One aspect of the latest release (2017-07-25) is VERY annoying to me. The Active Monitoring feature is EXTREMELY difficult to turn OFF. This is a feature that looks at EVERYTHING YOU DO and keeps records of it. Yes, the use of those records is supposedly benign -- CCleaner will just help me delete those traces, right? But what if I tell you to stop monitoring me? And yet you don't? Am I going to TRUST that your monitoring is benign? No no no. I'm going to pull the PANIC BUTTON. You must must must STOP MONITORING ME!! GIVE ME MY PRIVACY BACK!
Active Monitoring is defaulted to ON when you download this release (despite previous versions having it turned OFF at the time the new release is installed). That's already unreasonable. Then, in order to PREVENT future Active Monitoring, you have to take THREE steps, yes 3, three, THREE! First, (a) deselect the option in the Advanced Options dialog of CCleaner, then (b) disable the Active Monitoring start-up item, BUT NOT DELETE IT (if you delete it, the next run of CCleaner will re-install it, DEFAULTED TO THE ON POSITION AGAIN!), (this deselection also can be done with CCleaner or with any of a number of other start-up-management utilities) and then (the shocker!) you still aren't yet done. That's because you CAN'T QUIT CCLEANER! It's already in Actively Monitoring mode (despite the fact that you didn't want it to do this, it nevertheless has started monitoring on its own) so it will NOT GO AWAY! You have to (c) use Task Manager or some other third-party utility to turn off CCleaner (which otherwise will continue to run and will continue to Actively Monitor despite steps (a) and (b) above, AND FURTHERMORE will re-set your start-up setting from off to on). Then (d) restart your computer. Wow, that's TOO MUCH to make an invasion of privacy go away. Try this: one click. Period.
This is too difficult, and almost to the point of misleading. The present arrangement manages to "force" CCleaner to run in the background even when you go WAY out of your way to prevent it from doing so. I hope this was a mistake. (If instead it's a deliberate feature, designed to cause CCleaner to exist in the hidden-but-running state, unbeknownst to most typical users, secretly collecting their private information, then this would be the first time in my experience with Piriform that your company has acted so much like Microsoft that I would want to get rid of you if I could. That's not in typical Piriform character.) You've managed to set up your program so that the instant a user first uses it, the user is suddenly, unwittingly, and involuntarily permanently saddled with a pervasive and permanent, and yet potentially unwanted, monitor of 100% of that user's activity forever, a monitor that is essentially secret. This is the case unless the user is more than averagely informed about technical settings and about background processes. To rephrase: YOU'RE SPYING ON ME WITHOUT MY CONSENT EVEN AFTER I DEMAND THAT YOU DON'T DO IT. That's way way WAY uncool.
Suggestion: provide a QUIT button that actually ENDS CCleaner's activity; and provide an INSTANTANEOUS and EFFECTIVE way to disable the Active Monitoring, with ONE CLICK that will (1) end any presently ongoing monitoring AND ALSO will (2) disable any future monitoring from re-starting without user input. The present set-up is a subterfuge that implements invasions of my privacy directly against what I thought were my express wishes (by selecting certain more private settings) otherwise, because when I select those certain more private settings, they are not implemented transparently, but instead are controverted by other contradictory and misleading settings.
HEAR! HEAR!
I unchecked that option a half-dozen times and every time I would reboot there it was, the damned thing was running again. No right-click to force close as you pointed out. Open, uncheck, rinse, repeat. Just a few moments ago I became really irritated with it. I don't have time to launch a formal investigation into every perceived bug in an application, so I decided to come straight to the source to see if this issue was unique to me before digging into it. I ran straight into this post without searching.
I couldn't have expressed my feelings about this situation any better than you. A company's practices are a direct reflection of their core principles, and one doesn't have to look too far to see the agenda here. Avast and Piriform are referred to as separate entities, so I will address them as such. This was not a mistake or miscalculation. This was not done for your benefit or mine, to protect us from the digital world as we know it. (<--- That will be their official stance) Both have been around for a long time and knew exactly what effect this would have. That's precisely why they didn't put anything about it in the release notes and have yet to make a statement. There's no excuse for it. Here's them describing themselves in the press release of the acquisition:
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Avast Software (www.avast.com), maker of the most trusted mobile and PC security in the world, protects 230 million people and businesses with its security applications. In business for over 25 years, Avast is one of the early innovators in the security business, with a portfolio that includes security and privacy products for PC, Mac, Android and iOS, and premium suites and services for business. In addition to being top-ranked by consumers on popular download portals worldwide
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AVG is a leading provider of software services to secure devices, data and people. AVG’s award-winning consumer portfolio includes internet security, performance optimization, location services, data controls and insights, and privacy and identity protection, for mobile devices and desktops.
That's rich isn't it? 2016 might have been a fun ride for some, but the rest of us have been on a long, long slide. Well, I'm getting off. I uninstalled that garbage as soon as I read your post. I make it a policy not to willingly run spyware so I showed CCleaner what the recycle bin looks like. I would have came here and called a turd a turd cliftonprince but you beat me to it.
VERY disappointed in Privacy Invasion of latest release -- Active Monitoring WRONG settings! won't turn OFF!
in CCleaner Suggestions
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