CCleaner not cleaning cache et al for IE or Firefox

CCleaner for Windows
1

Info: I'm running Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit, Service Pack 2 (safe mode). CCleaner reports that I am using the latest version.

CCleaner.exe is set to run as Administrator for all users under the properties/compatibility tab.

With all options under the "Windows" and "Applications" tabs checked, except the "Wipe Free Space" option, CCleaner fails to clear the browsing history, cookies, etc... for both IE 8 and Firefox 3.6.8.

It also appeared in one instance that custom files and folders weren't cleared.

It makes no difference whether I:

  • Enable secure file deletion
  • Run CCleaner under the Admin account
  • Enter the Administrator password (UAC prompt) when running CCleaner under a standard account
  • Right-click the desktop shortcut and select "Run as Administrator"

This is strange; CCleaner seemed to work fine before I updated to the latest version. Could this be because I'm running CCleaner in safe mode? Should I try uninstalling and reinstalling CCleaner?

2

Info: I'm running Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit, Service Pack 2 (safe mode). CCleaner reports that I am using the latest version.

CCleaner.exe is set to run as Administrator for all users under the properties/compatibility tab.

With all options under the "Windows" and "Applications" tabs checked, except the "Wipe Free Space" option, CCleaner fails to clear the browsing history, cookies, etc... for both IE 8 and Firefox 3.6.8.

It also appeared in one instance that custom files and folders weren't cleared.

It makes no difference whether I:

  • Enable secure file deletion
  • Run CCleaner under the Admin account
  • Enter the Administrator password (UAC prompt) when running CCleaner under a standard account
  • Right-click the desktop shortcut and select "Run as Administrator"

This is strange; CCleaner seemed to work fine before I updated to the latest version. Could this be because I'm running CCleaner in safe mode? Should I try uninstalling and reinstalling CCleaner?

Why are you running it in safe mode? that could (might not) be the issue. try and run in not safe mode, if you are able to. It shouldn't have any effect on it to run in safemode but just in case, I'd say try.

Also you don't have to set it to run as UAC as the program is written to trigger the prompt. Make sure that all Firefox instances are closed (Open Task manager and go to the processes tab, alphabetize it and look for firefox.exe while there make sure there are no iexplore.exe, though that has less of a need)

3

Why are you running it in safe mode? that could (might not) be the issue. try and run in not safe mode, if you are able to. It shouldn't have any effect on it to run in safemode but just in case, I'd say try.

Also you don't have to set it to run as UAC as the program is written to trigger the prompt. Make sure that all Firefox instances are closed (Open Task manager and go to the processes tab, alphabetize it and look for firefox.exe while there make sure there are no iexplore.exe, though that has less of a need)

Thanks for your reply. I sometimes run CCleaner in safe mode because when CCleaner has a lot of items to clean, it seems to finish the job faster than it would without safe mode. That could be my imagination. :P I performed a fresh install of CCleaner and tried running it again without safe mode, and it seemed to have no problems at all that time. In any case, whether it was causing problems or not, I have decided to disable UAC completely. I can't find a use for it and my system has never been overtaken by malware anyway.

4

Thanks for your reply. I sometimes run CCleaner in safe mode because when CCleaner has a lot of items to clean, it seems to finish the job faster than it would without safe mode. That could be my imagination. :P I performed a fresh install of CCleaner and tried running it again without safe mode, and it seemed to have no problems at all that time. In any case, whether it was causing problems or not, I have decided to disable UAC completely. I can't find a use for it and my system has never been overtaken by malware anyway.

For some time I ended each session with CCLEANER /AUTO /SHUTDOWN

On 1% to 10% of the time it would stall after cleaning and closing - but NO SHUTDOWN.

(random game of chance depending on how much junk had accumulated, phase of the moon, "r" in the month, etc)

I observed that when it stalled I could repeat CCLEANER /AUTO /SHUTDOWN,

and it took zero time to see there was nothing to clean and CC would exit and again no shutdown.

I also observed that there were about 24 process shown by Task Manager when that was the only application,

but as soon as CCLEANER /AUTO /SHUTDOWN had failed there were only about 18 processes running.

When XP had a "full house" of 24 services/processes in operation the CCleaner behaved as expected.

I deduced that at least one of the 6 missing services was essential to CCleaner operation.

It always went wrong when I was tired and ready for bed so I never wrote down which 18 were inadequate,

and do not know which of the missing 6 was essential.

I suspect that Vista has services and processes that in SAFE MODE do not run,

and CCleaner (not Comodo) has a more difficult life in their absence.

NB I solved my problem by tweaking my shutdown script to launch CCLEANER /AUTO

and to wait for completion and then ran Windows shutdown.exe.

Regards

Alan

5

I performed a fresh install of CCleaner and tried running it again without safe mode, and it seemed to have no problems at all that time.

Scratch that quoted bit. For some reason, no matter when or how I run CCleaner, even with all possible cleaning options checked (except "wipe free space"), several cookies (which are always the same) remain in the "cookies to delete" column in options/cookies. Is this a glitch? They even stay there after I clear everything from my browsers the conventional way.

6

Scratch that quoted bit. For some reason, no matter when or how I run CCleaner, even with all possible cleaning options checked (except "wipe free space"), several cookies (which are always the same) remain in the "cookies to delete" column in options/cookies. Is this a glitch? They even stay there after I clear everything from my browsers the conventional way.

Ok the cookies remain in the cookies to clean section? that changes everything. Are the PHYSICAL cookies still there, if not all you are experiencing is ghosting, which occurs because the index of the files still exists. When you reboot the machine, do these cookies suddenly disappear?

Also, I missed you saying

I have decided to disable UAC completely

This is a VERY VERY VERY bad idea. nuffsaid on that

7

This is a VERY VERY VERY bad idea. nuffsaid on that

:unsure: its the first thing I did when I booted up this machine. I was fine on XP without it, I was fine on ME, 2000 (ugh),98,95 and 3.1.1 without it, I'll be fine on 7 without it IMO.

8

:unsure: its the first thing I did when I booted up this machine. I was fine on XP without it, I was fine on ME, 2000 (ugh),98,95 and 3.1.1 without it, I'll be fine on 7 without it IMO.

Yer a special case IMHO ;-)

9

Ok the cookies remain in the cookies to clean section?

Yes.

Are the PHYSICAL cookies still there?

No, I checked pretty thoroughly.

When you reboot the machine, do these cookies suddenly disappear?

Even though the physical cookies were gone, their entries stayed in the "cookies to delete" section.

if not all you are experiencing is ghosting, which occurs because the index of the files still exists.

That was definitely the case. I ran a search in Windows for "index.dat" and noticed 1 or 2 rather large (300KB or so) index.dat files were hanging around. For whatever reason, even CCleaner couldn't get rid of them. I'm guessing they were locked by the OS. I'll explain how I solved this below.

***To anyone who reads this, here is your one and only warning: For safety's sake, I would advise against performing what is described below. Don't blame me if you blow something up.***

To delete the locked index.dat files, I:

  1. Restarted the system
  2. Booted into Safe Mode With Command Prompt

    This gives you a command prompt with administrative privileges and prevents Windows from interfering with whatever operations you perform.

  3. Entered "cd\"

    Moves you to the root directory of your main drive (usually C:)

  4. Entered "del index.dat /s"

    Tells DOS “delete all files named index.dat in all subdirectories”.

Boom. No more problems. The cookies no longer show up in the "cookies to delete" section. It's not a "proper" delete, but it works for me.

10

To delete the locked index.dat files, I:

  1. Restarted the system
  2. Booted into Safe Mode With Command Prompt

    This gives you a command prompt with administrative privileges and prevents Windows from interfering with whatever operations you perform.

  3. Entered "cd\"

    Moves you to the root directory of your main drive (usually C:)

  4. Entered "del index.dat /s"

    Tells DOS “delete all files named index.dat in all subdirectories”.

Boom. No more problems. The cookies no longer show up in the "cookies to delete" section. It's not a "proper" delete, but it works for me.

or of course you could just check index dats in ccleaner and reboot. :P

11

or of course you could just check index dats in ccleaner and reboot. :P

I have this same problem since installing the new version of Ccleaner!

I DO have index.dat ticked!

Tried Zero Nova's suggestion, Windows Safe Mode Command Prompt, del index.dat /s and rebooted. Guess what, the cookies are still showing in the 'cookies to delete' section on Ccleaner.

What do I do now?

12

or of course you could just check index dats in ccleaner and reboot. :P

Honestly, I tried that repeatedly, but the ghosting issue just refused to stop until I tried the command prompt method.

Sorry if I'm being a bit confusing here, but I just discovered something:

CCleaner still fails to clear the browsing history under a standard (non-admin) account, and I have no idea why. It fails for both IE8 and Firefox.

Believe me, I've tried running CCleaner with EVERYTHING in both the windows and applications tabs checked, and running it with admin privileges under the standard account. Even after a reboot, the browsing history is still there. More of a minor annoyance than an issue but I'd at least like to know why it's happening.

I hope the developers are watching threads like this.