Thank you Andavari for this info.
This solves the problem for me.
I am very glad this forum exists for users of this great software.
Thanks everyone for posting.
I updated CCleaner this morning and it installed Avast without providing an option to check/uncheck Avast. CCleaner itself wouldn't update - the installer crashed. I only found the Avast installation when I looked into why CCleaner wouldn't update. After uninstalling Avast, I tried again and checked every alternative in the CCleaner installation screens - absolutely no mention of Avast. Total BS.
7 minutes ago, JSC said:<div class="ipsQuote_contents"> <p> I tried again and checked every alternative in the CCleaner installation screens - absolutely no mention of Avast. </p> </div>
Because as explained above in APPichaels' first post if you had installed it once then it had set a flag in the registry to tell CCleaner not to show you the offer again.
To avoid any issues with unwanted Avast (or google toolbar) installs most regular users here use the 'Slim' installer from the builds page, that does not contain any offer.
Since 2010 there has been a third-party offer of some sort in the CCleaner installer to help pay the bills ... and since 2010 people have been asking why offers have "suddenly" started to appear.
These days most users don't see a third-party offer in the CCleaner installer - not because it's mysteriously hidden, but because there are some smarter rules set up in the installer not to bother offering something if the user has already seen that offer in the past x months, if they've already got it installed, or (in the case of AV) if they seem to already have an alternative running. (And of course there's no offer with the automatic updates.)
Since it doesn't do anyone any good if a user accidentally installs something they don't actually want, CCleaner deliberately made its offers more prominent than in most other installers and, as per the screenshots above, the Avast banner was changed to a rather vivid purple and orange to make it even more eye-catching and hard to miss. But some people do still miss it. And then they get angry about it.
On the "to-do" list for the development team (who greatly prefer to have happy users than angry users) is overhauling the installer flow with a new interface to help get rid of this accidental installation problem. In the meantime, as per nukecad's response, CCleaner also has a "slim installer" version with no offers.
I created an account here just to confirm (as if it was needed) that the silent install of Avast is still happening.
I tried to update from v5.4x to v5.57 today. The install screen was clean (no Avast splash). I actively checked because I've been caught by it before on other PCs. Just like I check for McAffee installs with Adobe reader - once you've been caught a couple of times you remember.
The upgrade failed to complete because it couldn't delete the old ccleaner executable. My existing Antivirus (trend micro) had popped up during the install so I thought maybe it was interfering with the process . I closed down Trend Micro, used TaskManager to kill the hung CCleaner process then re-ran the CCleaner install.
Again there was NO splash offering Avast but a few minutes later Chrome popped up to tell me Avast was trying to install and extension. - and sure enough Avast had done a silent install.
For the fun of it I deleted the registry key that ccleaner uses to check if the offer has been displayed. (Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\AvastAdSDK) Then uninstalled and-reinstalled ccleaner. This time the Avast splash screen was displayed.
Third time round: I uninstalled CCleaner, deleted the registry key again, restarted my Trend Micro antivirus and ran the installer again. No Avast offer and no avast install either. This is how it's meant to work.
For what it worth - I understand the need to offer other software, and I appreciate the fact that they have made the banner loud and visible -but it does real damage to the credibility of the companies involved when this keeps happening and when their representatives appear to assume the hundreds of people reporting these sneak installs are stupid, blind or both.
On 5/25/2019 at 02:06, Dave CCleaner said:<div class="ipsQuote_contents"> <p> the Avast banner was changed to a rather vivid purple and orange to make it even more eye-catching and hard to miss. But some people do still miss it. And then they get angry about it. </p> </div>
No i didn't miss it. It wasn't there. Really. I have loved using ccleaner and have installed it on dozens of PCs and I can tell you that these hidden installs do happen and no one who's seen it more than once or twice believes that it's not deliberate. This has been going on for at least 6 months and has been independently verified.
It looks like the commenters on this bleeping computer article were right. The day Avast's takeover of Piriform was announced people predicted they would be silently bundling and installing software and they were right.
@flippertie thanks for this - outlining your test scenarios in this fashion was extremely helpful.
Your third time around showed the intended behaviour. The second install attempt displaying the Avast offer would have checked for existing AV before offering, but seems to have failed to detect your Trend Micro since it was switched off at the time.
I am concerned with what happened the first time around though - that would certainly be a "bug not a feature". To help us replicate this scenario, are you able to confirm:
- Can you recall which 5.4x version you were updating from? Was this in response to an in-product notification advising that you were 11/12/13 released out of date?
- At what point did Trend Micro pop up during the first failed install attempt? Do you recall what it said when it did pop up?
- At what point did the CCleaner installation show as unresponsive in the Task Manager? Was the failure to delete the old CCleaner executable something you observed, or was there a specific error message that popped up telling you that it had happened?
Dave CCleaner:
- Can you recall which 5.4x version you were updating from? Was this in response to an in-product notification advising that you were 11/12/13 released out of date?
Possibly 5.44 but I'm not sure. There was a reminder that there was a newer version to download. I usually ignore those because they just tend to add bloat that I don't use.
- At what point did Trend Micro pop up during the first failed install attempt? Do you recall what it said when it did pop up?
During the installation the progress bar was perhaps 1/3 to 1/2 across. I think TM's message was to the effect the the installer was doing a DLL modification or injection. The options were to allow once or block once and it said something like 'If you don't press anything the action will be allowed in 30 seconds'. There were 2 of those - and then the installation hung.
- At what point did the CCleaner installation show as unresponsive in the Task Manager? Was the failure to delete the old CCleaner executable something you observed, or was there a specific error message that popped up telling you that it had happened?
I don't remember the exact details of what happened. There was a message about being unable to delete the executable. I triedreinstalling a couple of times andwhen I opened the task manager there were multiple CCleaner processes running - without any visible ccleaner windows.
The PC may have been, as you say, a dozen releases out if date - that's exactly why I turn off the auto-update and the auto notifications and the auto-monitoring and the auto-phone-home and the rest. Ccleaner was great for me a couple of years ago and all the new 'features' that are being added take away from its utility.. I don't want it running background processes, I don't want the idiot mode, or the dumbed down report etc.
I'll keep an eye out and let you know more details if it happens again.
IT tech here
Was preparing some screenshots to show "clean install of a nice utility" for my book on malwares, where I (wanted to) explain that you must not install anything without carefull verification.
CCleaner was the "good" exemple
Unlocker was the "bad" exemple
I have all the screen grabs that show NOT CHECKBOX or information on avast
But.. avast STILL TRIED TO INSTALL ITSELF <img alt="???" src="https://forum.avast.com/Smileys/default/huh.gif" title="Huh"> (I have some protection, but still it got partially intalled, very bad garbage)
unlocker has a checkbox, allready checked, and I fought it was bad behavior. CCleaner, THAT IS VERY BAD BEHAVIOR !!!
Uninstalled CCleaner (and what of avast that got through).
Will never use it again
Preparing big information campain agaist you, on twitter, fb and so on.
You are bad.
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Grisemine,
I had the same objection and anger about avast being installed with ccleaner, then volunteer moderator Andavari, in a post above in this thread, said to use portable ccleaner because it had no avast in the install. ...It is what he uses and it is now what I use. Download the latest portable version from https://www.ccleaner.com/ccleaner/builds . ...If you do not know how to set up a portable version from a downloaded zip file like this, then email or contact the "help desk" at: https://support.piriform.com/hc/en-us/requests/new .
*The portable version of any software is better because it does not clutter up your dll registry files and make your system heavier to operate.
Good luck.
divinenews
aka Elijah Gale
2 hours ago, Grisemine said:<div class="ipsQuote_contents ipsClearfix"> <p> I have all the screen grabs that show NOT CHECKBOX or information on avast But.. avast STILL TRIED TO INSTALL ITSELF <img alt="???" src="https://forum.avast.com/Smileys/default/huh.gif" title="Huh"> (I have some protection, but still it got partially intalled, very bad garbage) unlocker has a checkbox, allready checked, and I fought it was bad behavior. CCleaner, THAT IS VERY BAD BEHAVIOR !!! Uninstalled CCleaner (and what of avast that got through). Will never use it again Preparing big information campain agaist you, on twitter, fb and so on. You are bad. </p> </div>
While most incidents are from people who clicked through without paying attention to the big purple and orange banner, we do get reports of a bug (no offer but install still triggered) for a small percentage of users. The bulk of these seemed to be a delayed load of the banner for users on slow internet connections - although this was remedied a while back. Of the few remaining cases we still see it seems anecdotally to be a particular set of circumstances related to an interrupted install, possibly due to interference from AV or other configuration blocking the successful display of the banner.
Any additional details that you could provide would be most helpful in isolating, replicating and correcting this issue for other users.
In the meantime, the commonly recommended solution for those users experiencing this issue is to use the "Slim Build" installer from https://www.ccleaner.com/ccleaner/builds which contains no third party offers or optional components in the installer.
Still shocked.
Idea : if banner is on another server, can be blocked in hosts.
Or by some other protections.
But still shocked. Does it really get you THAT MUCH money to bundle avast ? :/
5 hours ago, Grisemine said:<div class="ipsQuote_contents ipsClearfix"> <p> But still shocked. Does it really get you THAT MUCH money to bundle avast ? :/ </p> </div>
Only if a user eventually buys it. Otherwise - nada. Because of this, unlike other creators of free software (who get paid for third-party installs regardless of what happens afterwards) there is zero motivation on CCleaner's part to "drive-by" install anything to users who would immediately uninstall it.
As I mentioned earlier in this thread, there are rules set up to not even bother offering Avast to users who seem unlikely to want it, and an eye-catching purple-and-orange banner that takes up a third of the install screen for those who might. We are continually tweaking this to minimise unwanted accidental installs, and working on a solution that should be more completely robust to installer glitches from a user's environment.
1 hour ago, Dave CCleaner said:<div class="ipsQuote_contents"> <p> We are continually tweaking this to minimise unwanted accidental installs, and working on a solution that should be more completely robust to installer glitches from a user's environment. </p> </div> <div> <div> <div title="Found 1 error in text"> 1 </div> </div> </div> </blockquote>Users have been telling you the simplest tweak for years - Don't have the offer box pre-ticked. (It's dodgy practice anyway).
Even if you only do it for a trial period it would prevent 'click-through' accidental installs, and let you see the real size of any other problem.
Since the offers likely won't ever disappear a more "user friendly" approach would be to completely abandon the pre-ticked small box rubbish altogether.
Instead have a whole window ad inside of the installer that offers it to the user with very obvious big buttons that read along the lines of [Yes] and [No] on them which would be better served if they were also well enough separated to avoid any possible accidental wrong clicks.
You could even go one step further and have two cartoon like characters in the window one with a thumbs up, and another with a thumbs down.
On 6/21/2019 at 21:13, nukecad said:<div class="ipsQuote_contents"> <p> Users have been telling you the simplest tweak for years - Don't have the offer box pre-ticked. (It's dodgy practice anyway). </p> <p> Even if you only do it for a trial period it would prevent 'click-through' accidental installs, and let you see the real size of any other problem. </p> </div>
This ^^^^ <applause>
Overhauling something that has been baked into the installer since 2010 is not exactly an overnight job. There's no official date for the change to be made, and the execution may still undergo some alterations and tweaks, but the final result ...
On 21/06/2019 at 18:02, Andavari said:<div class="ipsQuote_contents ipsClearfix"> <p> Instead have a whole window ad inside of the installer that offers it to the user with very obvious big buttons that read along the lines of [Yes] and [No] on them which would be better served if they were also well enough separated to avoid any possible accidental wrong clicks. </p> </div>
... will most likely bear an uncanny resemblance to this.
Will 'Yes' still be the default ?
1 hour ago, hazelnut said:<div class="ipsQuote_contents ipsClearfix"> <p> Will 'Yes' still be the default ? </p> </div>
TBD, but if we end up with something like @Andavari's proposed design, the concept of a "default" would only apply to the product configuration settings and third party options would require an explicit YES/NO decision - but probably without the cartoon characters.
3 hours ago, Dave CCleaner said:<div class="ipsQuote_contents"> <p> Overhauling something that has been baked into the installer since 2010 is not exactly an overnight job. </p> </div> <div> <div> <div title="Protected by Grammarly"> </div> </div> </div> </blockquote>Sorry, but exactly the same argument was/is used for the main product when users keep suggesting putting the Registry Cleaner into Tools.
“It’s too difficult to change the sidebar”.
But that seems not to be the case, a new button for Easy Clean was soon put in there when wanted.I note that in another thread it has been said that they are now looking at moving the Reg Cleaner.
BTW. It is good to see that, in the person of @Dave CCleaner, Piriform does seem to be taking more of an active role in the forums and listening to user opinions.
As regular members here we can sometimes be pretty critical of what we see as faults with CCleaner, mainly as a desire to see an improved product.
1 hour ago, nukecad said:<div class="ipsQuote_contents ipsClearfix"> <p> BTW. It is good to see that, in the person of <span><a contenteditable="false" data-ipshover="" data-ipshover-target="<___base_url___>/profile/84188-dave-ccleaner/?do=hovercard" data-mentionid="84188" href="<___base_url___>/profile/84188-dave-ccleaner/" id="ips_uid_1621_7" rel="">@Dave CCleaner</a></span>, Piriform does seem to be taking more of an active role in the forums and listening to user opinions. As regular members here we can sometimes be pretty critical of what we see as faults with CCleaner, mainly as a desire to see an improved product. </p> </div>
Constructive criticism is always welcome. Not always fun to read - but still helpful. Can't promise that everything will move at the pace that people would like - but everything here gets read and taken into consideration. Even prior commercial decisions are subject to review if we can find a smarter (ie: less annoying) way to achieve the same objective.