Ccleaner's registry cleaner and Windows multiboot computers

CCleaner for Windows
1

I have a competing commercial registry cleaning program. I ran that program on a computer that has XP Pro and Vista Ultimate installed. XP is on C:\ and Vista is on D:\. I ran the program under XP, and later when I ran the computer under Vista, Vista appeared to undo some changes made by the commercial registry cleaning program.

I used the online chat helpline for the commercial program, and learned the program was not designed to work on multiboot computers.

Question:

Does Ccleaner recognize and/or check to see if the computer has more than one OS installed? What if the OS is not a Windows OS?

Thanks.

2

Ummmm Registry isn't shared between two OS's and no other OS's have registries besides Windows

3

Is there something in the registry that could relate to a multiboot installation that Ccleaner may think should be removed?

4

to the best of my knowledge, no.

all of that is mostly controlled in the master boot record https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_boot_record

5

There are experts that advise against allowing a drive letter for the non-active partion.

I believe that XP and Vista have different ways of dealing with System Volume Information.

You really need to ensure that XP is not trying to monitor the Vista partition, and vice versa.

I believe Vista can do more extreme damage to XP.

If you are happy to run the risk, you should be able to run Defraggler under XP and fully defrag everything in Vista whilst no "files are in use",

and similarly run under Vista to defrag XP.

I would be happy to hear your results,

and will know it was a bad idea if you fail to return :unsure:

6

On my desktop I triple boot with Windows XP Pro, Vista Business and Windows 7 Pro. I have no problem using CCleaner with each OS and there is no corruption between the OS'es.

The only problem I did encounter with the triple boot was that XP will delete the restore points of Vista and Windows 7. The work around is to hide the Vista and Windows 7 partitions from XP. As far as Vista and Windows 7, they have no problem with the XP restore points so the XP partition is left visible to those OS'es.

7

I think I remember that one O.S. will destroy the restore points of another O.S. if it can see it.

I am willing to accept that is only XP that poses a danger to the other O.S.'s, and not the other way round.

How about things like Volume Shadow Copy ?

Are they entirely free of Conflict.

I did allow my XP and W7 systems to see one another's partitions.

I have superior malware protection on XP, and then dual boot W7 was added with inferior Norton.

I was enraged to discover that Norton seized the opportunity to plant hidden folders and files within the XP System Volume Information.

8

The restore points were the only problem that I really encountered. Once that was resolved, each OS now peacefully co-exists with the others.

During the installs of each OS I did disabled System Restore for the partitions not related to the OS I was installing. That may have resolved a few issues before they arised.

Back when I used AVG with Win7 I did find AVG was planting folders in every OS's partition. Since then I have eliminated AVG and use MS Security Essentials with Vista and Win7. The XP OS still uses Symantecs. One nice thing is the arrangement somewhat gives me the ability to scan each OS partition with the AV and Malware program of another.

The Recycle Bin was another folder that each OS planted in the other partitions. Once in a great while Vista or Win7 wouldn't like the other's Recycle Bin and ask to replace it during boot up. Not really a problem since I have CCleaner empty those on boot anyways.

9

There are experts that advise against allowing a drive letter for the non-active partion.

I believe that XP and Vista have different ways of dealing with System Volume Information.

You really need to ensure that XP is not trying to monitor the Vista partition, and vice versa.

I believe Vista can do more extreme damage to XP.

If you are happy to run the risk, you should be able to run Defraggler under XP and fully defrag everything in Vista whilst no "files are in use",

and similarly run under Vista to defrag XP.

I would be happy to hear your results,

and will know it was a bad idea if you fail to return :unsure:

Would you please defiine "monitor the Vista partition"?

No heartburn here about running Defraggler as you suggested, I do that occasionally anyway. And, it was time to do it again.

It still runs! :D I can't offer an opinion if it's faster, though, as I never pay any attention to watching how fast it boots up. When I turn that computer on, I'm usually doing something on this one at the same time.

10

When I right click on "Computer" and select "Properties" I am in different places depending upon whether under XP or Windows 7,

but either way I can find my way to System Properties with the Tab System Protection.

On Windows 7 this lists under "Protection Settings" each of my partition letters,

and shows that each has "Protection" as "Off", i.e. no Restore Points - I do not want them

On my old XP my System "C:\" had a protection status of "MONITORING",

and all other partitions were OFF.

Originally I did not want to have "Protection" intercept and preserve all the downloaded files that were no longer needed in my download partition.

I especially did not want XP to be "MONITORING" the new partition in which I installed dual Boot Windows 7.

Vista and Windows 7 will both have a "Hissy Fit" if XP does things against their rules for System Volume Information.