Multi-user use

[klitos]

Hi,

 

Apologies if this has been discussed before (if so, please let me know.) Has anyone successfully used CCleaner in a multi-user system? I mean a family PC where I am the only user with administrative access, and everyone else has their own separate, normal (non-administrator) Windows user account. I haven't tried it, but I did notice that the installation only installs a shortcut in the current user's Start menu (instead of the All Users' menu) so I suspect CCleaner hasn't been developed with multiple users in mind.

 

Cheers,

Klitos

[lokoike]

Well, you can always manually make shortcuts for the other accounts, but that is tedious. Maybe the installer could give you the option to pick if you want it for the current user or all users; that seems like it would be easy to implement.

 

Maybe MrG could even add it before he puts out CCleaner 1.27?

[pwillener]

Well, you can always manually make shortcuts for the other accounts, but that is tedious.

 

Just move the Ccleaner folder (containing the shortcuts) from your Start Menu folder to the 'All Users' Start Menu folder. These will remain even after you update Ccleaner to newer versions.

[lokoike]

Just move the Ccleaner folder (containing the shortcuts) from your Start Menu folder to the 'All Users' Start Menu folder. These will remain even after you update Ccleaner to newer versions.

 

Right, but still, that is a bit of an annoyance. I continue to think it would be good to implement the All Users option into the installer so that you don't have to do it manually. It would save time, and for people who don't know about the All Users folder, make it possible, for all of the users on a computer to use the same CCleaner.

[klitos]

While it's certainly possible to move the CCleaner menu folder to the All Users folder, there are some drawbacks (apart from the hassle of doing it.) When you install a new version of CCleaner, it may have a different set of shortcuts, and therefore you will need to move these to the All Users folder (possibly each time you upgrade.) Also, if you decide to uninstall CCleaner, you'll have to remember to remove the menu from the All Users folder manually, because the uninstaller will be looking for it in the current user's folder instead.

 

Furthermore, if the CCleaner installs its shortcuts in the current user's folder, I am not confident that it will run properly by other (non-administrative) users. This is a problem I have with many software packages that I install on the machine: they won't run from a non-administrative account, and to fix that I have to go into its Program Files subfolder, and in its Registry key, and set the permissions to allow access by ordinary users. Good software shouldn't be like that.

 

Klitos

[pwillener]

I agree - my suggestion was too simple. This will probably not allow individual users set up Ccleaner options differently. But not sure, since the options are kept in HKEY_CURRENT_USER.

 

I also agree that an install option would be great.

[lokoike]

I sent MrG a PM, so maybe we'll see it in version 1.27. If not, I'm sure multiple user support will find its way into CCleaner eventually, as it is something I have seen several different members suggest.