System - Temporary File Always Left After Cleaning

Starting with v3.07 - v3.10, I've noticed that right after I "Run Cleaner", if I run "Analyze" again, it'll show a 480Kb file (always the same size) in the "C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Local Settings\Temp" folder. CCleaner will never delete this file. If I open up Windows Explorer, delete the file myself, then run "Analyze" again, it won't find any files. But if I immediately "Run Cleaner" & then "Analyze", a 480Kb .temp file (with a slightly different name) will now be detected in the same folder. If I open this file with Wordpad it's full of browser entries that historically I've used. If I reinstall v3.06 this issue does not happen.

I am running XP MCE 2005 on my desktop where I see this problem. On my laptop running XP Home, I don't see this problem when using v3.07 & newer.

Why is this fault happening?

what is the file's name?

what is the file's name?

The file name is "CCxx.tmp". The "xx" is a numerical value that increments each time you run CCleaner.

If I reinstall v3.06 this issue does not happen.

What do you mean ?

Does 3.06 detect and also clean to your satisfaction ?

Does 3.06 ignore it and not report it so you assume all junk is gone ?

If you try to delete these temporary files do you get "Access Denied" ??

Richard S.

I just ran v3.10.1525 and though there are TMP files which are open, there are no files named CCxx.tmp on my entire HDD

What do you mean ?

Does 3.06 detect and also clean to your satisfaction ?

Does 3.06 ignore it and not report it so you assume all junk is gone ?

With v3.06 reinstalled CCleaner will detect & delete the CCxx.tmp from the Temp folder, if present, but more importantly, it will not create & leave a CCxx.tmp file, unlike the newer versions do. I am not aware of v3.06 leaving or creating any unwanted files. As I said before, this issue occurs on my XP MCE desktop, but not on my XP Home laptop using the newer versions. Don't know if it's related to running Media Center OS or something else.

Some applications create temporary files when they're running so you can't expect this folder to be totally empty.

C:\Documents and Settings\redhawk\Local Settings\Temp>del .

C:\Documents and Settings\redhawk\Local Settings\Temp\*, Are you sure (Y/N)? y

C:\Documents and Settings\redhawk\Local Settings\Temp\Perflib_Perfdata_744.dat

The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.

C:\Documents and Settings\redhawk\Local Settings\Temp\~DFC94D.tmp

The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.

C:\Documents and Settings\redhawk\Local Settings\Temp\~DFE1A5.tmp

Access is denied.

C:\Documents and Settings\redhawk\Local Settings\Temp\~DFE192.tmp

Access is denied.

C:\Documents and Settings\redhawk\Local Settings\Temp\~DF7649.tmp

Access is denied.

C:\Documents and Settings\redhawk\Local Settings\Temp\~DF32E9.tmp

Access is denied.

C:\Documents and Settings\redhawk\Local Settings\Temp\~DF3DD5.tmp

Access is denied.

C:\Documents and Settings\redhawk\Local Settings\Temp\AutoRecovery save of Document1.asd

The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.

C:\Documents and Settings\redhawk\Local Settings\Temp>

Richard S.

I am running XP MCE 2005 on my desktop where I see this problem. On my laptop running XP Home, I don't see this problem when using v3.07 & newer.

Your Laptop proves that CCleaner is innocent.

The fault is with your desktop.

It might be a peculiarity of any malware protection making note of what is happening.

When I use a truly portable application my registry gets cluttered with "BAGS of MUI" as Comodo sees all, knows all, and records all.

I believe I know what is happening. You are running ccleaner with wipe free space checked off aren't you. Uncheck wfs exit ccleaner. Permanently delete (shift+delete) the ccxxxxxx temp files. Run ccleaner without wipefrespace checked. (note this is a working theory that I've not yet had time to check for myself) however as that is the only part of ccleaner that creates anysort of file (other than running the registry section & it asking to save a .reg file).

Some applications create temporary files when they're running so you can't expect this folder to be totally empty.

Richard S.

I am aware of this. The CCxx.tmp file is only created immediately after I run CCleaner, no other time.

Your Laptop proves that CCleaner is innocent.

The fault is with your desktop.

It might be a peculiarity of any malware protection making note of what is happening.

When I use a truly portable application my registry gets cluttered with "BAGS of MUI" as Comodo sees all, knows all, and records all.

I disagree. This only happens with v3.07-3.10, not with earlier versions, & only when I run cleaner. I also tried disabling my antivirus/spyware protection temporarily but that didn't change it.

I believe I know what is happening. You are running ccleaner with wipe free space checked off aren't you. Uncheck wfs exit ccleaner. Permanently delete (shift+delete) the ccxxxxxx temp files. Run ccleaner without wipefrespace checked. (note this is a working theory that I've not yet had time to check for myself) however as that is the only part of ccleaner that creates anysort of file (other than running the registry section & it asking to save a .reg file).

I thought you might have hit on it with this. Wipe free space was not checked in Cleaner/Windows/Advanced, but I did notice I had it checked in Options/Settings. I unchecked Wipe Free Space drives & Wipe MFT Free Space, then erased the CCxx.tmp file. I ran "Analyze" & CCleaner found nothing to remove. No files were in the "C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Local Settings\Temp" folder. I then did "Run Cleaner" & immediately ran "Analyze" & it found one file (CC6.tmp, 480kB) for removal, but CCleaner will never remove it, only change/increment the file name (ie:CC8.tmp) but not the size, no matter how many times it's run. The CCxx.tmp file is visible in the Temp folder too, of course. I tried one other thing (besides listed above) & that was to turn off "Secure Deletion" in Options/Settings, as that was something I added some time ago, but it didn't change the problem either. Guess I'll keep using v3.06 until a new version comes out that doesn't leave a CCxx.tmp file behind on my computer?

Please don't roll back. It does nobody any good. We need to figure out why your ccleaner is making this file. CCleaner does not make files. Something is going on with your install (and seemingly only your install). My XP (so far) doesn't do this.

Please do the following

If it is not already done change the settings of ccleaner to save settings to ini file:

  1. Go to Options
  2. Go to Advanced
  3. Select "Save all settings to INI file"
  4. (while here also tell me if "only delete files in windows temp folder older than 24 hours" is checked)

Next attach the created ini file (it should be in C:\program files\ccleaner\ where that path is the location of your install) to this thread.

  1. Open the install folder
  2. right click ccleaner.ini
  3. choose copy
  4. choose paste
  5. Right click "copy of ccleaner.ini" choose rename and rename it "copy of ccleaner.txt"
  6. Say yes when windows asks "If you change a file name extension, the file may become unusable. Are you Sure you want to do this"
  7. come back to this thread
  8. click reply (or "Use full editor")
  9. Under the place where you type a reply you'll see "attachments"
  10. click Browse
  11. Browse to the location of "copy of ccleaner.txt"
  12. choose it
  13. click attach file
  14. type a short reply (such as "here is the requested file")

I'll use this file on my XP box to see if I can recreate the ccxxx.tmp files.

Again there is zero reason these files should be created by ccleaner

Make sure that you did get ccleaner from either piriform.com or from filehippo THESE are the ONLY officially sanctioned download locations.

Please don't roll back. It does nobody any good. We need to figure out why your ccleaner is making this file. CCleaner does not make files. Something is going on with your install (and seemingly only your install). My XP (so far) doesn't do this.

Please do the following

If it is not already done change the settings of ccleaner to save settings to ini file:

  1. Go to Options
  2. Go to Advanced
  3. Select "Save all settings to INI file"
  4. (while here also tell me if "only delete files in windows temp folder older than 24 hours" is checked)

Next attach the created ini file (it should be in C:\program files\ccleaner\ where that path is the location of your install) to this thread.

  1. Open the install folder
  2. right click ccleaner.ini
  3. choose copy
  4. choose paste
  5. Right click "copy of ccleaner.ini" choose rename and rename it "copy of ccleaner.txt"
  6. Say yes when windows asks "If you change a file name extension, the file may become unusable. Are you Sure you want to do this"
  7. come back to this thread
  8. click reply (or "Use full editor")
  9. Under the place where you type a reply you'll see "attachments"
  10. click Browse
  11. Browse to the location of "copy of ccleaner.txt"
  12. choose it
  13. click attach file
  14. type a short reply (such as "here is the requested file")

I'll use this file on my XP box to see if I can recreate the ccxxx.tmp files.

Again there is zero reason these files should be created by ccleaner

Make sure that you did get ccleaner from either piriform.com or from filehippo THESE are the ONLY officially sanctioned download locations.

"Save all settings to INI file" was not checked so I enabled it. Since I had v3.06 installed I ran cleaner & then saved the .ini file as "copy of ccleaner_306.txt". I then reinstalled v3.10 (I've gotten all my updates from the piriform.com link on the CCleaner site), ran CCleaner again & saved the .ini as "copy of ccleaner_310.txt". I have attached both (didn't notice anything different) of them here.

Copy of ccleaner_306.txt

Copy of ccleaner_310.txt

OK do me a favor and turn off secure file deletion (at least temporaraly) and try the clean

I was unable to recreate those ccxx.tmp files but I think that secure delete may be the most likely canidate at this point

What's strange is you only have 6 items checked and this is still occuring :-/

If they still create after turning off Secure we'll try each of those seven one by one

To all: the Poster's 6 trues are

(App)Macromedia Shockwave 10=True
(App)Sun Java=True
(App)Clipboard=True
(App)Search Assistant Autocomplete=True
(App)Autocomplete Form History=True
(App)Saved Passwords=True

Other Options that are checked are

DelayTemp=0 (KayGee is deleting temp files the are younger than 24 hours)

SecureDeleteType=1 (simple overwrite 1 pass)

So if anyone else has any ideas, before I try and track down a programmer to see if they have any ideas (they are hard to get to and it's only as last resort that we try to drag one into the conversation).

My only other idea other than unchecking all six and clean after each one is to (Using regshot) to take a snapshot of the local settings\temp folder before and after cleaning and seeing if the files are indeed

created by ccleaner (I don't not believe you I just can't figure out why this is occuring for you)

Will you/Can you rename one of the cc files as .txt instead of .tmp and attach it to a Private Message to me, I'd love to see what is inside it. never mind, reread the original post and you have done this for yourself

also (just to make sure) the full version of your ccleaner is 3.10.1525?

offhand do you have any special addons running in Internet Explorer which effect history?

OK do me a favor and turn off secure file deletion (at least temporaraly) and try the clean

I was unable to recreate those ccxx.tmp files but I think that secure delete may be the most likely canidate at this point

What's strange is you only have 6 items checked and this is still occuring :-/

If they still create after turning off Secure we'll try each of those seven one by one

To all: the Poster's 6 trues are

(App)Macromedia Shockwave 10=True
(App)Sun Java=True
(App)Clipboard=True
(App)Search Assistant Autocomplete=True
(App)Autocomplete Form History=True
(App)Saved Passwords=True

Other Options that are checked are

DelayTemp=0 (KayGee is deleting temp files the are younger than 24 hours)

SecureDeleteType=1 (simple overwrite 1 pass)

So if anyone else has any ideas, before I try and track down a programmer to see if they have any ideas (they are hard to get to and it's only as last resort that we try to drag one into the conversation).

My only other idea other than unchecking all six and clean after each one is to (Using regshot) to take a snapshot of the local settings\temp folder before and after cleaning and seeing if the files are indeed

created by ccleaner (I don't not believe you I just can't figure out why this is occuring for you)

Will you/Can you rename one of the cc files as .txt instead of .tmp and attach it to a Private Message to me, I'd love to see what is inside it. never mind, reread the original post and you have done this for yourself

also (just to make sure) the full version of your ccleaner is 3.10.1525?

offhand do you have any special addons running in Internet Explorer which effect history?

Yes, 3.10.1525 is the latest version I've downloaded.

Concerning add-ons: IE doesn't have anything special that I know of. I try to keep it basic. (If it's an add-on, why would it happen when I run CCleaner v3.07-3.10, but not 3.06?)

Secure deletion: Back in post #13 I mentioned I turned it off with no change, but I did it again. I deleted the CCxx.tmp, turned off secure deletion, ran cleaner, ran analyzer & CCxx.tmp was back in the Temp folder.

If you need, I can attach a CCxx.tmp file, as .txt, with all but the first few entries deleted, for my privacy, so you can get an idea what's in it.

After my reply in post #17 I decided to play with some of the settings in the Cleaner menu. I started by going down the list & turning off some of the items I had checked/enabled. If there was no change, I rechecked them. When I got to "Cleaner/Applications-Safari", I had three items checked (Internet Cache, History & Cookies) & I found out if I unchecked Safari-Internet History only, the CCxx.tmp is no longer created when I run CCleaner. I can recreate & clear the problem repeated just by toogling that item, so there's no doubt it's the culprit. Hopefully this helps. :)

In addition to posts #17 & 18, I have found out more. Knowing I almost never use Safari, & that it's History would never fill such a large (480kB) file, I figured the entries were all bookmarks. Since I had bookmarks imported from IE & Mozilla in Safari, I first decided to delete the Mozilla bookmarks. Then I rechecked Safari-Internet History box & ran CCleaner. The CCxx.tmp reoccured, as expected, but it was much smaller (290kB), as I anticipated, since now Safari had fewer bookmarks in it. I then deleted the imported IE bookmarks & reran CCleaner. Again CCxx.tmp was found, but now it was even smaller (13kB). Opening CCxx.tmp, with WordPad, I can see it's made up of the remaining Safari (~25) bookmarks. CCleaner will analyze & find, but will never delete CCxx.tmp, until I uncheck the Safari-Internet History box. Hope this helps too.

Thanks, we'll look into this.