CCleaner process duration

[logon]

Just noticed at least here CCleaner 5.88.9346 leaves the "CCleaner64.exe" process running for 8 seconds after quitting the program while version 5.39.6399 (my favorite one for a long time) ends just after half a second.

Is there a technical reason for that?

I run CCleaner with the /AUTO parameter (and the /WAIT function) within a CMD file so the above makes a huge difference.

Thanks

Edited January 15, 2022 by logon

[nukecad]

My CCleaner Pro 5.88 process closes (dissapears from Task Manager) as soon as CCleaner is closed, so it's probably a difference in our settings.
Could be a CCleaner setting or a Windows setting.

It may just be because you are running CCleaner from a command window.
Although TBH I've just run CCleaner with /Auto from the command line it's that quick that I don't even see it in Task Manager.

One thing stands out though seeing as your query is about waiting times:
When you say you are using a  "/WAIT function" how are you implementing that?
It isn't one of the CCleaner documented command line parameters: https://support.piriform.com/hc/en-us/articles/360047885872#command-line-parameters-for-ccleaner-for-windows-0-0

PS. Just to note that v5.39 is four years old so it won't be cleaning your browsers, etc. properly. Things change especially where browsers put their junk.
eg. Both Firefox and Chrome (All/most Chromium based browsers) have recently changed how/where they store cookies, so v5.39 won't be cleaning them properly.
But that shouldn't affect the process closing, and doesn't on mine.

[logon]

6 hours ago, nukecad said:

PS. Just to note that v5.39 is four years old so it won't be cleaning your browsers, etc. properly. Things change especially where browsers put their junk.
eg. Both Firefox and Chrome (All/most Chromium based browsers) have recently changed how/where they store cookies, so v5.39 won't be cleaning them properly.
But that shouldn't affect the process closing, and doesn't on mine.

Thank you for your appreciated reply!
Please note both that I mentioned version 5.39 just as a term of comparison of the respective process duration times (half a second compared to 8 seconds) and I already know what you kindly say about the fact that previous versions do not work for the recent Chromium-based browsers SRWare Iron 'Clear browsing history' issue.

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One thing stands out though seeing as your query is about waiting times:
When you say you are using a  "/WAIT function" how are you implementing that?
It isn't one of the CCleaner documented command line parameters: https://support.piriform.com/hc/en-us/articles/360047885872#command-line-parameters-for-ccleaner-for-windows-0-0

The following is the line in my CMD file

START "" /WAIT "C:\Program Files\CCleaner\CCleaner64.exe" /AUTO

However I just discovered that CMD is unrelated at all to the issue.

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My CCleaner Pro 5.88 process closes (dissapears from Task Manager) as soon as CCleaner is closed, so it's probably a difference in our settings.
Could be a CCleaner setting or a Windows setting.

I found this report very interesting and so I have further investigated about issue.

What I discovered is that CCleaner asks to contact home even if all Internet-related settings are unchecked.

And if not, it does that anyway and repeatedly: just for 8 seconds.

Now i know the issue is Firewall-related: so If my firewall is disabled then the process ends soon without any latency.

Maybe it would be welcome if you could completely avoid that CCleaner asks to contact home even if all Internet-related settings are unchecked, but I'm not the CCleaner programmer.

Cheers

 

Edited January 16, 2022 by logon

[nukecad]

Interesting.

I tried your command from an elevated command prompt and can see the delay if you use the '/wait' parameter to pause command window processing until CCleaner terminates.
(Without the '/wait' it comes back straight away of course).

Now here is where it gets interesting in my own testing of your command line.

• Firewall on, connected to the net - I see the delay.
• Firewall on, disconnect from the net - I still see the delay.
• Turn the Firewall off - still disconnected from the net - I still see the delay.
• Firewall still off, reconnect to the net - I still see the delay.

Firewall on or off, connected or disconnected from the net, it all makes no difference to me.
If I use the '/wait' parameter then I always have to wait the 8 seconds or so for CCleaner to do it's thing.

So to me it looks like CCleaner simply always takes 8 seconds or so (at least) to run from a command window.

Have you confirmed that turning off your firewall means that the delay does not happen for you?

EDIT - Just for interest I took my CCleaner back to v5.62 and ran the same test.
Still a delay in all the above configurations but only 6 seconds or so, as you might expect because CCleaner now has more things to analyze/clean

 

[logon]

57 minutes ago, nukecad said:

Interesting.

I tried your command from an elevated command prompt and can see the delay if you use the '/wait' parameter.
(Without the '/wait' it comes back straight away of course).

Now here is where it gets interesting in my own testing of your command line.

• Firewall on, connected to the net - I see the delay.
• Firewall on, disconnect from the net - I still see the delay.
• Turn the Firewall off - still disconnected from the net - I still see the delay.
• Firewall still off, reconnect to the net - I still see the delay.

Firewall on or off, connected or disconnected from the net, it all makes no difference to me.
If I use the '/wait' parameter then I always have to wait the 8 seconds or so for CCleaner to do it's thing.

So to me it looks like CCleaner simply always takes 8 seconds or so to run from a command window.

Have you confirmed that turning off your firewall means that the delay does not happen for you?

 

This report does appear strange enough to me.

At least here I can confirm the issue is totally firewall-related (third party program) nay connection-related and totally cmd-unrelated.

Please note I mentioned my CMD task delay just to highlight what kind of issue it was for me since that CMD file is quite complex, but - as said - totally unrelated.

I made any kind of related trial and all of them confirm as far as I reported.

As I'm sure you know the parameter /WAIT in a cmd file involves the fact that it does not switch to the next line until the current task is ended: so I do not understand why in your case it should delay the process starting from command prompt: your issue seems to me once again a different one.

However a fact remains: CCleaner seems to ask for home even if all Internet-related settings are unchecked.

I would like to avoid that this occurred, but I'm not the CCleaner programmer.

However I made a further test because already in the past I noticed that some programs react in a different way to the Internet connection status even during their installation: and as matter of fact if I disconnect the network cable from the LAN RJ-45 port (offline status) then is no longer important if the firewall is enabled or not: the task ends anyway with no delay.

I suspect that some programs feel the active network beyond the firewall and feel the access denied by the firewall so they "insist" repeatedly in their access requests, from which the delay in ending the process.

Edited January 16, 2022 by logon

[logon]

Just to clarify the fact that the described Issue does occur the same way even when launching CCleaner from its shortcut without nor /AUTO parameter nor any kind of CMD involved .

 

Edited January 16, 2022 by logon

[Andavari]

I get a slight delay before CCleaner actually fully closes, which I attribute to the installed anti-virus software since anti-virus will scan a program when it starts and closes.

Something to keep in mind some programs will update and write to settings such as .INI files when they're closed which CCleaner Portable always does to ccleaner.ini.

[logon]

27 minutes ago, Andavari said:

I get a slight delay before CCleaner actually fully closes, which I attribute to the installed anti-virus software since anti-virus will scan a program when it starts and closes.

Something to keep in mind some programs will update and write to settings such as .INI files when they're closed which CCleaner Portable always does to ccleaner.ini.

Thank you for your appreciated reply!

Actually the issue is related to a huge delay running CCleaner flawlessly installed in Program Files directory and I've no anti-virus program installed.

A trivial workaround would be remove the /WAIT parameter from my CMD file, but the issue remains the same launching regularly CCleaner from its shortcut.

However I think the debugging is clear enough for me: if CCleaner did not ask for home even if all Internet-related settings are unchecked the Issue would be completely solved upstream and running it in any circumstance.

Cheers

Edited January 16, 2022 by logon

[logon]

Needless to say, the most obvious way to solve the Issue would be to allow CCleaner access to the Internet through the firewall, but generally spoken I'm rather reluctant to do so for any program if all the internet-related settings are unchecked.

So I'd like to ask CCleaner programmers if they could kindly avoid the above maybe in the next version,

Just as a matter of principle, a kind of clarity pact between the software-house and the "final user".

Simply because I can't answer the following question: if all of the Internet-related settings are unchecked why CCleaner continues to repeatedly request the access to internet?

Thanks

[nukecad]

Without saying that you are wrong:

You keep asserting that the time you are seeing CCleaner take to run is due to CCleaner 'phoning home'.

But you haven't said why you think that is happening, other than a vague statement that:

Quote

What I discovered is that CCleaner asks to contact home even if all Internet-related settings are unchecked.

Where/how did you "discover" that?

It isn't what my testing shows, my testing shows the the time taken is the same even when CCleaner cannot even connect to the internet to  'phone home'.
So I have to conclude that the 8 seconds or so that we are seeing is just the normal time taken to run an analyze/clean from a command prompt.
8 seconds or so to Analyze all of the possible locations where junk may be on your drive seems pretty quick to me.

I'm also struggling a bit to understand why you think that CCleaner would run and complete 'instantly' without taking the time needed to analyze/clean whatever junk there may be to clean?
If I called any app that finished instantly I'd assume that the call had faulted and the app had not run at all. (Wrong command syntax, wrong path called, etc).
And of course if you have error reporting turned off in you script/batch then you wouldn't get an error message that it had faulted.

[logon]

3 hours ago, nukecad said:

Without saying that you are wrong:

You keep asserting that the time you are seeing CCleaner take to run is due to CCleaner 'phoning home'.

But you haven't said why you think that is happening, other than a vague statement that:

Where/how did you "discover" that?

It isn't what my testing shows, my testing shows the the time taken is the same even when CCleaner cannot even connect to the internet to  'phone home'.
So I have to conclude that the 8 seconds or so that we are seeing is just the normal time taken to run an analyze/clean from a command prompt.
8 seconds or so to Analyze all of the possible locations where junk may be on your drive seems pretty quick to me.

I'm also struggling a bit to understand why you think that CCleaner would run and complete 'instantly' without taking the time needed to analyze/clean whatever junk there may be to clean?
If I called any app that finished instantly I'd assume that the call had faulted and the app had not run at all. (Wrong command syntax, wrong path called, etc).
And of course if you have error reporting turned off in you script/batch then you wouldn't get an error message that it had faulted.

Hello,

First of all please note I never said that CCleaner "calls home", but I said it "asks for home" (just like on the other hand they do practically all the programs that require the Internet access for any reason: version update, database update, virus update, etc, you know?) and it seems to me quite obvious that if it asks for Internet access it will certainly not want to contact the house of others.

Also please note that if CCleaner asked for home while its Internet settings was checked then that would be the most expected thing in the world!

What is not expected (at least by me) is that CCleaner requires the Internet access even when all its Internet settings are unchecked.

That said, without saying you are wrong, I'm forced to kindly point out to you that the 8 seconds used by CCleaner to make the process disappear from Task Manager start after CCleaner made its job and after it's closed: AFTER it is closed, okay?

Frankly doesn't seem (at least to me) as a small issue.

In other words, after CCleaner has used all its time to clean up all your things from your PC then - after it's closed - it takes 8 seconds to end its process in Task Manager.

I really hope it's clear enough.

Also, if you open CCleaner without making it do absolutely nothing - that's no task at all - and then close it without it to have done absolutely nothing, it will also take 8 seconds to end its process disappear from Task Manager.

All the above does not occurr nor if I grant CCleaner access to the Internet (although all Internet settings are unchecked) nor if I completely disconnect the network card from the network cable (offline status).

Now, If this issue doesn't seem clear enough this is surely not my fault.

Cheers
 

P. S.: Finally, please also note that I never said (nor thought) that all over is a maliciously done, I think it may be a bug: however - meanwhile, I don't kindly get an adequate and authoritative reply - I'm sorry if I remain reluctant to grant the Internet access to programs that are set up to not require it. IMNSHO

 

Edited January 17, 2022 by logon

[nukecad]

I'm not sure why you are so convinced that CCleaner is accessing the net during a Custom Clean called from a command window?

You do say that when you call CCleaner from your script it takes 8 seconds after your script calls it for it to terminate, and I agree.

My testing using your exact command copied and pasted in agrees, I paste your command into a command window press return and about 8 seconds later CCleaner finishes and the command prompt comes back ready for the next command.

It takes the same 8 seconds whether the computer has an internet connection or not.

Interestingly, for a further test, I just opened the CCleaner GUI and ran a Custom Clean from there.
And guess what? From clicking on the 'Run Cleaner' button until the clean finished and displayed the results took about 8 seconds.

So all my testing is simply saying to me that a Custom Clean of an already fairly clean computer takes about 8 seconds to run.
It doesn't matter if you do it from a command line or from the GUI, it's still 8 seconds.

I think you are reading far too much into those 8 seconds (possibly prompted by some reading on the internet?), and 8 seconds is simply how long CCleaner is taking to analyze your computer for junk and remove it.

I realise though that if you truly believe otherwise then you are not going to change your mind, no matter what testing I do for you or what I say.
So in that case I can't think of anything further to add.

[logon]

45 minutes ago, nukecad said:

I realise though that if you truly believe otherwise then you are not going to change your mind, no matter what testing I do for you or what I say.
So in that case I can't think of anything further to add.

Well, no.

If you follow a thread, please follow it carefully.

It seems to me that you "are not going to change your mind", not me.

You stay fixed on what you think and think to have understood about the topic, but instead it doesn't seem to me that you have read at all what I describe and then all my furter clarifications seems you do not make any difference (no offence intended).

I'm repeating you (and repeating, and repeating) that everything I describe also occurrs without running CCleaner in a cmd file and that the 8 seconds start after CCleaner is closed, but you ignore it at all.

So, please stop here: I don't know what are your tests you are talking about, but certainly they are not my test and not my issue so they have no relevance compared to "my" topic, at least not when described your way.

Are you telling me that CCleaner even if set with all Internet-related settings unchecked does not ask for Internet connection?

Are you telling me this?

Please reply to this simple question, thanks!

Cheers

 

Edited January 17, 2022 by logon

[hazelnut]

@logon.

Can I ask ask a couple of questions just out of curiosity?

When task manager shows CCleaner as still running does it close straight away if you highlight it and select 'close task' from the bottom of the page?

During the 8 seconds when you have taskmanager open, if you click on the Details tab at the top do you see anything running there that you don't expect to see? (perhaps a screenshot of the page would help you look through with 8 seconds being your allotted time)

For troubleshooting the handle keeping the process open you might consider doing this (you'd have to be quick though with it involving 8 seconds )

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/fix-program-exe-file-stays-open-task-manager-closed

[logon]

@hazelnut

Hi,

Please allow me to answer you as follows.

Sometimes it can happen that you start to travel a path believing that it leads you to a place and instead it takes you to a different place.

It is exactly what happened here: I didn't know what those 8 seconds meant and first of all I asked if there was a technical reason for that and then I believed they were in some way related to my firewall.

Then I noticed that instead they seemed related to the status of the network connection.

Then I could guess that CCleaner asked for Internet access and that my Firewall was involved in some way in the delay.

Soon the question has become a different one: why does CCleaner ask for Internet access even if all related settings are unchecked?

So I just thought to install a modern firewall to see what would happen in a more detailed way, since my existing (and loved) firewall is a bit outdated and not very informative.

Now I know for sure both that CCleaner asks for Internet access even if all related settings are unchecked (sorry if I don't like this way at all, hoping not to happen in future) and that my old Firewall for some reason was involved in the observed delay of 8 seconds.

JFYI Running the modern firewall the delay no longer occurs at all.

Cheers

 

Edited January 17, 2022 by logon

[hazelnut]

You seem to have figured out one of the things that were bothering you  (the 8 seconds... good troubleshooting by the way )

Things usually become clear in the end 

 

 

[logon]

2 hours ago, hazelnut said:

You seem to have figured out one of the things that were bothering you

Really more than one thing, but right now I've no intention to be pitiless. 

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good troubleshooting by the way

Thank you.

Quote

Things usually become clear in the end 

Yep, even because it is just when things become clear that it's said they are "in the end"...