Old Prefetch files not being deleted

[joe]

As has already been mentioned by someone elese, I too have also seen the old prefetch files being listed when using analyse, but not being deleted when running CCleaner and having the Old Prefect Data box ticked.

 

I too am using WINXP Home Edition SP2 plus all updates.

 

I have the latest version oc CCleaner v1.30.520

 

Joe

[wraithdu]

I think the bug I read about somewhere before still exists. I'm using CCleaner v1.40.520 on WinXP Pro and nothing in the prefetch folder is being deleted when I use any of the "Secure Delete" options. If I switch to regular deletion, everything works fine.

 

This holds true using -

1. Delete old prefetch data checkbox

2. Prefetch folder added to custom folders

3. Prefetch added to winapp2.ini

 

Does anyone know if this bug will be fixed in the next version?

[wraithdu]

I think I may have found what's causing the problem. There seem to be some special security permissions applied to the PREFETCH folder. Under these permissions:

 

1. User (even Administrator) may delete *.pf files

2. User MAY NOT securely wipe them. I tried at least 4 different programs and all failed.

 

I did however find a workaround. You can use psexec from the Sysinternals PsTools suite to launch CCleaner in the SYSTEM account. CCleaner now has full access to delete/wipe whatever it wants. Note that to accomplish this, you must have administrative privileges in order to use psexec to launch CCleaner in the SYSTEM account. psexec can launch a process in whatever account you specify, but it must be initially launched in an administrative account to launch another process in the SYSTEM account.

 

It's easy enough to get around this by using psexec to launch another administrative instance of psexec, which then launch into the SYSTEM account.

 

Also note that psexec creates this reg key - HKCU\SOFTWARE\Sysinternals

 

Portable users will want to delete that key when finished. All is easily enough accomplished with batch files. I can post my examples if anyone is interested.