[Mystery Download - Registry Mechanic Not New Version]

Hazelnut,

 

I should have been more explicit.

 

I went to my desktop. I clicked on the icon marked CCleaner. It opens "C:\Program Files\CCleaner\CCleaner.exe"

 

The program opened and a pop-up announced a new version. I reluctantly clicked on the link in the pop-up (I really wanted to go to bed.) The next thing I knew I was downloading Registry Mechanic.

 

I only wanted to alert others that someone may have found a way to subvert a proper upgrade process.

 

I made the point that I was tired. Sometimes I do screen dumps to Word of all the screens that occur in such a process. I did a few, but after the fact.

 

Perhaps the problem was with what I encountered at filehippo.com?

 

This is a sketchy record of the process. I went back into my Mozilla SeaMonkey browser history and copied the entries for the time period in question. Here they are:

 

http://www.ccleaner.com/update/?v=2.06.567&l=1033 10:26:51 PM

http://www.ccleaner.com/download 10:26:59 PM

http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/ 10:2:20 PM

http://www.pctools.com/registry-mechanic/download/ 10:2:48 PM

http://www.trap17.com/forums/Ccleaner-Regi...nic-t25976.html 10:34:43PM

http://www.trap17.com/forums/Hate-Registry...nic-t32966.html 10:35:26

 

I've not gone back to check this out. I do not have time now. Is it possible that filehippo has an ad for pctools that I hit by mistake? The above record shows a pretty clear path from ccleaner.com to filehippo.com to pctools.com and then to some forums to try to understand what had happened.

 

I hope this adds grist to the mill.

 

baumgrenze

 

I had a similar experience when I went to download CCleaner. It appears that there is some sneaky stuff on the page and you end up on a page that speaks to an entirely different product ("RegCure") and vendor (PC-Tools):

http://pccleaner-download.com/?gclid=CNbqz...CFQZfswodv178qg

 

This happened in Firefox and I believe it was because I missed Firefoxe's "Allow this redirect" prompt and, instead, clicked on a great big, prominent "Download Now" button that took me to the competing product. Pretty sleazy piece of work, that.

[How Interpret Registry Issues/Prioritize Fixes]

Lately, my PC has been taking longer and longer to boot/startup. Plus, I occasionally run into long pauses in the middle of operations. CCleaner was recommended as part of a solution to these problems. I have already gotten a clean bill of health from Mbam, Spybot Search and Destroy, Windows Malicious software removal utility, and my Trend Micro products.

 

Yesterday (14 Mar 09) I downloaded, updated, and ran CCleaner. After cleaning up the temp files, I ran the Registry tool. It identified 1,988 registry issues over a number of categories. I selected to fix all issues (making sure to run the backup).

 

I rebooted only to discover that Win XP SP3 would no longer boot. However, I was able to go into the Safe Mode and merge the backed up issues back into the registry. All seems OK now, except that I still have 1,988 registry issues! The issues are distributed over the issue categories, as follows:

Issue.......................Hits

Unused File Extension 497

Missing Shared DLL 482

Uninstaller Reference Issue 382

ActiveX/COM Issue 270

Installer Reference Issue 139

Old Start Menu key 85

Invalid Default Icon 35

Missing TypeLib Reference 34

Open with Application Issue 28

Application Paths Issue 10

Missing MUI Reference 8

Obsolete software key 8

Help File Issue 6

Invalid or empty file class 3

Missing Startup Software 1

 

My problem is I have no earthly idea of what each of these means and, more to the poijnt, what are the potential side effects in each of these issues. I am no guru. Can someone explain for each of these categories:

1. What is this issue really telling me (please do NOT say. e.g., "Help File Issue is an issue with help files"!)?

2. What facts should I be looking at when making a decision whether or not to "fix" the issue?

3. Are there some categories of issues where you can ALWAYS and WITH total certainty fix the whole lot, with no side effects?

4. Which categories, if any, have a significant effect on boot/startup time (which is the major problem I am having with my PC - often takes it up to 10 minutes to settle down, after which it is quite responsive and peppy).

 

Having been bit once on CCleaner, I am more hesitant to move ahead with this registry business. I do not think I have enough years of life remaining to fix 1,988 issues, one at a time, and reboot after each fix. I'd sooner put up with the slow boot/restart.

 

Thanks in advance