Options/Cookies menu hangs in CCleaner v2.09.600

[Pengman]

Just downloaded and installed CCleaner v2.09.600, and noticed that clicking on 'Cookies' in the 'Options' menu doesn't resolve and causes my computer to hang . Apart from that, very impressive - did a full sweep of everything, (although unfortunately my machine doesn't seem much faster than it was previously ).

[YoKenny]

Welcome Pengman

 

What operating system are you running and how much RAM does the system have?

[davey]

Just downloaded and installed CCleaner v2.09.600, and noticed that clicking on 'Cookies' in the 'Options' menu doesn't resolve and causes my computer to hang . Apart from that, very impressive - did a full sweep of everything, (although unfortunately my machine doesn't seem much faster than it was previously ).

Hi Pengman,

Welcome to the forum

I presume that you "Analyzed" then "Run cleaner". Some people forget to "Run cleaner".

Were you trying to use CCleaner while your browser was open ?

Did you reboot after installing CCleaner ?

 

If you did,try having a look in that "Cookies" folder and see if there are any Cookie Monsters in there. No,I am not kidding.

Sometimes users "Cookies" folders get corrupted and you have to manually delete stuff from there. Then try CCleaner. If it still hangs then turn off Cookies clean option at Cleaner > Windows tab > Internet Explorer until we get this fixed.

 

Are you a new user of CCleaner?

I am presuming that you are. Apparently your PC has not been running as fast as you expect and you are trying CCleaner for the first time. This is good and understandable. We want your PC to perform better also.

You say you did a full sweep of everything. If you turned on any Advanced cleaning options please turn them off.

Have you done a Disk "defrag" recently. If not please do so when you are not going to use your PC for awhile.

It may take a little while for your PC to speed up again. This happens to some users.

 

Can you answer these questions if your PC does not run faster after you reboot and do the above items?

 

The following info will help others to come up with a solution.

These answers help to evaluate the problem.Provide as much information and detail as you can.

Just fill in the answers next to or below the questions?

 

Did you reboot after installing CCleaner before trying to run it?

 

Did you do any Registry issues fixing?

Do you continue to scan for issues until no more are found?

 

Did you do any software or hardware changes installs or uninstalls?

 

Are you running with Administrator privileges.

 

CCleaner version ?

OS,edition ,32bit or 64bit and version ?

 

Browsers and ver.?

 

Security software and ver?

 

Other data you think might be relevant?

 

What did you do and then what happened?

 

Best wishes,

davey

The CCleaner Guide is your first source of information.

http://www.ccleanerbeginnersguide.com/ CCleaner Beginner's Guide.com

Bookmark & save to Favorites

Thanks for taking your time to make a report.

[Pengman]

Welcome Pengman

 

What operating system are you running and how much RAM does the system have?

 

Thank you for your welcome! Windows XP professional Service Pack 2 (build 2600). 384MB Ram (DIMM 128+256).

[Pengman]

Hi Pengman,

Welcome to the forum Thank you Davey!

I presume that you "Analyzed" then "Run cleaner". Some people forget to "Run cleaner". I Ran Cleaner

Were you trying to use CCleaner while your browser was open ? Yes - I think so - my browser is usually permanently open

Did you reboot after installing CCleaner ? Not at the time I posted, but I have now and things are definitley quicker!

 

If you did,try having a look in that "Cookies" folder and see if there are any Cookie Monsters in there. No,I am not kidding. Sorry - don't know where my Cookies are stored or what a 'Cookie Monster' is!

Sometimes users "Cookies" folders get corrupted and you have to manually delete stuff from there. Then try CCleaner. If it still hangs then turn off Cookies clean option at Cleaner > Windows tab > Internet Explorer until we get this fixed. CCleaner listed hundreds if not thousands of Cookies on my machine. However, analysing with the Cookies box checked then unchecked showed that these only took up 1MB space, and as CCleaner was telling me I could delete 673Mb of files over and above 1MB of Cookies, I decided not to delete any Cookies anyway. So although I don't know what is lurking under the CCleaner > Options > Cookies tab (because my machine hangs at this point) , the chances are I probably don't need it anyway.

Are you a new user of CCleaner? Yes

I am presuming that you are. Apparently your PC has not been running as fast as you expect and you are trying CCleaner for the first time. This is good and understandable. We want your PC to perform better also.

You say you did a full sweep of everything. If you turned on any Advanced cleaning options please turn them off. Only the first and fourth Advanced cleaning options set by deafault are checked - should I uncheck these too?Have you done a Disk "defrag" recently. If not please do so when you are not going to use your PC for awhile.

It may take a little while for your PC to speed up again. This happens to some users. Only 6% of my 20MB hard disk is free (elderly machine this!), and the Windows XP standard defrag utility tells me it needs at least 15% free to operate properly, so I need to delete or move stuff before I can do this.

Can you answer these questions if your PC does not run faster after you reboot and do the above items? As I said above, having rebooted, things are definitely moving faster - thank you CCleaner!

The following info will help others to come up with a solution.

These answers help to evaluate the problem.Provide as much information and detail as you can.

Just fill in the answers next to or below the questions?

 

Did you reboot after installing CCleaner before trying to run it? No

 

Did you do any Registry issues fixing? Yes - loads

Do you continue to scan for issues until no more are found? Yes - I had to scan twice

 

Did you do any software or hardware changes installs or uninstalls? No

Are you running with Administrator privileges. Yes

 

CCleaner version ? As I said in my post, v2.09.600

OS,edition ,32bit or 64bit and version ? Windows XP professional Service pack 2 (build 2600) - is this 64 bit?

 

Browsers and ver.? IE 6.0

 

Security software and ver? AVG Free Edition 7.5.524

 

Other data you think might be relevant? Only 384MB RAM

 

What did you do and then what happened? I was simply exploring CCleaner and clicking on everything that moved. When I clicked on Options > Cookies, my machine hung

 

Best wishes,

davey

The CCleaner Guide is your first source of information.

http://www.ccleanerbeginnersguide.com/ CCleaner Beginner's Guide.com

Bookmark & save to Favorites

Thanks for taking your time to make a report.

[davey]

Hi Pengman,

THANK YOU for such a great report.

My list of questions sometimes scares "heck" out of some users but all this info helps the BUG FIXERS track down hard to find bugs.

A "cookie monster" is just my funny way to describe something that doesn't look right. For you that may be hard to detect.

Do you know how to "unhide" hidden folders? The Cookies folder for each user is hidden but if you are not bothered by all those cookies that is OK. However too many can slow down your browser and PC while all the advertising "bean counters" look at and update your cookies.

I am glad to see that you are using AVG 7.5 . If they do stop support then you come here for advice OK ?

I like to use both Windows Defragmenter program and Piriforms "Defraggler" program. I want you to try "Defraggler" and just Defragment the biggest files first. A few at a time since you don't have much space. DO NOT try to defrag the whole drive. It will help your PC to defrag some files. Don't bother defragging System Volume files just "your" big files. What is nice about "Defraggler" is you can do just a few at a time. It won't take long to do it that way. Defraggler can work with less available space than Windows Disk Defragmenter. Just don't try too big a file or too many at one time or it may "hang". Maybe between 50 - 100MB first.

P.S. http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=16318

 

I always run CCleaner manually. As far as the Advanced options go I recommend only leaving the last option for Custom Files and Folders. The other Advanced options are constantly resetting too many things for the average user. Leave the Prefetch file alone. Windows will take care of it for you.

There are other things that you can do but enough for now. You did mean 20 GB hard drive and not 20 MB.

Later we can get you back some more disk space. IE7 is much better than IE6.

Good luck for now,

davey

P.S. I have ONLY 256 MB RAM. VERY IMPORTANT. Run CCleaner and Defraggler only when all other programs are closed. They will run faster,work better, and not cause any conflicts. With other programs closed you should try Options > Cookies again.

Let us know how it goes.

P.S.We are glad to hear that your PC is running faster.

http://www.ccleanerbeginnersguide.com/

CCleaner Beginner's Guide.com Bookmark and save to Favorites

Edited July 23, 2008 by davey

[YoKenny]

Pengman, what is the type of CPU plus its speed that you are running?

 

IE7 is much better than IE6.

Especially its Tabbed browser feature and its phishing filter plus it is way safer than IE6.

 

Insure that IE only uses 100MB for its Temporary Internet Files that can be set in Internet Options Settings as by default it is 12% of the hard drive space and can become cluttered with very old items so that is why CCleaner likes to clean it out.

 

Windows XP professional Service pack 2 (build 2600) - is this 64 bit?

If you have to ask this question then you are running 32 bit.

 

P.S. I have ONLY 256 MB RAM. VERY IMPORTANT.

davey are you running XP Pro?

[Pengman]

Hi Pengman,

THANK YOU for such a great report. No problem

My list of questions sometimes scares "heck" out of some users but all this info helps the BUG FIXERS track down hard to find bugs.

A "cookie monster" is just my funny way to describe something that doesn't look right. For you that may be hard to detect.

Do you know how to "unhide" hidden folders? The Cookies folder for each user is hidden but if you are not bothered by all those cookies that is OK. However too many can slow down your browser and PC while all the advertising "bean counters" look at and update your cookies.

I've now deleted 90% of my cookies - see below

 

I am glad to see that you are using AVG 7.5 . If they do stop support then you come here for advice OK ?

I didn't know that withdrawal of support was imminent - yours sounds like a good offer - thank you Davey

 

I like to use both Windows Defragmenter program and Piriforms "Defraggler" program. I want you to try "Defraggler" and just Defragment the biggest files first. A few at a time since you don't have much space. DO NOT try to defrag the whole drive. It will help your PC to defrag some files. Don't bother defragging System Volume files just "your" big files. What is nice about "Defraggler" is you can do just a few at a time. It won't take long to do it that way. Defraggler can work with less available space than Windows Disk Defragmenter. Just don't try too big a file or too many at one time or it may "hang". Maybe between 50 - 100MB first.

P.S. http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=16318

I've dowloaded and spent a couple of hours running Defraggler and, low and behold, when I run CCleaner without anything else open, 'Options' > 'Cookies' now works for me and I was easily able to sort what Cookies I wanted to retain and those I could ditch (approx 90%), and my PC is running even faster (particularly in the time take to open IE). FYI, I don't know what the stats where when I started, but I now have circa 13,600 files in 86,500 fragments, of which my largest file is Outlook.pst which is over 500MB in nearly 8,000 fragments (it was nearly 11,000 fragments when I started). I had thought that when I ran Defraggler on one file that it would completely deframent it, but looking at the number of fragments before and after, it would appear that it defragments the file by only between 2% and 10%, so you have to keep re-running Defraggler on it to fully defrag it - is this correct? Also, I am slightly confused by the info alert box that pops up after I've defragged a file (or files) which says 'Defrag Complete - No files were defragmented' -I'm not sure what this means. Also, looking at the Drive Map Legend, about 15% of it is blue and the rest red and, although I've spent a few hours defagging, this hasn't changed much if at all, so it looks like it will take me days to fully defrag the drive.

 

I always run CCleaner manually. As far as the Advanced options go I recommend only leaving the last option for Custom Files and Folders. The other Advanced options are constantly resetting too many things for the average user. Leave the Prefetch file alone. Windows will take care of it for you.

There are other things that you can do but enough for now. You did mean 20 GB hard drive and not 20 MB. Yes - 20GB

Later we can get you back some more disk space. IE7 is much better than IE6.

Good luck for now,

davey

P.S. I have ONLY 256 MB RAM. VERY IMPORTANT. Run CCleaner and Defraggler only when all other programs are closed. They will run faster,work better, and not cause any conflicts. With other programs closed you should try Options > Cookies again. Noted - thanks again for your help - Pengman

Let us know how it goes.

P.S.We are glad to hear that your PC is running faster.

http://www.ccleanerbeginnersguide.com/

CCleaner Beginner's Guide.com Bookmark and save to Favorites

[Pengman]

Pengman, what is the type of CPU plus its speed that you are running?

800Mhz Intel Pentium III

 

Especially its Tabbed browser feature and its phishing filter plus it is way safer than IE6.

 

Insure that IE only uses 100MB for its Temporary Internet Files that can be set in Internet Options Settings as by default it is 12% of the hard drive space and can become cluttered with very old items so that is why CCleaner likes to clean it out.

Thanks - done that

 

If you have to ask this question then you are running 32 bit.

 

davey are you running XP Pro?

[davey]

Just downloaded and installed CCleaner v2.09.600, and noticed that clicking on 'Cookies' in the 'Options' menu doesn't resolve and causes my computer to hang . Apart from that, very impressive - did a full sweep of everything, (although unfortunately my machine doesn't seem much faster than it was previously ).

Hey Pengman,

It hasn't been very long since you first posted the above is it ?

You have come a very long way in a very short period of time.

You have done extremely well to return the performance of that PC.

Man, This is great news !!!

 

Now, as regards "Defraggler" , the program itself has come a long way in a short time as regards it's features and abilities.

It is very hard to defrag any drive no matter what size it is. It is even harder to defrag a file(including work space) that is the equivalent of 5% of your HDD when you only have 6 % to work with. I can't explain why you got some of the messages that you did but we are taking positive actions to get your PC in the best shape it has been in awhile.

 

Let us see if we can't improve conditions a little bit. I don't normally advise users to use the Advanced options too often but in your case it is time to use one just this one time then turn the option back off. This one doesn't have to be used often.

Turn on the option to clean at Cleaner > Windows tab > Advanced cleaning list > Hotfix Uninstallers .This will delete all the Uninstall programs for Hotfixes that have been applied to your PC. These were put on your PC each time that you installed "fixes" from Microsoft.

If you have never cleaned these before they could be anywhere from 100 MB to well over 1 GB. This will give you another 5% of your hard drive space back. This space will sure come in handy when "defragging" your other files. Don't worry about needing them because the "fixes" have been working and now it's time to get rid of the Uninstallers. After you do this cleaning, run the Registry Issues function and back up your Registry "fixes" each time. Do this always. You need to do this until you get no more "issues".

 

Now we can do some more "defragging". That 500 MB file you can leave alone for now. It is too big and probably not worth trying to defrag any further. It is remarkable that "Defraggler" defragged it as much as it did. Let's concentrate on the files between 50 - 100MB. Concentrate on files like Documents and Settings. If you have none left then concentrate on 10 -50 MB.

Remember don't bother Defragging System Volume files at any time. They are automatically deleted and replaced by Windows. We may get you some more space from them later. Don't bother with any log files as CCleaner will get rid of these.

 

The whole idea of what we are doing is doing things a little at a time and avoiding problems and wear and tear on your PC.

Honestly as full as your Hard Drive it is safest and smartest this way.

Good luck and keep in touch,

davey

P.S. I am glad you are keeping track off and providing information as to size and number of fragments. This helps us all learn.

Edited July 24, 2008 by davey

[YoKenny]

Pengman a 800Mhz Intel Pentium III with only 384MB RAM running XP Pro will be slow and appear to hang.

 

My 2.4GHZ P4 512MB RAM XP Home system is painfully slow and that is why I purchased a 2.8GHZ P4 768MB RAM system so that I could run XP Pro.

[Pengman]

Pengman a 800Mhz Intel Pentium III with only 384MB RAM running XP Pro will be slow and appear to hang.

 

My 2.4GHZ P4 512MB RAM XP Home system is painfully slow and that is why I purchased a 2.8GHZ P4 768MB RAM system so that I could run XP Pro.

 

Accepted, but I think my machine was failing to respond and hanging, as opposed to running very slow. Anyway Davey has nursed me along and its not hanging anymore.

[Pengman]

Hey Davey, I followed your instructions for cleaning the Hotfix Uninstallers, and got myself another 529MB back and my hard disk is now 9-10% free as opposed to the 5% I was when I started!

 

Further defragging will take time - a job for the weekend I think. Thanks for all your help and encouragment . I'm amazed that you can provide this level of support when the products are free and there appears to be little or no advertising on the site. I conclude that you've made your money elsewhere and have now donated your mind to the CCleaner online community!

 

Pengman

[davey]

Hey Davey, I followed your instructions for cleaning the Hotfix Uninstallers, and got myself another 529MB back and my hard disk is now 9-10% free as opposed to the 5% I was when I started!

 

Further defragging will take time - a job for the weekend I think. Thanks for all your help and encouragment . I'm amazed that you can provide this level of support when the products are free and there appears to be little or no advertising on the site. I conclude that you've made your money elsewhere and have now donated your mind to the CCleaner online community!

 

Pengman

Hey Pengman,

You are correct on both counts.

Only problem is I don't know where elsewhere is or I would be there tomorrow to pick up my money.

When you are ready to get back some more space come back to this thread and we will pick up from there.

Once you get "your" files defragmented, I have a surprise for you.

We are then and only then going to defragment those System Restore files that I told you to leave alone.The only difference being that this time I want you to concentrate on the ones with the most (MANY) fragments, Not necessarily the biggest but the ones with the most (MANY) fragments. Don't bother with any files that are large but with relatively few fragments. That is a waste of time and wear and tear also. (By now you know what is many and what is a few fragments. You are becoming a "defrag" expert.)

Maximize the screen and have fun watching those blocks change colors and shift around. Nothing wrong with letting the PC cool down a bit either.Don't turn off your PC right away after defragging. Let it run awhile to cool down with the fans. Watch a good show or event while you defrag and you will be surprised how much you can get done without putting a strain on your PC or you.

Also this is not an endurance contest either. When it is not fun any more, stop and do something else. I am serious about that.

Go out and have some fun. Do whatever brings you some joy !!!

Have a good week-end.

davey

P.S. For emphasis. Don't turn off your PC right away after defragging. Let it run awhile to cool down with the fans.

Edited July 26, 2008 by davey

[Pengman]

Hi Davey,

 

I discovered something at the weekend I should have realised years ago. This (my home) PC is shared by myself and my partner. When I had deleted temporary internet pages in the past, I had (wrongly) assumed that I was deleting them 'overall' the whole PC as it were. However, I now realise that my partners pages are stored in a separate sub-directory under her 'Documents and Settings', so I've now got a further cool 1.5GB back which means that 16% of my hard disk is now free (a 300% improvement on 6 days ago!!). Maybe you should put something on your help files to remind stupid folk like me that, if the PC is shared, each sharer should run CCleaner?

 

Prior to the above 'discovery', I had pretty much defragged all my 50-100MB files that weren't system or log files (not that many in this category actually), as far as they would defrag that is. However, now I've got more space back, they seem to be able to defrag further, so I've some more work to do. Will try and do this over the next day or two and then come back to you for what is amounting to the best tutorial I've ever had

 

Pengman

[davey]

Hi Davey,

 

I discovered something at the weekend I should have realised years ago. This (my home) PC is shared by myself and my partner. When I had deleted temporary internet pages in the past, I had (wrongly) assumed that I was deleting them 'overall' the whole PC as it were. However, I now realise that my partners pages are stored in a separate sub-directory under her 'Documents and Settings', so I've now got a further cool 1.5GB back which means that 16% of my hard disk is now free (a 300% improvement on 6 days ago!!). Maybe you should put something on your help files to remind stupid folk like me that, if the PC is shared, each sharer should run CCleaner?

 

Prior to the above 'discovery', I had pretty much defragged all my 50-100MB files that weren't system or log files (not that many in this category actually), as far as they would defrag that is. However, now I've got more space back, they seem to be able to defrag further, so I've some more work to do. Will try and do this over the next day or two and then come back to you for what is amounting to the best tutorial I've ever had

 

Pengman

Hi Pengman,

Thank you for pointing out such important information.

 

It is very important for all users to remember that when there are multiple user accounts then each user must run CCleaner to get as much cleaned as possible. Each account is going to have Temporary Internet files,History files,index.dat files,Cookies,Temp files and even some application areas to be cleaned.

This also includes those PCs with one user but multiple user accounts. Each account can have uncleaned data.

This includes the Administrator account who may also have a User account.

You may also have a Guest account that needs cleaning.

 

Thanks again,

davey

[Andavari]

Since your system was hanging and possibly locking it now would be a very good time to run the disk error checking program on your C: drive to make sure it's in tip top condition. This can be done by:

 

1. Click Start->Run
   
2. Type in: chkdsk /f c:
   
3. When asked to schedule a Check Disk on the next system startup press Y for Yes, then hit the Enter key.
   
4. Reboot to allow Check Disk to run and repair any possible errors. This may take up to five or so minutes to complete.
   

 

[davey]

Hi Davey,

 

Prior to the above 'discovery', I had pretty much defragged all my 50-100MB files that weren't system or log files (not that many in this category actually), as far as they would defrag that is. However, now I've got more space back, they seem to be able to defrag further, so I've some more work to do. Will try and do this over the next day or two and then come back to you for what is amounting to the best tutorial I've ever had

 

Pengman

You don't have to completely defrag the System Volume Files.

I just thought it would be a quick way of creating some large chunky files cause we are going to delete them or at least half of them(the oldest ones). This will give you a large chunk of "REAL ESTATE" BACK ON YOUR HARD DRIVE. This will only work if you have not reduced the allocated space for System Restore files. You can also just wait and every day some will get deleted when you reboot.I never like telling users to delete anything but have you seen how much space The "Encarta Encyclopedia" takes. Its about 400 MB if I remember correctly.

Take your time.

Back to you later.

davey