Hi Sly, and we appreciate you posting back.
I certainly don't see myself as a big hitter. Just another volunteer member trying, as Alan is, to help resolve a problem. A problem I hope doesn't jump up and bite you again when you're not expecting it.
I was hoping you'd appreciate the efforts we've gone to here, to try and point out where you're problem really lies.
Probably the most important software you have on your PC is your malware protection, and I think I've provided enough evidence to you to show beyond any doubt that CCleaner is actually, as it's name may imply, "clean".
I didn't need to go to those lengths, as simply looking around this forum would have told you that. CCleaner has never to my knowledge "knocked out" an Antivirus application, and as Alan pointed out, your Antivirus software fell over very, very easily.
CCleaner has in the past been flagged by A/V applications as being suspect, but the A/V vendors have immediately taken the trouble to find out why, and to initially flag CCleaner as a "false positive", and then to ammend their software accordingly to recognize it as a legitimate, clean, application.
Two members on here have gone to some trouble, not to blindly defend CCleaner, but to present to you fairly substantial evidence and information that the problem does not lie with CCleaner.
Further to that, we haven't then turned our back on your problem, but are still trying to advise you, for your benefit, that you need to either get your A/V support off their backsides and find out why an innocuous application completely crippled their software. Assuming that it was CCleaner, and that isn't a given, as malware can lie dormant on a PC before being triggered.
Link:
You have to take some steps yourself to find out the cause, before you are hit by something really serious. Your A/V support is falling a long way short of the mark in what they are offering you in way of "support".
If you blindly, and I say that respectfully, stick to the opinion that this entire thread is simply a cop-out, and that you have a reliable Anti Malware application, then I'm afraid you are probably making what could, at some time in the future, be a very costly mistake.
Good luck.
Please don't misunderstand me, I do appreciate the time and effort of anyone responding, and I have no doubt that you are all well meaning. I am not trying, nor was I ever trying, to lay the blame on a particular application, company, or program. My concern is the same as it was to begin with, why did it happen and how to prevent it from happening again if there is a way to do so, assuming I can determine the reason why it happened.
Most of the answers I get here keep saying it has to be a problem with the anti virus program being weak, inadequate, or not very good in some form or another. Radialpoint, which is what Verizon uses, is among the best ones out there according to research I did before getting it to begin with. I did allow them to use a remote connection to inspect my computer after this occurred, and they could find nothing to determine a reason. I only came here thinking perhaps there is a precedent for it known here. I didn't come to argue, disagree with anyone, or try to blame Piriform, CCleaner, or filehippo. That said, SOMETHING caused a problem! I still think the Captain Kirk comment might be correct.
I do keep getting responses saying that my AV support is poor, or the AV program isn't a good one. All I can answer to that is the following... Here is a snippet from a press release, dated Dec 11, 2008, which makes it very current, from Radialpoint. The link to the entire page is under the text.
?Radialpoint Security Suite has once again met ICSA Labs? rigorous testing criteria to earn its Anti-Virus Desktop/Server Detection certification,? said Andrew Hayter, anti-malcode program manager, ICSA Labs. ?This is critical, as our anti-malcode certification program provides businesses and consumers alike with up-to-date and valuable information that can help them select the right anti-virus products and vendors for their specific needs."
Added Hayter, ?With this certification, Radialpoint?s Internet Security Suite continues to demonstrate its commitment to delivering a high-quality product to its customers.?
To earn the coveted ICSA Labs certification, a product must detect all malware in the test environment without any false positives. ICSA Labs analysts found RPS to meet all criteria and technical requirements for the Anti-Virus Desktop/Server Detection Certification, achieving ICSA Lab?s high standards set for anti-virus protection by detecting and preventing the replication of viruses.
http://www.radialpoint.com/en/news-events/pr.php?id=200
Radialpoint is certified to detect all malware without any false positives, yet on this forum I've been told that the anti virus I use isn't very good and that it must have been a false positive. The two statements don't fit together do they? But again, I am not concerned with who is right, or who is "more" correct. I just don't want a recurrence of the whole thing!
I am not trying to be argumentative. Posting here was an attempt to get information that would possibly help me understand why a simple download, for a program I have used for just about as long as it has been out, from a source that was never before a problem of any kind, would create a locked up computer and cause another program, an anti virus program, to malfunction. Add in the trojan that was found after the fact, in spite of a virus scan done a few hours earlier that showed a clean machine, and it all adds up to something bizarre took place that no explanation seems to available for.
My computer is clean today, systems all running normally, nothing new and sinister in the processes or running programs, all of which I monitor daily. Memory usage and power usage are still within the area they have been for months. One incident, unexplained, which I don't think anyone really can explain because there isn't any way to actually track any one particular program or place to lay the blame on. It certainly wouldn't be the first time a program went haywire for reasons nobody can explain. I did unplug the connection, and shut down the computer by hitting the switch, either of which could have been a factor as well. I simply don't know, and neither does anyone else.
I'll stick with my current Security Suite setup, which has functioned splendidly for more than a year without any problem of any kind and has good reviews from independent sources. I'll continue to use CCleaner, which I have used for several years and have used on 11 different computers now, and is also on every computer I own even if I don't use that computer personally. I'll continue to download from filehippo, which I use for other programs too. If it all happens again, I'll have to stop using all three to be sure I knock out the one causing the problem. I'd hate to have to do that. Let's all keep our fingers crossed...
Thanks for trying to help, and if I offended anyone, sorry about that. I wasn't trying to do that.