Robbie

The one thing you should do is when you run it, is to restart your computer. It makes the program run properly.

I updated AVG using the instructions as above with no problems. The program looks a lot cleaner and more modern.

while it's good to see the proper release version on its way, what is it with updates to FF in the past few months? there seems to have been one every month or so. And Thunderbird too. I've used FF for about 3 years now and can't recall a period like this for constant updates.

I rarely use IE, much preferring FireFox. On the rare ocassions I use IE7 (Beta) I have found it takes longer to load. My default home page is blank, with IE6 it loaded withing a second. With IE7 it seems to take a few seconds and is locked until the "blank page" has loaded, which is annoying.

Window Size and Location cache, I think. I have this option unchecked and my folder settings never revert back to the deafult.

I leave the tools section alone. My way of thinking is that they are there for a reason and I'd rather have them there and not know what they do than delete them and find out!

to a certain extent running CCleaner will remove items that could show up in ad-aware, cookies being the main one.

I'm from the UK and I actually bought this issue specifically because it has a full working version of True Image 7.0 on disk. Included on the same disk are McAfee Personal Firewall plus 2005 and Panda Antivirus 2007 (the latter with 3 months worth of free updates). There's also an additional disk with other free programs which I haven't ran yet. Good value, I was looking for a replacement to Zone Alarm which has been nothing but trouble for a few months, so I got True Image AND a firewall for free...

my guess is that CCleaner finds less index.dat files because it's looking in less locations than IdS. IdS searches the whole drive, unless you choose to narrow the search. Ccleaner probably just looks in certain locations. Additionally, CCleaner can only search the current user profile and not the profile of any other user on the computer. Additionally, from what I can see of those screenshots for CCleaner and IdS, IdS displays the index.dat files for the profile user "spy1" twice. Once under documents and settings\spy1 (3 times, one each for cookies, history and IE5) and once under documents and settings\LOCALS~1 (again, 3 times). I'd say the 2 directories are the same, one is an actual physical directory (spy1) and one is a Windows-type command that points the computer towards the local directory (which is obviously spy1!). Additionally, CCleaner appears not to look in the PCHealth folder in Windows, hence it doesn't find the index.dat file residing there.

I use secure, 7 pass, but then i'm just security conscious! whether you use ordinary delete or secure delete the deleted files still occupy the same space on the hard drive, the difference being that the one deleted with no secure wipe may still be recoverable. This is simply because the file is marked as deleted by Windows but resides on the hard drive until it is overwritten. Effectively, Windows just sees it as part of free space. With secure deletion the file is overwritten 3 or 7 times, meaning that the file is a jumble of characters. The file itself is still there, but is garbage and unlikely to be recoverable.

if you find the paths where the program stores data then you can add it manually. If you don't know where this is, use the Search facility in Windows to find files that have been amended or created today, the path to the folders you need should be there.

I've found that by checking both User Assist History and Menu Order Cache the programs listed on the Start Menu Recent list are immediately cleared. The list does not, however, begin to repopulate until after a reboot. I have another program that wipes most recently used lists (MRU Blaster) and that too will wipe the Recent list on the Start Menu, and again the list only repopulates after a reboot. Presumably Windows XPs own feature that wipes the most recently used list must also immediately recreate whatever registry entry is deleted. I don't know why User Assist History and Menu Order Cache have to both to be run to immediately clear the list. Apart from doing the above, I'm not really sure what the Menu Order Cache is (the prompt says it will reset the Start Menu, which is what I thought the User Assist History does).

can you clarify what you mean by: the Index.dat files are indeed marked to be deleted by CCleaner - but their content will still remain after Reboot, as far as I can see that from here... as far as I am aware, the index.dat files are wiped at computer restart and a replacement index.dat file is then created by Windows. I don't quite undertand what you mean by "their content will still remain after reboot". Are you saying cclaener does NOT clean out the index.dat files? In other words the index.dat files will continue to store old data? As far as I can see, the index.dat file IS wiped and recreated at startup. I think it may only be deleted though, and not securely wiped by ccleaner as other files can be. I'm not sure about that bit.

I get those too, I was wondering why they kept reappearing! I've just done a quick google and found this which explains more: "What is ARPCache? ARPCache is a secret, undocumented section of the registry used to store information for Add/Remove Program items in the latest versions of Windows. If you open Add/Remove Programs in the newer versions of Windows, you will notice that certain information has been added, such as, size, frequency of use, and last used on. This data is kept in binary files in the ARPCache of the registry. ARPCache stands for Add Remove Programs Cache" http://www.softforall.com/Utilities/System...wer09140489.htm

edit - ignore! Posted reply in wrong thread!

I think the computer needs a restart for this option to work - I'm sure my list only clears after a restart.

Glad to see you got the problem fixed. I'm puzzled how I overlooked your post above mine, it sayds you fixed the problem yet I seem to have completely overlooked it!

Have you tried another pair of speakers? It IS possible that your current pair have been blown...

hmmm... all I can suggest now is the troubleshooting option on that Hardware tab page. Sorry I can't help any further - hope you get it fixed.

sorry, I was hoping you were gonna come back and say you had the same audio drivers as me (Realtek AC97) as I could have directed you to some diagnostic tests but I don't know Soundmax. All I can suggest is going back to the Sounds and Audio Devices option in Control Panel, then try the following: on the top tabs, choose Audio - what is the Default Device for Sound Playback? Is one listed? If so: next go to the hardware tab, find that device in the list, click on it. is it showing as working properly? Report back asap, and I might be able to guide you to a next stage... (it's 8.30pm here in the UK and I'll be logging off in about half an hour, I have to catch up on some TV!)

to display the contents of Internet Explorer temporary files, there is an option in the Advanced part of the main CCleaner interface. I'm not sure if it displays websites urls. rather it displays all the component parts of webpages viewed eg jpgs, gifs etc etc etc, plus cookies. XP seems to hide the index.dat file as well as as the content.ie5 folder in which it is stored. CCleaner does delete this file on startup though. You can check the file has been deleted and recreated by running CCleaner, delete the index.dat and view your Temporary Internet folder from another user account (when the content.ie5 folders and index.dat file are visible). If you don't have another account set up on your computer, view this from the Administartor account in Safe Mode. When recreated it is 32kb in size.

not everyone has the sounds control / volume control icon in their taskbar. Go to Control Panel and click on Sounds and Audio Devices - there is an option to place an icon in the task bar (or conversely, to remove it). Check that "mute" isn't checked. Click on Advanced on Device Volume (where those check options are) - is the volume turned up? What audio device does your computer use? The name should be displayed when you first click on Sounds and Audio Devices (at the top of the box that apears, it's usually next to a picture of a loudspeaker). Check those and get back to us...

For Firefox cookies, I wouldn't worry that when just running the analyze feature that it shows the cookies as removed. As you are aware, they aren't actually removed. The reason why FF cookies don't show the path and size, unlike Internet Explorer cookies is to do with how the cookies are stored by each program. Firefox stores all its cookies in one text file, therefore it is impossible to say how much each cookie adds to the size of that text file (the amount would be so miniscule). With IE cookies, each cookie is displayed seperately in the Cookies folder with its size in kb, as well as forming part of the index.dat file. I dare say the programmers could tweak CC to allow it to show the total size of the cookies text file in FF.

Windows XP allows you to set a maximum amount of space that Restore Points can occupy - reducing the allocated space reduces the amount of RPs. The maximum % of disk space that my computer will allow System restore to use is 12% - this can be reduced if necessary. I'm wary of including options like this - the user can easily tweak this type of thing through the computer, and to people who aren't clued up, wiping Restore Points can do more harm than good.

I thought it was the "User Assist History" option (in Advanced settings) that controlled whether this list (I'm assuming it's the list you see when you click on the Start button) was cleared or left untouched? Checking that option gives this warning: WARNING about "User Assist History" This will clear the most used programs list on the XP start menu Is the OP referring to the most used programs when using the term "Recent Programs list" since it isn't actually a recent programs list that you see when you click on the start button (but rather the most used programs).