I am writing from the Czech Republic as a (formerly) satisfied user of your product CCleaner, which I purchased for a two-year period.
I must state that I am deeply disappointed and shocked by the behaviour of your company. Your software now interferes with users’ systems in ways that are unacceptable. The so-called “Reactivation Task” and related processes act like unauthorized surveillance, affecting the operation of Microsoft Office and other components.
Despite previously appreciating the hardware and software checks and the sensitive cleaning functions, I have uninstalled your product. What you are doing now is invasive and cannot be tolerated.
I request a full refund of my subscription and will not use your software again unless you clearly end these practices and return to a transparent, user-respecting product.
It is unfortunate that I must write in such strong terms, but you have left me no choice.
Hello Laurence,
I do not know what exactly Petrs means by the reactivation task but I will add my insight which is maybe very similar to his. After the latest update, when CCleaner changed its UX completely, I found out that there is no option to turn off the CCleaner’s startup behavior. There is even no option to turn it off, like the tray icon right-click exit option. Really? Why? I am very disappointed by such shady acting. I managed to get rid of it via Windows Services tweak and short startup-checking script (because I do not believe anymore that some future update will not overcome my solution) but why am I forced to do that? I will keep using CC that way until my current subscription ends and after that I will start using any other app for the cleaning purposes. Shame. For many years I have been very satisfied customer of yours and just like this – you burned it. You broke your trustworthiness.
With CCleaner 7, we made a technical shift: CCleaner now runs as a Windows service instead of a regular startup app. This change supports new features like Performance Optimizer and Software Updater, and helps improve overall stability and performance.
Because it’s running as a background service, it no longer shows up in the startup list you could previously toggle in the UI.
We understand this is a change from how things worked before, and we’re here if you need help adjusting to the new setup.
Subject: Greetings and feedback regarding CCleaner / “Reactivation Task”
Hello CleverBridge,
Thank you for your interest in my feedback on the product CCleaner. To be frank: I discovered the issue via a tool called Process Explorer. It showed me that your utility was launching concurrently with my attempt to open Microsoft Office applications — specifically Word and Outlook.
I am not going to install your software just to send you screenshots of my own processes. So instead I’ll simply wish you good luck — and above all: stop poking into things that aren’t your business. That is my major piece of advice to you.
Otherwise, I’m deeply disappointed. For registry cleaning and other maintenance tasks, I will be using the tools provided by the software vendors themselves.
It’s a shame — you used to be the best.
I am as well deeply disappointed (putting it very nicely). I was charged twice for a paid subscription I’ve had since 2023. I’m done. Even if the software itself is almost useful, Cleverbridge subscription support is non-existent (from my experience). I would love to hear someone tell how to actually break through this wall of silence and non-responsiveness.
I am also no longer happy with something that has happened since Dec 1, 2025. I contacted your support and after dealing with 4 Indian name agents on ‘live chat’, my laptop was maliciously infested by a hack/attack. The last/4th agent I dealt with found the “correct” license, didn’t allow the scan and resolve issues to complete, paused asking me to hold and then my laptop ended up with a Blue Screen of Death. There was nothing I could do - including the Admin ‘scan now’ command, nor was I even able to restart in Safe Mode. I ended up having to buy a new laptop while the one that was infected had to have files slowly extracted, the drive erased and my documents had to be saved to USB keys which took a local technician hours to do. Had I trusted myself to find the most recent license instead of trusting your “Tech support agent” I would still be using my prior laptop. Should anyone read this, Warning: DO NOT give any CCleaner support Agent remote access!!!
The local shop said that this was not something a reputable company would allow their agents to do-this was definitely a malicious attack. He recommended I no longer use “Ccleaner”. The fact that the “support” is based in a country that is known for scammer/call centres doesn’t make me feel safe.
PS: My license has an expiry date of Jan 2028 and just now I received another email thanking me for my purchase??? I stopped my auto-renewal and tried to remove my credit card details - not an additional purchase! This is bad client service.
The additional feedback I wanted to give is that I would have liked to see a direct method of contacting a higher level Tech support via email/toll-free call. Dealing with Indian name agents that speak English yet appear not to understand a simple question is disconcerting. I cannot get this matter escalated nor resolved, so will be calling my credit card company to halt any payments that your company is trying to put through.
I completely agree with your observation. Crappy “service”; I used to recommend Ccleaner to others but now I’m quite upset about the way they deal with customers. Plus it seems I’ve been charged again in error & being the Christmas holidays it will take me days to get through to my credit card to confirm/stop the charge.