My two cents worth

[mr don]

I love CCleaner, but there are 2 things I miss badly.

 

CCleaner shows all the startup items, except BHO objects. So I have to use Nirsoft's Startup Run for that!

Also, the system hosts file can have non-standard entries inserted by programs, causing weird behavior. So I have to manually edit those entries out, or use Hosts Manager.

 

So, to put it in summary, would there be a way to add these to CCleaner?

 

- BHO Startup detection (Under startup tab)

- Hosts file cleaner (Set to system default, which is a clean hosts file)

 

Thanks!

 

I'd love to hear from everyone & see what they think too.

[ident]

Why not just keep a clean copy of your "edited" host file when you are happy. And delete/paste it when ever you feel the need rather then manually deleting entrys each time?

[mr don]

Why not just keep a clean copy of your "edited" host file when you are happy. And delete/paste it when ever you feel the need rather then manually deleting entrys each time?

 

 

I could, but going on the same kind of advice...

 

Why use CCleaner to make temp file cleaning automatic? Wouldn't it be just as easy to just go to start/run & type %TMP% then enter?

CTRL + A to select all, shift + del to delete the trash?

 

And of course, let us not forget the ease & convenience, let alone speed it would bring us to also manually delete the browser temp folders, cache, histories of Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari, IE, Opera, etc.

 

Fact is, each one of these is not so bad alone. But together, & they = a time consuming task! It is much easier having a simplified program like CCleaner clean it. One button, pfft! You're done!

 

I was asking about cleaning the BHO items because they always start with windows, so I was wondering if CCleaner detected startup items, it can't be that hard to add BHO cleaning, I wouldn't think, because Nirsoft Startup Run does it in a few KB program! It shows ALL startup items, BHO & regular.

 

But, then again, I really hate having to use startup run + CCleaner when I love CCleaner so much & it would be so much easier & more convenient if that was built in!

Going to the windows Etc/ folder for the hosts file is not half as easy either, as it would be if CCleaner could have a way to keep the windows default entry in the host greyed out so no-one can delete it (Like it does with the last saved restore point under system restore point cleaner).

 

But allow all other entries to be deleted, or even have a 1 click fix to restore the windows hosts file back to just like it was when windows had a clean install! If over-writing the hosts file was a concern, why not implement a way to save the current one as hosts2 while writting a clean one as hosts so they can always restore hosts2 if they have to later?

 

Well, hopefully you kinda get an idea the reason why I asked now. So, do you still think the same way? I sure would love to be able to drop startup run & be able to only use CCleaner!

 

*Hugs CCleaner* Meow?

 

Thanks!

[amd.64]

- BHO Startup detection (Under startup tab)

- Hosts file cleaner (Set to system default, which is a clean hosts file)

 

If you have a lot of problems with BHO's and entries added to the Hosts file you should download and run Spy-Bot and Malwarebytes to clean your system of Ad-Ware, Mal-Ware and Spy-Ware. Also run a Virus Scan. This is the only reason I know off that you would regularly have these types of programs.

 

I could, but going on the same kind of advice...

 

Why use CCleaner to make temp file cleaning automatic? Wouldn't it be just as easy to just go to start/run & type %TMP% then enter?

CTRL + A to select all, shift + del to delete the trash?

 

And of course, let us not forget the ease & convenience, let alone speed it would bring us to also manually delete the browser temp folders, cache, histories of Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari, IE, Opera, etc.

 

Fact is, each one of these is not so bad alone. But together, & they = a time consuming task! It is much easier having a simplified program like CCleaner clean it. One button, pfft! You're done!

 

I was asking about cleaning the BHO items because they always start with windows, so I was wondering if CCleaner detected startup items, it can't be that hard to add BHO cleaning, I wouldn't think, because Nirsoft Startup Run does it in a few KB program! It shows ALL startup items, BHO & regular.

 

But, then again, I really hate having to use startup run + CCleaner when I love CCleaner so much & it would be so much easier & more convenient if that was built in!

Going to the windows Etc/ folder for the hosts file is not half as easy either, as it would be if CCleaner could have a way to keep the windows default entry in the host greyed out so no-one can delete it (Like it does with the last saved restore point under system restore point cleaner).

 

But allow all other entries to be deleted, or even have a 1 click fix to restore the windows hosts file back to just like it was when windows had a clean install! If over-writing the hosts file was a concern, why not implement a way to save the current one as hosts2 while writting a clean one as hosts so they can always restore hosts2 if they have to later?

 

Well, hopefully you kinda get an idea the reason why I asked now. So, do you still think the same way? I sure would love to be able to drop startup run & be able to only use CCleaner!

 

*Hugs CCleaner* Meow?

 

Thanks!

 

I am a Computer Technician. On average I need to do at least 1 computer clenup a week, sometimes as many as five or six. I use CpmboFix, Spybot, Malwarebytes, MLin's Start Up List, Hi Jack this, the anti-virus installed on the system, and sometimes more then that on badly infected systems. I to would love to have them all in on easy access spot. That is why I wrote my own custom app to have easy access to these apps. Usually their is no other need to edit the host file.

 

In some networks the host file is used in the absence of a DNS server to find other computers on the network. Once these entries are created their is no reason to edit the host file again. I would not want to have to constantly edit my hosts file to re-enter the entries because of a feature you suggest

 

If you absolutely need to back up your hosts file to restore later, create a batch file to back up the host file and a second to restore it.

 

For example:

 

To back up the host file

@echo off

copy %systemroot%\System32\drivers\etc\hosts %systemroot%\System32\drivers\etc\hosts.bak

 

To restore host file from back up

@echo off

del %systemroot%\System32\drivers\etc\hosts

copy %systemroot%\System32\drivers\etc\hosts.bak %systemroot%\System32\drivers\etc\hosts

[mr don]

If you have a lot of problems with BHO's and entries added to the Hosts file you should download and run Spy-Bot and Malwarebytes to clean your system of Ad-Ware, Mal-Ware and Spy-Ware. Also run a Virus Scan. This is the only reason I know off that you would regularly have these types of programs.

 

 

 

I am a Computer Technician. On average I need to do at least 1 computer clenup a week, sometimes as many as five or six. I use CpmboFix, Spybot, Malwarebytes, MLin's Start Up List, Hi Jack this, the anti-virus installed on the system, and sometimes more then that on badly infected systems. I to would love to have them all in on easy access spot. That is why I wrote my own custom app to have easy access to these apps. Usually their is no other need to edit the host file.

 

In some networks the host file is used in the absence of a DNS server to find other computers on the network. Once these entries are created their is no reason to edit the host file again. I would not want to have to constantly edit my hosts file to re-enter the entries because of a feature you suggest

 

If you absolutely need to back up your hosts file to restore later, create a batch file to back up the host file and a second to restore it.

 

For example:

 

To back up the host file

@echo off

copy %systemroot%\System32\drivers\etc\hosts %systemroot%\System32\drivers\etc\hosts.bak

 

To restore host file from back up

@echo off

del %systemroot%\System32\drivers\etc\hosts

copy %systemroot%\System32\drivers\etc\hosts.bak %systemroot%\System32\drivers\etc\hosts

 

 

Thank you for your help.

 

I did learn something from your copy/delete operations, as well as thinking of things I can do with relative paths etc. However, you seem to have misunderstood something I was saying earlier.

 

You said you don't want to lose your hosts file settings. How are you going to lose it? I suggested that CCleaner not touch it by default, it just has a setting you can click to edit/delete entries, or do a blank/clean windows hosts file if need be, while backing up the current before doing so!

 

You said there are other programs for BHO startup items & that is true, nirsofer Startup Run is the tiniest, portable, independent of .Net etc program that will detect startup + BHO items & let you delete them.

 

The purpose of improving CCleaner is, I would think, to make it easier.

 

I could easily point out that Spybot has a built in check for temp files to clean before scanning. Does this mean you really want to only use the built in temp files cleaner in Spybot & delete CCleaner since it is duplicity in those functions?

 

The fact is, CCleaner has been getting better, & adding more like System Restore point controls, & as such has evolved into one of my favorite tools to use. I just felt the addition of BHO startup disable/delete will complete the startup check. I feel almost half baked knowing that CCleaner only checks for regular startup items, & BHO are still hidden, waiting to unleash whatever payload!

 

If CCleaner had a BHO scanner, I could toss nir sofer startup run!

 

Hopefully, you see what I mean now! Sorry for the confusion!

[Alan_B]

You said you don't want to lose your hosts file settings. How are you going to lose it?

 

Very easy.

You click and start editing to cancel unwanted changes,

and half way through you are distracted by the phone/wife/children/grandchildren,

and something gets forgotten.

 

Alan

[mr don]

Very easy.

You click and start editing to cancel unwanted changes,

and half way through you are distracted by the phone/wife/children/grandchildren,

and something gets forgotten.

 

Alan

 

Let me get this straight. You do not want the hosts file to be changed, so why would you be editing it anyway?

 

This is ONLY for people who actually do want to, which is why it, the system restore control, & startup options are OPTIONAL (not mandatory).

 

Anyway, besides, if it backed up your hosts before beginning to work, you could just restore the backup!

[Alan_B]

Let me get this straight. You do not want the hosts file to be changed, so why would you be editing it anyway?

 

No - I would NOT be editing it.

In your very first post you said of yourself "... So I have to manually edit those entries out, ..."

 

I would not dream of editing unless I wished to alter protection.

If malware corrupted my hosts file I would far rather overwrite with a known good copy.

 

In fact I would not try to repair any such damage.

I might check what had gone wrong,

and whether any private data was being "phoned home",

and whether any root-kits had arrived.

 

I definitely would conclude by restoring my system from an Acronis Disc Image.

 

Alan

[mr don]

No - I would NOT be editing it.

In your very first post you said of yourself "... So I have to manually edit those entries out, ..."

 

I would not dream of editing unless I wished to alter protection.

If malware corrupted my hosts file I would far rather overwrite with a known good copy.

 

In fact I would not try to repair any such damage.

I might check what had gone wrong,

and whether any private data was being "phoned home",

and whether any root-kits had arrived.

 

I definitely would conclude by restoring my system from an Acronis Disc Image.

 

Alan

 

Alan, again, I am well aware of this, having worked with computers for years, lol!

 

Common problems with infected computers are:

- Hijacked hosts files

- Malicious startup entries

- Malicious BHO entries

- Malware/spyware/virus programs & scripts

- Hijacked IE settings in the registry (including redirects, etc)

- Rootkits

- Pop-up ad programs

- Toolbars

 

As you can see, many things can go wrong. And I have worked with them all.

 

The reason I wanted a hosts file cleaner, is I am certain with a reasonable degree to 99% certainty, that I can eradicate nearly 100% of the problems caused by such.

I do not need to run a system restore each time, nor acronis image, as I work with tons of files, & that would throw me back a lot in cost of time, & losing computer settings I experiment with.

 

A lot of people who know much less about computers than me DO struggle with malware removal & many times do fail to check key areas that malware commonly hides, including the System 32 folder, program file folder, app data directory, & C:windows.

 

I know a lot more than I post up here, but I post it not, simply because it would contain too much info for the average person here.

Having a utility to easily edit the hosts file may not be much to you, but it would be a lifesaver to me.

 

You can manually edit host file in notepad or text editors, but I have a program that can do it. However, it would be so much easier for me if it were built into CCleaner.

 

Editing the hosts file is never dangerous, as windows will resort to not using the host file if it is missing. It IS dangerous if you have malware add things. Let me tell you something you may not know. Host file can block bad sites, but I also saw a malware program take advantage of that when I was working on a friends computer.

 

I did eradicate all the problems, but I also had to remove all the entries in the hosts file because a malware had added entries to block CCleaner, AVG, Norton, McAffee & about 30 different GOOD programs.

 

It caused Firefox to display the warning! This site may be harmful to your computer! error, & that is just awful!

 

Maybe you don't even need CCleaner, as you might be the type person who saves every cookie for whatever reason etc, but I feel that I & many others would benefit from a hosts editor.

 

Again, it does NOT have to be something CCleaner does automatically, but just include the option to edit it like it does with system restore points. Maybe have the ability to delete all comments & entries EXCEPT the default loopback one.

[ident]

from my view is that it moves away from ccleaners purpose.

 

I love ccleaner because it's small, fast and not bundled with crap. A lot of people would like to see many features added to ccleaner so they only have to have one program. But i hate unnecessary bloat.

 

This of course is just my feelings on the matter

[Alan_B]

Let me tell you something you may not know. Host file can block bad sites, but I also saw a malware program take advantage of that when I was working on a friends computer.

Actually I knew that a few years ago.

I remember the first simple on-line test for the presence of Conficker.

It tested whether access was blocked to various A.V. sites etc.,

and I think it gave a colour coded "star" rating that indicated which version of conficker etc.

 

QUESTIONS :-

How would you expect CCleaner to detect a malware addition to the hosts file ?

 

If a Hosts file has been modified,

how would you expect any Junk file cleaner to distinguish between valid user additions and malware additions ?

It seems to me that it would require a database of valid A.V. etc. sites.

I wonder how many more MB that would take if the database is downloaded,

or how many extra minutes if the hosts file was validated against an on-line database.

 

I have just Googled and got 560,000 results for

Host file cleaner

The first result was

http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=21760

Strange - that was you on 2nd May 2009, making the same request,

and I think I recognise in this current thread some copy and paste phases from last years thread ! ! !

 

The third result was

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Antivirus/Nor...e-Cleaner.shtml

Norman is a security company that probably issues A.V. signature updates several times a day.

How often would CCleaner have to update any detection system for the latest malware blockages in hosts file ?

 

Many of the Google results are for "duplicate removal" host file cleaners.

That I am sure is very easy to detect and fix,

but I assume it only releases a little bit of space,

and would not clean up any malware corruption.

 

Maybe you don't even need CCleaner, as you might be the type person who saves every cookie for whatever reason etc, but I feel that I & many others would benefit from a hosts editor.

Wrong - If I did not need and use CCleaner I would not be a member of this forum.

Wrong - I have set certain cookies to be preserved, but all the others are zapped each day.

 

Since Flash cookies are continually evolving like malware, I do not bother with cleaning them.

Instead I purge all trace of Adobe and Flash Player junk with my addition to winapp2.ini

FileKey1=%APPDATA%\Macromedia\Flash Player\|*.*|RECURSE
FileKey2=%APPDATA%\Adobe\Flash Player\|*.*|RECURSE

N.B. Before switching to Ccleaner v2.30 I will check whether I need to change "\|*.*|RECURSE"

I believe something may have recently changed in how this is interpreted and acted upon..

 

I appreciate that you "feel that I & many others would benefit from a hosts editor",

but purging of malware additions is something in your request that I have not seen in the other top 100 results,

so although many may benefit from it, very few recognise it as something they want.

 

One of the more frequent items in the top 100 is "Norman Malware Cleaner"

Host file cleaner "Norman Malware Cleaner 2010.04 08"

There is a new update available on

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Antivirus/Nor...e-Cleaner.shtml

which is now up to 2010.04 09. and downloads a 66.9 MB *.exe

It seems to be updated every day.

 

It is strongly recommended that you run "Norman Malware Cleaner" in SAFE mode,

presumably so it has a better chance to overcome the malware that corrupts the host file

I suggest you try "Norman Malware Cleaner" - it may satisfy your wishes.

 

One thing that I and many people do not want is an upgraded CCleaner that :-

needs a daily update;

downloads a 67 MB *.exe (which may well unpack and install another 200 MB );

and needs to be run in Safe mode.

 

Regards

Alan

[mr don]

from my view is that it moves away from ccleaners purpose.

 

I love ccleaner because it's small, fast and not bundled with crap. A lot of people would like to see many features added to ccleaner so they only have to have one program. But i hate unnecessary bloat.

 

This of course is just my feelings on the matter

 

You are not the only one.

 

But adding a hosts file editor is not unnecessary bloat. The purpose of CCleaner is to clean up a computer. Cleaning the host file is part of cleaning, I mean, we could say the registry editor is totally worthless if you want to go that far. I hardly ever use it because registry editing is dangerous & I hate worthless features!

 

haha!

[mr don]

Actually I knew that a few years ago.

I remember the first simple on-line test for the presence of Conficker.

It tested whether access was blocked to various A.V. sites etc.,

and I think it gave a colour coded "star" rating that indicated which version of conficker etc.

 

QUESTIONS :-

How would you expect CCleaner to detect a malware addition to the hosts file ?

 

If a Hosts file has been modified,

how would you expect any Junk file cleaner to distinguish between valid user additions and malware additions ?

It seems to me that it would require a database of valid A.V. etc. sites.

I wonder how many more MB that would take if the database is downloaded,

or how many extra minutes if the hosts file was validated against an on-line database.

 

I have just Googled and got 560,000 results for

Host file cleaner

The first result was

http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=21760

Strange - that was you on 2nd May 2009, making the same request,

and I think I recognise in this current thread some copy and paste phases from last years thread ! ! !

 

The third result was

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Antivirus/Nor...e-Cleaner.shtml

Norman is a security company that probably issues A.V. signature updates several times a day.

How often would CCleaner have to update any detection system for the latest malware blockages in hosts file ?

 

Many of the Google results are for "duplicate removal" host file cleaners.

That I am sure is very easy to detect and fix,

but I assume it only releases a little bit of space,

and would not clean up any malware corruption.

 

 

Wrong - If I did not need and use CCleaner I would not be a member of this forum.

Wrong - I have set certain cookies to be preserved, but all the others are zapped each day.

 

Since Flash cookies are continually evolving like malware, I do not bother with cleaning them.

Instead I purge all trace of Adobe and Flash Player junk with my addition to winapp2.ini

FileKey1=%APPDATA%\Macromedia\Flash Player\|*.*|RECURSE
FileKey2=%APPDATA%\Adobe\Flash Player\|*.*|RECURSE

N.B. Before switching to Ccleaner v2.30 I will check whether I need to change "\|*.*|RECURSE"

I believe something may have recently changed in how this is interpreted and acted upon..

 

I appreciate that you "feel that I & many others would benefit from a hosts editor",

but purging of malware additions is something in your request that I have not seen in the other top 100 results,

so although many may benefit from it, very few recognise it as something they want.

 

One of the more frequent items in the top 100 is "Norman Malware Cleaner"

Host file cleaner "Norman Malware Cleaner 2010.04 08"

There is a new update available on

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Antivirus/Nor...e-Cleaner.shtml

which is now up to 2010.04 09. and downloads a 66.9 MB *.exe

It seems to be updated every day.

 

It is strongly recommended that you run "Norman Malware Cleaner" in SAFE mode,

presumably so it has a better chance to overcome the malware that corrupts the host file

I suggest you try "Norman Malware Cleaner" - it may satisfy your wishes.

 

One thing that I and many people do not want is an upgraded CCleaner that :-

needs a daily update;

downloads a 67 MB *.exe (which may well unpack and install another 200 MB );

and needs to be run in Safe mode.

 

Regards

Alan

 

 

Ok, Alan.

 

Never did I suggest having a database to detect malicious websites in the hosts file.

 

Do I want that? NO! It would not require much at all to just add an editor! I know what I want in the host file, & I know what I don't want in it. It would not be too much problem to ad an editor that could protect the default windows entry, but enable you to delete any of the rest that are in there.

 

It would NOT do any harm at all to be able to delete all the others. Having worthless entries in your host file means your computer has to check against all of them each time it makes a request. And so if you have thousands, it increases time taken to make the request.

 

I am not a fan of host file additions. Maybe you use it, I don't.

 

There should never be a host file "definitions" set to check against malicious entries, I do agree with that. I only want the editor. Plain & simple. I know when entries are malicious, & I know what to remove.

 

All I want is just the option to remove it!

 

I believe we could make the same argument about CCleaner's startup list. Why should it ever include the option to remove startup items? You would HAVE to have a database of malicious startup entries so you could tell which ones are safe to remove. No-one wants to download a 67 mb definition set just for the ability to tell which startup items are bad or good, & all because of a worthless feature request someone wanted to add to a simple cleaner.

 

I cannot understand why you would want that, yeah? Haha!

 

It would only add a few KB of code, if that, to add a host file cleaner & protect the default windows entry just like it already protects the last known system restore point from deletion. I cannot understand why you want to try to complicate things & talk about adding a host file definition set. If you want to complicate that, let us complicate the startup entry list as well with the talk of why it is dangerous to let users edit entries with no knowledge of what entries might be bad or good.

 

Plain & simple, a host editor can be small & very useful. Maybe not for people like you who put thousands of entries in it & do not ever check it, etc, but definitely would help me because I work with lots of computers (unlike, perhaps you?) because I cannot see where you possibly could work with more than 5 or 6 personal computers the way you diss the discussion of adding a hosts cleaner.

 

I work with lots of computers. And I see lots of cases the hosts file must be cleaned. It get's tiresome having to use other programs for this. Why don't you check out AbelhaDigital's Hosts Manager?

 

I am thinking perhaps you do not really know much about host editing programs, so I included a link to perhaps the best free hosts editor I know of at the moment. I believe it is 3 something mb, & also checks for malicious entries, can edit or delete entries, etc.

 

But again, I am not looking for malicious entry checking as I know when entries are bad or good having worked for so long with them. Just like CCleaner has startup item editing & I know which entries need to be disabled or not, I also know the same when it comes to the host file.

 

If CCleaner has no database for startup checking, I see no reason to include such a worthless feature for the host file editor either. I am not ever advocating adding scanners to CCleaner to detect malware, as I already have apps for that!

 

But since the purpose of CCleaner is cleaning useless junk off the PC, I figured that since I have worked with some computers before that had literally over 33,000 host file entries that had to be removed because of what they were doing to the PC, that just a simple editor could be added, just like they did with startup items!

 

How hard is that, Allan?

 

P.S. I do hope you check out that host manager program, & also, while you are at it, let me again repeat so you do not forget & run me down again, Hosts Manager by Abelha Digital DOES include a malicious entry checker, but again, I do not use it for that feature & I could care less if it had that! I just like the ability to easily edit the host file because I work with comps that get hijacked with malware.

 

I work with computers that have had over 500 different pieces of malware, in addition to the startup items, malicious scripts, redirectors, you name it, I had to deal with it!

 

Thank you for your time, & for checking the program I was telling you about. I fear you may yet forget again so I repeat one last time, I am NOT advocating or looking a worthless host file malicious entry checker, but only the editing part so I can easily disable non-default windows entries!

 

Are there any other questions you would like to ask me?

 

P.S. I do not advocate having a worthless malicious entry scanner on it, else we would also have to ad a malicious startup program scanner too?

 

Thanks!

 

Oh, yeah, thanks for belittling a request. You know, there was a time before CCleaner existed that many people used dangerous programs that scanned the entire computer for "junk" extensions that included the likes of .TMP * many others. But I saw the time when computers had programs that also used a .TMP extension for calendar templates, which would wipe that out, & cause it to cease functioning.

 

Many people still do not know that CCleaner is different from these type of cleaners & as such use other cleaners rather than CCleaner.

 

I have to tell people the difference when I help them out, so they can stop having problems. Things that you & I may know, not everyone else does. Just because you don't have thousands of request for things, doesn't automatically mean it is terrible. If this is so, all other suggestions by you or other people may as well be ignored as well, because, of course, you are only 1 person after all, right?

 

I thought the purpose of having a forum was to be constructively beneficial & helpful to people which I have tried to do, but it seems you are getting high off dissing others & dragging them into the dirt for a simple request. Maybe this is not your intention, but it just seems that way.

 

Anyway, I am not mad at you, just saying!

[Alan_B]

Ok, Alan.

 

Never did I suggest having a database to detect malicious websites in the hosts file.

I never said you had - it was just a thought of what COULD be involved

 

I only want the editor. Plain & simple. I know when entries are malicious, & I know what to remove.

You may know that, but I suspect most users of CCleaner would not have that confidence

 

I believe we could make the same argument about CCleaner's startup list. Why should it ever include the option to remove startup items? You would HAVE to have a database of malicious startup entries so you could tell which ones are safe to remove. No-one wants to download a 67 mb definition set just for the ability to tell which startup items are bad or good, & all because of a worthless feature request someone wanted to add to a simple cleaner.

You are resorting to a straw man argument, see

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man

 

Why don't you check out AbelhaDigital's Hosts Manager?

...

I included a link to perhaps the best free hosts editor I know of at the moment.

I believe it is 3 something mb, & also checks for malicious entries, can edit or delete entries, etc.

A link would have been useful - for anyone interested try :-

http://www.abelhadigital.com/

It is actually a 2.7 MB download which unzips to 5.7 MB

A rather large addition c.f. CCleaner's 2 MB

 

If CCleaner has no database for startup checking, I see no reason to include such a worthless feature for the host file editor either.

Back to Straw Man ! !

 

I am not ever advocating adding scanners to CCleaner to detect malware, as I already have apps for that!

I never raised the subject of malware.

amd.64 suggested some malware fighting tools to deal with your apparent problem,

and I have not noticed where you may have said this was not relevant

 

... that just a simple editor could be added ...

How hard is that, Allan?

O.K. - Agreed, they could include a link to Notepad.exe ! ! !

 

I thought the purpose of having a forum was to be constructively beneficial & helpful to people which I have tried to do, but it seems you are getting high off dissing others & dragging them into the dirt for a simple request. Maybe this is not your intention, but it just seems that way.

Yes, we try to be helpful, but no one else seemed interested in this facility when you posted here 11 months ago,

and no one else seems interested now.

 

I thought I was being helpful when I gave you a link to the Norman Cleaner,

which seems to deal with malware corrupted hosts files,

and till this post you do not seem to have corrected an impression that malware was a cause for your concern.

 

You have suggested that CCleaner could protect standard Windows entries in the Hosts file.

How will it recognise what to protect ?

Does this involve having a default Windows Host file for comparison ?

I am guessing here, but I suspect this Windows Host File will take up a few 100 KB of disc space to protect the active Hosts file whilst the editor it is reducing by perhaps a dozen KB.

Seems a little counter-productive if you just want the editor to save some space ! !

 

Regards

Alan

[ident]

You are not the only one.

 

But adding a hosts file editor is not unnecessary bloat. The purpose of CCleaner is to clean up a computer. Cleaning the host file is part of cleaning, I mean, we could say the registry editor is totally worthless if you want to go that far. I hardly ever use it because registry editing is dangerous & I hate worthless features!

 

haha!

 

It is unnecessary bloat because it is nothing to do with junk, it moves onto the side of security.

 

Registry editing is not dangerous. Building a car for your self to drive on the roads is dangerous if you do not know what you are doing.

[mr don]

I never said you had - it was just a thought of what COULD be involved

 

 

You may know that, but I suspect most users of CCleaner would not have that confidence

 

 

You are resorting to a straw man argument, see

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man

 

 

A link would have been useful - for anyone interested try :-

http://www.abelhadigital.com/

It is actually a 2.7 MB download which unzips to 5.7 MB

A rather large addition c.f. CCleaner's 2 MB

 

 

Back to Straw Man ! !

 

 

I never raised the subject of malware.

amd.64 suggested some malware fighting tools to deal with your apparent problem,

and I have not noticed where you may have said this was not relevant

 

 

O.K. - Agreed, they could include a link to Notepad.exe ! ! !

 

 

Yes, we try to be helpful, but no one else seemed interested in this facility when you posted here 11 months ago,

and no one else seems interested now.

 

I thought I was being helpful when I gave you a link to the Norman Cleaner,

which seems to deal with malware corrupted hosts files,

and till this post you do not seem to have corrected an impression that malware was a cause for your concern.

 

You have suggested that CCleaner could protect standard Windows entries in the Hosts file.

How will it recognise what to protect ?

Does this involve having a default Windows Host file for comparison ?

I am guessing here, but I suspect this Windows Host File will take up a few 100 KB of disc space to protect the active Hosts file whilst the editor it is reducing by perhaps a dozen KB.

Seems a little counter-productive if you just want the editor to save some space ! !

 

Regards

Alan

 

The purpose of CCleaner is to clean junk, yes? YES!

 

Having malicious entries in the hosts file that BLOCKS AVG, Norton, McAffee, Normal, Super Antispyware, Spybot Search & Destroy, Webroot Spy Sweeper, & tons of other good programs from being able to be accessed on the web, or redirected if you try to go to their website...

 

That is no fun. Sure, people CAN use it for blocking bad sites, but they can also block good ones. Sure, it is entirely possible to put 30 or 40 thousand entries in your list, but since malware & bad websites are poisoned & in the countless millions, a few thousand will not do much good to protect you. I am sure, that noone else but you would consider wasting their time updating a worthless hosts file block list, & attempting to block what, less than 0.002% of the known malware websites out there?

 

Anyway, I did state that their installer WAS a few MB. I also stated the reason it is that large, is because of the protection they added to it to alert you of hijacks!

I ALSO stated I did not care for that part! ONLY THE EDITOR is what I want, & that should be accomplishable with barely an increase at all in the size of CCleaner.

 

If I recall correctly, not only are you against a host file cleaner, you are one of the ones that was also against the addition of CCleaner adding a system restore point control because it would add a few KB of code, weren't you?

 

The fact is, it DID add to the size of CCleaner (But barely), & it can clean out GB of worthless accumulated restore points.

 

It makes antivirus, antimalware, & defraggler sessions so much quicker. It is so easy now to get rid of 20, 40, or even 60 GB sys restore points on comps now! No use for doing it the windows way!

 

AND a host file cleaner is NOT dangerous. You can delete all the entries in there, or even the host file itself, & windows will connect to the web. I know, because I tried it. I have DSL. If CCleaner just protects the default windows entry & allows us to only remove the other stuff added in there, totally worthless block lists since noone uses them hardly, as there are millions & millions of malicious websites, & you are one of the only ones I know that uses it....

 

It would be great!

 

As a side not, if you are having SOOO much trouble with the idea of CCleaner having a hosts file cleaner, you don't HAVE to use it, just like you don't HAVE to use the built in registry cleaner, nor also the startup list, or the "other useless features" in ccleaner, hey?

 

A startup list remover is well, mainly cause of malware entries, & ccleaner is designed to clean, not remove malware? haha!

 

If you really need help with adding a block list, just install Spybot Search & destroy, use the block list it offers & merge it, then just use your flash drive & copy & paste that hosts file to all your other computers. Just run %WinDir%/system32/drivers/etc to open the hosts file folder.

 

I know it is much simpler to add & edit thousands of entries to your blocklist when there are untold millions of ever changing malware & malicious websites, but the fact is that hardly anyone uses or needs that as it just does not cover nearly enough websites, & just wastes time loading webpages every time the hosts file gets (updated with thousands more entries) to check before loading.

 

In addition,

 

Now, I do have to say this before it gets any further. CCleaner does attempt to make registry cleaning safe. But it is not necessarily fool proof like their CCleaner part is. I will give you an example of why this is so. By default, Windows Media Player is your player for .Mp3. Many people install 3rd party programs that take over, such as real player, quicktime, KM Player, VLC etc.

 

What happens when that program is removed? Correct! The registry is in many cases NOT updated to reflect that program being gone, so it is left hanging with the link to say, for example, KM player after it has already been removed!

 

Do you know what CCleaner will say? Look, here is a missing file extension, .MP3. Nothing is associated with it, so it is safe to remove. Now, that might not cause you too much problems on your pc at the moment, but give it time. Over time, countless other errors WILL rack up & eventually, you will end up sabotaging your PC & having to reload windows. CCleaner part is 100% safe. Registry editing is only around 95% safe. Expect it to ruin your registry over time.

 

I respect your knowledge, but you do have to remember that I have worked with a lot of Computers, not just the "home" or family computers you were talking about doing earlier. I do know a lot about what causes problems & what doesn't. I do believe that CCleaner helpfully "removing" extensions that are "no longer in use" is one problem that perhaps you never thought about.

 

I do hope this helps you understand some of the things that you previously were not aware of or did not understand earlier. I am not trying to make this very long, but it seems that unless I detail things step by step, that perhaps you have not yet worked with enough computers to really fully comprehend the results of "only a little simple registry cleaning".

 

I know you love tons of garbage on your PC, but I as well as others do not think worthless trash on the PC is funny!

 

reguards

 

don

[piriuser1]

It is unnecessary bloat because it is nothing to do with junk, it moves onto the side of security.

 

Registry editing is not dangerous. Building a car for your self to drive on the roads is dangerous if you do not know what you are doing.

 

Hmm, just like "wipe free disk space" and "wipe MFT"?

 

Seems you are a few versions too late with this comment.

[Alan_B]

Having malicious entries in the hosts file that BLOCKS AVG, Norton, McAffee, Normal, Super Antispyware, Spybot Search & Destroy, Webroot Spy Sweeper, & tons of other good programs from being able to be accessed on the web, or redirected if you try to go to their website...

 

That is no fun. Sure, people CAN use it for blocking bad sites, but they can also block good ones. Sure, it is entirely possible to put 30 or 40 thousand entries in your list, but since malware & bad websites are poisoned & in the countless millions, a few thousand will not do much good to protect you. I am sure, that noone else but you would consider wasting their time updating a worthless hosts file block list, & attempting to block what, less than 0.002% of the known malware websites out there?

That is entirely misleading padding, wasting space.

It gives the impression you are concerned with protection.

Elsewhere your concern is simply to have an editor that gives you control.

Anyway, I did state that their installer WAS a few MB. I also stated the reason it is that large, is because of the protection they added to it to alert you of hijacks!

One of us is remembering this thread wrongly, and it has become too long for me to re-read,

but I do not think you said anything about an installer that was a few MB until AFTER I reported that your apparent needs were met by Norman Cleaner.

If I recall correctly, not only are you against a host file cleaner, you are one of the ones that was also against the addition of CCleaner adding a system restore point control because it would add a few KB of code, weren't you?

The fact is, it DID add to the size of CCleaner (But barely), & it can clean out GB of worthless accumulated restore points.

What has System Restore Point cleaning to do with the subject in hand ?

What is the relevance of my history as a designer of real-time embedded computer systems,

which using only 25% of the total 64 Kilo-Byte address space of an 8 bit microprocessor,

provided real-time protection against Fire and Intruders for Nuclear submarine bases, Military Aircraft bases, and commercial shopping malls.

Yes, I am pleased that within one KB I can create useful procedures for which Microsoft would need 1 MB.

I cannot however remember opposing R.P. cleaning for an increase in a few KB of code.

I do not think you will find any such statement, because it is unlikely I would have known how many KB it would take.

 

If you search you will find I opposed this in two posts in this thread :-

http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showto...0Point&st=0

This thread started with a request to Remove Restore points,

and was needed because

"if there is a malfunction in the Windows Clock then system restore points disappear from the restore tool even though they exist.

And the default Windows Cleanup utility does NOT delete them........................"

A follow-up was

"If Windows inbuild cleanup utility can delete the restore points.....why can't CCleaner can? "

 

My first response was to the effect that if M.$. cannot clean their own restore points,

what hope has a third party developer of doing so,

especially since M.$ have a history of not releasing information upon how their stuff is supposed to work.

 

My second post described how confused M.$ are about any sort of distinction between System files to be preserved, and User Documents to be excluded.

I used an R.P. and it stalled, not knowing which version of a Firefox cache to use.

There was an old one in the R.P., and a new one on the P.C. just before I tried to revert.

It called them something like "cache" and "cache(2)", with a tediously long path.

I was very annoyed that there was no facility to save the error message to text,

nor to launch a screen snapshot.

I was horrified that after completion none of the event logs gave any information upon this problem,

not even a clue of the "tediously long path" which I had failed to write with pencil on paper.

I concluded with rants :-

In this modern internet broadband era, if computers require pencil and paper we might as well go back to the "good old days" when we communicated with quill pens - or for speed we went to the railway station for a clerk to punch it into a telex machine !!!

This is how System Restore creates spurious (2) files, and there are no clues available to guide the user in which to keep.

This demonstrates that System Restore has admirable intentions, but less than competent execution.

If M.$. cannot fix it, what hope has anyone else.

If CCleaner should have a go at it I think these forums will be overloaded with requests for help from people who gave it a go".

 

I confess that the forums have survived any overload, but think some people have hit problems.

It makes antivirus, antimalware, & defraggler sessions so much quicker. It is so easy now to get rid of 20, 40, or even 60 GB sys restore points on comps now!

You do not know the dangers.

If "antivirus, antimalware," are much quicker, that is because they are ignoring the dangers.

Perhaps they do not see what you do not see - that removed R.P.s are still present with every virus intact.

Defragging will be faster, but every defraggler shift and shuffle may be processing unseen viruses with official M.$. "API's that conform to official M.$ standards, which means everything is either not secure now, or will have its security jeopardised by a future "out-of-cycle" security update for some other problem.

 

I accept that on my machine an R.P may be 58 MB and take 28 MB of "size on disk",

so if I ever accumulate 60 of them there may be 3.5 GB compressed to 1.7 GB "size on disk".

Now all of that will be removed "the windows way".

Much of (BUT NOT ALL) will be removed via CCleaner's tool.

Every virus that went into a restore point can still be there,

No use for doing it the windows way!

You are so wrong. Do not trust the label on the can ! ! !

I find it just as easy to purge all but the latest R.P. by "the windows way".

 

Many are not aware that CCleaner ONLY removes the registry hives.

The deleted/modified file "backups" are preserved because they are essential for any restoration to an earlier undeleted R.P.

On a "normal" R.P. the registry hive is the largest part,

but when M.$. do a Patch Tuesday or the regular "out of cycle" update and I.E. etc is re-installed,

then the "file backups" are much larger than the registry hives.

 

There is a significant security risk.

I have seen in malware fighting forums recommendations to delete R.P. because when an infected *.exe is removed, it may be automatically preserved in the R.P.

Some malware scanners will actually scan the R.P. looking for such things.

Such things ARE HISTORY when R.P.s are purged via Disc Cleanup.

Every one of those things are fully preserved when CCleaner PRUNES the registry hives from the R.P.s

It is conceivable (at least to me) that a malware scanner that is supposed to scan a R.P. may fail to look at a R.P. that "appears" to have been removed.

 

I do not know if or how a virus in the "removed" R.P. can be activated,

but who knew that a WORD *.DOC or an Adobe.PDF would carry a plague.

I do believe that many "defraggers" and "disc image backups" claim to be safe because they use official M.$. APIs to interact with the system files etc.

Why should we trust these APIs to be any more secure than the APIs involved in *.DOC and *.PDF ?

If the clowns that issued patches to stop Flash drives from running an auto.inf had to follow up with further attempts,

and those clowns created security vulnerabilities in the API's etc. which cause infection from *.DOC and *.PDF files,

should we really expect anything better from the API's etc. involved in defragging and Shadow Volme Copying etc.

 

Originally I did not see how old R.P. could be used when intervening R.P. have been removed.

I have since inspected and found they are NOT removed, but pruned

You will find a complete discussion of my findings, with screen shots, in my second post of

http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showto...l=Restore+Point

 

Sorry - I was distracted by that straw man

I will try to resist the straw men of start-up list removers, registry cleaning, etc.

- back on topic ! !

AND a host file cleaner is NOT dangerous.

Why do you keep saying that ? Are you afraid it is dangerous ?

I do not remember warning of any such danger.

I have just searched this thread for "danger" and the only warning given was by Ident

"Building a car for your self to drive on the roads is dangerous if you do not know what you are doing."

If CCleaner just protects the default windows entry & allows us to only remove the other stuff added in there, totally worthless block lists since noone uses them hardly, as there are millions & millions of malicious websites, & you are one of the only ones I know that uses it....

Wrong again. You do not know me.

Until 2 hours ago I never bothered to even look at the hosts file.

I can now report it commences with

# Copyright © 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.

and after various further comments has one blank line followed by only one default entry :-

127.0.0.1 localhost

 

In a previous post I asked

"How would you expect CCleaner to detect a malware addition to the hosts file ?"

There was no answer.

Should I assume that all you NOW require is that CCleaner protect the " default windows entry",

which seems to me to be simply

127.0.0.1 localhost

I know you love tons of garbage on your PC, but I as well as others do not think worthless trash on the PC is funny!

don

You know nothing about me or my garbage.

Just because my hosts file is 734 bytes long, and I could edit away 700 bytes of comment,

is evidence that I have better things to do with my life, and NOT that I hoard GB of garbage.

 

N.B. I keep a look out for and zap x64 folders. 64 bit installation files have no business on my 32 bit machine.

 

Incidentally, I do not bother with the Hosts file because I am more than satisfied with my Comodo Security System,

On top of which I can always easily restore a clean Acronis image of how things used to be,

but in practice I only use the Acronis restoration when a M.$ security update "did me wrong".

In 7 years this P.C. has not had one infection, and I think there have been less than 5 occasions when my protection blocked a genuine threat - there have of course been many more false positives, but that is O.K.

 

My security is in general quite automatic.

My only "manual" involvements are :-

 

Wait a few days after a security patches and search for consequent BSOD's;

Choose what patches I will allow;

Purge all junk from the system to minimise time taken for an Acronis image "just in case"

Switch "Automatic Updates" from Turned Off to "Notify but dont auto download"

Then individually choose what I want, and reject out of hand their dirty tricks,

such as dumping Silverlight on me, or polluting Firefox with Active X vulnerabilities, or .NET Framework horrors.

Once downloaded I turn of the updates, and then install and reboot as required,

 

On normal days my special "keep safe and tidy" is to always shutdown with CCleaner in Auto shutdown mode,

and CCleaner purges the software downloads folder before the shutdown.

M.$ have surprised system administrators in the past when M.$ decided they knew best,

and that they had to install a patch to give them more authority to take over the machine for future updates,

and hey presto - some little glitch in the UN-authorised patch and whole system networks went down.

I know that M.$ can disregard my "Turned off" flag any time they choose,

but then they are likely to do the dirty (blamed upon network congestion etc.) of silently downloading,

and the actual installation comes as a surprise upon shut down.

Every day when I shut down I have a cosy feeling as CCleaner first purges anything that they have downloaded ! !

 

Regards

Alan

[mr don]

That is entirely misleading padding, wasting space.

It gives the impression you are concerned with protection.

Elsewhere your concern is simply to have an editor that gives you control.

 

Wrong - I only care about being able to remove worthless hosts file junk period. I just mentioned that program because CCleaner does not have a hosts cleaner, & it is much easier to launch that program, than manually browse to the etc folder for the hosts file, open it in notepad since it does not have an extension, so you have to right click-open with. No, i do NOT want to set it on always open with, as that can cause problems! I also stated that while it does have the hosts checker, I simply do not care for that, & I only want a hosts cleaner.

 

One of us is remembering this thread wrongly, <---- that much is apparent. How long did it take you to figure out how badly you mangled things? and it has become too long for me to re-read, <---- It wouldn't be that long, it you would stop writing books of data.

but I do not think you said anything about an installer that was a few MB until AFTER I reported that your apparent needs were met by Norman Cleaner. <--- Normal Cleaner is something I tested in time past, but after scanning over 400,000 known good files on a backup I have on an external drive, I concluded that it had much too high of a false positive rate & is therefore useless to me. I concluded the opposite of you, & that is it does not meet my apparent needs because falsely labeling good programs bad when other programs do not do that, is too much of a hassle to waste my time on.

 

What has System Restore Point cleaning to do with the subject in hand ? <--- Apparently nothing. You don't take examples well?

What is the relevance of my history as a designer of real-time embedded computer systems,

which using only 25% of the total 64 Kilo-Byte address space of an 8 bit microprocessor,

provided real-time protection against Fire and Intruders for Nuclear submarine bases, Military Aircraft bases, and commercial shopping malls. <--- the military is that advanced?

Yes, I am pleased that within one KB I can create useful procedures for which Microsoft would need 1 MB.

I cannot however remember opposing R.P. cleaning for an increase in a few KB of code. <--- Although, I wouldn't put it past you to.

I do not think you will find any such statement, because it is unlikely I would have known how many KB it would take.

 

If you search you will find I opposed this in two posts in this thread :-

http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showto...0Point&st=0

This thread started with a request to Remove Restore points,

and was needed because

"if there is a malfunction in the Windows Clock then system restore points disappear from the restore tool even though they exist.

And the default Windows Cleanup utility does NOT delete them........................"

A follow-up was

"If Windows inbuild cleanup utility can delete the restore points.....why can't CCleaner can? " <--- Makes it easier for me. Sometimes you can barely get things to load. Ever tried to do anything on a comp with nearly all the free space used? I had to work with a system that was crashing, which after CCleaning it, was 10 GB free. CCleaner is just faster. Period. Which is why I do it in the first place.

 

My first response was to the effect that if M.$. cannot clean their own restore points,

what hope has a third party developer of doing so,

especially since M.$ have a history of not releasing information upon how their stuff is supposed to work. <--- Really? Did you also know that files are still on the hard drive & can be recovered later? Not just system restore points? That is why they make Recuva. There are other tools that scan deeper & do other functions such as lifting passwords off password protected accounts. I wish I could learn to be as smart as you one day... Sigh... Will you teach me?

 

My second post described how confused M.$ are about any sort of distinction between System files to be preserved, and User Documents to be excluded.

I used an R.P. and it stalled, not knowing which version of a Firefox cache to use.

There was an old one in the R.P., and a new one on the P.C. just before I tried to revert.

It called them something like "cache" and "cache(2)", with a tediously long path.

I was very annoyed that there was no facility to save the error message to text,

nor to launch a screen snapshot. <--- print sceen key works. Just CTRL + V to paste it into windows paint. Start/run/mspaint

 

I was horrified that after completion none of the event logs gave any information upon this problem,

not even a clue of the "tediously long path" which I had failed to write with pencil on paper.

I concluded with rants :-

In this modern internet broadband era, if computers require pencil and paper we might as well go back to the "good old days" when we communicated with quill pens - or for speed we went to the railway station for a clerk to punch it into a telex machine !!!

This is how System Restore creates spurious (2) files, and there are no clues available to guide the user in which to keep.

This demonstrates that System Restore has admirable intentions, but less than competent execution.

If M.$. cannot fix it, what hope has anyone else. <--- I usually have no problems with restore points. I leave it disabled unless I need them for testing files & system recovery.

If CCleaner should have a go at it I think these forums will be overloaded with requests for help from people who gave it a go". <--- Some people still don't know how to click the clean button on CCleaner. What makes you think anything will change that?

 

I confess that the forums have survived any overload, but think some people have hit problems. <--- A lot of them have

 

You do not know the dangers.

If "antivirus, antimalware," are much quicker, that is because they are ignoring the dangers. <--- Not necessarily. The skip the junk removed. Running CCleaner first removes junk so they don't have to scan through it. I am well aware they could still be recovered, but why bother?

Perhaps they do not see what you do not see - that removed R.P.s are still present with every virus intact. <--- I am sure they could if they wanted them to, but there is no need to once you disable all system restore points via MS restore control.

Defragging will be faster, but every defraggler shift and shuffle may be processing unseen viruses with official M.$. "API's that conform to official M.$ standards, which means everything is either not secure now, or will have its security jeopardised by a future "out-of-cycle" security update for some other problem. <--- There is no uncompromisable machine. I have seen compromised win 95/98/ME/2000/XP/Vista/7 machines. If they patch the mem, someone else can patch in higher system mem, etc etc. Knowledge wars. As security experts grow in knowledge, so do criminals. One triumphs one day, the next time the other does. This has been going on for so many years, & I have yet to see a clear winner yet. Just when you think it is uncrackable, it is on the web & cracked in a few weeks later.

 

I accept that on my machine an R.P may be 58 MB and take 28 MB of "size on disk",

so if I ever accumulate 60 of them there may be 3.5 GB compressed to 1.7 GB "size on disk".

Now all of that will be removed "the windows way".

Much of (BUT NOT ALL) will be removed via CCleaner's tool.

Every virus that went into a restore point can still be there, <--- If the malware is totally removed with restore points totally disabled, you wont have this problem. I'd love to see you sys restore deleted restore points after they have been wiped.

 

You are so wrong. Do not trust the label on the can ! ! !

I find it just as easy to purge all but the latest R.P. by "the windows way". <--- It is easy. Maybe not for you though...

 

Many are not aware that CCleaner ONLY removes the registry hives. <--- I am

The deleted/modified file "backups" are preserved because they are essential for any restoration to an earlier undeleted R.P.

On a "normal" R.P. the registry hive is the largest part,

but when M.$. do a Patch Tuesday or the regular "out of cycle" update and I.E. etc is re-installed,

then the "file backups" are much larger than the registry hives. <--- For every patch MS uses, it introduces many more backdoor opportunities, slows a system up, sometimes BSOD a system, & also installs Windows Genuine Advantage. All of which are very good reasons NOT to use an update, aside from a Service Pack, & aside from AV protection, firewall, etc. Not bragging, but my XP machine is fast, stable, & hasn't crashed in years. When did yours crash last? A week ago? cool!

 

There is a significant security risk.

I have seen in malware fighting forums recommendations to delete R.P. because when an infected *.exe is removed, it may be automatically preserved in the R.P.

Some malware scanners will actually scan the R.P. looking for such things.

Such things ARE HISTORY when R.P.s are purged via Disc Cleanup. <--- That is why I always purge them so it is left in the clean state

Every one of those things are fully preserved when CCleaner PRUNES the registry hives from the R.P.s

It is conceivable (at least to me) that a malware scanner that is supposed to scan a R.P. may fail to look at a R.P. that "appears" to have been removed. <--- I am aware of that & have been for years. I am assuming you just found out a few months back.

 

I do not know if or how a virus in the "removed" R.P. can be activated,

but who knew that a WORD *.DOC or an Adobe.PDF would carry a plague.

I do believe that many "defraggers" and "disc image backups" claim to be safe because they use official M.$. APIs to interact with the system files etc. <--- Obviously

Why should we trust these APIs to be any more secure than the APIs involved in *.DOC and *.PDF ? <--- I assume future attacks will be much more sophisticated? But did you know? You can never know when your going to die either, so why not worry about that as well?

If the clowns that issued patches to stop Flash drives from running an auto.inf had to follow up with further attempts,

and those clowns created security vulnerabilities in the API's etc. which cause infection from *.DOC and *.PDF files,

should we really expect anything better from the API's etc. involved in defragging and Shadow Volme Copying etc. <--- No-one ever accused MS of being perfect.

 

Originally I did not see how old R.P. could be used when intervening R.P. have been removed.

I have since inspected and found they are NOT removed, but pruned

You will find a complete discussion of my findings, with screen shots, in my second post of

http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showto...l=Restore+Point <--- Wow!

 

Sorry - I was distracted by that straw man

I will try to resist the straw men of start-up list removers, registry cleaning, etc.

- back on topic ! ! <--- Well.... Ok.... Guess you have the power to? Who knows?

 

Why do you keep saying that ? Are you afraid it is dangerous ?

I do not remember warning of any such danger. <--- It is an example, after all, just meant to make you think. Not that I am really afraid. I am not afraid of anything.

I have just searched this thread for "danger" and the only warning given was by Ident

"Building a car for your self to drive on the roads is dangerous if you do not know what you are doing." <--- You had to search to know that?

 

Wrong again. You do not know me. <--- Perhaps... But, I do learn a lot from the way you talk.

Until 2 hours ago I never bothered to even look at the hosts file.

I can now report it commences with

# Copyright ? 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.

and after various further comments has one blank line followed by only one default entry :-

127.0.0.1 localhost <--- Well, usually not on my machine, but on others that I have to clean off is when I have to scan the hosts file. Lucky you. No problems, eh? I hope they only put features you want into it, because everyone else is just hot air!

 

In a previous post I asked

"How would you expect CCleaner to detect a malware addition to the hosts file ?"

There was no answer. <--- Because that was a dumb question... Having the ability to remove hosts entries would be no different from disabling startup entries. You don't NEED a scanner to remove hosts file entries. In fact, it does no harm at all to remove them all & leave the windows default. I assumed you would be smart enough to realize that on your own. So since you didn't, I will tell you now. You don't need a scanner to remove hosts file entries.

 

Should I assume that all you NOW require is that CCleaner protect the " default windows entry",

which seems to me to be simply

127.0.0.1 localhost <--- Brilliant! (Clap! Clap!)

 

You know nothing about me or my garbage. <--- true. But you did mention acronis backups. There is a free util that can do backups without having to use bloatware like acronis.

Just because my hosts file is 734 bytes long, and I could edit away 700 bytes of comment,

is evidence that I have better things to do with my life, and NOT that I hoard GB of garbage. <--- How many byes are over 35,000 entries in a block list? Not everyone has a system as clean as yours. I am sure you CClean a few hundred MB away, but I have had to work on machines that had GB to remove. Do you ever think of anyone besides you?

 

N.B. I keep a look out for and zap x64 folders. 64 bit installation files have no business on my 32 bit machine. <--- Most of the time, that is correct. Sometimes you run into programs that are coded for X64 + 32 bit, so if you zap away anything with 64 bit support in the title, you could be zapping away an app that also is for 32 bit.

 

Incidentally, I do not bother with the Hosts file because I am more than satisfied with my Comodo Security System,

On top of which I can always easily restore a clean Acronis image of how things used to be,

but in practice I only use the Acronis restoration when a M.$ security update "did me wrong". <--- Gee, how many hours does that take? 30 min? 2 hours? 5? Sounds like a lot of time to me. Some of us are too busy to waste time with things like that when there are better backup options.

In 7 years this P.C. has not had one infection, and I think there have been less than 5 occasions when my protection blocked a genuine threat - there have of course been many more false positives, but that is O.K. <--- You work with more than 5 applications, right?

 

My security is in general quite automatic.

My only "manual" involvements are :-

 

Wait a few days after a security patches and search for consequent BSOD's;

Choose what patches I will allow; <--- BSOD are annoying, your right about that. Glad I don't have updates on.

Purge all junk from the system to minimise time taken for an Acronis image "just in case"

Switch "Automatic Updates" from Turned Off to "Notify but dont auto download"

Then individually choose what I want, and reject out of hand their dirty tricks,

such as dumping Silverlight on me, or polluting Firefox with Active X vulnerabilities, or .NET Framework horrors.

Once downloaded I turn of the updates, and then install and reboot as required, <--- Yes, yes, yes. Again, easily avoidable. Just turn updates off.

 

On normal days my special "keep safe and tidy" is to always shutdown with CCleaner in Auto shutdown mode,

and CCleaner purges the software downloads folder before the shutdown. <--- I used 3rd party when possible. MS is crap.

M.$ have surprised system administrators in the past when M.$ decided they knew best,

and that they had to install a patch to give them more authority to take over the machine for future updates,

and hey presto - some little glitch in the UN-authorised patch and whole system networks went down.

I know that M.$ can disregard my "Turned off" flag any time they choose,

but then they are likely to do the dirty (blamed upon network congestion etc.) of silently downloading,

and the actual installation comes as a surprise upon shut down. <--- This is why I never let MS "downdates" install. They also install with no uninstallers for things like WGA, so although I can remove them, what about others who cannot?

Every day when I shut down I have a cosy feeling as CCleaner first purges anything that they have downloaded ! ! <--- Best thing you said all day. CCleaner is good. Amen to that!

 

Regards

Don

[DennisD]

Without taking sides at all, or even adding a comment, I would respectively suggest that this thread has gone about as far as it should go.

 

This section of the forum is for suggestions. You make a suggestion and leave it to be read by the developers, who will take it up, or not. End of story.

 

Instead of closing it, I'll leave it to you guys to call it a day.

[Alan_B]

Mr Don

 

I agree with Dennis that this thread is getting nowhere.

 

I would like to correct what appears to me to be fundamental errors,

probably caused not by ignorance,

but undue haste when you try to demonstrate superior knowledge.

 

You commented :-

"<--- print sceen key works. Just CTRL + V to paste it into windows paint. Start/run/mspaint"

I have to ask, are you really sure ?

Yes it works right now because I am logged in,

but nothing seemed to work when System Restore had "lost the plot" and would not allow me to log in.

I could not even launch notepad.

Nothing seemed to work when System Restore was waiting for me,

and I had to make decisions based upon inadequate information,

and I was bereft of any privileges because I was not allowed to log in.

 

I see no point in your comment upon a very ancient quote that I posted for context, i.e.

"if there is a malfunction in the Windows Clock then system restore points disappear from the restore tool even though they exist.

And the default Windows Cleanup utility does NOT delete them........................"

A follow-up was

"If Windows inbuild cleanup utility can delete the restore points.....why can't CCleaner can? "

The above was a very ancient comments/explanations of requirement by some-one else that I posted for context.

Why do you add the comment

"" <--- Makes it easier for me. Sometimes you can barely get things to load. Ever tried to do anything on a comp with nearly all the free space used? I had to work with a system that was crashing, which after CCleaning it, was 10 GB free. CCleaner is just faster. Period. Which is why I do it in the first place."

 

My original comment was to the effect that if M.$. cannot clean their own restore points,

what hope has a third party developer of doing so ...

 

I consider I was fully entitled to that opinion as at that time.

I will allow you to hold a different opinion,

but unless you have found that the CCleaner tool is even able to SEE Restore points which are otherwise invisible due to a clock malfunction, I will not change my view.

 

I will NOT argue CCleaner may launch far quicker that Windows Cleanup when there is a lack of space,

and it may prune all the old Restore Points quicker as well.

 

Incidentally, I agree with your point about the hazard of removing x64 folders.

I always inspect before deletion and confirm that there is a "brother" folder called x86,

and that both x64 and x86 each have files with the same names.

My focus was on showing that I do not horde unwanted garbage, rather than a tutorial. Sorry.

 

Incidentally, an Acronis Restore takes only 6 minutes, not 5 hours,

because C:\ has a total size of only 15 GB,

of which 5.32 GB is occupied, and 9.68 is free.

I have put a lot of effort into purging bloat.

 

Mr Don

You suggested this host file thing, or something that looks like this, nearly a year ago.

You having now been trying again.

Obviously you want this tool, and I appreciate you have good reasons for it.

I suggest you carefully and concisely define your requirements and produce a specification

and visit

http://www.donationcoder.com/Forums/bb/index.php?board=31.0

 

You will find many software developers who love a challenge,

and are happy to produce software to a specification,

either for free, or perhaps for a small donation to express appreciation.

 

Regards

Alan

[hazelnut]

Thread is closed.