CCleaner Keeps Deleting My System Restore Point

[Greyghost]

I am using normal deletion of my data. Some time ago, I used secure deletion but it took more time than I wanted it to, which is understandable. My System Restore disk percentage is currently set at max, which is 12% and is 17,849 megabytes of space on my C drive. Finally, in answer to your question about free space, I have 128GB of free space on the C drive and nothing on the D drive, i.e., to be specific, it is formatted but empty. I also followed the information about the monitoring of various drives and made sure monitoring was off on all drives except the C drive and that did not help either.

 

It is interesting that this is not taking place on my older Compaq 7000US. I also tested my Gateway laptop to see if it is happening on it and it was not. The only computer this is affecting is my Dell Dimension 8400.

 

I have run CCCleaner again with several restore points saved, it erased them and I made a log file. I first posted it here but it includes personal identification so I edited the post. I will send it to you via email if you want it.

[Augeas]

Please don't send me any pm's, post the info here, just edit out your personal info. I have no more idea of what the problem is, or how to fix it, than the next man.

 

The only thing I can think of now is to establish if the restore points are actually going or are the entries in the table not being shown? Can you do another test and immediately before running CC note the bytes used on your c drive, run CC, then note the bytes used again, and take b from a, post here with the amount CC says it deleted.

[Greyghost]

I checked the byte count of my hard drive. It was 17,606,107,136. Then I added one restore point and the new byte count was 17,662,541,824 which when after subtracting the original byte count, showed that it added 56,434,688 bytes added for one restore point. I then ran CCCleaner, the latest version, with normal file deletion and empty recycle bin checked, and it said it removed .18 MB. The actual new byte count was 17,606,189,056 which indicates to me that it actually removed 56,352,768 bytes which is virtually all of the new restore point.

 

CCCleaner is erasing my restore points and not just hiding them as some seem to have asserted. Now the question is, what can I do about it other than just not use CCCleaner? I repeat that it does not exhibit this behavior on my Gateway laptop or my wife's Compaq desktop, only on my Dell Dimension 8400 with Windows XP, SP3 with all updates installed. I decided to do another test and came back and edited this posting.

 

In a method similar to what Wyo did, I created another restore point, saved it, tested it. I then manually emptied the recycle bin and lost the restore point. The same identical thing happened when I used CCCleaner with Empty Recycle Bin checked. I then, instead of uninstalling and reinstalling CCCleaner as Wyo did, tried simply unchecking Empty Recycle Bin in that program. I then set up another restore point, emptied the recycle bin directly and still had the restore point (previously this had also erased the restore point). I then went to CCCleaner and rechecked Empty Recycle Bin and then ran CCCleaner and the new restore point was still there. It would appear that something is taking place during the updates of CCCleaner that starts deletion of the restore points both with normal trash emptying and with using CCCleaner and letting it empty the trash. Simply unchecking that box, even though I rechecked it in the next step, stopped the loss of the restore points that I had created for the test. It was always keeping one restore point even when losing the others. I think this gives new direction to the search for what is causing the problem.

[Guest MrT]

Hi,

 

We are looking into the problem.

 

Unfortunately, we haven't been able to replicate yet.

 

Thanks

[HDjunkie]

Ccleaner had been deleting my system restore points as well, but I just upgraded to the newest version, and all of my restores points remained this time.

[Buzzzzzby]

To add my two ha'pence worth -

 

This has been a problem for a long time both on my XP Toshiba and my Vista Acer machines, and yes, I do use the secure delete method.

 

To get round it I just untick the 'Empty Recycle Bin', the 'Window Size/Location Cache' and the 'Wipe Free Space' options under 'Windows'.

 

Under 'Applications' I have all the boxes checked.

 

I currently have about 10 days of Restore Points available.

 

Works for me anyway!

 

 

p.s. To securely empty my Recycle Bin (or any other item I want to securely delete) I use the very good (and free) Eraser

 

Regards,

[Buzzzzzby]

Please disregard any references in my previous post to VISTA and System Restore points.

 

I now see that when I installed CCleaner I had just gone and applied the same CCleaner settings in Vista as I previously had on XP and assumed it had fixed the same problem since the Restore points remained after a clean.

Actually in my Vista there seems to be NO such problem to fix anyway. I find I can run CCleaner with all boxes ticked (excepting Free Space) and it doesn't delete ANY Restore points. My Vista runs perfectly with CCleaner.

 

However, on my XP system unchecking the 'Empty Recycle Bin' DOES allow me to keep Restore points (for 3 days at the moment), but I guess that depends on the amount of available free space on the disk. However they then disappear if I use 'Wipe Free Space' with Eraser. Still looking at that.

 

Sorry for the Vista misinformation. Just shows you shouldn't make ludicrous assumptions.

 

So, - next time you're out on a walk and see a particularly fine example of a large horses ass,

 

Think of,

 

Your friend,

 

Buzzzzzby!

[Buzzzzzby]

To try to recover a bit of face here.......

 

 

 

If you're still losing your System Restore points, but you want another excellent way of making backups of your registry on a automatic daily or 'choose when' basis, have a look at this post.

 

You can keep the backups where you like, so they should be able to avoid any 'cleaner' programs.

 

Regards,

[Rockfella]

^ I wonder why u guys use restore points? It makes the PC slow and is a useless feature. Use Acronis etc. My System Restore is always disabled, i hardly ever need to restore anyways.

[kmillerusaf]

The average user has probably never heard of Acronis or wants to buy another software in addition to Windows just to have something to fall back on.

[Buzzzzzby]

My sad experience (of Acronis True Image 9) is that there is a real chance that it will let you down when you most need it!

 

No matter that you validated the image when you made it; when Windows dies and you come to restore it you get the message "This is not a True Image file or the folder is corrupted" - or something like that.

You never KNOW it will work unless you actually use it to do a restore, and from my experience I wouldn't trust it to perform in a crisis even then!

I'm sure it often works for some people - but when it doesn't it can leave you up merde creek without a paddle.

 

And please don't tell me it's my imagination - there is much about the problem in forums.

 

Also - I reckon it's easier to make an (ERUNT) Registry backup before installing and trying out a new program, then reverting the Registry back if the program fails, than doing the same thing with Acronis?

 

Regards,

[Tom.B]

^ I wonder why u guys use restore points? It makes the PC slow and is a useless feature. Use Acronis etc. My System Restore is always disabled, i hardly ever need to restore anyways.

I use Acronis True Image Home 11 and yet I leave System Restore open. My theory is that if System Restore fails, *then* I'll use Acronis

[Tom B]

From: Tom the Newbie.

OK I am a Newbie to this forum thing.

I hope you do not mind my input, or my Spelling.

I know you all have done a lot of work before this, as I read over all I can find on the subject of erasing the restore point files.

Here is my situation.

I have a Dell Dimension 2400. I am running windows XP SP3.

I removed Norton anti-virus protection and installed McAfee about mid Dec. 2008.

I only have one HP printer, an L J 4L, that is years old and I did not update drivers etc.

I am on Verizon Yahoo DSL. I have CClean installed.

I started to fix a problem of having a command in the Msconfig that I needed to remove.

I could not UN-CHECK the command! It came back each time I restarted the PC.

Also, I got an error, ?sign on as the Administrator?

While working on these problems, I discovered that all my restore points were gone except for one.

So now I can not go back to my last good restore!

So far I have found out that:

I removed the un-needed command using Regedit and fixed my original problem.

I found a super Msconfig program called? Autoruns? That works like Msconfig, only it is more inclusive.

A number of things can remove restore points. ( I think)

Mcafee can do it if you set it to do so.

Msconfig can do it if you go into Diag. mode and not restore mode.

A file leftover from Norton can lock you out of un-checking Msconfig.

A Trojan called Pandex can lock you out of un-checking Msconfig.

You can not save your restore points to a disk etc and then use this backup file to restart your PC at a later date.

You can save the registry to a file to use later using a CClean, I think.

I do not know if the registry is the only thing you need to use to do a restore?

CClaner may also remove restore points. ( As yoiu all know by now)

At this point my machine is working OK except that? I need to use Autoruns or Regedit to remove start commands, and I need to do a full image copy of my machine to my ?E? external drive to be able to restore my machine if I need to.

I found a note that told me not to monitor any drive except the drive with windows on it.

Looking at the Dell partition drive , if it exists, just uses up the allotted space that is needed for the restore files., i.e. do not monitor the dell partition, or my E drive.

It looks like Restore is no good if a problem is over 90 days old or you delete the restore files before you know you have a problem.

The message ?you must be an administrator? may not stop you from un-checking a box in Msconfig?

The uncheck problem may not be fixable and I will just use Autorun to do the un-checking.

Meanwhile I hope you guys can find out more about these problems.

I will keep an eye out but for now I need to start to do my US taxes for the year, so this will go on the back burner for now that I have the machine working.

Keep in mind that mcafee and msconfig may get in the way of you working on the problem if you have them.

You guys were very helpful because I now know that I am not the only person with these two or 3 problems.

Thanks, Tom

[Tom B]

By the way.. Sorry that I did not notice the other TOM.B just above my post.

I should have taken another name. I am Tom space B THE NEWBIE.

This was my first ever post.

[Tom.B]

I have to admit I was surprised when it said "Tom.B" had posted as I don't remember posting this morning

 

Hopefully people can tell us apart

[YoKenny]

Tom the Newbie, how did you remove Norton?

Did you use Add/Remove Programs or Norton's un-install application?

 

I think it is going to be confusing with two Toms with the IDs so close.

[Imn7thHvn]

Hi,

 

We are looking into the problem.

 

Unfortunately, we haven't been able to replicate yet.

 

Thanks

 

 

 

Hello! I just discovered that I have the same problem with restore points disappearing when using CCleaner. I'm using version 2.17.853 with XP Home SP3 and don't know if this problem started with this version of CCleaner or one before. I haven't checked into system restore points in quite a while. However, I ran across this forum and decided to check (since I ran CCleaner this morning) and behold...I have only this morning's point. Curious problem! Has any progress been made to isolate the culprit? I'd rather not have all the restore points deleted.

[Tom B]

Hi All form Tom B the Newbie.

 

This is a test. I added my photo and need to know if it worked.

If you see kojack it worked! This will fix the confusinon re the other Tom.B..

 

Also I sent a reply to Yokenny using the reply in the box with his post.

I do not see this reply of mine here.

Did this only go to Yokenny? or did I not do it correct.

Yokenny please let me know if you got my reply. Thanks.

 

To Yokenny.. I used both un-install and the Norton remove program, then used regedit to remove a file ending \NetDetect... Part of Pandex Trojan (I think) that looks like part of Norton.

 

One more Newbie question.. where can I find an overall "how do I use this fourm" place on this fourm.

A video would be nice?

[hazelnut]

Tom you may have already seen how to add an avatar etc. Click on My Controls at the top of this page, and then you will see avatar settings etc under the Personal Profile list.

 

Under the Options list in My Controls are the board settings which enable you to change things like email notifications and time zones.

 

Have you tried pressing ''fast reply'' when you want to reply to a post?

 

Pressing the ''reply'' button means that it also posts their post as well as yours, useful sometimes, but not in most circumstances.

[Tom B]

From Tom B the newbie.

Thanks for the help Hazelnut.

Just before you sent me your note I found that the avatar is how to get the photo to show when I reply.

I set it up and bingo it worked!

Is there a way to send you notes, Questions, without having them post to this topic so I do not interfere with the team working on the problem when I need to ask "how to" questions?

Should I be asking you, or is their a general help person or fourm to go to?

 

Sorry to the rest of you, I will get off this subject of questions about "how to" now. Tom B

[hazelnut]

General questions about forum usage can be asked in the lounge Tom.

 

If it is a question about using ccleaner just start a new topic by pressing New Topic at the top right hand side of the ccleaner discussion page f.

 

So if you wanted to ask a question in the lounge, go to that part of the forum (reached via main forum page) and press New Topic.

 

Some questions about ccleaner, recuva and defraggler can be answered by clicking and reading the appropriate links here

 

http://docs.piriform.com/

[YoKenny]

Hi All form Tom B the Newbie.

 

This is a test. I added my photo and need to know if it worked.

If you see kojack it worked! This will fix the confusinon re the other Tom.B..

 

Also I sent a reply to Yokenny using the reply in the box with his post.

I do not see this reply of mine here.

Did this only go to Yokenny? or did I not do it correct.

Yokenny please let me know if you got my reply. Thanks.

On the right there is a # that if you click on it it will permit you to copy ( Ctrl+C ) the item reference number so that you can paste ( Ctrl+V ) into your reply:

http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?s=&amp...st&p=131356

 

To Yokenny.. I used both un-install and the Norton remove program, then used regedit to remove a file ending \NetDetect... Part of Pandex Trojan (I think) that looks like part of Norton.

NetDetect is part of Norton:

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=Ne...earch&meta=

 

Google is your friend.

[Tom B]

Thanks Yokenny,

I found how to use the Lounge so I will ask how-to questions there from now on, to keep this topic for the problem with CClean. I need to install the spell checker also.

 

Re CClean... I checked again (twice) and found that it did not remove my restore points.

I used the reg tool also and still no restore point problem.

My problem is gone re CClean for now, but it may have been because of Msconfig or Mcafee.

I think a setting in Mcafee can remove the restore points but I do not remember where it is just now.

I did read that using Msconfig to uncheck can remove the restore points, I think this is normal?

My main problem now is that I can not un-check in Msconfig.

This is not a problem for this forum so I will take it to blackviper.com to work on, or bleeping computer.

I will check in on ths forum to see if you guys make progress.

I will be glad to help if I can try something for you, as my machine is almost normal now.

Thanks for the help. Tom B the Newbie..

[YoKenny]

did read that using Msconfig to uncheck can remove the restore points, I think this is normal?

My main problem now is that I can not un-check in Msconfig.

Msconfig is a dangerous tool and should not be used unless directed by an expert.

 

Change Msconfig back to Normal Startup unless you are using Vista then it should be Selective startup.

 

WinPatrol is a good application for managing Startup items:

http://www.winpatrol.com

[Tom B]

Thanks, Yes I am back to normal in Msconfig.

The issue is not that I need to use it, but that it is not working as it should if I did need it.

As for the danger I needed to use regedit to fix my original problem and that was dangerous!!!

I like Autorun too.

When I worked at the (big old) computer co. we had a saying when we made changes to microcode

(like a OS)program.

 

"Remember rule number one, and two."

 

Rule one "KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING".

 

Rule two "REMEMBER RULE ONE"

Thanks, Tom B