CCleaner 5.74 Automatic updates in Free version seems suspicious

[TheOwner]

Hello,

i cant believe what you did. Automatic update requires all time running CCleaner64.exe. Why? It is another all time ruining process, which slow down computer especially boot times on slow machines. I think the whole purpose of all time running CCleaner64.exe is monitor users same way as Avast do. You already added CCupdate.exe years ago which is able update too. Why you not use this? 

Of course i disabled this immediately, but is enabled by default for all users! Same spyware as Avast.

CCleaner  was build for removing junk from PC, but all time ruining process, silent Avast installations, CCleaner browser in CCleaner installation make junk from this software and this is sad what happen to this program after Avast bought it.

[Dave CCleaner]

19 minutes ago, TheOwner said:

Automatic update requires all time running CCleaner64.exe.

The change is that as and when you run CCleaner, if there is a new version, instead of it popping up and requiring you to go on a journey to the website to download the new version to keep your cleaning up to date you have the option for the updates to happen automatically.  If you are not running CCleaner continuously in the background then yes - it will not update until you run it.  If you love manually updating software every month then that option remains available to you.

If you have concerns about "monitoring" or "spyware" you should probably take a few minutes to read https://www.ccleaner.com/about/data-factsheet.  We are nowhere near as interested in you as you might think. 

If you still have concerns, you can contact CCleaner support at support@ccleaner.com with a request for a copy of your data as per https://support.piriform.com/hc/en-us/articles/360004083991-I-would-like-to-request-a-copy-of-the-data-that-you-hold-about-me-How-do-I-request-this-.  You can also request that this data be deleted.  Spoiler alert, however, is even if you are a paying subscriber, the entirety of the information held about you is little more than what you can retrieve yourself from https://www.ccleaner.com/support/license-lookup.  

[Guest Stephen CCleaner]

Hi there. I'd just like to add to what Dave has said above, to explain how this works. To check for updates automatically, something needs to run in the background. The update checks occur once every 12 hours, or immediately if you launch CCleaner.

CCUpdate.exe is an emergency updater. It is effective but it doesn't have any interface which can get confusing, so we prefer to only use it in emergencies. It's for use when no other method will effectively keep our users' safe. It's very effective at securing users, but not the best in terms of explaining what's going on.

We understand that some users would prefer not to have something running in the background, whatever its purpose, so over the past weeks we have been sending notices regarding this change to give our customers a heads up. These notices won't have been delivered to anyone who has blocked the systems CCleaner depends on to communicate with its users.

The background service we use for Automatic Updates is also used for Scheduled Cleaning (automated cleaning) and Smart Cleaning (contextual cleaning triggers, such as cleaning when you close your browser). If you do not want this process running in the background, disable the things that depend on them: Scheduling, Smart Cleaning and Automatic Updates.

Lastly on the topic of data: we send some basic telemetry via the background process for error reporting purposes (read which data here). For example, if suddenly something causes a number of CCleaner users to crash, we would like to be aware of this and to respond as quickly as possible. Bugs like this typically happen when something about the environment changes (such as a new browser version or an update to Windows) and CCleaner isn't aware of this change so goes about its business as normal. On top of that, we optionally collect data about how the application is used (e.g. which features are used and how often). This helps us to understand which features matter most to our users so we can prioritise them when we are deciding which bugs to fix or conducting customer research. If you don't want this, you can opt out in the privacy settings (Options > Privacy). We do this to deliver a better app, but we understand that some people may prefer not to be part of that process. It's really up to you.

[Dave CCleaner]

14 hours ago, TheOwner said:

Automatic update requires all time running CCleaner64.exe.

After a bunch of bug reports this evening I think I now grasp your original point.  For some reason, toggling autorenewal on in 5.74 also toggles on Smart Cleaning, which lets you know proactively when there is stuff to clean, rather than waiting for you to run it manually.  Which means you have to go back and switch Smart Cleaning back off again - which is a pest if you did not want it on. 

While Smart Cleaning is not a privacy concern, having it on unexpectedly is a user experience issue, and a bug.  We are working on a patch fix at the moment.  in the meantime, to make deactivating Smart Cleaning stick, the work-around is:

• Unchecking all of the boxes on the Options > Smart Cleaning screen in CCleaner (going from top to bottom, as the "Enable Smart Cleaning" is greyed out if "Tell me when there are junk files to clean" is checked); and
• Unchecking the Options > Updates > Keep CCleaner updated automatically option.

[Hmm]

Yup. Reminds of the crap they pulled two years ago and their excuse was they thought there were "helping" us. 

Here' s my thread on the topic. Let's hope they don't get it deleted, if it is below is the content 

DEJA VU?

Wow. Reading the release notes ー not impressed, reminds me of how a couple of years ago Pirform did the unthinkable and made SYSTEM MONITORING permanent and couldn't be disabled. Now, we have the current issues where updates are applied automatically on the free version. The version info contains clickbait phrases like "This version comes jam-packed full of exciting improvements for all our users!"

Then it's implied you can review and update your preferences. And they go on to say OPTIONS have been simplified. Granted, the OPTIONS was always a PIA, but after that incident from two years ago coupled with how they're forcing themselves onto the users to do "automatic" this or that plus the bugs posted so far causes me to remain highly skeptical.  The response provided doesn't give me any confidence either. 

My v5.73.8130 (26 Oct 2020) will be my last version I'll update in a while. Besides, if it ain't broken, I'm not going to update.  I shall monitor the forums and comments here, but I won't hold my breath for a positive outcome. 

[Hmm]

15 hours ago, Dave CCleaner said:

The change is that as and when you run CCleaner, if there is a new version, instead of it popping up and requiring you to go on a journey to the website to download the new version to keep your cleaning up to date you have the option for the updates to happen automatically. 

You can try to spin or justify your decisions like McDonald Trump would do, that's obviously your choice given it's your software but it's going backwards and counter-intuitive not to allow users the freedom and choice to decide from themselves before it is installed.

I think your logic/rationale/thinking is backwards. Let the user decide to update WHEN they want, IF they want. CCLEANER is NOT anti-virus software. We need to be clear on that. Having a background updater or process running in the background is pure nonsense on a "junk utility" application. 

[Hmm]

16 hours ago, TheOwner said:

Hello,

i cant believe what you did. Automatic update requires all time running CCleaner64.exe. Why? It is another all time ruining process, which slow down computer especially boot times on slow machines. I think the whole purpose of all time running CCleaner64.exe is monitor users same way as Avast do. You already added CCupdate.exe years ago which is able update too. Why you not use this? 

Of course i disabled this immediately, but is enabled by default for all users! Same spyware as Avast.

CCleaner  was build for removing junk from PC, but all time ruining process, silent Avast installations, CCleaner browser in CCleaner installation make junk from this software and this is sad what happen to this program after Avast bought it.

Sorry, I thought I quoted your post, this forum software is almost as messed up as CCleaner's developer's thinking. 

But yeah, the first thing bloggers and reviewers mention about CCleaner is how it wants to install Avast "spyware" by "tricking" you if you're not very careful. What CCleaner has done today (again) will be a major blow to their reputation. As a result, many will no longer be recommending this product.

Just when you think CCleaner learned from their past mistakes they go ahead and repeat them. What a way to shoot themselves in the foot. 

[Dave CCleaner]

12 hours ago, Hmm said:

Let the user decide to update WHEN they want, IF they want

Indeed we do.  Hence the announcement of the feature. 

By way of a side-note, it is worth mentioning again that CCleaner has a steadily growing user base which is larger than the population of most countries - and it is quite a diverse user base in every respect. Not every new feature is for everyone, but in each case is there to meet the demand of several millions of our users.  Some of these you may not notice - when we improve our multi-lingual support from time to time, add cleaning support for new browsers that you might not use, or the recent screen-reader improvements for the vision-impaired.  Some you might - like the introduction of Easy Clean, Health Check or Automatic Updates.  In each of those latter cases we keep the options open for all users to use CCleaner in the manner that they prefer - folks who don't want to tinker and expect CCleaner to just do its job can use Health Check and leave it to keep itself up to date; technical enthusiasts can switch back to the traditional Custom Clean interface and modify their options for greater control.

12 hours ago, Hmm said:

the first thing bloggers and reviewers mention about CCleaner is how it wants to install Avast "spyware" by "tricking" you if you're not very careful

CCleaner has been subsidising the cost of distributing free software with offers since Decemeber 2010.  We've been steadily improving the transparency of these offers over the past 14 months based on user input, but we welcome additional feedback if you feel that this presentation is "tricking" in any way. (Greying out the "Accept" box for a few seconds to force people in a hurry to notice the giant graphic and to read what they're accepting is one idea that we are weighing up, for example).

 

12 hours ago, Hmm said:

Besides, if it ain't broken, I'm not going to update

That was always allowed.  If you are on CCleaner 5.73 or earlier, be sure to go to Options > Updates and make sure that "Apply these updates automatically" under Important Updates is switched off https://support.piriform.com/hc/en-us/articles/360050855452-What-are-Important-Updates-and-how-can-I-control-them-

... or you can switch off Automatic Updates under Options > Updates in CCleaner 5.74 or higher for exactly the same experience.

 

[Hmm]

On 10/11/2020 at 14:50, Dave CCleaner said:

Indeed we do.  Hence the announcement of the feature. 

By way of a side-note, it is worth mentioning again that CCleaner has a steadily growing user base which is larger than the population of most countries - and it is quite a diverse user base in every respect. Not every new feature is for everyone, but in each case is there to meet the demand of several millions of our users.  Some of these you may not notice - when we improve our multi-lingual support from time to time, add cleaning support for new browsers that you might not use, or the recent screen-reader improvements for the vision-impaired.  Some you might - like the introduction of Easy Clean, Health Check or Automatic Updates.  In each of those latter cases we keep the options open for all users to use CCleaner in the manner that they prefer - folks who don't want to tinker and expect CCleaner to just do its job can use Health Check and leave it to keep itself up to date; technical enthusiasts can switch back to the traditional Custom Clean interface and modify their options for greater control.

CCleaner has been subsidising the cost of distributing free software with offers since Decemeber 2010.  We've been steadily improving the transparency of these offers over the past 14 months based on user input, but we welcome additional feedback if you feel that this presentation is "tricking" in any way. (Greying out the "Accept" box for a few seconds to force people in a hurry to notice the giant graphic and to read what they're accepting is one idea that we are weighing up, for example).

 

That was always allowed.  If you are on CCleaner 5.73 or earlier, be sure to go to Options > Updates and make sure that "Apply these updates automatically" under Important Updates is switched off https://support.piriform.com/hc/en-us/articles/360050855452-What-are-Important-Updates-and-how-can-I-control-them-

... or you can switch off Automatic Updates under Options > Updates in CCleaner 5.74 or higher for exactly the same experience.

 

Adware works like AVG does too — does having a decline/accept option make it right or acceptable? I think not. Don't bundle additional software with CCleaner. Offer it as a standalone product separately if you want to win users like me back. 

For now, my trust is broken in Pirform/Ccleaner. I'll continue to read updated independent reviews of Ccleaner before updating or upgrading again. 

[Dave CCleaner]

9 hours ago, Hmm said:

Don't bundle additional software with CCleaner

We don't bundle additional software with CCleaner, but offers for things can appear occasionally - such as for other software (as per the above), or if there is a sale on for CCleaner Professional.  If you are passionate on this topic and don't want to see any commercial offers for CCleaner or anything else, there are two option available to you:

1. Roll back to CCleaner 2.36 (from late 2010 - last version to not contain any offers of any sort); or
2. Uncheck the following option under Options > Privacy in CCleaner 5.71 and above.

On a related matter, you may also wish to consider the CCleaner Browser (https://www.ccleaner.com/ccleaner/browser) which has built-in blocking of ads on websites.