nukecad

@Jaime CCleaner I already did in the private staff forum. https://community.ccleaner.com/topic/45800-customer-support-requests-from-the-forum/page/47/?tab=comments#comment-322252

We now know there is a slowdown issue with the new version - if, and it seems only if, the CCleaner window is left open or minimised. Close the CCleaner window (after cleaning) and there is no issue. It's not unusual to ask someone to get their machine checked over if they are seeing/reporting strange behaviour that is affecting all of Windows. Strange behaviour affecting a whole machine is often/usually a sign of malware, so it needs to be ruled out first. I did the same with another user having this same slowdown issue and they did, once we had definitely ruled out any malware then we knew it wasn't that and could concentrate on tracking down the problem. However Dave was talking about the filepuma redirect that you got. A redirect like that may be a one off hijack and never happen again, (Tech support scammers often use those), or may be something in your browser. It isn't (normally) a file on your computer at all and an antivirus wouldn't find anything because where it is looking there is nothing to find. It could be something hiding in your browser or in a browser extension. If any similar redirect happens again then I'd try a scan with ADWCleaner. If you are using Chrome (any Chromium based browser) or Firefox then Malwarebytes Browser Guard can help protect against redirects and more.

Thanks, I've managed to get the CPU usage much higher than that, up to the point of freezing the system. (There have been other reports of similar behaviour, but they wouldn't have used the steps that i did - at least it's not waht I'd expect a user to do). The fact that it's the CPU rising and not memory suggests it's a strange programming error rather than a memory leak. I can think of a few of way to do that in programming, but they are not things that CCleaner would/should be using.

I can't get Defender to complain at all. Just download both Slim and Standard installers from the builds page and then installed them one after the other. Not a peep out of Windows Defender. Did a Right Click 'Scan with Microsoft Defender' of each installer, both showed '0 threats found'. Tried the Standard wepage free download, again no peep from Defender. Windows 10 2004. Defender update version 1.321.144.0 (Updated earlier today).

@Bethy54 We hadn't forgotten you, and now have more information about what is going on. It looks like your slowing down/freezing problem is (mostlikely) due to you leaving CCleaner open, either on screen or minimised. If you do that then for some reason CCleaner is gradually hogging the computers CPU. It shouldn't do that, but it is doing for some reason. (There are a couple of other steps needed to trigger it but after some testing I can now make it happen whenever I want to, right up to slowing down and freezing my computer, and have told the developers how to replicate it so they can look for what is causing it). Until it can be fixed you should always close CCleaners window after using it. If you do that then the slowdown/freeze will not happen. What your 'ghost' window could be is unclear, but I wouldn't worry too much about it. Especially as AdvanceSetup has delcared your machine clear of malware. There are many genuine apps that can flash up a window at startup that. Windows itself will sometimes do it if it is running some kind of 'special' diagnostic tool when you boot. The long list of errors that AdvanceSetup found on your machine suggests that Windows may be doing just that, and reporting any system errors back to Microsoft each time you boot.

Good to hear you got it sorted. I think it's probable that at sometime in the past you (or someone else) has done a custom install of CCleaner and changed the install path to put it straight into Program Files without any CCleaner folder. That 'redirect' would have been (correctly) noted in the registry and so any later installs would follow that redirect and be put there, and the desktop icon pointed to there. Once you cleared that registry entry redirect the next install created the CCleaner folder as it should. The problems with AV's not recognising new CCleaner versions are solely down to the AV's, it's been shown to be the case with more than one AV. It's become more of an issue with lockdown and working from home, some AV companies are slower to update their definitions to recognise the new CCleaner version. It was a bigger issue with v5.68 than it has been with v5.69, maybe they learned they were being a bit slow? BTW it's not just an issue with CCleaner, we see it hapening with other softwares as well when they bring out new versions. We see two problems with users checking within their AV and it telling them it is up to date, Firstly all that meant was that it has the latest released definitions, and the AV company hasn't updated/released their definitions for the new CCleaner version yet. Secondly when we told some of them that actually theirs wasn't the latest version of the AV, and that they should go to the AVs website to get the latest version, some didn't want to listen to us. Which is fair enough when their AV was telling them one thing but we were telling them the opposite. (But frustrating when you know that you are right). As I said above we saw that quite a bit with Trend Micro 2019, once the user followed our advice and got the latest 2020 version from the Trend website all was fine for them again. PS. Even Windows Defender has been having a False Positive moment the last couple of days and has been blocking some, but not all, installs of v5.69. Microsoft are supposed to have updated that now.

Thanks for the report, This issue has been noted and is already under investigation by the developers. It has now been reported with both Free and Pro versions. It is only happening if you keep the CCleaner window open, or open/minimised to the taskbar. If you close the CCleaner window then the rising CPU issue does not happen. At the moment, until the developers can track down the problem and fix it, the best advice is not to leave the CCleaner window open or minimised but to close it after use. Could you maybe help us gather info and tell us if you have "Run CCleaner when the computer starts" ticked, and/or have Smart Cleaning enabled? PS. Did you know that CCleaner Pro has the option to automatically clean browsers when you close them?

@inFINite I have been able to replicate an increasing CPU use when CCleaner is idle (and minimised). That was on Win 10 2004, but probably the same. It took a few steps to replicate, I won't go into detail here. I've passed on just what I did to the staff to be looked at. In the meantime I would close CCleaner after using, rather than minimising it. If you have Smart Cleaning enabled then that will still continue in the background. (If your ccleaner CPU usage still increases with CC close and Smart Cleaning in the background then please let us know, I've not got round to testing that yet). The answers to my questions above would still be useful, and do let us know if you have any further issues.

When CCleaner runs once from the installer and then won't run again it is almost certainly the Antivirus that is stopping it running the second and subsequent times. (It may even quarantine/remove the CCleaner.exe and CCleaner64.exe). We saw this a lot with v5.68, where some AV's took a while to update their definitions for the new version. Plus - You say that your AV is up to date, but is it? With 5.68 Trend Micro AV users checked and it said they were up to date - but it was TM 2019 that was up to date. As soon as they went to the Trend website and updated TM to the 2020 version then their problem with CCleaner not running more than once disappeared. No snickers, (I know what it's like to have to run an old OS) but does your particular McAfee AV still fully support Windows 7? From their Knowledge Centre it would seem that it may not do: https://service.mcafee.com/webcenter/portal/oracle/webcenter/page/scopedMD/s55728c97_466d_4ddb_952d_05484ea932c6/Page29.jspx?wc.contextURL=%2Fspaces%2Fcp&locale=en_US&articleId=TS102312&_afrLoop=99912195282898&leftWidth=0%25&showFooter=false&showHeader=false&rightWidth=0%25&centerWidth=100%25#!%40%40%3FshowFooter%3Dfalse%26locale%3Den_US%26_afrLoop%3D99912195282898%26articleId%3DTS102312%26leftWidth%3D0%2525%26showHeader%3Dfalse%26wc.contextURL%3D%252Fspaces%252Fcp%26rightWidth%3D0%2525%26centerWidth%3D100%2525%26_adf.ctrl-state%3D3mkm8iavk_9 You may want to try disabling (or uninstalling) McAfee and seeing if CCleaner runs then. More importantly you may want to change your AV to one that does still fully support Win7. Software not working fully/properly on Win 7 will only be an increasing problem now that Win 7 is end-of-life and many softwares will cease supporting Win 7. Why CCleaner.exe was in \Program Files and not a CClearer folder I can't say for sure, had you at sometime done a custom install? But when you say you deleted the fies did you just delete them or did you uninstall them? If you only deleted the files then there will be registry entries left over. (Which could explain why it's re-installing in Program Files rather than a CCleaner folder).

Thanks for that. (I'm leaving mine minimised now to see if I can replicate it). A few questions if I may. Do you have Smart Cleaning enabled? Does it grow above that 10% if left for longer? Is CCleaner working once restored from minimised? (ie. Not frozen). Are you noticing any slowdown in Windows itself or other apps? Additional, about how long is "left open for some time in a minimised state"? Are we talking minutes, hours, days?

Well, they are strings of numbers in Hexadecimal format - which doesn't help a lot though. And yes you do see cookies like that, not everyone wants you to know what their cookies are or where they came from, that doesn't mean that they are malicious. If they are always coming back then something that you visit regularly in your browser is putting them there. Or it may be a 'Live Tile' on your start menu. (Or something else that connects to the web without opening a browser). There is realy only one way to track down what it is that put then there, and that's step by step. Close your browser and run CCleaner to clean them. Wait a minute or two with the browser still closed and look at the 'Cookies' page to see if they have come back. If they have then it's not your browser putting them there (unless you have your browser set to pre-load) - in which case my first suspect would be one or more Live Tiles on your start menu. (News, Weather, any tile like that that keeps updating itself). Try turning them all off, run CCleaner to clear the cookies, then turn the tiles back on one by one, waiting/checking after each one if the cookies come back. If they don't come back with the browser closed then: Open your browser, if you have syncing set then disable syncing, close all open tabs, close your browser itself. Run CCleaner to delete any cookies. Open your browser again and then look in CCleaner to see if they are back. If they have come back straight away then it's either your browser itself, your browser homepage, or possibly a browser extension. If they haven't come back then load your regular pages one by one, again checking after loading each page whether the cookies have come back. It all takes time, but with nothing apart from hex numbers to go on it's about the only way to track them down.

I assume you mean Kamo. Thanks for that info, it should help them troubleshoot - I'll pass it on to the staff

Hi, I've split this into it's own thread as these are different issues from the thread where it was originally posted. These two are common (easily solved) issues. Firstly do you have your browser(s) synced? See the second half of this forinfo about that, and other reasons why your files may be coming back after cleaning: Second - What you are seeing with the recycle bin is a common Windows issue and is an early symptom of the recycle bin itself being corrupted. Most people don't notice it if they are not using CCleaner; at least until the bin itself starts behaving oddly. See here for the corrupted recycle bin fix:

Isn't MS 365 cloud based? CCleaner cannot touch any cloud servers, they are protected, CCleaner can only clear what is on your PC. VLC should be cleaning if you have it ticked, but with Win 10 2004 you may also need to tick 'Recent Documents' under 'Windows Explorer' on the Windows tab. (And maybe also 'Taskbar Jump lists' ?) 2004 changed a few things. Sorry, I can't see your screenshots very well here.

Defragmenting is a disc intensive process, (as are AV scans or file recovery) so any problems with a disc are more likely to show up there.

At 93% that sounds like Health Check is having a problem connecting to the server to check for any software updates. Which may be a setting in your firewall or antivirus, or may be a problem at the server end. (There were some server issues earlier this week which have now been sorted). If it's still happening for you then you could try using Health Check while offline (Flight Mode on a laptop, disconnect from the router on a desktop), or use Custom Clean which doesn't automatically do a software update check. Another thing to try is to use the Windows built in Disc Cleanup, it takes a lot longer to work than CCleaner but can sometimes clear 'blockages' that CCleaner can't.

Dunno why that happened then, Regulars here tend to use the 'Builds' page for downloads, and usually use the Slim installer rather than the Standard installer. (It installs the same CCleaner but there's no bundled offers in the Slim installer). https://www.ccleaner.com/ccleaner/builds

Restarting the computer (or waking it from sleep) may have overwritten the deleted document files with Windows logfiles, Windows Update files, new antivirus definitions, etc., etc.?

Been there done that, Cardiac Arrest and my heart stopped for 20 minutes. I'm still here 4 years later and still going strong. If I can come back from dead with some thumps and an electric shock then I'll try the same with a piece of computer hardware. PS. Having come back from dead I call the date it happened my 'Zombie birthday'. To be serious it may be a good time to get another external disc and make a backup or mirror image of that drive just in case it does fail.

It's all gone Piriform. (Piriform = Pear Shaped, an old English expression for 'gone wrong').

Yes that's odd - which site? If it's Piriform then if you could give the full pathname that may help, there is more than one 'official' path to the downloads. (Which is we tend to point people to the builds page so that we know we are all using the same thing).

Yep, just stick with AdvancedSetup's instructions and do only that and nothing else for the moment. In particular don't try to run CCleaner, or any other similar app, unless he tells you to. (That could destroy/confuse the logs that he needs). I can't say for certain but it does seem as if the CCleaners you are seeing are not genuine but something else masquerading as CCleaner. AdvancedSetup can probably see that from the logs you have provided, but TBH unless it's a new malware then what it is is not important and he will just want to help you get rid of it. (One of the problems with popular software is that criminals try to pass their malware off as a genuine product). AdvancedSetup will sort things out for you if you provide the logs and follow his instructions to the letter. I see that he has already provided a generic script for your particular machine, but a good clean up takes a few different stages and some time.

I see that 'AdvancedSetup' is helping you over at Malwarebytes. You couldn't be in better hands.

The thinking on secure passwords, and how to keep them secure, has changed a lot over the past ten or fifteen years. 'Never write them down' is just one of those that has changed, because as said it's easier to steal them online than to steal a piece of paper out of a desk drawer. Some of what was once considered essential has on a rethink been shown to be excessive or even not secure at all. Plus technologies change and old methods become, well old. There is no need for complicated strings that a qubit computer couldn't guess in a million years, three random words is as good as anything for a password these days and not too difficult to remember. EE routers use individual 3 word passwords. PS. Do you know about the 3-word location system that can pinpoint you to a 3 meter square anywhere on the planet? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-49319760 My 'secure' password has 2 words and includes the UK registration number of my grandads MkII Cortina in the 1970's. As random a set of digits as you like, easy for me to remember, good luck to anyone else trying to guess or find it even with that clue. (And then you'd still have to guess the other two words).

Which CAD software is it? (Autocad, Revit, Solidworks, BricsCad, etc). I'm not aware of any uninstall problems with any of them, but I am active on a couple of CAD forums so could reach out there. TBH I'd probably use Revo to scan for leftover entries following an uninstall. If Revo can't see the software as installed then 'Forced Uninstall' from the pro or pro-trial will usually be able to zap anything if it's in their database.