ArchAngle

As is always recommended I never use a defrag program on a SSD. Piriform's Defraggler does have a SSD optimised TRIM function:- https://www.ccleaner.com/docs/defraggler/technical-information/defraggler-and-ssds but even though I do use Defraggler on my HDDs (and get apparently useful results from it) I still wouldn't use that on the SSD and particularly one where the TRIM function is confirmed as in operation. https://www.systoolsgroup.com/how-to/disable-enable-ssd-trim-function-windows/

So it is an indication of restore point corruption then. Thanks for the info. Interesting because it must just be a very specific one; as I said, I used a restore point as part of my attempt to correct the CCleaner display problem and whilst it worked perfectly it did not fix the problem. My experience with using System Restore is very different. Nine times out of ten when I used it, on my old, now dead, XP laptop and the handful of times I've used it on my current system its worked fine too and usually helped fix the trouble. Although I will admit that once it didn't help at all and I had a few cases on the laptop when it reported it could not roll back certain programs so it could not use the restore point. Once or twice I had to reinstall my browser or some other program afterwards but that's about it. I do create backup disk images using Easeus Todo fairly regularly and also make manual registry backups too. But System Restore is still my first go to. It is so quick to create a restore point manually before uninstalling anything or installing a new program and if you're using a SSD it barely takes longer to do than reboot. I think of it as a first level safety net. Restoring from a disk image, which will necessarily be older and, in my case, is on an external HDD drive which is not normally attached and currently not even installed in the external housing, is a bit of a palaver. I'm glad to say I've never had to do it for real.

I know this is an old thread but this is still relevant as I'm using CCleaner v4.19 on a Win XP virtual machine. This version of CCleaner displays better on XP than other more recent versions. Anyway, one thing I've noticed about this, actually XPMode installation, is that it does not automatically delete system restore points. At one stage I had at least twenty shown by CCleaner despite the System Restore volume being set to 3% which is just under 3000MB. I normally use CCleaner to trim the list but I had not done this recently. So today I go to do just that and I'm surprised to see no restore points listed by CCleaner. Windows System > System Restore however is showing restore going back to early November, probably more than twenty as I create at least one manual restore point a week. Add to that Windows own restore points plus a couple of program updates/uninstaller programs which create restore points of their own and its easy to have that many. First thing I did was restart the VM, no joy. I then decide to delete CCleaner using Revo Uninstaller (which itself creates a restore point as a safety net) and reinstalled the same CCleaner version from a fresh download. No joy. Same thing with a portable CCleaner more up to date version. Tried starting in Safe mode and using one of the restore points (from two weeks ago) - all worked fine but CCleaner still not showing any restore points. That's when I came here and found this thread. I left the WMI as a last resort and as I'd actually already thought about switching System Restore off and on again but thought it almost too simple (cliched?) to work reluctantly tried that. Cleared all the existing restore points, restarted the VM and voila it worked. CCleaner now displaying the first system created restore point and a test one I did just to confirm. I've restarted the VM twice as well and rechecked and all is still good. The question remains what caused this and the other instances detailed in this thread? It is not a OS setting matter; I've run SFC and CHKDSK and all is fine. I've not changed anything in my VM settings either. The WMI setting or registry corruption seem highly unlikely. But I'd not changed CCleaner's settings either and yet now its back working as before. Restore point or restore point ID corruption perhaps - the latter seems the more likely as I proved that System Restore itself was working perfectly. Does CCleaner have some unreported maximum number of restore points it will display or something like that? I noticed that when the blank page first appears there is an indication something is trying to load then gives up or 'thinks' its finished. Still if there is no explanation I'll know what to do if it happens again. So thanks to the previous posters, particularly those who suggested temporarily disabling System Restore.

So you're saying there is no way for CCleaner to be able to what I've suggested even though it can erase restore points?

Firstly I'll have to admit that it is a very long time since I've had to use a restore point to fix a problem on my PC but, in the past, they have been an absolutely vital safety net when nothing else has worked. CCleaner has always had a built in tool allowing users to delete specific restore points but what I have always wanted was the ability to actually back them up ie. do something it is actually quite difficult to do yourself. Even if you know how to find and access the, by default hidden, System Volume Information (SVI) folder where the restore point information is located you can not, easily, back them up. You may have full admin rights and permissions shown but the seemingly simple act of backing up a restore point is not allowed. It is also not always easy to work out which of the files within the SVI folder are the restore points as they are not identified by the name given when you or the PC create them. There is just a long ID and date shown, a pretty poor clue as to which of that important system folder's contents are the restore points let alone specific ones. The only way I have found to do it is a crude solution: backup the whole SVI folder using a cloning/backup tool like Easeus Todo Backup. I've never had the guts even to test whether that backup even works for fear it might crash the PC. But it has always occurred to me if CCleaner can identify restore points and has permission to delete them why can't it made even more useful and allow you additional restore point management functions, primarily to back them up instead of just deletion? AFAIK know no other tool can do this. There might good reason for that but I just thought if it is possible this would add extra useful functionality to CCleaner.

The reason I found a need for another browser is that my preferred Firefox ESR version, which actually allows all my add-ons/plugins to work as they should, appears now to have become or been made incompatible with a UK catch-up TV channel I use occasionally. I didn't want to update Firefox and I just couldn't get on with swapping to Opera or some of the other browsers I've tried even for that one specific purpose. So I looked around for an alternative which was like Firefox but not Firefox. That's actually what I used for the search terms :). Waterfox was consistently recommended and ticked all the boxes. It is easy to forget which one you're using as it is essentially Firefox as it used to be. All the good old things and, so far, none of the unwanted hassles that came in with Quantum. Most importantly for me it is compatible with that catch up TV channel.

Excellent. Thanks for the confirmation and the information about the correct form for CustomLocation1 in the path.

Recently I downloaded the portable version of Waterfox , a Firefox based browser for those who don't know , and am trying to get CCleaner to do the same good job with it which it does cleaning unwanted stuff from my installed Firefox browser. The problem is that most of the information here and on other forums seems to relate to Waterfox being installed too rather than portable. I understand you have to add a custom path to the CCleaner.ini but, here's the problem: the portable version of Waterfox, unsurpisingly does not use the same locations as an installed one. However, confusingly it does still create the same Users/xxx/ AppData/Local and Roaming > Waterfox folder described in the guides here for adding a custom CCleaner path to the Waterfox "Profiles" data. The trouble is that these folders do not contain any "Profiles" data, they remain empty even after a session using Waterfox when I've installed new Add-Ons, changed preferences, edit the about:config and it has picked up plenty of, mostly unwanted, cookies etc. It seems they're not being used, so what they're there for I have no idea. Looking in the actual WaterfoxPortable folder, which is currently located on a separate C:\drive folder: Portable Programs, there are no "Profiles" folders there either. But in the Data folder there is a "profile" folder which appears to be the meat of the browser ie. it contains all the equivalent C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox program folders/files. The question is: do I set this "Custom Location 1=FIREFOX|C:\Portable Programs\WaterfoxPortable\Data\profile" as the CCleaner custom path or do I need to be more specific? If so what folders/files path or paths should I set? What I do not what to happen is for CCleaner to wipe the entire "profile" folder and destroy WaterfoxPortable in the process but I do, obviously, want it to recognise the things like the cookies, session, cache, dowload history etc and secure delete them as it does for Firefox. Advice appreciated.

Understood, thanks but that surely makes the reason for the unwanted CCleaner update I and apparently others have experienced even more mysterious.

Re: the emergency updater. I do not know for sure about this but is this a CCleaner startup scheduled item? I have to ask because a long time ago I pared my startup tasks down to the minimum (ironically using CCleaner to do that initially) it may have been one of those items I disabled and later deleted. In my installed version Settings, as described, I have everything related to updating, monitoring, telemetry gathering etc turned off but, again, obviously when I first ran the extracted EXE portable version the default settings would have been used. Presumably that would have included the "emergency" updater too. Maybe that is the explanation for the unwanted update, at least in my case.

Thanks very much for the reply, helpful if not exactly comforting. I definitely hadn't changed any of my settings prior to this although one thing I did do recently is extract my installed preferred CCleaner version 64 bit's EXE to create a portable version. Something I've been meaning to do for a long time after realising how easy it was after reading a post here:- Is it possible that in running the portable version using my installed version copied EXE, which, of course, would have temporarily had the default settings selected, including checking for updates, that would have caused the update to the installed version? Without any warning though, that still seems odd. I do have AVAST but its program updater option is turned off/uninstalled like most of its other bloat. Automatic updaters of any sort I avoid like the plague. I'm very disciplined in my software updating habits, I want full control over such matters.That's why I get annoyed when those options are removed or ignored. About the only thing I do allow to automatically update is AVAST definitions.

Yesterday I noticed that even though I had Firefox open when I used CCleaner it had "Skipped" all Firefox cleaning without prompting me to close the browser. Unusual and even though I had not changed the settings I checked anyway and the option for hiding warning messages was still unchecked and all my other settings similarly unchanged. But it was still doing it so I used a portable copy of the same version and that behaved 100% as it normally does with the prompt to shutdown Firefox if open. BTW along with the Registry pre-cleaning backup prompt It is one of the few prompts with I actually find useful and not annoying. So what was causing this change? Well I was using an older version of CCleaner 5.35.6210, for good reasons, and despite the fact it was still showing as that yesterday when I booted it this morning what do I find? I'll tell you what: it had been updated, against my express wishes in the settings to the latest version: 5.46.whatever. Obviously that was the problem. Point is it wouldn't have been a problem if the bloody thing was working properly, it probably would have slipped under my radar. Apart from the fact it has ignored my setting in regards to updates, there shouldn't have been any check let alone a high-handed install without any warning. There is also this problem with Firefox indicating the unticked option to hide warning messages is not working for that and who knows what else? In trying to fix this I've had to do a full, deep uninstall of this unwanted CCleaner version completely and do a fresh install to get it back to what it was and all working perfectly. But this has resulted in the deletion of all my saved cookies for the second time in 24hrs (couldn't take the risk one of the Piriform or AVAST cookies would prompt another update). That means I have about 50 websites I'm signed into (inc. this one) and at least a dozen used regularly I'm going to have to go through the signing in process all over again. More unwanted, unnecessary hassle. Will this happen again? Will CCleaner now start ignoring user settings, update without permission and basically do what just what it likes to our systems no matter how unwanted and inconveniencing?

Thanks for the info. Since when did updating CCleaner become an "emergency" security matter? I've been using it, safely, for over 7 years without it requiring such a feature. An emergency fix is probably only ever going to be used if a previous update has been found vulnerable or faulty in some way. That does not improve security for the user does it? It is a tool to fix a problem after the event or the danger has been discovered with all that implies. If an automatic/emergency update for some other reason had been in place during the earlier previously undetected hack it could have spread the problem not curtailed it. That is one of the types of reasons I don't like auto-updates. TBH I wait and check online before any install if there is a reported problem with all program updates from those unlucky saps who use auto-updates before I go ahead and do it myself. That has saved me from problems with Windows, AVs, browsers and a handful of other programs over the years too.

Latest version of CCleaner v5.36 6278 includes this in the changelog:- Does this mean it is now going to update automatically regardless of our option settings? If I remove the CCleaner.exe can I avoid this or will I just get more nags because I haven't updated?

Still getting this nag 18.10.17. My Settings are clear, not to check for updates. I can and do check for myself and don't want messages popping up on screen prompting me to check. Thank you.

Yes, I've just had that same nag dialogue box appear despite still, clearly, having my CCleaner settings: not to check for updates. I don't understand why it is ignoring our settings yet again even in the light of the recent security matters. There would have been a good chance that with the infected release we would have been similarly prompted to update. Maybe those with the check for updates ticked at the time (or who had the Pro version with update in the background option ticked) were persuaded to update because of the prompt and unfortunately infected their system in the process. As it is all of us who did update during that period, whether prompted or not did have the infected EXE on their PC it was just not active if you were lucky enough to be using a 64bit system. Despite being one of those people I've still spent some time this last week using every anti-nasties tool I have to run several full system scans concerned as I was about having had it on my machine. I found I still had an archived copy of that version download and the portable version which I could have but didn't use via flash drive on the 32bit system I also use. That was mainly because I'd forgotten to update the flash drive and in doing so dodged the bullet.

It shouldn't pop-up if you ticked the setting not to check for updates, as we all here have done. That's the problem, the updater is ignoring that setting making it redundant. We just want that choice respected as it feels to me like that it is deliberately being overridden.

Yes, same here. 5.30.6065 was the "emergency patch" release for the previous time this happened. I was going to update CCleaner today and immediately noticed the nag screen was back. If every new release is going need a quick patch to fix the same problem then it hasn't been fixed at all. You have to update to fix the nag to update - it is not really a satisfactory solution is it?

Sorry I started a topic about this in the main forum assuming it was a new 'feature' rather than a bug. Thanks for the information that the quickly patched new update fixes the problem, I'm updating now and my appreciation of CCleaner back to 100%.

Why when I've specifically unticked, as I have done for years, the "Check For Updates" box am I now getting a "You do not have the latest version of CCleaner" with "Update Available" highlighted in red message over the normal "Check For Updates" button. This nag message means CCleaner is ignoring my Settings and that concerns me. I even did a full, thorough uninstall using third part uninstaller, registry clean and reinstall just in case the settings had been corrupted. But no even though I again unticked the relevant option during the install and confirm it is still unticked the message reappears. This is obviously a new and unwanted 'feature' which renders the don't check for updates option redundant. Please change it back to how it functioned previously ASAP.

Thanks for all the info, very useful.

Thanks, that confirmation it is OK to use it this way is very helpful. An additional question that has just occurred to me: the 64bit EXE in the (512) portable version displays without a CCleaner icon. Is this just to differentiate it as a separate CCleaner 64bit OS application from the prime CCleaner EXE? What I'm concerned about is that maybe launching the CCleaner (419) EXE when being used on a 64bit OS it will automatically launch the 64bit (512) EXE. If so would there be any problems using these two different version EXEs. As said I'm mostly likely going to be using CCleaner portable on computers using a 32bit OS so if there are any issues I'll just remove the 64bit (512) EXE from its folder.

I really didn't and still don't like the CCleaner GUI update introduced last year and so continued using the CCleaner version GUI I liked: v4.19 without any problems. Recently I had an occasion where the portable CCleaner version could have been useful so I went looking. Not that surprisingly nowhere could I find CCleaner v4.19 portable which, of course, I would prefer. However from looking at the most recent portable version (512) it contains a Language folder, CCleaner EXE, 64bit EXE, Licence, portable DAT and INI files. The computers I'm likely to be using CCleaner on in this form are also 32bit systems and it occurred to me that the installed CCleaner EXE (419) I already have could 'simply' be used to substitute the CCleaner EXE (512) in the latest version. I tried this and it appears to function correctly as far as I've experimented. But before actually using it for real I thought I should ask here if there are any problems with using CCleaner portable in this way with a subsituted older GUI version?

As in other threads here relating to these matters I can only reiterate my huge disappointment at the ugly, inferior v.5 GUI. No amount of tweaking is going to make it any more attractive - of course we want the CCleaner program updates and improvements but otherwise please just go back to old v.4 GUI and if you must make any changes, again please, keep it to the minimum.

If that is the case why doesn't it happen when using the provided Drive Wiper tool? Very occassionally I use that to wipe free space on my C:\drive which sometimes helps with the MFT allocated space which Windows is in the habit of moving around my small HDD resulting in more defragmentation and significant general slow down whilst doing it. I've never noticed a loss of any let alone all restore points afterwards. BTW using CCleaner sky3 it is possible to multi-delete restore points at one time although, no doubt a safety feature to prevent the sort of accidental deletions described, you do have to highlight them all individually. In Tools > System Restore hold down Ctrl whilst doing that and each one will remain highlighted and you'll be able to delete all selected. The first restore point is, of course, protected.