On 20/07/2023 at 16:43, lmacri said:<div class="ipsQuote_contents"> <p> Hi Wisewiz: </p> <p> ... I'm not sure if I missed a step in your instructions, but <strong>I don't know why you only have the four registry values </strong>in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Piriform\CCleaner that are shown in your 13-Jul-2023 post <<a href="<___base_url___>/topic/64278-welcome-back-to-ccleaner-professional/?do=findComment&comment=343242" rel="">here</a>> when I still have ~ 50 ... </p> </div>
On 20/07/2023 at 17:02, Wisewiz said:<div class="ipsQuote_contents"> <p> Me, neither! I tried to be precise in my description of what I did, but it's possible that either you or I missed a step .... </p> </div>
On 23/07/2023 at 08:13, Crni said:<div class="ipsQuote_contents"> <p> ... simply deleting everything from the registry and blocking access to "shepherd.ff.avast.com" is sufficient to prevent CCleaner Free Portable to add any of the problematic entries back into registry. If you have an advanced router you can do it there, or can add an entry to the firewall, or simply add this to your hosts file: </p> <p> 0.0.0.0 shepherd.ff.avast.com ... </p> </div>
Hi Wisewiz:
According to your 14-Jul-2023 post <here> on page 3 of this thread you added 0.0.0.0 shepherd.ff.avast.com to your hosts file. Could that be the missing step in your 19-Jul-2023 instructions <here> that will prevent the registry entries from being re-created?
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Could someone provide instructions for blocking shepherd.ff.avast.com in my Windows Firewall? For example, do I need to block both incoming and outgoing connections?
I created a custom rule in my Windows Firewall a few years ago to block all outbound traffic from CCleaner64.exe executable of my CCleaner Portable [Control Panel | System and Security | Windows Defender Firewall | Advanced Settings | Outbound Rules | New Rule | Rule Type = Program; This Program Path: E:\Portable\CCleaner\CCleaner64.exe; Action: Block the Connection; Profile: All (Domain/Private/Public)] as instructed in the How-To Geek article How to Block An Application from Accessing the Internet with Windows Firewall to try and prevent CCleaner Portable from sending telemetry back to Avast / Piriform. However, it sounds like I need to plug yet another backdoor that allows Avast to create an inbound connection from shepherd.ff.avast.com and make unwanted changes to my registry. It's like playing whack-a-mole - you make one change to make CCleaner Portable more secure and behave more like a "true" portable app and Avast finds another way to circumvent it.
I ditched Norton Security as my antivirus after their parent company Gen Digital began adding all sorts of unnecessary bloat (e.g., Software Updater, Driver Updater, Norton Crypto, etc.) that they ported over from Avast Antivirus Free and other software programs that Gen Digital has acquired in recent years. Perhaps the time has finally come for me to ditch CCleaner Portable as well and move on to BleachBit Portable.
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Dell Inspiron 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.3208 * Firefox v115.0.2 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.23050.5-1.1.23060.1005 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.5.33.272-1.0.2069 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7279 * CCleaner Free Portable v6.14.10584