No longer cleans out items in Include list

CCleaner for Windows CCleaner Windows Bug Reporting
1

Windows XP Pro SP-3

CCleaner 3.17.1689

I noticed today that some folders and files added to CCleaner's Include list are no longer getting cleaned up. I tested by adding folders and running CCleaner but the files remained. The entries in the Include list are:

Drive or Folder: C:\Documents and Settings\lee_hodsdon\Application Data\Dropbox\shellext\l\

File Types: All Files

Options: Include files only

(This is where Dropbox dumps its logfiles that it doesn't clean up)

Drive or Folder: C:\Documents and Settings\lee_hodsdon\My Documents\eFax Messenger 4.4\

File Types: All Files

Options: Include files, subfolders, and the folder itself

(This is where eFax dumps its superfluous files)

Drive or Folder: C:\Documents and Settings\lee_hodsdon\My Documents\Fiddler2\

File Types: All Files

Options: Inclue files, subfolders, and the folder itself

(Fiddler2 leaves stuff here that I don't need)

Drive or Folder: C:\TEMP\

File Types: All Files

Options: Include files and subfolders

(A temporary folder)

Drive or Folder: D:\TEMP\

File Types: All Files

Options: Include files and subfolders

(Another temporary folder)

Drive or Folder: C:\

File Types: {*}.cbm

Options: Include files only

(Dropbox dumps .cbm files here when it has sync problems)

None of these are cleaned up by CCleaner anymore. I put some files into D:\TEMP\ and ran CCleaner but the files remained. In the "Cleaning Complete" listing, the details show some Internet Explorer files were deleted, a recent document listing, and zero files in the Recycle Bin. That's it. The "Include" item is no longer listed.

2

Have you rebooted your PC after CCleaner update? Have you tried the portable version?

3

A few years ago I tried DropBox on XP + SP3,

and it destroyed context menu functionality by adding a dozen different hooks into Explorer.exe.

It even created a log file with a time stamp that matched the first Windows event log at boot-up.

i.e. It started up like a root-kit.

I quickly purged my system of Dropbox

Dropbox may now have better behavior - but it might be worth trying freeware Autoruns from SysInternals to check on it.

4

Have you rebooted your PC after CCleaner update? Have you tried the portable version?

Yep, the host has been rebooted several times. I prefer the installed version.
5

A few years ago I tried DropBox on XP + SP3,

and it destroyed context menu functionality by adding a dozen different hooks into Explorer.exe.

It even created a log file with a time stamp that matched the first Windows event log at boot-up.

i.e. It started up like a root-kit.

I quickly purged my system of Dropbox

Dropbox may now have better behavior - but it might be worth trying freeware Autoruns from SysInternals to check on it.

Not interested in discussing merits of OTHER software. Would like to know why CCleaner no longer cleans the files/folders added to its Include list.
6

Well could you try the portable version and see if it works?

7

Make sure the "Custom Files and Folders" box in the "Windows\Advanced" section hasn't become unchecked for some reason.

Obvious, but sometimes we can all miss the obvious. :)

8

Make sure the "Custom Files and Folders" box in the "Windows\Advanced" section hasn't become unchecked for some reason.

Obvious, but sometimes we can all miss the obvious. :)

I think that was the problem; however, I did a reinstall of CCleaner and only vaguely recall wondering why this setting was grayed out (unselected items are grayed instead of just showing as unselected).

I ended up uninstalling CCleaner and reinstalled it. That got a bit scary because at the end of CCleaner's install (but before it presents the dialog asking if I want to load it), my computer hung solid. Not even the clock in the system tray would advance. The HDD case LED was on solid. After 11 minutes, I hit reset to get going again. What got installed was completely unusable. The ccleaner.exe was the right size in bytes but it didn't show an icon and running it didn't open its window. There was no entry in the Add/Remove Programs applet so I had to do the manual cleanup of remnant files and registry entries. I re-downloaded CCleaner from Piriform and re-ran its installation. The 2nd time it worked without the glitch (but this time I also disabled the anti-virus scanner yet I've not had this kind of problem before with CCleaner's install while the AV was active).

This time I manually added the entries to the Include list rather than try to reuse the old ccleaner.ini file. Normally I let CCleaner save its settings in the registry. Due to a discussion with another user in Usenet, and because I wasn't seeing a lot of utilities get listed (he had lots of them whereas I only had 3, and we both had one in common that showed up in his Utilities list but not in mine), I changed to saving Ccleaner's settings in an .ini file to see how his .ini file differed from mine. See http://forum.pirifor...l=&fromsearch=1 where I mention not seeing lots of utilities that other CCleaner users mention seeing under the Cleaner -> Applications -> Utilities section (and utilities that the other users mention seeing in this list). Sometime after changing CCleaner to saving its settings into a .ini file was when CCleaner stopped doing the cleanup of what was added to the Include list.

I think the Custom Folders option under Cleaner -> Windows was disabled. It was something I meant to look at but forgot since I decided to go through the uninstall & reinstall procedure. I didn't alter that setting myself. If it is saved in the .ini file (which is circular reasoning since the .ini file wouldn't exist unless that setting was readable from the registry to know to save all the other settings in an .ini file) then maybe me opening the file in Notepad got something accidentally modified there.

So I now have CCleaner reinstalled. It's now cleaning up the files and folders in its Include list. I'm leery of changing it to saving its settings in an .ini file since it was after doing that when it stopped cleaning up the entries in its Include list, so I'll stick with it using the registry to save its settings.

9

I've never had any problems using the INI file, but if you're happy with what you have, then I'm pleased it's working for you.

Maybe have a look in CCleaners program files folder to make sure there aren't any corrupt files left in there. If it installed OK there most likely won't be, but it won't hurt to check.

If you're using the registry for settings and there's an INI file still in there, try and delete it.