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Intrusive CCleaner pop-up.


nukecad

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W.T.F. :angry:

I just downloaded and installed CCleaner v5.44 and 5 minutes later got a pop-up advert in the Windows notification area.
Something about 'The CCleaner Summer Sale'. (It faded out before I read it properly).

I really hope it was a one time thing and it is not going to keep popping up.
Once is bad enough.

What are you thinking Piriform?

OK I understand the need for advertising, but keep it in the CCleaner UI itself.

People use CCleaner to remove crap, we don't want CCleaner itself adding crap and junk notifications to our systems. nono.gif.d2db44f2156bbc825ff29f4bb07d49b0.gif

 

*** Out of Beer Error ->->-> Recovering Memory ***

Worried about 'Tracking Files'? Worried about why some files come back after cleaning? See this link:
https://community.ccleaner.com/topic/52668-tracking-files/?tab=comments#comment-300043

 

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Ok so it keeps popping up, annoying but it gets worse.

It popped up just after I had run a clean and I noticed that it had also created and left behind a cookie - ipm-provider.ff.avast.com
A cookie that CCleaner will not find on analysis and will not clean.

Clipboard01.gif.5787d5ad88b9beb1780f4dda0cbbdb59.gif

 

You can force force delete it, right click it in the 'Cookies on Computer' list and delete from there. But it will come back next time you open CCleaner and the pop up appears.

Are Piriform still going to insist that the recent increase in intrusive in advertising, 3rd party data sharing,  'secret' updaters, cookies that seem to be protected from deletion, and other perceived degradations of what was a good product is not being driven by Avast?

Did they learn nothing from the protests about the dumbed-down results display?

The perception is that there is more development time being spent on these intrusive 'tweaks' than on fixing issues or improving the programme.

I think that we need an official statement from Piriform about this.

 

*** Out of Beer Error ->->-> Recovering Memory ***

Worried about 'Tracking Files'? Worried about why some files come back after cleaning? See this link:
https://community.ccleaner.com/topic/52668-tracking-files/?tab=comments#comment-300043

 

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official statement? - bloody rare these days but if done, let's see how much political correctness and hyperbole is included.

v5.44? - another reason for me to stay on v5.40!

 

Backup now & backup often.
It's your digital life - protect it with a backup.
Three things are certain; Birth, Death and loss of data. You control the last.

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For those who haven't installed v5.44 yet this is what we are talking about.

As you can see it's not exactly unobtrusive, although it does fade away after a short time.
The cookie it leaves behind is a whole other level of intrusion though.
(I do wonder why is has a pin icon, but it did let me pin it there and take this clip).

 

Clipboard02.gif.50e3e12fa38a4bd4828a4d351139cbbe.gif

*** Out of Beer Error ->->-> Recovering Memory ***

Worried about 'Tracking Files'? Worried about why some files come back after cleaning? See this link:
https://community.ccleaner.com/topic/52668-tracking-files/?tab=comments#comment-300043

 

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Mmm, it seems that that whitelisted cookie was introduced with v5.41, odd that I've never seen it before.

https://forum.piriform.com/topic/51327-version-541-adds-various-cookies-for-avast/

Quote

When you see one of these messages, a cookie is left behind. This helps us to avoid sending you sales messages over and over again,

If that realy was the intention then it's not working.

 

 

*** Out of Beer Error ->->-> Recovering Memory ***

Worried about 'Tracking Files'? Worried about why some files come back after cleaning? See this link:
https://community.ccleaner.com/topic/52668-tracking-files/?tab=comments#comment-300043

 

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7 hours ago, nukecad said:

Mmm, it seems that that whitelisted cookie was introduced with v5.41, odd that I've never seen it before.

may explain part of the reason v5.41 had the increase in byte size. :ph34r:

Backup now & backup often.
It's your digital life - protect it with a backup.
Three things are certain; Birth, Death and loss of data. You control the last.

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Just wondering if anyone knows …..

1.  If you uninstall the regular free version of CCleaner and replace it with the portable version, are you still subjected to intrusive pop-ups?

2.  Does the portable version notify when a new version is available?

Thanks for any info.

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Has anyone tried uninstalling this version and then reverting back to previous version? If so, will that eliminate this popup?

It would be nice to hear from Piriform abiut his and what they intend to do to eliminate this.

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4 minutes ago, bulajap said:

Has anyone tried uninstalling this version and then reverting back to previous version? If so, will that eliminate this popup?

It would be nice to hear from Piriform abiut his and what they intend to do to eliminate this.

Hi bulajap:  It appears the offending persistent cookie, ipm-provider.ff.avast.com, was introduced with version 5.41.  I suspect you'd have to revert to version 5.40 to avoid it.  According to @mta in post #4 above is still on that version and doesn't have this nonsense.  Still, I'd like to know about the portable version.  Otherwise, CCleraner's days on my computer are numbered.

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1 hour ago, crizal said:

1.  If you uninstall the regular free version of CCleaner and replace it with the portable version, are you still subjected to intrusive pop-ups?

2.  Does the portable version notify when a new version is available?

Hi crizal:

Sadly, I just unzipped the CCleaner Portable v5.44.6575 on a USB thumb drive and I'm seeing the same obtrusive pop-up ads in my system tray every time I launch CCleaner Portable.

5b33c0fd6329c_CCleanerPortablev5_44Pop-upAd27Jun2018.png.785786ad034373dc07e1e4f8f783b9f4.png

If you go to Options | Settings in CCleaner Portable you can still enable Inform me of updates to CCleaner, but if you are using the portable version then you are likely only plugging in your USB drive and running CCleaner Portable off your thumb drive when you want to run the occasional disk cleanup.  If I want to check for updates with CCleaner Portable I just check manually by clicking the Check for Updates link at the the bottom of the GUI.
-----------
32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.9.0 * Norton Security v22.14.2.13 * CCleaner Portable 5.44.6575

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4 minutes ago, lmacri said:

Hi crizal:

Sadly, I just unzipped the CCleaner Portable v5.44.6575 on a USB thumb drive and I'm seeing the same obtrusive pop-up ads in my system tray.

5b33c0fd6329c_CCleanerPortablev5_44Pop-upAd27Jun2018.png.785786ad034373dc07e1e4f8f783b9f4.png

If you go to Options | Settings in CCleaner Portable you can still enable Inform me of updates to CCleaner, but if you are using the portable version then you are likely only plugging in your USB drive and running CCleaner Portable off your thumb drive when you want to run the occasional disk cleanup.  If I want to check for updates with CCleaner Portable I just check manually by clicking the Check for Updates link the the bottom of the GUI.
-----------
32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.9.0 * Norton Security v22.14.2.13 * CCleaner Portable 5.44.6575

Hello Imacri:  I can live with a manual check for updates.  Shame about the pop-ups on the portable version.  This issue really has me annoyed.  As I responded in another thread, I don't mind a pop-up once or twice as I'm using a free product and CCleaner does have a right to try and make some money.  However, this persistent cookie and notification cannot be blocked or deleted and the stupid thing comes up every time I turn on my computer or restart it.  It's totally unacceptable.  

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@bulajap

this from a previous thread...

I read from that, that you can not only expect this sort of behaviour to continue, but to develop further.

Backup now & backup often.
It's your digital life - protect it with a backup.
Three things are certain; Birth, Death and loss of data. You control the last.

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24 minutes ago, mta said:

@bulajap

this from a previous thread...

I read from that, that you can not only expect this sort of behaviour to continue, but to develop further.

Hi mta.  You're absolutely correct as in the last paragraph it says the "dynamic content system" will be used extensively.  Piriform may or may not respond.  Ultimately, it's up to the user to decide whether to accept this or move to another product.

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Martin Brinkmann suggested the following workaround today in his ghacks.net article CCleaner 5.44 Comes with Advertising Popups:

Quote

"There is no option in the program to disable the advertising popup. In fact, there is no option at all to prevent this kind of behavior.

What you can do is block CCleaner's Internet access. If you disallow the program to connect to the Internet, for example with TinyWall or Windows Firewall Control, it seems that you won't get the advertising popup.

The one downside to this is that you will have to download new versions manually to install them, at least until the July 7 deadline is reached."

I haven't tried this workaround, but my Norton Smart Firewall provides a simple way to prevent access of the CCleaner executable through my firewall at Settings | Firewall | Program Control:

5b34cee942163_NSv22_14_2SmartFirewallBlockCCleaner.png.54033853e892e3f9c41cfe992520883f.png

Kudos to bjm_ for posting a link for Martin Brinkmann's ghacks.net article in the Norton Tech Outpost board and confirming <here> that blocking CCleaner's outbound connections should prevent this annoying pop-up ad.
-----------
32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.9.0 * Norton Security v22.14.2.13 * CCleaner Portable 5.44.6575

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I had already clocked that you could stop it by using your firewall to prevent CCleaner sending anything outgoing.

Temporarily disconnecting from the internet, eg. 'Flight mode / Airplane mode' will also do the trick.

But why should we have to?

*** Out of Beer Error ->->-> Recovering Memory ***

Worried about 'Tracking Files'? Worried about why some files come back after cleaning? See this link:
https://community.ccleaner.com/topic/52668-tracking-files/?tab=comments#comment-300043

 

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16 hours ago, mta said:

I read from that, that you can not only expect this sort of behaviour to continue, but to develop further.

With all the complaints about the recent versions I will stay with v5.40 as a "last good version".

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1 hour ago, nukecad said:

I had already clocked that you could stop it by using your firewall to prevent CCleaner sending anything outgoing.

Temporarily disconnecting from the internet, eg. 'Flight mode / Airplane mode' will also do the trick.

But why should we have to?

nukecad -- well said.  Consider this -- yes firewall blocking will work.  Then, when this popup goes away, there will be another and another and another.  Firewall blocking every time there's an advertisement is not a solution.  There are only three possible solutions -- CCleaner (Avast) changes policy, you accept this and live with it, or, move on to another product.  For me, it may very soon come down to that last option.

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2 hours ago, crizal said:

 There are only three possible solutions -- CCleaner (Avast) changes policy, you accept this and live with it, or, move on to another product.

That's it in a nutshell.

For the moment I'll stay with it and try to help influence a policy change.
I'm not sure whether this will have any success but feel that it has to be worth a try.

 

I don't like conspiracy theories but I'm just going to put a 'consider this' hat on here for a moment:

  • August 2016- Avast releases it's own stand-alone PC cleaning utility. (They had a built in one before).
  • Unknown - Avast decides to acquire Piriform, and hence CCleaner the market leader in cleaners.
  • July 2017- Avast acquires Piriform.
  • August 2017- The CCleaner installer (v5.33) was hacked.
    (The hackers had been inside Piriform since March 2017 - Just when did Avast decide to acquire Piriform?).
  • September 2017- Issues started with the Avast offer installing itself without showing the offer (v5.35).
  • October 2017- An 'emergency updater' was bundled in the CCleaner installer (v5.36).
    (This has no easy option to disable it and could allow Avast/Piriform to install literally anything).
  • March 2018- The CCleaner installer size took a 36% increase from 11KB to 15KB (v5.41).
    (v5.41 was when the new summary screen appeared, and was immediately critisized/despised by many).
  • May 2018- Enter the confusing/misleading new privacy statement/menu (v5.43).
    (Required by GDPR, but introduced very ineptly, didn't even comply with GDPR and needed a 'hotfix', the programme still doesn't comply fully with GDPR although the privacy statement does).
  • June 2018- Now we get this intrusive advertising via a pop-up notification.

It's almost as if someone is deliberately trying to drive users away from CCleaner?

 

TBH I've seen similar to this before, where I worked.
We acquired "Approved Contractor" status as a design house for Sellafield nuclear site, because we did things right. This status meant that we were first choice for a lot of work.
One of the losers, a much bigger international company, bought us out to acquire the approved status, and immediately insisted that we did things their way. (The way that meant they had not been chosen).
10 years later they still do design work for the site, but are no longer approved contractors.
The original company where I worked no longer exists.

*** Out of Beer Error ->->-> Recovering Memory ***

Worried about 'Tracking Files'? Worried about why some files come back after cleaning? See this link:
https://community.ccleaner.com/topic/52668-tracking-files/?tab=comments#comment-300043

 

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58 minutes ago, nukecad said:

It's almost as if someone is deliberately trying to drive users away from CCleaner?

nukecad:  Not only CCleaner, but Avast as well.  There's another forum around that deals with Windows 10 (not a Microsoft forum) and spread throughout the various boards, there are growing complaints about Avast's policies affecting CCleaner, as well as increasing ads on Avast's free version.  A lot of people are dropping both products and going elsewhere.  Old saying:  if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I'm really steamed about this.  On one hand, I want to drop CCleaner and move on.  On the other hand, I've always liked the program and I'm hoping they can do something to salvage what's left of my opinion.  Buy the paid version? -- with this going on, no way, not ever.

As for conspiracy theories, think outside the box and just speculate.  Perhaps Avast simply wants to drive us over to their own cleaning utility?????

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6 hours ago, Andavari said:

With all the complaints about the recent versions I will stay with v5.40 as a "last good version".

+1   but then I've been a promoter of v5.40 since v5.41 came out. ;)  (even though I was told by an official that it "as known faults" but hey!, they all do now!)

@nukecad, with your list, what I find even more alarming is if you constructed a "For" list to go with your "Against" one, how would that balance out I think???
I suspect a lot heavier on the For-side rather than the Against-side.

Backup now & backup often.
It's your digital life - protect it with a backup.
Three things are certain; Birth, Death and loss of data. You control the last.

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This is exactly why I stopped upgrading CCleaner as soon as Avast bought them and will be removing it from all the PCs I manage. I used to use Avast's Antivirus and the popups were terrible. Not just the "Great Offers" but the news stories and everything else. It's annoying even when you're not playing a game. 

There's plenty of other free antivirus and cleaner programs out there that don't do this crap. 

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