information). If so, then perhaps one is also able to access and extract (more) information concerning the MFT entries (occupied/wiped/free). The behaviour of CC - at least - seems to indicate just that.
There's a program called Clean Disk Security that also wipes free disk space and MFTs. This program does a similar job like CC. Although perhaps it does its job less thorough I prefer that program over CC's ""Wipe (MFT) free space"" options because it's significantly faster.
http://www.theabsolute.net/sware/clndisk.html
I hope, the folks from Piriform - at least - are willing to look into to suggestions made in this thread and incorporate any of the suggestions in a future version of CC (v2.30 ???).
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@Gronxx
The GUI of Wipe Free Space (WFS) and Wipe MFT free space (WMFS) certainly can be improved.
1. When using these option, I think, e.g. the screen shouldn't be cleaned when CC moves on the next operation (e.g WMFS of drive D: to WMFS of drive E: and/or e.g WFS of drive C: to WFS of drive D:). I think all the information should be remain on the screen as long as possible.
2. A progress bar also would be welcomed.
In another thread I made some recommendations to improve both WMFS and WFS.
PS.: Are Gronxx and Groonx two usernames of one person ?
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When Augeas, JDPower and/or the Piriform folks read this post, then I think steam will come out of their ears ;-) but I'll post these thoughts anyway. After all, a discussion always stimulates the braincells. We'll see whether the proposed changes will be implemented or not in a next version of CC (v2.30 ???). The suggestoins below are MFT related.
1. Change the behaviour of the ""Cancel"" button during the Wipe Free Space (WFS) operation (Settings screen).
When one has selected ""Wipe MFT Free Space"" (WMFS) and two drives (e.g. C:, D:) then 4 separate operations will occur:
1. WMFS of drive C:
2. WMFS of drive D:
3. WFS of drive C:
4. WFS of drive D:
I think that clicking on the ""Cancel"" button should force CC to cancel the current operation and move on to the next operation (e.g from #2 to #3), provided there's a next one in a/this sequence. Currently CC v2.29 aborts the entire operation when the user clicks on ""Cancel"".
2. Isn't there a way of establishing whether an entry in the MFT has been wiped/cleaned (entirely) before ? Perhaps this could be determined by looking at the filename in that particular MFT entry (deleted/overwritten/zero bytes) ? If CC was able to establish this then CC could skip all previously wiped MFT entries and this would speed up the cleaning of the MFT significantly.
But then CC must also wipe/overwrite/clean the entire entry in the MFT as well when a ""secure deletion"" option has been selected.
3. Another way to speed up the cleaning of the MFT is cleaning of the filenames in every MFT entry only and not wipe an entire MFT entry.
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Thanks for the replies and the suggestions.
I did what JDPower did and Augeas had suggested. In order to enable WMFS one certainly needs to select:
1. the WFS option in the main screen.
2. at least one drive from the WFS menu.
But then I think the folks from Piriform should modify or add one or more things to eliminate any remaining confusion concerning this topic. e.g.
1. add the text ""(this option is ignored when no drive is selected)"" to the WMFS option in the ""Settings"" screen, and/or
2. add the text (see above) to the webpage
http://docs.piriform.com/ccleaner/ccleaner...leaner-settings
3a. or make it impossible for the user to enable the WMFS option when no drive has been selected in the WFS menu and
3b. automatically disable the WMFS option when one deselects the last remaining selected drive in the WFS menu.
The issue with the zero length files is that:
1. a lot of these files hide in folders with attributes ""hidden"" and/or ""system"" set and CC ignores these folders/directories.
2. a lot of these files have (extremely) randomly generated filenames.
That's why it's (nearly) impossible to specify names and wild cards in the ""Include"" section.
I certainly hope the folks from Piriform read this discussion and will - at least - look into this matter in order to see if perhaps some changes/modifications in the program are necessary.
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I noticed the online CC manual has been rewritten. A new version appeared on sunday march 14, 2010. The new manual clearly suggests that cleaning the MFT is independent of the ""Wipe free space"" (WFS) option.
http://docs.piriform.com/ccleaner/ccleaner...leaner-settings
But then I think that the ""Wipe MFT free space"" (WMFS) option should be removed from the WFS entry and should become a separate entry in the ""Settings"" menu. This new entry should be placed above the WFS entry.
There's another thing that - IMO - should be adressed and is related to the things mentioned above. The user can select in the main screen an option called ""Wipe free space"". I think that if one hasn't selected this option then one simply shouldn't be allowed to access the options in the WFS entry in the ""Settings"" menu. This also would eliminate any remaining confusion concerning the WMFS option/entry.
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Augeas,
Are you familiar with the technical details of the NTFS ?
If both the directory file and the MFT contain a copy of the name of a particular file then CC certainly is forced to wipe/overwrite in both the file directory and the MFT the name of that particular file when a secure deletion option is enabled. Are you sure CC does precisely that ? And this is not limited to zero length files (as you suggest in your previous post) but it applies to every file ?
CC v2.29 creates an interesting situation. Because it looks like one can wipe the free/obsolete MFT entries only without wiping the free space on drives. It's less thorough but it would speed up the cleaning process significantly. Has this been done intentionally ?
When this is the case then it would be - IMO - comparatively easy to apply this option (""Wipe MFT Free Space"") for every file that's deleted with secure deletion enabled as well.
But this also creates an additional problem. One e.g. could choose both ""Normal Deletion"" and ""Wipe MFT Free Space"" and then this perhaps could lead to a breakdown of the file system.
I still would like to see a separate option to be able to search for and delete zero length files, with or without a secured deletion option enabled.
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Augeas,
Yes, your answer makes sense.
A directory file contains filenames (e.g. a file called "Hello"") and a pointer to the first entry in the MFT related to this file called "Hello"".
The entries in the MFT tell Windows where to find the all fragments of a file on a drive, where all the fragments are located.
I would like to see that zero length files entries can be deleted from the directory file and overwritten (provided one selects a ""Secure deletion"" option). Of course, when a file has a length of zero bytes then I would think there's no or only one entry in the MFT and then it certainly occupies no disk space.
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Update: Deleting $hf-mig$ WILL mess up the Microsoft's automatic update service. So, DO NOT DELETE that folder.
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Ruediger a.k.a. Jungner,
DO NOT DELETE "C:\Windows\$hf-mig$ !!!!!
According to my information: If you do delete that folder then your computer WILL breakdown !!!! Then you have to re-install the entire Windows system software again and all your data stored on your computer disk is lost !!!
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I have two suggestions to improve CCleaner v2.29.
1. Add an option to search and wipe zero length files (when not locked by a program). Especially in the ""Temporary internet"" directories I always find a lot of zero length files.
2. After having read
http://docs.piriform.com/ccleaner/ccleaner...leaner-settings
it's still not quite clear how the option ""Wipe MFT Free Space"" in the Settings-menu really works. When this option is selected, does CCleaner always wipe the MFT entry of a wiped file independent of the option ""Wipe free space drives" ?
If so, then I think the text of this option and the (check-)box should be moved to the left and placed above the "Wipe free space drives"" option, in order to make it clear that this is a separate option which works independent of the ""Wipe free space drives"" option. This would eliminate any confusion. In the current situation it suggests it's subordinate to/it's a part of ""Wipe free space drives"".
Is there anyone out there with an answer ?
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CCleaner has an option to specify which files or folders/directories are to be cleaned as well. One can program which files or folders are to be cleaned. It's already in the program (v2.29) !!!! Search and you'll find the options.
Registry Cleaner
in CCleaner Suggestions
Posted · Edited by Willy2
Eusing's registry cleaner is harmless in comparison with - at least - two other programs I tried to clean the registry thoroughly. One of these programs even crashed Windows XP because it wiped too many registry entries.
I haven't got a clue which registry entries are to be cleaned or not and why but I never ever experienced any negative impact using Eusing's cleaner. And precisely because I don't have a clue which entries are safe to be wiped or not calls for a registry cleaner like e.g. Eusing's.