CCleaner seems to catch a file it wants to remove, but then skips over it

[TWI]

Hi -

Not sure if this is a bug. I have the free version and have run it several times to clean things up. I have recently been getting a number of "not responding" delays with MS Office - Outlook, Excel...mostly. Thought a cleanup might help.

Cleaner seems to get stuck on a particular file and after a minute or so it skips it and cleans everything else. Every time I run it the same file is there and then skipped.

I searched and found the file, but it I can't delete it. Laptop just freezes.

The file is in Users\"me"\Appdata\LocalLow\Microsoft\....\www.baltimoresun[1].xml

I figured out it's in a read only folder, but I can't change the properties to delete it. The laptop just gets "stuck" and I have to reboot.

Ran a full virus scan and it's not finding anything.

QUESTION -

Ever seen this before?

Would the Pro version take out this file during Cleaning?

Thanks,

Jeff

[Andavari]

What operating system are you using?

Could be a simple matter of running the built-in Disk Cleanup to clean browser cache, or starting Internet Explorer or Edge and cleaning from within them.

[mta]

Hi Jeff,

The Pro version would make no difference as it cleans the same way as the Free version.

If the above suggestions from @Andavari don't help, you could also try either removing that file/folder with the PC in Safe Mode or using a 3rd party tool like Unlocker.

(a warning using Unlocker - read all messages during installation carefully as it could install adware)

[TWI]

Thanks for the reply's. Running Windows 7 Home Premium.

Tried to delete the file in Safe Mode, but it would not. Got an I/O device error message.

Also could not rename it. Got another error.

A strange thing to me is the path to the file.

Users\Jeff\AppData\LocalLow\Microsoft\InternetExplorer\DomStore\JVBUUQ20.

I don't have an InternetExporer sub folder under Microsoft. Anywho, the attached thumbnail has the error message.

If anyone has a suggestion on how to delete this file, I would appreciate the help.

Is there a reason why Cleaner tries to catch it, but then skips over it?

Andavari - what do you mean by "starting Internet Explorer or Edge and cleaning from within them".

Thanks,

Jeff

[mta]

in the off chance that section of the drive may be bad, try doing a CHKDSK /R from a command prompt.

with browsers, they all have an internal cleaning process.

for example, in Internet Explorer it's under Tools, Internet Options, and click Delete.

with Chrome it's Ctrl+H (for History), and click Clear browsing data...

[TWI]

MTA - Thanks for the suggestion to run CHKDSK /R. It took a few hours to finigh and I saw the point where it deleted the "index entry" for the file in question - the "thing that wouldn't leave". To confirm, I did a search for the file and it wasn't found. Ran Cleaner again and it didn't detect it and flew right through the cleaning process. There wasn't much to clean at that point.

For the Piriform folks - Before i ran chkdsk I ran the latest version of CCleaner and it got stuck in the same place. I grabbed the screen so you can see what I was experiencing.

Thanks again for the responses -

Jeff

[mta]

Good to hear you got it sorted.

And it most likely may be just a one-off, but for me, I'd be 'nervous' as to the state of that hard drive.

I've had bad sectors or corrupted indexes before, which CHKDSK has fixed and all is fine going forward - but it could also be the early signs of a failing drive.

With that in mind, I'd be doing more regular backups, or ideally, consider replacing that drive. How old is it?

[TWI]

it's 5 years old. It gets a moderate amount of home use. It's not a commercial tool, but I hear you. I have things backed up and have fingers crossed!

Jeff

[mta]

the backups will save your bacon, not too sure on the crossed fingers front (no first hand experience of it helping)

and a Welcome to the Forums if no-one else has put it out there.