CCleaner wiping out history

[WarinWestEl]

I have the latest version of Firefox.  If I use the CCleaner Health Check feature, when it wipes out the trackers, it also wipes out my browser history.  I DEFINITELY want to eliminate the trackers (leeches), but do I HAVE to lose my browser history to do that?

The CCleaner browser setting is set to "Disable" on Firefox.  IMHO, that should be all I need to do.  I want to wipe the browser history once a week, NOT several times a day like CCleaner is currently doing.

It's very difficult to do serious research on the net when the history keeps getting wiped out.

[nukecad]

Health Check uses it's own cleaning rules and you cannot change them.
It is set to clean what most people want, - But of course you may want something different and that's what Custom Clean is for.

The ticks/unticks only apply to Custom Clean. - As the name says Custom Clean it is customisable to give you more control over what is cleaned or not cleaned.

Health Check always does it's own thing and ignores any ticks/unticks.

So if you don't want Firefox history cleaned then you have to untick it in Custom Clean and then only use Custom Clean not Health Check.

You can change which one CCleaner  shows you when you open it by going to Options>Settings and changing the CCleaner Home Screen.

[WarinWestEl]

Thanks so much!  Apparently, even a Brit hopped up on whisky has a clearheaded thought every once in awhile.

[WarinWestEl]

You know, Nukecad . . . once I went back and looked at the application, REALLY looked at the application . . . what you said was obvious.  I'm not fully left-brained but I CAN program and I have trained myself to be logical when necessary.  So once I saw what you were saying, it bothered me.  How did I miss what was right in front of my eyes?  And, of course, I've been asking the same question recently of the general public: How do they fail to see what is right in front of their eyes?  It was humbling to discover I wasn't seeing something that was right in front of mine.

Although I'm a newbie on this forum, I've been using CCleaner for years. Perhaps like many other people, I used the free version then FINALLY decided to invest in the paid version. I've been thinking this over and IMHO the tabs have been labelled in a misleading way.  Apparently, provided one knows what they're doing, "Custom Clean" is just as effective as "Health Check".  I was using "Health Check" because now that I'm a paying customer it sounded like something extra.

IMHO, the tabs should be labelled: "Auto Clean" and "Custom Clean".  The term "Health Check" might be appealing because it coincides with the heart icon  and seems so clinical.  Nevertheless, based on what you've said, it's misleading.  From what I now understand, there's no reason why Custom Clean can't be used 100% of the time for the general cleaning chores.  Just like I used to do.

One last thing: the patience with which you answered my question was admirable.  I could never be a moderator, replying to the same dumb questions over and over with aplomb.  Never getting frustrated with the naivete of the general public.  That's a roundabout way of saying I think you're doing a great job and keep up the good work!

Thanks again!

[nukecad]

Health Check does have two aspects that Custom Clean doesn't do automatically, they are availaible seperately in the Tools menu though.

In Health Check they are called  'Speed' and 'Security' and they run every time you run HC.
If you are using Custom Clean then they don't run unless you run them seperately from the Tools menu , where they are called  'Startup' and 'Software Updater' respectively.

I personally don't see the need for them running every time (especially Speed/Startup) and think that it's a waste of time having them run each time you run Health Check.
(I'd go back to the older 'Easy Clean/Quick Clean' which didn't include them).

PS. Whatever made you think that moderators don't get frustrated answering the same questions again and again?
Of course we do, we are human, but we get appointed moderators firstly because we like helping others - so we answer politely and we (usually) keep our grumbles to ourselves.
We also grumble and criticise changes to CCleaner and the other Piriform software if we don't like the changes that are made.
(And you should see some of those grumbles them in 'Private/Staff' sub-forum, you get the same on any forum but kept private from the general members).

[WarinWestEl]

Thanks for reminding me of the earlier "Easy Clean/Quick Clean"  paradigm.  This is the problem with programmers.  They obsessively attempt to "fix" what ain't broke.  Automatic decided to "improve" Wordpress and now people who've been using it for years have effectively been frozen out of their own blogs until they either learn the new paradigm or PURCHASE a plugin.  See how that works?

As you've indirectly pointed out, the word "Clean" should be in both tabs.  God forbid that the GUI would be logical.

I've been keeping an eye on my startups for years.  Bitdefender used to have a great startup optimizer.  Unlike most others, besides the Enable/Disable option, they offered the possibility of using a "Delay".  Which was great for making sure the torrent client didn't load until after the VPN was engaged.  But, of course, that was a solid application so Bitdefender no longer offers it.

I've recently discovered  Autoruns by Sysinternals, which gives one commanding control over ALL of your startups.  Still, there's no delay option.  The only way I know to pull that off now is to write it into the Windows Task Scheduler.

Every once in awhile I check whether my software is updated.  But as you rightly said, running that with every "Health Check" is really a waste.

When it comes to cleaning, CCleaner remains the standard that geek sites continue to recommend.  So, in spite of the attempts of the bureaucrats to ruin it, the program continues to yield good results.

Finally: Glad to know you're human.  Brendon O'Connell recently referenced "Battlestar Galactica".  So I downloaded the complete series and have started watching.  I was thinking, that perhaps your gif is a secret signal and you might actually be a Cylon.   After all, you Brits are pretty good at being clandestine.

Thanks for helping me to go beyond Piraform's (IMHO, illogical) GUI. You can tell your bosses I’m chuffed to bits with your service, Mate.

[nukecad]

6 hours ago, WarinWestEl said:

  I was thinking, that perhaps your gif is a secret signal and you might actually be a Cylon.   After all, you Brits are pretty good at being clandestine.

Nope, my gif and username simply reflect that I used to work in the nuclear industry.
(There were some things about that work that were secret, but most of it was just routine).

PS. They are not actually our bosses, all the mods here are simply trusted users who get 'invited' to do a bit more and we do it for no pay.
Piriform/Avast employees can be identified as they all have 'CCleaner' in their username and use the CCleaner logo as their avatar.

[WarinWestEl]

Did some experimenting, going back and forth with Health Check vs Custom Clean.  Established that if one chooses to retain their browser history, Health Check detects that as retention of trackers.  I thought that was odd since I assumed trackers were separate from a log of webpages.

Did some looking around on the net and found this: https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/public_comments/2015/10/00064-98109.pdf

Apparently, now that the internet has been thoroughly commandeered by commercial interests, the web has become weaponized for profit.  I.E., if you don't want to be tracked, you can no longer retain your browsing history.

Ironically, Health Check may be the better strategy.  As you pointed out, it carries unnecessary baggage.  For example, Health Check says I need to update VLC.  Whereas VLC says I have the latest version.  But Health Check appears to be tough on trackers.

I'm going to use Custom Clean throughout the day to retain the browser history.  At the end of the day I'll use Health Check.

It's a nasty world out there.  This morning I watched this and I urge to you listen to the first 20 min.  https://www.brighteon.com/5fc47f25-dab5-472e-aa50-44e19ce141af

Thanks again for your input !

[Andavari]

It also helps to have a HOSTS file, such as MVPS.org HOSTS File. Note that having a custom HOSTS file can cause Microsoft Windows Defender (if that's the antivirus you use) to have fits.

[nukecad]

The VCL is a know issue -

44 minutes ago, WarinWestEl said:

For example, Health Check says I need to update VLC.  Whereas VLC says I have the latest version.

The VLC glitch is a know issue.
They have released a new version, 3.0.13, but (as yet?) it's only released for Android not for Windows.

Regarding 'Trackers' in Health Check, they are just cookies, browser history, etc. - Have a read of the link in my signature below any of my posts.

PS. If you are using Chrome or a chrome based browser then you may find this worth a read too, and clear your history regularly:
https://community.ccleaner.com/topic/60323-is-chrome-flocing-with-you/?tab=comments#comment-328401

 

[hazelnut]

VLC player 3.1.13 for 64 bit is available here

https://download.videolan.org/pub/videolan/vlc/3.0.13/win64/

 

[nukecad]

The link that Hazelnut gives above was working, but currently gives a '404 Not Found' error.

The official VideoLan website is still giving 3.0.12 as the latest download.
Checking for Updates from within VLC itself also says that 3.0.12 is still the latest version.

Which suggest that 3.0.13 for Windows has been 'pulled' from the official download index, possibly because a bug/glitch was found at the last minute?
(It happens).

Quite a few sites have mirror copies of the 3.0.13 downloads for Windows that were there, but personally I wouldn't install them.
I'll wait for the official release.

 

[hazelnut]

Yes it looks like they have been removed from that page now as they were there earlier. I believe they may have been missing their digital signatures.

[nukecad]

Think I saw somewhere about the checksums being wrong?

[nukecad]

CCleaner is no longer flagging VCL as needing an udate. (Software Updater is showing the current v3.0.12 as correct).

[WarinWestEl]

@Andavari

That Hosts file idea looks interesting.  I paid for a browser extension called "Trace" that appears to not be helpful.  I use Bitdefender, so that shouldn't be a problem.

[WarinWestEl]

@nukecad

I don't use Chrome because I've read bad things about it.  Google has definitively proven themselves to be untrustworthy.  Which is highly disappointing.  I can remember a time when Google actually worked.  A time when some of us saps intentionally used Google to help them rise above their competitors.

The VLC bug no longer shows up.

[WarinWestEl]

To those of you kind enough to offer input

I can understand the discrepancy between the "Health Check" readout for retained history as "trackers".

But here's something I DON'T understand:

In Custom Clean, under "System", I have EVERYTHING checked.  And yet, when I run it and then follow up with Health Check . . . Health Check finds Temporary System Files that it wants to clean.  That's why I have everything under "System" checked.  Because if you just check "Temporary Files" under "System", this phenomenon happens.  (Which, IMHO, it shouldn't.

So, even if you check every box under System, Health Check manages to find Temporary System Files that were not cleaned out.  This is frustrating because I'm using the paid version.  And my thought was that starting to pay would lead to the best version that CCleaner has to offer.  The auto version should NOT do a more thorough job than customizing UNLESS the customer doesn't know what he's doing.  But LOGICALLY System Temporary Files = Temporary System Files, right?  WHAT AM I MISSING ???

Edited May 5, 2021 by WarinWestEl
To add screenshots

[WarinWestEl]

7 minutes ago, WarinWestEl said:

To those of you kind enough to offer input

I can understand the discrepancy between the "Health Check" readout for retained history as "trackers".

But here's something I DON'T understand:

In Custom Clean, under "System", I have EVERYTHING checked.  And yet, when I run it and then follow up with Health Check . . . Health Check finds Temporary System Files that it wants to clean.  That's why I have everything under "System" checked.  Because if you just check "Temporary Files" under "System", this phenomenon happens.  (Which, IMHO, it shouldn't.

So, even if you check every box under System, Health Check manages to find Temporary System Files that were not cleaned out.  This is frustrating because I'm using the paid version.  And my thought was that starting to pay would lead to the best version that CCleaner has to offer.  The auto version should NOT do a more thorough job than customizing UNLESS the customer doesn't know what he's doing.  But LOGICALLY System Temporary Files = Temporary System Files, right?  WHAT AM I MISSING ???

 

[nukecad]

You would see the same/similar if you ran Custom Clean twice in a row.

It's normal and will always happen, if you run either/any type of  clean repeatedly it will always find some files again just after they have been cleaned.
It's just the way computers work.

We get asked about it so often that I wrote an explantion and put a link in my signature to explain why it happens.
But not everyone has the signature display turned on so here it is again:

 

[WarinWestEl]

Thanks nukecad

I scrolled up and, lo and behold, your signature DOES have a link that answers my question.

Probably what happened is . . .

I stopped reading after the word "beer"