Chrome Extension is disabled when running CCleaner Custom Clean

I have 21 extensions in my Chrome Browser.

Included in these is "Link to Text Fragment" https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/link-to-text-fragment/pbcodcjpfjdpcineamnnmbkkmkdpajjg

This appears in the (Right Click) context menu as described in above link.

However, when I run CCleaner Custom Clean, this item disappears from the context menu. The ONLY way to get it to work again is to REMOVE AND REINSTALL the extension. I've tried Just switching it off and on again, refreshing pages, refreshing whole browser - nothing else works.

THIS IS CONSISTENT EVEN IF I REMOVE ALL OTHER EXTENSIONS

None of the other extensions is impacted in this way so I'm at a loss to guess which CCleaner setting is responsible....or is it a bug?

I have previously raised a bug with Google here https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=1246011#c18 but it does appear to me that it is CCleaner responsible.

Despite my title to the Google bug, it's not intermittent, but reproducible simply by running CCleaner Custom Clean.

Current versions:

Chrome is up to date
Version 94.0.4606.81 (Official Build) (64-bit)
CCleaner Free
image.png.7e2074ca5533cba744a99b9d89e1cedf.png

Any suggestions please?

That is an unusual one.

You say the extension itself is still there and it's the entry on a context menu that dissapears.

That makes me think that it's something other than simply Custom Clean clearing Chrome.

Something is removing that context menu item, reinstalling the extension puts the menu entry back.

I know that you say you only used Custom Clean but:

There is a way to remove context menu entries in CCleaner, it's Tools>Startup>Context Menu where you can enable/disable context menu items.

Of course you would know if you used that.

Now the most likely way to unintentionally remove a context menu item - are you running the Registry Cleaner?

Context menu entries are saved in the registry so an item dissapearing from a context menu can happen if you remove a registry entry.


CCleaners Registry Cleaner may well remove a reg entry if it doesn't see it as being linked to an app that you have installed. (Which it won't be if it's for an extension).


Reinstalling the extension would recreate the registry entry and put the context menu item back.


(Which is all just as you describe happening).

If it's neither of those then I may have a few other ideas.

Without using the registry cleaner at all CCleaner in the past had the ability to damage ad blocking software in Chrome/Chromium browsers from 2014 up to what year I don't know because I inputted exclusion into CCleaner to stop it from messing with Chrome/Chromium addons/extension that I used, it even would damage the browser Comodo Dragon back in 2014 and 2015.

One of the admins finally saw a post about it messing with the addon/extensions and looked into it, but I don't know if they fixed it or not.

12 hours ago, nukecad said:
<div class="ipsQuote_contents">
	<p>
		That is an unusual one.
	</p>

	<p>
		You say the extension itself is still there and it's the entry on a context menu that dissapears.


		That makes me think that it's something other than simply Custom Clean clearing Chrome.
	</p>

	<p>
		Something is removing that context menu item, reinstalling the extension puts the menu entry back.
	</p>

	<p>
		I know that you say you only used Custom Clean but:
	</p>

	<p>
		There is a way to remove context menu entries in CCleaner, it's Tools&gt;Startup&gt;Context Menu where you can enable/disable context menu items.


		Of course you would know if you used that.
	</p>

	<p>
		<em><strong>Now the most likely way to <u>unintentionally</u> remove a context menu item</strong></em> - are you running the Registry Cleaner?


		Context menu entries are saved in the registry so an item dissapearing from a context menu can happen if you remove a registry entry.


		CCleaners Registry Cleaner may well remove a reg entry if it doesn't see it as being linked to an app that you have installed. (Which it won't be if it's for an extension).


		Reinstalling the extension would recreate the registry entry and put the context menu item back.


		(Which is all just as you describe happening).
	</p>

	<p>
		If it's neither of those then I may have a few other ideas.
	</p>
</div>

Thanks for responding @nukecad ?

In reply:

You say the extension itself is still there and it's the entry on a context menu that disappears. YES - see "From List of Extensions Capture" attached - this doesn't alter until I remove it to "fix" the problem

===================================================

Under Tools>Startup>Context Menu that particular extension doesn't actually appear. Attached screenshots taken when the Extension is actually working correctly!

You can see it shows up on the actual Context Menu, but CCleaner does not acknowledge it - see attached captures

======================================================

I very carefully avoided running Registry Cleaner when testing for this problem so as to isolate it. It most definitely happens after just running Custom Clean. In fact, if I exclude Chrome from the Custom Clean then the problem does not occur

===================================================

Now, about those "other ideas" if you'd be so kind ?

Actual Context Menu Capture.JPG

CCleaner Context Menu Capture.JPG

From list of extensions Capture.JPG

It's a bit unusual being a context menu entry put there by a browser extension rather than by an app.

I'm not sure just how the extension is doing that, and it may be putting something where you wouldn't expect it to be.

As you say that excluding Chrome from Custom Clean stops it happening then I would test which particular component of the Chrome cleaning is removing it.

To do that re-enable cleaning of Chrome and tick all the boxes.

Make sure Chrome is closed then in Custom Clean right-click on the first Chrome component and clean just that one from the context menu (ie. Dont run a full clean), fire up Chrome and check to see if the context menu item is still there or not, if it is then close Chrome and in Custom Clean right-click/clear the next component.

Do them one by one checking Chrome after each until you find the one that is removing the context menu entry.

PS. Obviously don't clear your saved passwords -- unless you want to.

16 hours ago, nukecad said:
<div class="ipsQuote_contents">
	<p>
		It's a bit unusual being a context menu entry put there by a browser extension rather than by an app.
	</p>

	<p>
		I'm not sure just how the extension is doing that, and it may be putting something where you wouldn't expect it to be.
	</p>

	<p>
		As you say that excluding Chrome from Custom Clean stops it happening then I would test which particular component of the Chrome cleaning is removing it.
	</p>

	<p>
		To do that re-enable cleaning of Chrome and tick all the boxes.
	</p>

	<p>
		Make sure Chrome is closed then in Custom Clean right-click on the first Chrome component and clean just that one from the context menu (ie. Dont run a full clean), fire up Chrome and check to see if the context menu item is still there or not, if it is then close Chrome and in Custom Clean right-click/clear the next component.
	</p>

	<p>
		Do them one by one  checking Chrome after each until you find the one that is removing the context menu entry.
	</p>

	<p>
		PS. Obviously don't clear your saved passwords -- unless you want to.
	</p>
</div>

Thanks again.

Did you see where I wrote above "You can see it shows up on the actual Context Menu, but CCleaner does not acknowledge it" ?

** That baffles me!! ** Because if CCleaner doesn't know its there, why does it get affected by a Clean operation in the first place??

You say "To do that re-enable cleaning of Chrome and tick all the boxes." Actually not all because if you look at the attached "CCleaner Chrome settings Capture" you can see how I have CCleaner set vis-a-vis Chrome. So not all settings are ticked anyway but with these settings, I get the problem.

However, you are right inasmuch as that must be my next step. I was sort of hoping to avoid that but, as soon as time permits.......

CCleaner Chrome settings Capture.JPG

1 hour ago, Clean MisterB said:
<div class="ipsQuote_contents ipsClearfix" data-gramm="false">
	<p>
		** That baffles me!! ** Because if CCleaner doesn't know its there, why does it get affected by a Clean operation in the first place?<span class="ipsEmoji">?</span></p>
</div>

That is the nub of it - Neither of us knows just where that extension is saving it's information, and CCleaner doesn't know either.

CCleaner is just cleaning something where that information is.

I suspect it's probably a cookie?, So if you clear Chrome cookies then it would get cleared.

But it could just as easily be in the cache, or the session?

The way to check is to only clear only one at once (as I described above) to find out which it actually is.

If you don't want to do it by right-clicking as I described then you can untick them all, then just tick one and run Custom Clean, check if that has removed the context menu entry.


If it hasn't then tick the next one and clean, check again.


And so on.


When the menu entry gets removed then you will know that it's the last one that you ticked that is removing it.


Once you know that then it may be possible to narrow it down further. (And maybe stop CCleaner removing it).

(eg. If it is a cookie then you could tell CCleaner to 'Keep' that cookie and not clear it; if it's somewhere in the cache then you may be able to set an 'Exclude' so that bit of the cache doesn't get cleared).

So this is what I did:

Searched for likely cookie in "Cookies on Computer" list - couldn't find one so:

Deselect (Untick) all items in Chrome Settings Capture list

Run Custom Clean


Nothing in Chrome got cleaned - issue does not occur (ie Extension works correctly)

Reactivate (Tick) Internet Cache and Internet History

Run Custom Clean


Appropriate items in Chrome got cleaned - issue does not occur (ie Extension works correctly)

Reactivate (Tick) Internet Cache and Internet History AND Download History and Last Download Location

Run Custom Clean


Appropriate items in Chrome got cleaned - issue does not occur (ie Extension works correctly)

Reactivate (Tick) Internet Cache and Internet History AND Download History and Last Download Location AND Session

Run Custom Clean


Appropriate items in Chrome got cleaned - issue OCCURS (ie Extension missing from Context Menu)

Removed and readded Keep to Text Fragment Extension

Closed and reopened browser - Extension works correctly

Reactivate (Tick) Internet Cache and Internet History AND Download History and Last Download Location AND Cookies

Leave  Session UNticked


Run Custom Clean


Appropriate items in Chrome got cleaned  - issue does not occur (ie Extension works correctly)

Run Custom Clean again (just to crosscheck)

Appropriate items in Chrome got cleaned  - issue does not occur (ie Extension works correctly)

Reactivate (Tick) Internet Cache and Internet History AND Download History and Last Download Location AND Cookies AND Session

ie back to my original configuration


Run Custom Clean again


Appropriate items in Chrome got cleaned  - Appropriate items in Chrome got cleaned - issue OCCURS (ie Extension missing from Context Menu)

Removed and readded Keep to Text Fragment Extension

Closed and reopened browser - Extension works correctly

Left all items activated ie staying at my original configuration

Run Custom Clean again


Appropriate items in Chrome got cleaned  - Appropriate items in Chrome got cleaned - issue OCCURS (ie Extension missing from Context Menu)

Removed and readded Keep to Text Fragment Extension

Closed and reopened browser - Extension works correctly

Left all items activated EXCEPT Session

Run Custom Clean again


Closed and reopened browser - Extension works correctly

*** Conclusion: Something in "Session" is the culprit ***

===============================================

According to this website:

  • Session – You can save the session and reopen it at a later time. Your Session contains all saved and opened tabs, so cleaning it will remove these tabs.

I confess I do not understand why this should cause the issue as I also don't understand where the Session information is stored, and what the practical effect(s) of clearing or not clearing it is / are.

Can anyone enlighten me please.

Good step by step testing.

It is indeed telling us that it is the clearing of the Chrome 'Session' that is causing the context menu entry for that extension to dissapear.

'Session' typically is the information about what Tabs you have open, what sites you are currently logged into, etc.

So if you clear the browser session then you get logged out of all websites and your open tabs don't come back next time you open the browser.

TBH I'm also at a loss as to why clearing the session information would remove a context menu entry, and if it is then why the extension wouldn't simply put it back when Chrome, and thus the extension, is launched again?

The session information seems entirely the wrong place to be saving a context menu setting, (you would have thought that anything extension related should be saved in the 'extensions' directory: C:\Users\[login_name]\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions),

But I can only think that the developer of the extension is doing it that way for some reason.


Maybe he can't get it to work any other way in Chrome? (or maybe he has not realised it's being saved in the wrong place?)


Maybe Chrome has changed where things should be stored, but that extension hasn't been changed yet?


Chrome (and Firefox) do keep changing where things are or should be stored.

It may be worth reaching out the the developer of the extension, there is a page on github where you can raise issues and get answers:

https://github.com/GoogleChromeLabs/link-to-text-fragment/issues

If you are prepared to do some more testing yourself then you may be able to find which particular part of the session information the setting is being saved to and make that part of the information an 'Exclude' in CCleaner.

No doubt the developer may be able to tell you that to save doing your own testing.

Of course setting an exclusion would mean that CCleaner wouldn't clear anything else in that part of the session information either, so it may be simpler just not to clear the session at all.

35 minutes ago, nukecad said:
<div class="ipsQuote_contents">
	<p>
		Good step by step testing.
	</p>

	<p>
		It is indeed telling us that it is the clearing of the Chrome 'Session' that is causing the context menu entry for that extension to dissapear.
	</p>

	<p>
		'Session' typically is the information about what Tabs you have open, what sites you are currently logged into, etc.


		So if you clear the browser session then you get logged out of all websites and your open tabs don't come back next time you open the browser.
	</p>

	<p>
		TBH I'm also at a loss as to why clearing the session information would remove a context menu entry, and if it is then why the extension wouldn't simply put it back when Chrome, and thus the extension, is launched again?
	</p>

	<p>
		The session information seems entirely the wrong place to be saving a context menu setting, (you would have thought that anything extension related should be saved  in the 'extensions' directory: <em>C:\Users\[login_name]\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions</em>),


		Bbut I can only think that the developer of the extension is doing it that way for some reason.


		Maybe he can't get it to work any other way in Chrome? (or maybe he has not realised it's being saved in the wrong place?)
	</p>

	<p>
		It may be worth reaching out the the developer of the extension, there is a page on github where you can raise issues and get answers:

https://github.com/GoogleChromeLabs/link-to-text-fragment/issues

	<p>
		If you are prepared to do some more testing yourself then you may be able to find which particular part of the session information the setting is being saved to and make that part of the information an 'Exclude' in CCleaner.


		No doubt the developer may be able to tell you that to save doing your own testing.
	</p>

	<p>
		Of course setting an exclusion would mean that CCleaner wouldn't clear anything else in that part of the session information either, so it may be simpler just not to clear the session at all.
	</p>

	<p>
		 
	</p>
</div>

Thanks....again.... @nukecad

Your paragraph "'Session' typically is the information about what Tabs you have open, what sites you are currently logged into, etc." makes perfect sense.

NOT clearing Session therefore defeats one of my preferred reasons to use CCleaner - need to think about that!

As for:

"The session information seems entirely the wrong place...." - I agree - we sort of covered that earlier when I looked at the Startup > Context Menu tab and found nothing there.

I don't quite understand what you mean by:

If you are prepared to do some more testing yourself then you may be able to find which particular part of the session information the setting is being saved to and make that part of the information an 'Exclude' in CCleaner. I think you're saying that there is likely a (hidden) folder somewhere to add to the "exclude" locations??

As suggested, I created myself a Github account and raised this issue Chrome Extension is disabled when running CCleaner Custom Clean #44

I "cheated" by simply linking to this thread! ? I assume any Dev will find that sufficient.

By more testing I was meaning you could try excluding the actual files/folders for the session information one by one, similar to what you did above but longer winded and you'd have to find where the files and folders are. (Probably: ...\appdata\....\chrome\... and so on).

It will be interesting to see the response on github.

6 minutes ago, nukecad said:
<div class="ipsQuote_contents">
	<p>
		By more testing I was meaning you could try excluding the actual files/folders for the session information one by one, similar to what you did above but longer winded and you'd have to find where the files and folders are. (Probably: ...\appdata\....\chrome\... and so on).
	</p>

	<p>
		It will be interesting to see the response on github.
	</p>
</div>

I thought that might be what you meant - that was what I meant by "there is likely a (hidden) folder somewhere to add to the "exclude" locations" Thanks for clarifying. ?

When you get to that level, it's sometimes arguable whether the cure is more intrusive than the disease! Also, I've got 2 other machines on the same Google account with the same Chrome extensions, so it's effort x 3. I think I'm going to try running CCleaner without clearing Sessions for a while whilst at the same time monitoring Github as you say.

Will THIS thread remain open and allow for further comment if the wait is lengthy?

Yes it will stay open; we don't usually close threads unless there is a good reason to do so.

I suppose at the moment it's a choice of how much you want/need that extension whether you clear your sessions ot not.

If you want/need both then it might be worth the time to do the testing?

Sometimes things are just not compatible and you have to choose one or the other.

2 hours ago, nukecad said:
<div class="ipsQuote_contents">
	<p>
		Yes it will stay open; we don't usually close threads unless there is a good reason to do so.
	</p>

	<p>
		I suppose at the moment it's a choice of how much you  want/need that extension whether you clear your sessions ot not.
	</p>

	<p>
		If you want/need both then it might be worth the time to do the testing?
	</p>

	<p>
		Sometimes things are just not compatible and you have to choose one or the other.
	</p>
</div>

Indeed..... that extension is VERY useful so as I said "I think I'm going to try running CCleaner without clearing Sessions for a while whilst at the same time monitoring Github"

I presume that the CCleaner Devs and Testers see this forum so someone might have some more input. Naturally if I get any feedback via Github, I'll post it here.

Thanks again for your time @nukecad

Just out of interest I decided to put that same extension on my Firefox and do a bit of testing.

If/when I clear the Firefox 'session' information then the context menu entry remains in Firefox and still works as expected.

(I used CCleaner first to clear the session, it didn't remove the context entry - and then as a double check I manualy deleted the session information files, still the CM entry remained).

So it looks like your issue is specific to that extension CM entry when used in Chrome.

One thing that I do note is that you can assign a keyboard shortcut, and that may still work even when the CM entry is not showing for you?

If so it would be one way you could get around this issue, highlight the text and press the shortcut instead of right-clicking.

Quote
<div class="ipsQuote_contents ipsClearfix" data-gramm="false">
	<p>
		Pro-tip: you can assign a keyboard shortcut to the copy action!
	</p>
</div>

EDIT. Here's how you set a keyboard shortcut for an extension in Chrome: https://chromeunboxed.com/quick-tip-create-shortcuts-for-you-chrome-extensions/

11 hours ago, nukecad said:
<div class="ipsQuote_contents">
	<p>
		Just out of interest I decided to put that same extension on my <strong>Firefox</strong> and do a bit of testing.
	</p>

	<p>
		<strong>If/when I clear the <u>Firefox</u> 'session' information then the context menu entry remains in Firefox </strong>and still works as expected.


		(I used CCleaner first to clear the session, it didn't remove the context entry - and then as a double check I manualy deleted the session information files, still the CM entry remained).
	</p>

	<p>
		So it looks like your issue is specific to that extension CM entry when used in Chrome.
	</p>

	<p>
		One thing that I do note is that you can assign a keyboard shortcut, and that may still work even when the CM entry is not showing for you?


		If so it would be one way you could get around this issue, highlight the text and press the shortcut instead of right-clicking.
	</p>

	<p>
		EDIT. Here's how you set a keyboard shortcut for an extension in Chrome: <a href="https://chromeunboxed.com/quick-tip-create-shortcuts-for-you-chrome-extensions/" rel="external nofollow">https://chromeunboxed.com/quick-tip-create-shortcuts-for-you-chrome-extensions/</a>
	</p>
</div>

Nice try but no cigar! ?

I did exactly as your link instructs, assigning Ctrl Z as the shortcut. It worked exactly as if I was using the context menu - I could use either, as you'd expect with a shortcut. So far so good.

However..... I then ran Custom Clean with "Sessions" enabled again. Same problem - extension present but doesn't work either with the CM or the new shortcut.

Same fix - remove and re-add extension - all working, but of course the shortcut was removed along with the extension.

To be perfectly honest, having played around with this and looked into it in greater detail, I'm content to leave "Sessions" deactivated if that's the only CCleaner functionality I'm losing. The extension is of more use to me than that particular functionality.

Having said that I'm also happy to test any other suggestions anyone here may offer and if anything appears on Github, I'll test that too.

As I'm sure we agree, bottom line...it shouldn't behave like this. It's a very naughty extension! ?

2 hours ago, Clean MisterB said:
<div class="ipsQuote_contents ipsClearfix" data-gramm="false">
	<p>
		As I'm sure we agree, bottom line...it <strong>shouldn't </strong>behave like this. It's a very naughty extension! <span class="ipsEmoji">?</span></p>
</div>

Of course we do have to be fair to the extensions developer and recognise that it's a possibility that CCleaner is removing something that it shouldn't be for the Chrome 'session'.

Until we know where/how the developer is saving the information for Chrome we can't be entirely sure about that.

As said above having something in the session may be the only way to get it to work with Chrome?


(The fact that a keyboard shortcut is also affected may also point to that).

PS. I Also checked a few other things with the Firefox extension in CCleaner.

The extension is listed in Tools&gt;Browser Plugins, as it should be.


The context menu entry is not listed in Statup&gt;Context Menu, so it's working in some other way. Which you would expect as it's only available in the browser and not for everything.

14 hours ago, nukecad said:
<div class="ipsQuote_contents">
	<p>
		Of course we do have to be fair to the extensions developer and recognise that it's a possibility that CCleaner is removing something that it shouldn't be for the Chrome 'session'.
	</p>
</div>

Is this something you can arrange to have investigated internally? I'm assuming that you are "part of" or have contacts within the CCleaner organisation?

Moderators are users just like everyone else, but we have proved ourselves helpful/knowledgable and are trusted to keep the forum tidy (and get rid of spam and spammers).

We can and do contact the staff in a private section of the forum if a question needs more insight than we have, but they also read the posts on the open forum anyway.

I'll flag this thread up, but I don't think they can do much more than we have already covered.

It seems evident from your testing that it's saving the setting in sessions, where you wouldn't normally expect them to be.

Whether that is being done by design, or by mistake, only the extensions developer could comment.

Another problem is that the session information is usually saved as a 'json' file with everything saved as one line in that one file, with the different settings seperated by commas.

So it's generally a case of deleting that file to clear all the information rather than trying to edit it for specific things.


For an example this is the current contents of just one of my Firefox session files after I've just closed Firefox - 'sessioncheckpoints.json'

{"profile-after-change":true,"final-ui-startup":true,"sessionstore-windows-restored":true,"quit-application-granted":true,"quit-application":true,"sessionstore-final-state-write-complete":true,"profile-change-net-teardown":true,"profile-change-teardown":true,"profile-before-change":true}

As you can see there are 9 different settings saved there as 'true', and all as one line of text which makes it difficult to try and remove some but not others.


Plus of course the number of entries in the session files will also change depending on what you have been doing in the session.


And that's just one of the session files.

In the end it may simply be that clearing the session is incompatible with that extension in Chrome.

(I see the extension is also available for Edge Chromium, I wonder if it has the same issue there? Might have a play if I get time later).

Hi @Clean MisterB On my system, this problem occurs as a result of the following file being removed during the "Session" cleaning operation-

C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extension State\[number].log

I'm not certain if this is something we can correct as it seems to be directly related to an oddity with how the extension stores data but in any situation, I will notify our development team of this issue to ensure they are also aware of the problem, just in case there is something we can do.

Meanwhile, I would suggest that you manually exclude the file in CCleaner as a workaround to the problem, using the following steps:

  1. Open CCleaner > click Custom Clean
  2. Open the "Applications" tab
  3. Under Google Chrome, right-click "Session" > click Analyze Session
  4. Right-click the "Google Chrome - Session" cleaning result entry > click "View all files"
  5. Right-click the entry for C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extension State\[number].log
  6. Click "Add to Exclude list"