Hello Everyone! This is my first experience with CCleaner.
Problem: While the cleaner is activated and analyzing files, and its at the "Advanced | Old Windows Installation" location, it just hangs up, won't scan/analyze my computer any further. I've stopped it three times. Closed and reloaded. Same thing.
Perhaps I did something wrong when I asked CCleaner to locate duplicate files, which it did quite well. I read/researched what files to delete (even though they're all duplicates) and deleted several files. Many of them were classified as Old Windows type files. I did not delete all duplicate files. I left the first file path name alone, undisturbed and deleted the one(s) underneath.
Have I just totally screwed-up my computer?
To make matters worse, I deleted all old backups to free up disk space.
The duplicate files finder by some of us is avoided because it doesn't use any checksum/hash (MD5, SHA-1, etc.,) to verify something is an actual real duplicate. Going by filename(s) alone absolutely does not make a file a duplicate!
does CC run to completion if you untick Old Windows Installation?
if so, have you tried manually deleting the Old Windows folder? I'm not sure where you are up to in that front, when you say you 'deleted dups' and 'deleted backups'.
if you got all your personal data out of the Old Windows folder after the reload (like your Docs, Pics, Emails, Favourites etc) then it can be deleted.
as to the dup file finder, it could have found the same named file in the current Windows folder AND the Old Windows folder, hopefully you picked the Old location as the duplicate.