Hello everyone,
I need a little advise about CCleaner and its possibility of causing a complete crash of a computer.
A friend's computer was acting very slow and she knew very little about computer maintenance. I asked if she had run the Windows XP system clean up of her temp files and she didn't know how this was done. The computer was a newer maybe 2 years old Pentium 4 with a good amount of RAM and probably a 2.6 gigabite processor at least. She was running broadband as well no dial up. There was no other reason for running slow that I could see. She had only used a small bit of the large hard drive. Maybe 30% total. She had a good anti-virus so I do not think that was the issue. That is shy I suggested CCleaner and to clean her temp files first.
I proceeded to install CCleaner and cleaned her temp files. The computer started running slow a few days before that and that is why she may have had a worm or something she picked up somewhere like Myspace. She used Myspace frequently.
After installing and running the CCleaner the computer cleaned a ton of files and such from the computer and it worked much better and gave her no trouble until a day later she want back to her computer and booted it up and got the blue screen or black screen. Her hard drive had completely crashed and she could not get it up again. She tool it in and was told it would cost several hundred dollars to recover her lost wedding pictures and other files but the most important files were her pictures. I had asked her if she had backed up anything and they never did. This is another example of unwitting negligence in basic computer maintenance.
So, to explain the reason for my asking you for advice is because she is blaming me for breaking her computer or causing her hard drive to crash when she re-booted as a result of me using Windows system clean of temp files and the installation of CCleaner and running it. Remember this did not happen right away she used it for a day or 2 later and she even said it worked fine until the day it crashed. That was ALL I did as faor as steps to make if faster. IF she had a virus I was not aware of it. I do believe her computer was still under warranty and she may have been compensated for her hard drive but they would not pay for the recovery of her pictures.
I guess I got the blame for being the one to try to help her with the speed of her computer. My question is simple. Can CCleaner or has CCleaner ever been known to cause the crash of one hard drive 24 to 48 hours later?
I will send this answer to her so we can put this issue to bed once and for all. I am also getting the blame as a result of her not backing up her wedding pictures and that is why she is still taking about it over a year later with her friends on Facebook as if I was to fool with no basic computer knowledge.
I don't like being the brunt of jokes so can you please set her straight and give you expert opinions if this could remotely happen so I can end the blaming and gossip.
Thank you all in advance.
RM
(megazen)