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ArchAngle

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Everything posted by ArchAngle

  1. Thanks I'll look into this some more. I've download the CCleaner version mentioned above - in fact the version number quoted there is wrong it should be:- v5.39.6399 (16 Jan 2018) This is straight from Piriform's CCleaner Changelog so it must be correct. I'll try using that and see whether that makes a difference to the FF Clear History operation and then try to work out, if possible, what was changed. Oh......I just noticed this in the Changelog whilst I was there:- v5.36.6278 (24 Oct 2017) Browser Cleaning - Firefox: updated Session cleaning rule to support changes in Firefox 56.0* - Chrome (& Chromium): updated Internet History cleaning rule to clean user activity data - Opera: updated Internet History cleaning rule to clean user activity data Default Cleaning Rules - Windows Explorer: Most Recently Used documents and other MRU files no longer cleaned by default - Windows Defender: Scan history no longer cleaned by default - Microsoft Office: MRUs no longer cleaned by default - Edge, Chrome/Chromium, Firefox, Opera, Safari, Thunderbird: Current session data no longer cleaned by default * So there was a change in Firefox when Quantum was introduced which meant existing CCleaner versions would not work as well or in the same ways as they had with older FF. Interesting. If anyone knows what those changes to the session cleaning rule were it would be a great help.
  2. I think I'm having this problem too. I bit the bullet on the new PC I built and started using last year. I decided to use new Firefox and keep it up to date and dear god has it been a pain. But what I did not realise until recently was that I can't get it to do what was simple with pre-Quantum Firefox and that is to delete all FF history without deleting existing active login cookies too. What I've found is that whichever Clear History option I use either everything gets deleted forcing me to re-login on every forum and web site whether I've ticked Remember Me or not. But if I exclude Active Logins it also seems to keep tabs and session information for any of those Active Logins too. So when I restart FF the history shows those from the last session. It is damned stupid. This is where CCleaner comes in. In older versions of FF even if all its own Delete History Options are ticked and used when CCleaner has stored the Active Login ones they're, presumably, replaced during the cleaning process. However it works what this means is that FF is properly cleaned of all session history but the Active Login cookies you want to keep are still there each time FF restarts until they expire. It seems like new FF is now ignoring CCleaner's saved FF cookies. Is this the "bug" that was fixed or was it actually just a change in the way or location new FF stores that cookie information? I ask because I use a CCleaner configuration .ini to include Waterfox (Classic) , which incidentally is up to date and still works like old FF in regard to this matter. Was the 'fix' for this FF problem just an additional location which could be added to any CCleaner version? If so, what?
  3. Some information has not been added here which should have been, particularly since the links to the portable versions have mysteriously disappeared over the last few years. The fact it is you can create a portable version of, AFAIK, any of these Piriform programs: Defraggler, Speccy, CCleaner, Recuva simply by adding a .dat text file to the program's EXE. METHOD Download the installer and extract .exe or 64.exe (for 64-bit OS), and optionally Lang directory to a new folder, name of your choice. Create a blank text file using Notepad in the same folder and paste the following:- #PORTABLE# and save* it as portable.dat and just put that in the same folder Launch the .exe or 64.exe directly or create desktop shortcuts. *If you do not know how to do that:- Simply use the normal "Save" option but change the Save Type to "All Files". Then simply type in portable.dat as the name of the file and save. The only downside to this is method is that you have extract the program's EXE. That means installing it in the normal way first. But since most here will likely already have done that getting hold of the .exe and/or 64.exe is not a problem. However a simple alternative if you do not want the hassle of installing/uninstalling it is actually use 7Zip or other compression archive tool like WinRAR or PeaZip. Just use 7Zip's right mouse context menu option: "Open Archive" and it will display the installer's contents including the two EXE file. Highlight one or both and use the Copy To option and they'll extract and copy to wherever you want.
  4. Apologies for resurrecting this thread but there is clearly something more than just the CCleaner version involved here. I mentioned it in another thread about Speccy and I've just discovered the same thing occurs with CCleaner too. The primary PC I have running Win7 64bit displays and identifies the SSD and two HDDs it has correctly using v5.35.6201. However I have a second Win7 64bit PC using matching SSD and HDDs and the same CCleaner version and there the two HDDs are misidentified as SSDs. Same thing occurs with Speccy and Defraggler. I had a theory that the different might be caused by having progressively updated CCleaner to v5.35.0.6201 on the first machine over the last 4 years. The other machine, with a newly install OS, had that same version virgin installed back in October. I did not notice it had the problem until much later. I've just been playing around with that theory using portable versions on the second PC and discovered the misidentifying problem does not start until v5.30.0.6065. The previous version I have is v5.28.0.6005 but I think there must have been a v5.29.0. something I don't have so all I can say for sure that is that 5.28.0.6005 one does not have the problem. Anyway I installed that version after cleaning out the existing installed version with Revo Uninstaller (Advanced) to get rid of everything. That indeed identified the SSD and two HDDs (two flash drives as well) so I then went ahead and updated it to v5.30.0.6065 - problem reappeared. I then cleaned it out again and tried an even longer string of updating from v4.19 something, rebooting the PC after each install but when I arrived at v5.30.6065 the problem reappeared again. What it suggests is that are some specific systems differences on even closely matched PC which are causing this HDD/SSD ID misreporting issue across Piriform products. But what could it be? I've reverted the version used on the second PC back before v5.30.0.6065 because how can you trust CCleaner for anything when it is misidentifying HDDs as SSDs? Additionally I found I had to deal with yet again the CCleaner settings, both at install and in the Settings menus totally ignoring not to 'Check For Updates'. Despite deleting the scheduled updating task and system monitoring options too. In the end I had to edit the .ini to stop it and that led me to discover that on the primary PC, although I'd similarly deleted the update check scheduled task, it had not needed any .ini editing and was and is behaving itself. But that is another inexplicable difference between the two PCs.
  5. The way you can do this is to create a new task in Task Scheduler and get it to launch Speccy at start up with highest privileges by using an elevated shortcut. I won't lie, I've not done this myself and I do not know how Win10's Task Scheduler works but I'd assume they had not messed around with it so much that the same or similar method could not be used for all Windows OS. There's plenty of information out there explaining the methods in fairly simple terms and tools which can make the whole thing easier, allegedly. https://www.thewindowsclub.com/create-elevated-shortcut-run-programs-bypass-uac No endorsement intended for anything there, that is just an example of the sort of information easily found with a bit of research. Getting it to open minimised may be more complicated but I think that when you have created the elevated shortcut and installed it in start up look under its Properties > Shortcut tab > Run conditions. The default is "Normal Window" but if you open the options you should be able to select "Minimized" or "Maximized". It might be as simple as that but no guarantees.
  6. Tell me about it. Yesterday I had to login to a particular site using an ID code, a pin and a password, then when I transferred to another part of the same site I had to go through another set of security hoops. With things like forums and even utility main web sites the cookies should be fairly easy to identify in the CCleaner Cookies listing either under the actual forum or company name or www. name, often there can be more than one. A thing you can do it wipe your cookies entirely then go to each web site you want to be logged in automatically, login then exit to CCleaner and save the related cookies. It is still A PITA and you'll see just how much ***** you pick up just by launching a browser. But once done you can be pretty sure deleting cookies using CCleaner won't cause as many re-login cases. Most sites have expiry dates to cookies so eventually you will have to re-login to them several times over the course of a year and save the updated cookies again.
  7. My advice is that mpw101 tries significantly reducing the amount of space allocated to RPs and see if that helps. 10% of a 237GB HDD should be way more than enough but whether that will stop the problem alone I'm not convinced. This weekend I suddenly remembered this problem is not new to me and there was a not so old thread I posted in here about such matters. Just found it. Have you checked your actual Restore Points and are not just relying on CCleaner's RP tool? If they're really all still there see this thread I think it might be relevant. Guess who was a major contributor and help then? Andavari The suggestion was that there is a corrupt RP somewhere and that is the problem. Trouble is you can not know which it is so you actually have to do the very thing that appears to be happening but probably is not: delete everything. This is most simply done by turning OFF Windows RP, rebooting then turning it ON again.
  8. So Windows updates sometimes do that now? That is bad, particularly as Windows itself should, automatically, put in a Restore Point before updating. If it is rendered useless by the update why would they do that and delete all the Restore Points including the one they have just created? That explanation does not seem to really fit the facts unless this is unintended Windows 10 behaviour ie. bug of some sort. Whenever Restore Points and AVAST are linked in some way, like this through CCleaner, I always get a bit suspicious. They have a history of interfering with Restore Point use, something I've regularly objected too over the years. No evidence has been provided it is anything like that but something deleted all the OP's Restore Points and they said the same thing is happening on a Win7 PC as well. What type of software might they have on both machines that is being updated on a daily basis and has high enough permissions to be able to do this accidentally or deliberately?
  9. Restore points are deleted by Windows regularly when the allocated space is full. However Windows certainly should not be deleting the current one unless you've changed the default pagefile setting to off. I would check that. There is a default amount of restore point space but you can manually set it to use whatever you want. More space means more restore points are kept for longer rather than Windows deleting them to make space for new ones. On modern systems each 'key' restore point can easily be 1GB but they range from about 600MB upwards. For Win 7:- Start > Control Panel > System and Security > System > Advanced system setting >System Properties > System Protection tab > Available Drives > Configure button. The allocated restore point volume may have free space but I can not believe that accidentally enabling that CCleaner Advanced setting could have happened let alone do what as described. If you enabled it there should be a warning message about the extra time the cleaning will take and that the recommendation is not to use it. Similarly the CCleaner System Restore management tool can not be used accidentally to delete all restore points. The only thing that I've come across that will unintendedly remove all restore points is on dual boot system, specifically, WinXP and Win7. When WinXP is launched it will see the Win7 restore points as being corrupt and takes it upon itself to delete them all. Despite several methods described in various articles online supposedly stopping that happening the only solution that works is to have the two OS on separate drives and disable the other drive either physically or via the BIOS/UEFI SATA port controls. Utter pain and one reason I gave up on the dual boot and installed XPMode on a VM instead. Used that way it does not delete any restore points. Backing up restore points is possible, in theory. They're stored in the System Volume Information folder which is a system folder usually hidden by default. A backup imaging program like EAsUS Todo can copy system files but whilst I've done that I've never had the need or guts to test restore a restore point using the backup. It would probably require all sorts of permission changes to do it. I'd be looking for a culprit somewhere other than CCleaner. Anti-virus software would be high up on my alternative suspects list.............hmmmmmmm.
  10. I had not checked Defraggler on my most recent PC build until today as it is so recent I still have very little on either of the two HDDs; primary drive is a SSD. But doing some new year maintenance and I thought I might as well use it. Same problem as reported by others here, both the HDDs reported as SSDs. Version 2.22.33.995 is indeed the culprit. So much for the 'vital' importance of keeping your software up to date; I installed all up to date software when I finished the build and it is not the only program I've had to remove/roll back because of similar issues. I know the version of Defraggler on one of my other PCs does not have this problem so I'm going to uninstall the v2.22.33.995 and reinstall Defraggler using one of the old installers I've archived for problems like this. If anyone else here has had the same HDD/SSD misreporting and wishes to revert to an older version too it is likely you can find an old Defraggler installer at FileHippo but make sure it is that older version selected because sometimes the old version links at those archive sites download the latest one instead. EDIT 1 Interesting. When I actually checked my Defraggler version on the other PC which is practically the same: identical SSD primary drive and two similarly matched storage HDDs ie. same make and size as those on the first PC. Those are the HDDs which Defraggler v2.22.33.995 are reporting as SSDs on that PC but are reporting correctly as HDDs on this one with.............................what turns out to be exactly the same Defraggler version! I had to think about this and I'm going to test this theory later and report back the result. The only difference I can think of is that on the first PC v2.22.33.995 was a completely fresh install on a virgin PC build. On the other machine that version was installed as an update to the previous version, likely v2.21.0.993, and that similarly installed as an update and so on back to when the PC was first used in 2016. So my theory is that something is wrong with v2.22.33.993 but when the previous version was updated there was something already there that was not updated because it does not normally need to be. I'm going to try thoroughly uninstalling v2.22.33.995 on the first PC, re-installing Defraggler from the older version installer I have, v2.21.0.993, and then updating that to v2.22.33.995. EDIT 2 Tried that but no joy. I did every combination of old and v2.22.33.995 install I could think of on the newer PC using both v2.21.0.993 and an even earlier v2.20. I tried updating by fresh downloads of v2.22.33.995 from 'Piriform' and third party sites and the older versions all freshly downloaded too. I used the same older installers to incrementally update the installation too ie. from v2.20 > v2.21>v2.22 rebooting the whole PC between installs. Same problem recurred when v2.22 was installed. I also created a portable version of v2.22.33.995 and ran that but it produced the same HDDs misreported as SSDs issue as does the installed version. So what the hell is causing that and why can my other PC (see attachment) use v2.22.33.995 without any similar trouble? Speccy too misreports the same two HDDs as SSDs on this PC but on the other absolutely correct. As said earlier they're very similar set ups, Win 7 Pro 64bit OS, both Gigabyte MBs, 3rd gen Intel CPU on this PC, 4th gen Intel CPU on the other. The actual SDDs and two HDDs in each are identical makes and sizes the only difference is the partitioning of one of the HDDs. I can not think why there would be this difference in reporting. If anything you'd think it would be the other way round as it is the one with the 3rd generation CPU and slightly older MB that is misreporting the HDDs as SSDs. Mysterious - I hope somebody can come up with an explanation. However as it is apparently the only solution for anyone having this problem is, as others have said here, to install Defraggler v2.21.0.993 instead. Remember to go into the settings and untick the Settings > Options: update check too. BTW if you're playing around with either older or newer Defraggler or other Piriform installers be very careful. Some come with a Chrome browser install pre-checked and the latest one similarly 'offers' the latest version of CCleaner in a pop-up. Also with the v2.22.33.995 installer only use the "Custom" install option or you will likely get it replacing Windows defragmenter too.
  11. Don't we all? A new serious security flaw has been found in Win10 only this week. Updating your OS to Win10 for better security and performance is very important (irony intended if that was not clear). WinXP and Win7 FTW.
  12. I'd uninstall it using Revo (Advanced option scan to get all left-overs). Then reinstall a fresh copy from the download links at the top here. It should not take a long time to open or display in the normal way. With Windows 7 64bit you get the familiar UAC admin consent dialogue box when you launch Recuva which I believe Windows 10 should also do too. I would have suggested you try the portable version of Recuva instead but unfortunately Piriform have surreptitiously ceased providing that version - the links from the build page lead to a page with a portable download link but the actual file downloaded is their standard installer .exe. You can still create a portable installation from either of the installed 32/64bit recuva .exe files fairly easily but doing that rather defeats the point of testing a system with portable version of the same program in this particular case.
  13. Possible your anti-virus is the culprit? Look for it in your AV's quarantined folder or sandbox. If you have it set to quarantine or even delete suspicious files or it does that by itself without asking then that may be an explanation. Suspicious file can just be ones with suspicious behaviour and a recovered deleted file reappearing again might be enough to trigger a paranoid AV. I'd try recovering another a test file and see if that happens again.
  14. You have to click on the SCAN button to get it to search for deleted files in the location specified. By default that is just C:\ ie. your primary drive but all other locations are available from the drop down menu. In the file search options box the default is every file type but you can change that to narrow down the search to a particular custom folder path or for more general Picture, Music, Documents, Video, Compressed or Email files using its drop down menu.
  15. It is indeed that just as I suggested earlier too. This thread:- https://forum.piriform.com/topic/51922-defraggler-222-detecting-my-hdds-as-ssds/?do=findComment&comment=313762 indicates that the same applies to Defraggler and Recuva too. I speculated on the reason why in that thread but it would be interesting and helpful to have things confirmed by somebody in a position to do so, if anything is going to be done about it and explain why the "Pro" versions are still being offered when they are now significantly flawed for the same reason.
  16. Lots of people are now reporting this and similar problems with Speccy too. Me as well. See my post here about that and likely explanation:- https://forum.piriform.com/topic/42888-the-wrong-temperature-thread/page/5/?tab=comments#comment-313660 Put simply Piriform products were once updated regularly and highly reliable but, as many faithful users predicted, since AVAST bought it in 2017 things have slipped with all the effort going into CCleaner, about which I could say more but I will not. Speccy has effectively not been updated since then, Recuva likewise. Defraggler was last given an update in May 2018 the only one since 2016 and the only one since AVAST took over. How they can get away with trying to sell "Pro" versions of what are apparently the same outdated software without making it clear to new users that these types of problems are only going to increase is a very good question. If you use older OS, software and hardware circa 2017 then they are all still great products well worth using but otherwise unless AVAST/Piriform get there fingers out and do something they will become increasingly irrelevant to users of new software and hardware. Updating Speccy seems like it might be a fairly simple thing as the GUI is already excellent and really does not need any work. The only update necessary would be to replace what appears to be the outdated cpuid.com (cpuz143) driver. That has been updated regularly, currently v1.91 (cpuz149), so perhaps AVAST just do not want to pay CPUID EURL a French based company, further developers' fees.
  17. Suggesting the OP tries a slim reinstall on top of a possibly corrupt one might cause more problems. You need to find out exactly where the existing installation was installed first. Type "CCleaner" in the "search program and files" box and then hover the mouse over the result and it should show you the path. I think it is slightly different with Win10 but there should be (I certainly hope there is) a similar search option available. Then I'd be looking to try uninstalling it using Revo or BCUninstaller. Although Revo will do this too I'd suggest putting in your own restore point. If it finds wherever CCleaner is installed either of those programs should be able to uninstall and get rid of the leftovers which might cause problems with any reinstall. Where did the CCleaner installer originally used come from? These are the MD5 and SHA-256 file hashes you should use for verification purposes:- ccsetup563.exe - CCleaner Free Installer MD5: 037c93d6e729c43fab88e9180ca8c2d7 SHA256: f2aba7dc1d4ab617d7b09b19e7a5b4f6b6e3f790981050d163f395002646b890 Personally I'd recommend you use the portable version instead also linked to on the same page as the Slim version. Less hassle and you may avoid the forced updates CCleaner now does whether you like it or not. With a portable installation you'll have to create your own desktop shortcut and same applies if you want it in the Start Menu too.
  18. ^ Yes, agreed. However, that does mean there must be something wrong if Defraggler is trying to defrag it. My concern was/is either that it is corrupted or that the HDD may have a bad sector and it needs to be moved and the sector identified so it is not written to again. CHKDSK should do that.
  19. Are not these sort of reports about incorrect system information just more indications that Speccy badly needs updating? In reply to another thread last week about similar matters my research suggested Speccy may use CPUID's CPU-Z driver and in particular CPUZ143 a version which is over two years old. That is how Speccy is reported by Process Hacker 2 ie. in Services as CPUZ143: Driver. I can't remember the last time Speccy was updated but my installation of v1.32.740 shows that as dated 2018 so it might not have been updated since then. Is it any wonder it can not report accurately/correctly information about and for some new hardware. EDIT 1 Just been checking CPU-Z and it comes with a ReadMe including a changelog history. That details all the support changes made since May 2017 which was when the CPUZ143 driver was first used. There were actually a number of version of CPU-Z after that which updated the driver support but not the driver itself. If I'm right about all this and Speccy is using the CPUZ143 driver dating from May 2017 (CPU-Z v1.79.1) it explains pretty much all the problems described here and in other threads. CPU-Z History.txt EDIT 2 I had not thought to check Speccy thoroughly until this weekend (19.01.20) when I found Defraggler was incorrectly reporting two HDDs as SSDs on one PC. On one of my PCs Speccy v1.32.740 is also showing the same HDDs as SSDs too. Not checked any other yet. I'm going to try reverting to the previous version which I think is v1.28 something.
  20. Put in a system restore point first as a safety net. Then I'd run System File Checker (SFC): Run > cmd > "sfc /scannow" No quotation marks of course. Hopefully no system file problems will be found but if it does it may repair them. Next I'd run CHKDSK without repair options* (as it is your primary drive) and see if it reports anything about the USN Journal (Update Sequence Number Journal). That is what that file appears to be. If it does find a problem then try scheduling CHKDSK to run on next boot with repair options. *Computer > C drive > Right Click > Properties > Tools tab > Check now, untick the repair options and click Start. For boot time do the same thing but tick the repair boxes, When you click Start it will give you the option to schedule the scan at next boot.
  21. I've read about something called a "symbolic link" (symlink) say between a user's documents folder and a folder of the same name on another drive. There is also something similar to do with "shell objects" or "shell folders": So since at least Windows XP the a user has been able to move the location of the Documents folder almost anywhere to free up space on the C:\ drive. But you still access the content using the same C:\ drive system links ie. like a shortcut but you're not redirected to the actual files' new location. It sounds as if maybe something along one of these lines has happened here accidentally and what you're doing, because of this folder linking, is actually renaming or trying to delete the actual 'parent' folder. But which is which now, how it came about and how to fix it is beyond my knowledge. If you can identify with certainty where the real My Documents folder content is located it would probably be useful. This article may be relevant:- https://www.techsupportalert.com/content/how-move-windows-7-personal-folders-my-documents-another-drive.htm using the "Find Target" option would seem to be the obvious first step. But after that I am not qualified to advise.
  22. Concur ^. Never use the Windows default uninstaller or the program's own uninstaller directly (often shown in the Start Menu). Always use a dedicated uninstaller like the ever reliable Revo. After putting in a restore point it will run the program's own uninstaller or, when one is not provided, Windows default uninstaller. If you've used the Advanced settings ie. thorough uninstall, it will then scan and display all related links and leftovers it has found for the uninstalled program. That includes the usually hidden Program Data, AppData > Roaming/LocalLow/Local and registry entries often left behind. These are really what this thread is all about. Once the program's own uninstaller has been used those leftovers are much more difficult to find and remove. So use a purpose designed uninstaller right from the start. But do be careful with the Revo Advanced options and check what is being removed before clicking the delete button.
  23. That does bring up an issue that whilst it is secure deleting the files making them unrecoverable a record of the name of the file can still be present and reported by Recuva. That in itself is evidence the file was on your PC and possibly even useful information to anyone unauthorised who might gain access to your PC. Using CCleaner to wipe free space on a volume will multiple overwrite it with ZZZZZZZZZZZ file names, I think including the MFT. However if before that was done the deleted file space was over-written by another file still in use the 'underlying' file name may still be read by Recuva.
  24. Anyone have the "Pro" version of Speccy to check this too. If that is showing the same inaccurate information then that is pretty bad form. Speccy 'Free' v1.32.740 has not been updated in months, possibly not since May 2018, whereas CPU-Z has been updated at least twice recently, currently on v1.91. Process Hacker 2 reports that the most recent Speccy version when launched as being CPUZ143 so if that means it is using that CPUZ 'engine' I'd bet that if users of more recent Intel CPUs used that it will report the same thing. However it is difficult to test because CPUZ uses a different ID to the version numbers. For instance the current version v1.91 reports as CPUZ149. So what version or versions CPUZ143 was used for and how old that is ..........................................................just found it. Luckily CPU-Z have archives of old versions with details of what was updated and whilst I can not be bothered to check back* when it was introduced CPUZ143 was last used by CPUZ v1.81 dated 27th September 2017. So the 'engine' Speccy apparently uses is over two years old and it is therefore not surprising it can not identify more recent Intel CPU versions. https://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html Still it should have been updated by now to be able to identify those CPUs and if 'Pro' Speccy is the same then you have to ask what are people paying for? *by fluke I downloaded what I'm fairly sure is the first archived version they had of CPUZ143 which is CPUZ v1.79 dated April 2017.
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