tracking files not cleaned, Files coming back [Solved/Explained]

[Rik6451]

After performing a clean, there are often tracking files left. Only on a few occasions they are all cleaned.

Even cleaning several times in a row doesn't solve the problem. This issue exits for a while in different versions of CCleaner, always expecting that this would be solved in the newest update.

[nukecad]

Don't worry too much about it, it isn't a bug, it's simply the way a computer works.

Health Check 'Trackers' - What they are.
The Health Check user interface has now changed (March 2024) and no longer refers to 'Trackers' like it used to do.
Where it does still refer to then it's now as 'tracking identifiers'. (ie. Cookies).
So people should no longer get confused (or worried) about just what they are.

Health Check is still cleaning them, it just isn't giving them such a misleading (scary to some) name anymore.

 

Files that re-appear straight after cleaning:

Firstly you should note that "Clean" doesn't mean "Delete", you can clean some things out without throwing them away.
So just because something always shows up doesn't mean that it hasn't been cleaned and isn't already empty.

Windows files :
It is normal for some Windows files to reappear straight after you have just cleaned them.
Your computer is using and creating temporary files all the time.
These particular files that reappear are created as empty 'storage' and 'fill up' with information as you use your computer.

Think of it like this:

• Someone puts an empty box on your desk to put temporary notes in. (Windows makes an empty temporary file).
• It gradually fills up with notes, you throw the box away to get rid of the old temporary notes. (Windows writes things in there, you run CCleaner).
• So they immediately put a new empty box in its place for you to start filling again. (Windows makes a new, empty, temporary file).
• If you throw that new empty box away, they put another empty one there. (You run CCleaner again, Windows makes a new empty file).

So these files will always get recreated immediately after you clean, there is nothing in them until you start working again.
(Sometimes CCleaner will just empty a 'box' rather than deleting it).
If you keep deleting the empty ones Windows will pause the recreating while it works out what is going on; So for a while it may look like you have finally got rid of them, but they will be back minutes later.
It's just the way that Windows works.

Note:
Windows will put some files in 'System - Windows Web Cache' when you open CCleaner.
CCleaner itself also creates a couple of temporary files in 'Internet Explorer - Temporary Internet Files'.
So CCleaner will then find those temporary files to clean.  (Unless you use Custom Clean and have told it not to find them).

Cookies (Tracking Cookies) and other files that can reappear straight after cleaning:
And how you can stop some of it from happening.

Live Tiles on your start menu - weather, news feeds, anything like that that shows video, or updates the tile, uses the internet so will put cookies and temporary files on your computer all the time you have them enabled.
To turn them off right-click on them and select more, you'll see an option to turn the 'live' off so that it's not updating all the time.

Windows "News and Interests" on your Taskbar.
This option will install automatically on your Taskbar to show you weather, news, etc. and it connects to the internet so will then put cookies, etc. on your computer.
Right Click on a empty part of the Taskbar, select "News and Interests" and turn it off.

Windows search - Bing is Microsoft's search engine and even a Start Menu search or a File Explorer search with Windows can search the internet these days, - and they will use Bing to do so.
Which means that you will almost always have Bing cookies  on your computer.

Browser Preloading - Some browser will preload in the background when you start your computer but before you launch the browser.
This preloading will create cookies and temporary internet files on your device, all the more so if the browser is synced - see the next point.
Search the web for how to stop your particular browser preloading.

Browser Syncing - Many users have their browsers (and maybe other apps) SYNCED.
If you have your browser synced then anything 'synced' that you clean from your computer will be restored by the syncing.
That's how syncing works, it saves your data in the cloud and then sends it back to all your devices.
With some browsers/apps the synced data will be pre-loaded in the background before you even open the browser/app.
To stop that syncing happening you have to use the browser/app itself to clear the synced information from the cloud, and then turn off syncing altogether.
CCleaner can't clear data from a cloud server, (they are protected), CCleaner can only clean your machine.

Other 'Not Cleaned' happenings :
Browser Background running - Most browsers can continue running in the background after you have closed them. CCleaner cannot (fully) clean a running browser.
Go into your browsers settings and turn off any settings for Background Running, Quick startup, or similar wording.

Corrupted Recycle Bin - It is not uncommon for the Windows recycle bin to become corrupted.
Many people have a corrupted recycle bin, but unless they are using something like CCleaner don't even notice it, their recycle bin itself may appear to be working as normal even though it is corrupted.
If CCleaner is always reporting MB's or even GB's of junk files to clean even after you've just cleaned, and it keeps growing, then you probably have a corrupted recycle bin.
It's easy to  fix a corrupted recycle bin see this: https://community.ccleaner.com/topic/60979-empty-recycle-bin-skipped-files/?tab=comments#comment-331053

One last note:
Registry Cleaning - Don't do it 'just because it's there', it's an advanced tool for fixing problems. If you don't have a problem don't use it.
Using a Registry Cleaner on a regular basis is not recommended, either by Piriform/CCleaner or by Microsoft themselves, but some people still regularly run the Registry Cleaner on Windows 10 & 11.
If you do do it then certain needed registry entries will also be recreated by Windows if/when cleared.
The 'Toast Notifier' entry "SpeechRuntime.exe" is the one that gets asked about the most:
https://community.ccleaner.com/topic/60608-speechruntime-reappear-after-registry-clean/?tab=comments#comment-329639