nukecad

Thanks for reporting this. There is another user who is saying the same thing about non-admin users on their computer not being able to run CCleaner Pro, but I can't reproduce it on my machine. All users on my machine get to open CCleaner Pro whether they are admin or not. A Piriform Staff member is aware of the issue and is investigating. Having a second report of this odd behaviour shows it's not just something odd with one persons computer. On investigation we are finding a few differences between out CCleaner installations, so:- Could I ask you to look in File Explorer at the directory C:\Program Files\CCleaner and tell me if you have a file in there called 'CCleaner.dat' or do you instead have one called 'CCleaner.lic'? (Note that you may have to turn on 'File Name Extensions' in File Explorers 'View' tab to see the 3 letters after the dot). It appears that which one of those files you have is determining whether CCleaner Pro will run for non-admin users or not. (But that is yet to be confirmed). Mine looks like this, I have a 'CCleaner.dat', (ignore those '.ini' and '.log' files you may not have those, it depends on your CCleaner settings/use).

@niks nut @MeganCCleaner There is now another user reporting this same issue with non-admin users. https://community.ccleaner.com/topic/61905-ccleaner-doesnt-start-as-a-professional-version-for-all-users/ So my apologies nicks nut, as I can't reproduce this on my machine (yet) and don't even have any '.lic' file (as my screenshot above shows) I was wondering what was going on with what you were reporting. I note from your attached screenshot that you do have a 'branding.dll' - which is where the licence info is stored on my machine. Although the licence key itself is in 'CCleaner.dat' on my machine. But you don't seem to have a 'CCleaner.bat' at all, you have a 'CCleaner.lic' instead. Which is odd; because as Megan notes: New question - This may or may not be relevant, but did you get your CCleaner from Piriform, from the Microsoft Store, or from somehwere else?

Yes, that's Option #2 of the three options that I gave above last week. (Did you read them). As said that only works the one time, it isn't remembered so you have to do it everytime that you run Health Check and it finds something. You don't actually have to click on the blue gear icon, clicking anywhere in the 'Security' box will open it. PS. The other 3 boxes, Privacy, Space, & Speed all work in the same way, if you click one of those it will also open and let you choose things no to clean that one time. Give them a click to see how they all work.

Although it may be a false positive, if the browser protections in more than one browser are blocking it then there is probably a reason for that. (Although it may be as simple a reason as them still using the old 'http://' rather than the more secure 'https://', or possibly a SSL that needs renewing). Have you tried entering the URL(s) in question into VirusTotal to get a wider opinion from the major AV providers? If you haven't used VT before then just enter the URL to be checked in the box at this link and click on the spyglass at the right of the box to scan it: https://www.virustotal.com/gui/home/url For example this is the result of a scan of this forums URL. (https://community.ccleaner.com) The result (in that green circle) shows that it was scanned with 93 AV/AM engines and none of them regard it as malicious. (It gives details for each scanning engine below that, but I didn't clip those). Also check the date on the right for when the URL was last scanned and if it's getting old use the refresh icon above it to do a new scan. As you can see I did a fresh scan today at 04:06:53 UTC. (because the last time someone scanned for it was 9 months ago).

There is no call to be insulting, and actually I've not had an alcoholic drink all year. (go on then 12 days). Are you saying that if you log into your machine with an admin account then it runs CCleaner Pro, but if you log into the same machine with a non-admin account then it runs CCleaner Free? As I said above my non-admin 'Guest1' account runs the same CCleaner Pro that is installed on my Admin account, (there is only one CCleaner installed on this machine), so the guest account is reading the same .dll in order to read the licence information. Whichever account I switch to it always runs CCleaner Pro, as these screenshots show: Just to be sure we are talking about the same thing, can I ask what Operating System you are talking about here? (Windows, Mac, Android?) The reason I ask that question is because you say: I've been using CCleaner on Windows for years now, and it's never had a file with a '.lic' extension on my Windows machines. In Windows the CCleaner registration information is stored in a file called 'branding.dll', if you remove or rename that .dll then the installed CCleaner reverts to the Free version. A standard non-admin account can read that .dll file (and so run CCleaner Pro) but can't modify or delete it. (Unless you have manually changed the file read permission, or the user account permissions?) There is no file with a '.lic' extension in the CCleaner directory (or sub-directories) in Windows. I can try some more testing based on whatever information you come back with, but for me CCleaner always runs CCleaner Pro regardless of if I'm logged in as an admin or a non-admin user.

Maybe a bit drastic and you could probably have found some way to turn the constant polling off, but fair enough.

CCleaner cannot clean anything that is stored in the cloud, it can only clean what is on your machine. You have to login to your cloud account to delete things from the cloud account itself, you can't do it with CCleaner. Cloud servers are protected from remote deletion. (You wouldn't want bad guys being able to delete things from them). However if you wipe all data on a drive then you will be wiping your access codes, passwords, etc. for the cloud storage from that drive, so will have to set those up again before you can access them from that machine again. Any other machine synced to those accounts will still be able to access them (because you haven't wiped those). I'm not entirely sure what you are meaning there. Why do you need to wipe an existing drive to set up a new laptop? (PS. It's CCleaner - all one word and only 2 'C's).

Good to hear you found what was causing it. I suspected it would be something like a USB stick or a memory card. Was there a card in the reader, or was it just constantly being polled/checked to see if you had inserted a card?

I'm not sure that I see your point here? You don't want a non-admin user to have the same access/privleges as an admin user. If you did then you would simply make them an admin user. A non-admin user can register CCleaner Pro, or use a CCleaner Pro that is registered to the admin account - but that wouldn't give them admin access to the computer, they would still need to be an admin user to have that access. For example I have a 'Guest1' non-admin account on this laptop which can access/run my admin installed/registered CCleaner (which still shows the registered licence key in Options>About); but the Guest1 account can only do what their user status allows (ie. clean their own profile) and can't do anything with CCleaner that requires admin access to the laptop. So the non-admin user could clean their own Firefox profile, but not anyone elses. You need admin access to clean another users profile. You don't want a non-admin account to have access to other users accounts, that's why they are non-admin. What you are proposing would let a non-admin user have the same privleges as an administrator when using CCleaner, and so they would be able to use CCleaner to access/delete anything on the computer that an admin could. (And that would be a big security hole).

Hi Carl, Unfortunately only the staff and the support teams have the 'inside' knowledge to help with Driver Updater problems. Unless our username is followed by "CCleaner" (and have the CCleaner logo as an Avatar) then we are not staff, (moderators are knowlegable and trusted users not employees). From Dave CCleaner's latest reply it seems he is unable to find any support request from Steve N and is waiting for Steve to reply, but - @Dave CCleaner from the timings it appears that 'Steve N' may well be that user you found a support ticket for, a free user using Driver Updater on a trial rather than a paid licence?

Without commenting on your driver issue (I'll leave that to the staff). If you actually read the (now old) Bleepingcomputer article you will see that Microsoft themselves said that the block by Defender was about bundled offers in the installer and not about CCleaner itself. (TechRadar were just reporting/repeating that Bleepingcomputer article). Microsoft were not even concerned about the bundled software being offered, just about the practice of bundled offers in general. (Which was/is a bit two-faced considering the offers that Microsoft themselves make): “While the bundled applications themselves are legitimate, bundling of software, especially products from other providers, can result in unexpected software activity that can negatively impact user experiences.” So moving on - It was announced this week that CCleaner is the latest 'big name' addition to the Microsoft Store (For both Windows 10 & 11): https://news.softpedia.com/news/ccleaner-now-available-in-the-windows-11-app-store-534652.shtml Obviously that's not something that Microsoft would do if they were knocking CCleaner.

Go to the Play Store on your wifes device, most Android devices have been registered/signed up with a Google account when you first use them. (If you don't enter an existing account it will create a new one for the device). Whilst you can get apk's from outside the Play Store they are not official versions, so I'm not going to give any links. As with anything that is not the official version you don't know just what you are getting, it may have been 'backdoored' with spyware or other malware.

CCleaner Pro licences are valid for one computer only, either Windows or Mac. CCleaner Pro Plus licences (purchased or renewed after May 2019) can be used on up to 3 computers, Windows, Mac, or any mixture of the two. https://support.piriform.com/hc/en-us/articles/204044464-How-many-computers-can-I-install-CCleaner-Professional-on- https://support.piriform.com/hc/en-us/articles/360028350711-How-many-computers-can-I-install-CCleaner-Professional-Plus-on- Neither of those licences will work on Android. CCleaner for Android licences have to be purchased through the Google Play Store, and only work on Android. https://www.ccleaner.com/ccleaner-android

Thanks for checking, The latest Windows 10 is now 21H2 build 19044.1415, but 21H1 is OK. Norton 360 v22.21.11.46 is the latest. CCleaner: v5.88.9346 is the latest. So you are up to date except for Win 10, and as said 21H1 is fine. (If you do a 'Check for Updates' you may be offered 21H2 or may not, it depends on what components/software are in your machine). So the cause of your issue remains a mystery, did you check Nortons quarintine logs to see if Norton is removing CCleaner for some reason? Although if that was the problem then I'd expect other Norton 360 users to be shouting as well. The next question would be where you are getting the CCleaner installer from, (and are you using the same installer each time or downloading a new one)? I suggest that you uninstall CCleaner again and remove any existing 'ccsetup###.exe' installer that you have, then download the 'Slim' installer (ccsetup588_slim.exe) from here, it's the 3rd one down: https://www.ccleaner.com/ccleaner/builds That installs the same CCleaner, but installs it in a slightly different way which can often prevent/cure odd problems. (If you have CCleaner Pro then once re-installed you will need to go to Options>About>Upgrade to Pro and enter your licence key again). PS. Another reason that I doubt Defender is removing CCleaner is that Microsoft have now added CCleaner in the Microsoft Store. So it would be daft of them to offer it in the Store and then have Defender remove it.

Please tell us the actual version numbers. You might be surprised at the number of times a questioner has insisted that they are 'up to date' only for us later to find that their version is actually an old one. Certain AV's in particular are well known for reporting that they are 'up to date' when in fact it's last years version that is being used. Windows 10 may also not be the latest, just because it is not offering you a version update does not mean that you have the latest Win 10 version. You may indeed be up to date, but without the version numbers we can't check if that is the case. PS. As you know that Defender is turned off by running another AV then why do you still think that what you are seeing has anything to do with Defender?

The latest we have is above from 8 December, it also talks about the situation with Pro+ licences:

Your photos show CCleaner itself being uninstalled, nothing else. (What Windows version are you using? Those uninstaller messages look 'old style'). Why clicking uninstall for that Cannon app would start to uninstall CCleaner instead I don't know. It is obviously something that should not happen. Are you saying that other apps actually got removed? If other apps have been removed then you should urgently have your machine checked over for malware, or other issues, by an expert. (It may be a good idea to get this done anyway if it's behaving strangely like this). Forum rules don't allow us to do that here, but you can get free one-to-one help from trained experts at any one of the following sites: https://forums.malwarebytes.com/topic/9573-im-infected-what-do-i-do-now/ https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/f/22/virus-trojan-spyware-and-malware-removal-help/ http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/forum/37-virus-spyware-malware-removal/ https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=53253.0 Which one you choose is up to you. They all have trained experts who specialse malware removal, but will check a computer thoroughly for other problems as well, they will take you through things step-by-step. Be sure to do what they say and only what they say until they give you the all clear. Only use one help/removal service at once, trying to use 2 at once will interfere one with the other and they will know.

Health Check does what it does and as far as I know there are no plans to give it any more user changable options, it's meant as a quick/easy 'default' clean and check for those who don't want to be bothered with customising things. If you do want to customise things then Custom Clean is there. If you could customise both then there wouldn't be much point in having both. I did miss a third option that will prevent Health Check from automatically updating software in the Pro version (I'll edit the above post and add it): If you go offline (eg. Flight Mode on a laptop) before running Health Check then it can't contact a server to check for or fetch any upate(s).

If you contact support by emailing them at support@ccleaner.com they should be able to help. (For Pro users of CCleaner for Mac there is an update to v2.2 available, that update is not available for Free users yet. Pro users of CCleaner for Mac should have been contacted by email about it, but I'm not sure if that happens if you have a Pro+ licence key that can work on both Windows and Mac). In CCleaner Free (Windows or Mac) go to Options>About>Upgrade to Pro, enter your key as asked, and click on register: You can find further details on registering, for both Windows and Mac, here: https://support.piriform.com/hc/en-us/articles/204043844-How-to-register-and-activate-CCleaner-Professional

As Hazelnut says having any other AV installed/enabled turns off Defender real time protection. (although periodic scans can still be run). Neither Norton or Defender is know for removing CCleaner.exe, so if it's happening on your machine then that begs a few of questions. (Defender will sometimes remove very old CCleaner versions, but it you are up to date with CCleaner that isn't a problem). What version of Norton 360 are you running? What version of Windows 10 are you running? What version of CCleaner, and where did you download it from? Is it installed in the default location or have you installed it at a custom location? Have you checked the Norton Quarantine logs to see if it is actually Norton that is removing CCleaner.exe? https://support.norton.com/sp/en/us/home/current/solutions/v6200305

A clock usually indicates that some process is still pending/running. One thought - Are you running any automatic backup software? Some of those will put a little clock on the icon when there is a pending (or running) scheduled backup. So I'm wondering if a scheduled backup has locked access to the folder while it backs it up, but because you accidentally deleted the folder it is/was unable to start/complete the backup and has frozen? (In which case you may be able to abort the automatic backup).

Catalina is a 64-bit Mac OS. (So the 16-bit version of Word and Excel would have needed updating to at least 32-bit like you say). The latest released Free CCleaner for Mac (1.18.30) should still run on Catalina. I would contact support as johnccleaner says. Note that there is a later version of CCleaner for Mac (v2.2) but at the moment that is not available to Free users. The Free version should be available sometime later this year. Pro users should have had an email about updating, and if you purchase CCleaner for Mac you should get v2.2. PS. I'm not suggesting that you purchase at this time - If there is an issue with 1.18.30 on your machine then you may have the same issue with 2.2. So try to get the issue with 1.18 sorted out before spending any money.

That is no longer entirely correct. Health Check automatically runs the Software Updater ('Security' tab) if you have CCleaner Pro. To prevent software updates happening automatically from Health Check Pro you have 3 options: Use Custom Clean and not Health Check. (You can still run Software Updater seperately as johnccleaner says). After a Health Check scan if 'Security' has found something to update then click on 'Security' and untick what it has found to prevent it being updated. NOTE - that you will need to do that everytime that you use Health Check and 'Security' finds something to be updated. If you go offline (eg. Flight Mode on a laptop) before running Health Check then it can't contact a server to check for or fetch any upate(s). You can set Custom Clean to be the default that CCleaner shows you by changing Options>Settings>CCleaner Home Screen.

Moved to CCleaner for Mac. It may help anyone answering to known which Mac OS version are you running?

If you follow Nergal's 3-line advice in his signature you will proably be OK, but no guarantees. If you just run Registry Cleaner blithely you will proably be OK, but no guarantees. We do get posts here from people who have messed up their machine by using the Registry Cleaner. Some of them say they have always used it (sometimes weekly) with no problems - until it suddenly is a problem. In many cases they have to Repair or even completely Reinstall Windows to get their computer working again. For the official Piriform advice on using the Registry Cleaner see this post by Dave CCleaner: https://community.ccleaner.com/topic/59952-i-get-a-registry-error-on-ccleaner-on-windows-10-i-have-scanned-5-times/?tab=comments#comment-326804 Here is Microsofts advice on using any Registry Cleaner: https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/2563254/microsoft-support-policy-for-the-use-of-registry-cleaning-utilities Personally I will use it if I have been doing a lot of installing/ununstalling, usually I'll only remove entries that are obviously connected to those installs/uninstalls or to downloads. (Those will ususally be left over Application Paths for things that have been uninstalled, and/or Installer References). TBH even that doesn't need doing, a few (or even a few hundred/thousand) incorrect or leftover/unecessary registry entries only take up a few bytes of space and won't affect the running (or the speed) of your computer at all. To put it in simple words: If you never, ever, use a registry cleaner then you won't even know that there may be incorrect or orphaned registry entries, entries that don't affect your computers running in the slightest way. If you do use a registry cleaner to remove any incorrect/orphaned entries then you take a risk that you could inadvertently remove something that is needed and so break your computer. Once you see it spelled out like that then you see that there is no real need to use a registry cleaner, and especially not regularly, but there is a risk in using one. In the end it's up to each person to decide if they want to take that risk. (Registry Cleaning does have it's uses, it might help as part of if you are trying to fix/clean a computer that has been infected with malware, but that's an advanced job).