Panic Attack with CC Free (v15.12.5431 64-bit)

[Old Ed]

Hello,

 

Yesterday I did a routine CClean operation on my W7P desktop. Because I clean frequently, I usually see only a few proposed deletions in the Analyze phase; but yesterday, I saw 300MB of proposed deletions.

 

I thought that big number was odd. But I was in a hurry (famous last words), so I pulled the trigger anyway. Shortly thereafter, I couldn't find the Excel tax file I had been working on, even with desktop search. And all my Windows/Office history was gone, so I couldn't use it to find my file.

 

I first wondered if there had been some sort of file/directory corruption, so I ran a full chkdsk scan. Nothing found. I then did a full virus scan, also with nothing found.

 

Next, I downloaded and installed Recuva, and searched for recoverable files. I found nothing that seemed relevant.

 

By then, I was sufficiently panicked that that I went to the System Restore function, to see what Restore Points were available. ALL my Restore Points had been blown away! (Note: I use very conservative option selections with the CClean function. I only select about a third of them; and in any case, I don't think deleting Restore Points is on the menu.)

 

I then went back to manual directory searching, and found my missing tax file. It had been saved to the wrong directory. (That was probably my cockpit error; but I still don't know why Desktop Search couldn't find it.)

 

Finally, I looked up instructions for manually creating a new Restore Point in W7P. The instructions were rather arcane, and not intuitive; but they seemed to work. I now have one Restore Point, and the system seems to be operating well.

 

All this was a major scare, however,  and even had me thinking about ransomware.

 

I'm wondering if any others have experienced something like this, and whether I need to be fearful of CCleaner malfunctions going forward.

 

Thanks, Ed

 

[Andavari]

Where did you download CCleaner from?

 

There is no version 15.12.5431 as the topic title reads, perhaps you meant 5.12.5431 which did exist and it's old, the most current version is 5.15.5513 available here.

[Old Ed]

Thank you for your reply, Moderator(s).

 

You are correct; I made a typo resulting in "15" vs. "5".

 

You're also correct that my .5431 isn't the latest version. Because I've found most of the version updates to be very minor in practice, I normally update only about every fifth offer. But if you know of any major bug corrections or other significant changes since .5431, I'd be more than happy to update again. I normally follow the pop-up links in the CCleaner update notices to download; I didn't make note of the URL.

 

That still leaves the question of my scary malfunction. In reviewing other Forum posts, I can see that others have reported issues related to Restore Points; but I saw no reports very similar to mine. Some reported issues apparently involved the internal CCleaner Restore menu. So I should clarify that I was trying to use the Windows Restore function, and that was that Restore Point list that had been zeroed out.

 

Regards, Ed

[Andavari]

As seen in the Announcements area of the forum newer versions than you have installed 5.13, 5.14, and 5.15 fixed bugs, in fact most version updates fix bugs. I can't remember any change log that hasn't mentioned a bug fix. However they usually never detail what exactly was fixed, just "Minor bug fixes."

 

I would recommend updating to the most current version, since updating may solve the issue.

Edited March 15, 2016 by Andavari

[Old Ed]

Hi Andavari (I think),

 

Thank you for your added comments. I'll go ahead and get the latest update. But I'll also be wary of any sudden, massive increase in proposed deletions.

 

I confess to some skepticism about the updates. It's possible that there are so many bugs that a bunch need to be fixed by updates every couple of weeks; but it's also possible that frequent displays of upgrade offers is on the agenda.

 

Regards, Ed

[Andavari]

but it's also possible that frequent displays of upgrade offers is on the agenda.

 

Upgrade offers are buried away from normal view in the About button, it's not plastered on the main GUI area seen everywhere like so many other programs do.

[nukecad]

Upgrade offers are buried away from normal view in the About button, it's not plastered on the main GUI area seen everywhere like so many other programs do.

 

They used to be but not any more, see the attachment.

 

It's important to be careful to make a distinction between  UPDATES and UPGRADES.

 

UPDATE - Get the latest version with fixes, improvements and changes.

 

UPGRADE - Get a paid for version with extra features and options.

 

[Andavari]

It's not in CCleaner Portable:

 

So it looks like both of us are correct.

[nukecad]

So it does, isn't that interesting.

That big Upgrade button turned up with free desktop version 5.14.5493, it wasn't there in previous versions.