most install dates in uninstall tab just wrong

[jdranchman]

Under the "uninstall" tab-

 

For some large number of apps it shows today's date (or some random more current date) as the install date though the real install dates should be something else (months or years ago!).

 

v 3.17.1689 on winxp sp3 current patches

 

Edit: Tried current release v3.18.1707 and got the same result.

 

On one PC almost 2/3rds of the software was "installed" on today's date. On my Win7 box, it appears that I installed most software in the last two months - doh!

[Nergal]

The date is pulled from the PC's information, IIRC at least one OS announcd those dates as the last accessed

[hazelnut]

Does it show the same dates in add/remove software in your control panel?

[Andavari]

I can confirm this bug, just noticed it today myself.

 

Most dates it shows on my system are from this year, however there's software I installed more than two years ago yet CCleaner insists on showing a 2012 install date.

 

Does it show the same dates in add/remove software in your control panel?

 

Here's just one prime example, it's when I installed the lastest version of 7-Zip:

* Windows Add/Remove (Probably correct): 01-11-2010

* CCleaner (Definately wrong): 05-16-2012 - no not today

[hazelnut]

I have a feeling that CC is listing 'last used/accessed' instead of 'installed'. Or something along those lines.

 

Come to this conclusion after having a look just now and it says Opera was installed today -- No, I used it today.

 

I unzipped something yesterday using 7zip and it says install date was yesterday.... no that was the last time I used it.

 

Doesn't seem to apply for everything, for instance I use Microsoft Word most days but the install date for that is correct.

 

This in on my XP machine.

[Andavari]

I have a feeling that CC is listing 'last used/accessed' instead of 'installed'.

 

That would seem the case, how I tested your findings since CC still thought 7-Zip was installed on 05-16-2012:

1. I compressed a file with 7-Zip.

2. I then looked in CC's Uninstall tool, and now it states 7-Zip was installed today 05-17-2012.

[Guest MrT]

We haven't been able to reproduce this problem.

 

Can you please let us know the OS version? Is it only happening on XP?

 

If XP, how are you comparing dates with Control Panel?

 

Thanks

[Augeas]

I'm surprised you can't reproduce this Mr T, On my modest list of applications CCleaner, Firefox, Irfanview, Avast, Recuva, Videolan and Sandboxie show the last used date as the installed date (just to mention a few). Strangely on Control Panel/Add Remove progs the last used date for these is the install date!

 

Personally I don't really care, but I appreciate that some users might. I'm on XPHSP3.

[Guest MrT]

Good news! We were able to reproduce the issue on XP. CCleaner uses the same date as Control Panel in XP which is the Last Used On. We are looking into changing that to the installation date.

 

Can anyone let us know if you have the same issue on Vista or Win7. For these OSes is easier to check as Control Panel does display the installation date.

 

Thanks

[hazelnut]

On Win 7 64bit my control panel shows one day later than ccleaner for the install date of just about every entry.

[eL_PuSHeR]

Same here. Win7 x86. Other than that (the one day difference), installation dates seem okay.

[Nergal]

Awkward question, are anyone who for win7 experience the day late phenom not in UK and eastward? (I can see hazel and Aug are and I think andavari is, though I'm not sure where Moses is…my pc which shows correct thinks it's American,

[hazelnut]

That's also something that occured to me as well Nergal. Thing is I don't understand your definition of 'eastward'.

 

Looks like UK and Europe pc's are one day out.

 

What about Australia New Zealand etc.

 

Anyone in Asia?

 

If it's a time zone 'issue'' ccleaner has I wonder if it also shows 'wrong' in other uninstall tools such as 'Total Uninstall' or 'Revo' or is it just ccleaner that has this bug. (cannot look as I am on xp machine at the moment)

[Andavari]

If it's a time zone 'issue'' ccleaner has I wonder if it also shows 'wrong' in other uninstall tools such as 'Total Uninstall' or 'Revo' or is it just ccleaner that has this bug. (cannot look as I am on xp machine at the moment)

 

Revo Uninstaller:

Shows correct dates.

 

Total Uninstall:

Shows correct dates.

Not a good comparison here though since it doesn't try to update the install date once the logged info is created for installations. I.e.; it's just reading it from a static log, and there's no accessing of its logs until they're used during uninstall.

[hazelnut]

Andavari is that on a Windows 7 machine as that is what we are talking about at the moment.

[Nergal]

maybe we should split this topic into XP (confirmed bug by MrT) and Windows 7 (GMT and further east maybe)

[Alan_B]

I remember that perhaps 15 years ago I sent an email to a colleague on the other side of the office.

I was surprised that his reply came several hours earlier

 

Our desktop clocks were both correct,

but his "Country" setting was several time zones away from mine.

 

About 10 years ago I worked as part of a team.

There was a common server and we could update our desktops from the server.

The server 0.S. was not the same as our Desktop Windows

and when Summer/Winter time transitions occurred, although the server and desktops correctly updated their clocks,

one side (I forget which) there was a sudden change of 1 hour to all the time-stamps and all our desktops had a massive synchronisation of all files on power up.

I think one side was compensating for UTC / GMT / BST / DST whatever offsets - I think this is what I am talking about.

http://www.timeanddate.com/library/abbreviations/timezones/eu/gmt.html

[hazelnut]

Alan are you willing to add whether or not your win 7 install dates in ccleaner are different from your control panel ones as that is the info we are asking for at the moment.

[Augeas]

The dateline is a diversion. I didn't install CCleaner, Firefox, Irfanview, Avast, and Recuva today, unless my pc is in a different space-time continuum.

[Alan_B]

Hazel, just for you I have downloaded CC v 3.18 (64bit)

 

Both CC and CP show the same 11 applications installed on 10/03/2012 when Windows was installed on my SSD.

C.P. shows 13 apps installed on 10/03/2012, when Windows was first installed.

CC shows 14 apps, 13 the same plus one duplicate :-

COMODO Internet Security COMODO Security Solutions Inc. 10/03/2012 154.0 MB 5.9.25057.2197

COMODO Internet Security COMODO Security Solutions Inc. 10/03/2012 5.9.25057.2197

C.P. shows 4 more apps dated 11/03/2012 17/05/2012 18/05/2012 18/05/2012

C.C. shows same 4 apps dated 11/03/2012 16/05/2012 17/05/2012 17/05/2012

 

I installed Palemoon on 18/05/2012 as shown by Control Panel

The Palemoon installer created a folder with a time stamp ‎18 ‎May ‎2012, ‏‎16:55:01

All the files within the folder have the same creation time stamp.

 

The Control Panel shows the actual date of the creation of the application.

REGISTRATION of an application is a separate process from creation.

Palemoon only became my Default Browser because after creation I asked it to become my default.

Registration is part of the black magic in Windows, and probably buries the information in the registry.

 

CC detects installed Apps by registry entries so it probably gets the registration dates from there.

 

I do love a good conspiracy theory. How about :-

Every App that is installed is registered in the registry and reported back to Microsoft / C.I.A. / F.B.I.

and a U.S.A. server time stamp then appears in my registration details

 

I am using 64 bit Windows 7 Ultimate + SP1

[Andavari]

Andavari is that on a Windows 7 machine as that is what we are talking about at the moment.

XP Pro SP3.

[Andavari]

I do love a good conspiracy theory. How about :-

Every App that is installed is registered in the registry and reported back...

 

That's actual my friend, some apps (not all) record in their own unique settings when they were installed and when looking for an update manually or automatically they will forward that info home and some also report how many times they've been used - statics analysis.

[hazelnut]

I can confirm that build 3.19 of ccleaner fixed the issue where install date of an app would sometimes show as the 'last accessed' date in XP

 

However in Windows 7 install dates ccleaner is still one day behind for every app in control panel install list.

[gkowalik]

We’ll look into this.

[Andavari]

I can confirm that build 3.19 of ccleaner fixed the issue where install date of an app would sometimes show as the 'last accessed' date in XP

 

Some of them are correct on my system while some others aren't.

 

Although I don't use the dial-up modem anymore CCleaner states the drivers were installed on 05-27-2012, although there's nothing in Add/Remove to compare for dates since Add/Remove doesn't even show an install date for that.

 

Hmm, ok more drivers installations in CCleaner are showing random 2012 install dates for stuff I installed back in January 2010.

 

I'm not at all concerned about what CCleaner states is the install date though because this could be a no win situation for Piriform to try and overcome because when applying security updates to say Microsoft Office and Microsoft .NET Framework those install dates change to the date the security updates were applied.