Ccleaner 6.04.10044 prevents all MS Office apps from running

[Paul SEPA]

Yesterday, September 20, my Windows Pro x64 computer was running fine. This morning, I was notified that the new version, 6.04, was available. So, I installed it. After Ccleaner was installed, I wanted to get emails - so I started up MS Outlook 2019. So far as I can tell, it never started. Then I tried to start MS Word 2019. Same thing. Then I tried MS Excel 2019. Couldn't start it, either. Then I sent 4 HOURS restoring Windows back to Monday morning September 19th. When my computer finally restarted, a popup came up saying that restoration hadn't been completely successful. BUT when I tried those MS Office 2019 apps, they all worked again. How to fix this? This is the very first time that I have had a problem with Ccleaner installation, and I have been using Ccleaner for years.

[nukecad]

Do you happen to be using Avira Free Security for your antivirus?

There is a known issue with Avira latest versions, if you have one of those Avira versions and run a cleaning app - any cleaning app - then some apps such as Word, Excel, etc. will stop working.
Which is just what you are describing here.

If you do use Avira and want to continue using it then there is a work-around you can use by making a certain Windows Temporary folder an 'Exclude' in CCleaner, see this:
(If you also use any other cleaning app then you will need to make the folder an exclude in that too).

 

[Paul SEPA]

I do not use Avira. I use Vipre as my security suite.

[nukecad]

Ok, yours is a different issue then.

Although reading you first post again it seems that you have already fixed it with the restore point and your Office is now working again?

Are you using Windows 10 or 11?

And out of interest when were the September Cumulative Updates installed?

I ask because we had another user with Win 11 who reported something similar with losing access to all his 'Office' products and a few others apps.
We never quite got to the bottom of that one but apparently?? that was caused by a faulty installation of Win 11 that didn't show up until some time later when a Windows Update arrived.
He ended up reinstalling his Windows 11 to fix it.

[Paul SEPA]

The version of Windows that I have is Windows 10 21H2. I had already installed the September patches the previous week. I installed only the quality patches (cumulative update and the .Net update, as well as the update for security). Nothing else was offered to me.

Even though everything appears to be working again, I am waiting for CCleaner tech experts to explain what happened, since other Win 10 users could get the same problem, potentially.

[nukecad]

I doubt that it was the CCleaner update/installation that caused the issue. Coincidences do happen.

If the installer had been doing that then this forum would be full of shouting people.*

Losing access to all the MS Office apps has to make you suspect that it's Microsoft or system related.

Odd things do happen, last week following the Windows update I was unable to open Adobe Reader unless I right clicked and 'run as administrator', obviously a permissions issue that has now gone away again on it's own.

*(PS. Malwarebytes put out a malware definition update yesterday that blocked all access to Google, including Youtube, etc. for everyone using Malwarebytes - You should see the shouting about that on their forum, it's been fixed now).

[lmacri]

On 21/09/2022 at 12:52, Paul SEPA said:

... This morning, I was notified that the new version, 6.04, was available. So, I installed it. After Ccleaner was installed, I wanted to get emails - so I started up MS Outlook 2019. So far as I can tell, it never started. Then I tried to start MS Word 2019. Same thing. ...Then I sent 4 HOURS restoring Windows back to Monday morning September 19th. When my computer finally restarted, a popup came up saying that restoration hadn't been completely successful. BUT when I tried those MS Office 2019 apps, they all worked again....

Hi Paul SEPA:

I use MS Office 2019 (including MS Outlook 2019) on my Win 10 Pro v21H2 laptop.  After reading your post I updated to CCleaner v6.04 and ran a Custom Clean and it doesn't appear to have caused any damage to my MS Office files. However, note that:

• I use CCleaner Free Portable and only run manual Custom Clean scans (i.e., I do not allow CCleaner's PC Health Check, Performance Optimizer, Software Updater or Driver Updater to run on my system), and
• I only do basic cleaning with Custom Clean scans and I do not allow CCleaner to clean my MS Office 2019 files (i.e., Custom Clean | Applications tab |  Applications | Office 2016 is DISABLED).

After my initial Custom Clean scan, which removed ~ 278 MB of files, I repeated the scan with Custom Clean | Applications tab | Applications | Office 2016 ENABLED to see what MS Office files CCleaner v6.04 would detect .  Note that I ran the scan but did not click "Run Cleaner" to clean these MS Office files off my system just in case you are correct that CCleaner v6.04 can actually corrupt MS Office 2019 installations.  Most of the 37 MS Office 2019 files detected were just MS Office .LNK shortcuts to recent documents and shouldn't cause a problem if removed, but the attached .txt file is a log of all the MS Office that CCleaner v6.04 suggested for removal if you'd like to review.

CCleaner v6_04 Scan Log Office 2019 37 Files Detected 22 Sep 2022.txt

 

_____________________

Just an aside, but is it possible your VIPRE antivirus prevented your system restore from running to completion?  The Appauls.com article Fix: System Restore Did Not Complete Successfully notes that many antivirus and antimalware programs that run in real-time protection mode will cause system restores to fail.  I've seen this happen with both Norton Security (see their support article Fix System Restore Problems with Norton Product Installed about Norton Product Tamper Protection) and Malwarebytes Premium.
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64-bit Win 10 Pro v21H2 build 19044.2006 * Firefox v105.0.0 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2207.7-1.1.19600.3 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.5.14.210-1.0.1767 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.6979 * CCleaner Free Portable v6.04.10044 * MS Office 2019 Home & Business Version 2208 (Build 15601.20148 Click-to-Run)
Dell Inspiron 15 5584, Intel i5-8265U CPU, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G NVMe SSD, Intel UHD Graphics 620

[off2hcky]

I wanted to report that I just spent two hours on the phone with a client who had the same issue as O.P.  No office apps would open, and a system restore that took several hours only to fail however the office apps still failed to open.  During the troubleshooting I was disabling AV and also the CCleaner realtime app.  (thinking, why would ccleaner be the problem??!)  Still was unable to open Office Apps.  I even reinstalled  office apps from office 365 account with no joy.  I finally was monitoring task manager while attempting to start office apps.  In task manager I would see movement in what was listed.  Something would quickly start and stop when I tried to start word or excel.  (but it wasn't a word or excel task)  I finally caught what app was starting.  It was a CCLEANER process!!  I couldn't catch the full name because it was so quick but I couldn't understand how that could be since I had shutdown ccleaner in the task bar.  I didn't waste any time and uninstalled Ccleaner and immediately, the office apps began to work fine.  I then came across this forum post so decided to update it in case other have the same issue.  So no more Ccleaner for me or clients.  Something is up with the latest version.  My client was running windows 10, Norton 360 and office 2019.

Edited September 24, 2022 by off2hcky

[lmacri]

Hi Paul SEPA:

You might be interested in reading scoobydog's 16-Jul-2019 Office 16/Office 365 Potential Issues with CCleaner.  I didn't find any one particular workaround in that thread that solved the problem for all affected users (other than uninstalling CCleaner) but there was one suggestion <here> that CCleaner PRO was corrupting desktop and Start Menu .LNK shortcuts that were used to launch Office programs, and another <here> suggesting the involvement of OneDrive.

Do you use CCleaner PRO (note that I use CCleaner Free, which does not run in real-time or perform automatic cleaning and system optimization), and what is your current status since performing your system restore?  For example, are you currently using an older version of CCleaner PRO or have you uninstalled CCleaner from your system? It would also be helpful if your could provide the edition (e.g., Home, Pro, etc.) and build number of your Win 10 v21H2 OS shown at Settings | System | About | Windows Specifications as well as the full product name and version number of your MS Office 2019 suite and VIPRE antivirus .

The release notes for CCleaner v6.04 (rel. 20-Sep-2022) are posted at https://www.ccleaner.com/ccleaner/version-history.  I'm not sure what specific tweaks Avast / Piriform made to CCleaner PRO that could have caused the issue both you and off2hcky are describing.  My CCleaner Free doesn't perform the background tasks that run automatically in CCleaner PRO, and the only significant change to my CCleaner Free Protable v6.04 was the addition of a bug reporting tool that collects and submits telemetry data back to Avast / Piriform for analysis - see xClean's 22-Sep-2022 C:\Program Files\CCleaner\CCleanerBugReport.exe as Part of v6.04 Pro for a discussion about this new feature.  I'm not sure if the information logged by that CCleaner v6.04 reporting tool in C:\Program Files\CCleaner\Data\log\BugReport.log was deleted during your system restore, but if that log file is still on your hard drive it might give you a clue as to what CCleaner was doing while you were trying to launch your MS Office 2019 programs.

Hopefully  @Dave CCleaner  or one of the other Avast / Piriform employees who participated in scoobydog's July 2019 thread will jump into this thread and provide assistance.
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64-bit Win 10 Pro v21H2 build 19044.2006 * Firefox v105.0.1 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2207.7-1.1.19600.3 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.5.14.210-1.0.1767 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.6979 * CCleaner Free Portable v6.04.10044 * MS Office 2019 Home & Business Version 2208 (Build 15601.20148 Click-to-Run)
Dell Inspiron 15 5584, Intel i5-8265U CPU, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G NVMe SSD, Intel UHD Graphics 620

[Paul SEPA]

Well, of all of the info that you provided, by far the most telling is that, in 2019, a user reported that they couldn't run Office apps after a Ccleaner install because the links were all lost/damaged. Sounds like my problem.

My version of Windows is, as I said, 21H2. 19044-2006. My Vipre is 11.0.6.22 - 32-bit. The engine is 3.9.2671.2 - 3.0. My version of Office is 2019, Build 15601.20148.

I glanced at the Ccleaner log, and, from my limited perspective, I didn't see any suspicious entries. There are other Ccleaner logs, but one of them I couldn't open (in use by another program), and the other one didn't have any logical info in it.

I use Ccleaner Pro, not the free version. Even though it has features such as driver updates, I have that control set to 'notify', as opposed to 'just do it'. I have been burned in the past by driver updates that messed up my computer, so I don't allow blanket updates to occur. My computer is a Dell T3600 desktop, purchased in 2013, so it is getting older, and won't run Win11. Replacing it, with all of the reinstalls of software, fills me with dread.

[off2hcky]

The issue my client was facing was not corrupted links.  It was in fact blocking the executables.  While troubleshooting I actually went in and renamed the excel, word, exe files to something else and the programs worked.  So initially I thought it was some kind of virus blocking the office apps.  But then that's when  I went into task manager and saw the ccleaner process pop up when I was trying to run the original office executable files.  And this was 2019 office and the freebie Ccleaner app. 

[PeterMatthias]

had a similar issue. After running ccleaner yesterday several programs ( including Chrome, Edge, Firefox which is very nasty) couldn't start again because the related  exefile was corrupted.

I installed all programs and removed ccleaner. Now everything is working well but this is not the preferred solution.

[Paul SEPA]

Sorry to hear about your troubles, but in my case the situation was different. I upgraded CCleaner from version 6.0.3 to 6.0.4. After doing so, ALL Microsoft Office applications wouldn't even start up. I told Windows 10 (x64, Pro) to roll back to a previous Restore Point. After I did that, all of the Office applications started working again, DESPITE the fact that CCleaner's version stayed at 6.04.

[Nergal]

2 hours ago, Paul SEPA said:

Sorry to hear about your troubles, but in my case the situation was different. I upgraded CCleaner from version 6.0.3 to 6.0.4. After doing so, ALL Microsoft Office applications wouldn't even start up. I told Windows 10 (x64, Pro) to roll back to a previous Restore Point. After I did that, all of the Office applications started working again, DESPITE the fact that CCleaner's version stayed at 6.04.

System restore (attempts) to make services, drivers and registry back to where they were when the point was made. It has no effect on apps and docs

 

Ok let's try to assertain some info.  Are you saying this happened only installing and not running any section that caused this? Ccleaner has no ability to have caused this solely on install.  (it doesn't update any windows components such as .net or visual basic c). This does not discount that this has happened i just don't see how.

[Paul SEPA]

Since I did the restoration, I have run CCleaner several times for manual cleaning. I never have had a problem with running CCleaner - only when I installed it. When I clicked on every icon to execute an Office application, it was as if my request had been ignored - so far as I can tell, each app never started (as opposed to starting and then aborting). Someone else in this thread reported that after an older version of CCleaner was installed on their computer, they couldn't access Office apps, either. Naturally, I didn't think to look at the links behind the icons to see whether those links had been buggered. All I know is that, after I did the Restore, the apps were all accessible again.

[lmacri]

Just an FYI that CCleaner Pro v6.04 user Travasuarus has reported having problems launching MS Office 2021 C2R on one of the computers they manage (a Dell XPS desktop running Win 11 Pro v21H2) in the 07-Oct-2022 AskWoody.com thread Office Home & Business 2021 Click-To-Run Apps Won’t Start.  We're still waiting for Travasaurus to report back if uninstalling CCleaner Pro solved the problem.

See my 10-Oct-2022 post # 2486971 in that AskWoody thread about potential issues with cloud services like OneDrive and Google Drive after CCleaner v6.04 is installed, although I have no proof that this is related in any way to problems some CCleaner Pro v6.04 users are having launching Click-to-Run editions of MS Office with a perpetual license (e.g., MS Office 2019 C2R and MS Office 2021 C2R) on their computers.
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64-bit Win 10 Pro v21H2 build 19044.2006 * Firefox v105.0.3 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2207.7-1.1.19700.3 * Malwarebytes Premium 4.5.15.215-1.0.1784 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.6979 * CCleaner Free Portable v6.04.10044 * MS Office 2019 Home & Business Version 2209 (Build 15629.20156 Click-to-Run)
Dell Inspiron 15 5584, Intel i5-8265U CPU, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G NVMe SSD, Intel UHD Graphics 620

[Paul SEPA]

My version of Office is 2019 click-to-run; I don't want "Microsoft 365" on my computer. I do not use OneDrive or Google Drive. Since I don't have Windows 11 (my computer is considered non-compliant by Microsoft, because I have an older Xeon processor, and I don't have TPM 2.0), that's why I have Windows 10. In my case, I just executed the upgrade to CCleaner, then did the restore, which left 6.04 in place.

[nukecad]

15 hours ago, PeterMatthias said:

had a similar issue. After running ccleaner yesterday several programs ( including Chrome, Edge, Firefox which is very nasty) couldn't start again because the related  exefile was corrupted.

I installed all programs and removed ccleaner. Now everything is working well but this is not the preferred solution.

This sounds more like a different issue which is known about and is not a CCleaner issue, it's an issue with Avira antivirus which is triggered by running any cleaning app.

For some reason Avira was/is storing needed files in a Windows temporary folder.
So when a cleaner, any cleaner, clears that temporary folder some apps that you use regularly stop launching.

Although it isn't caused by CCleaner (or any other cleaner) we do have a work around you can use until Avira fix it.

See:

 

[lmacri]

Hi @Andrei CCleaner

I just noticed jango1242's 17-Oct-2022 bug report at Performance Optimizer Error who found that they could not launch Steam after updating to CCleaner Pro v6.04 because their Steam app was "Slept by an external application".  User jango1242 was only able to launch Steam after uninstalling CCleaner.

Is it possible the CCleaner v6.04 users posting in this thread who are having problems launching their MS Office 2019 and 2021 apps (i.e. editions of MS Office with a "perpetual" multi-year license) are affected by the same Performance Optimizer bug?

[Guest Andrei CCleaner]

20 hours ago, lmacri said:

Hi @Andrei CCleaner

I just noticed jango1242's 17-Oct-2022 bug report at Performance Optimizer Error who found that they could not launch Steam after updating to CCleaner Pro v6.04 because their Steam app was "Slept by an external application".  User jango1242 was only able to launch Steam after uninstalling CCleaner.

Is it possible the CCleaner v6.04 users posting in this thread who are having problems launching their MS Office 2019 and 2021 apps (i.e. editions of MS Office with a "perpetual" multi-year license) are affected by the same Performance Optimizer bug?

Heya, we can't know for sure until we can investigate the logs generated on their device.

[Paul SEPA]

Then tell us, explicitly, which logs you want to examine, so we can attach them to this thread.

[hazelnut]

Don't forget the 3 year lasting Office/CCleaner thread here

https://community.ccleaner.com/topic/54644-office-16office-365-potential-issues-with-ccleaner-under-investigation/

 

[Guest Andrei CCleaner]

21 hours ago, Paul SEPA said:

Then tell us, explicitly, which logs you want to examine, so we can attach them to this thread.

Hello@Paul SEPA. You need to send an email to our team at support@ccleaner.com so they could help you out with your problem.

[lmacri]

On 18/10/2022 at 08:16, lmacri said:

I just noticed jango1242's 17-Oct-2022 bug report at Performance Optimizer Error who found that they could not launch Steam after updating to CCleaner Pro v6.04 because their Steam app was "Slept by an external application".  User jango1242 was only able to launch Steam after uninstalling CCleaner....

The release notes at https://www.ccleaner.com/ccleaner/version-history indicate that CCleaner v6.05.10110 (rel. 24-Oct-2022) includes several bug fixes, including issues where Performance Optimizer "stopped various games and other apps from accidentally being put into ‘sleep mode’.  The list of affected apps doesn't include MS Office 2019/2021 but hopefully at least one of the bug fixes made to Performance Optimizer in v6.05 will resolve the problem being discussed in this thread.

If you have problems updating to CCleaner v6.05 see Melchior's 24-Oct-2022 thread "CCleaner could not be updated." Manual Check for Updates Fails.
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64-bit Win 10 Pro v21H2 build 19044.2130 * Firefox v106.0.1 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2209.7-1.1.19700.3 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.5.16.217-1.0.1792 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.6979 * CCleaner Free Portable v6.04.10044 * MS Office 2019 Home & Business Version 2209 (Build 15629.20208 Click-to-Run)
Dell Inspiron 15 5584, Intel i5-8265U CPU, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G NVMe SSD, Intel UHD Graphics 620

[Paul SEPA]

Well, Yesterday, I received a notice that 6.05 was now available, and that I should upgrade. I was concerned that, by the time I was done installing it, my MS Office 2019 apps would be disabled. Fortunately, that did not happen. However, something new happened. I have Lulu Software's Soda PDF 5 installed on my computer. When I tried to open that software yesterday evening, it appeared to start up and then shut down immediately: the program's GUI didn't even make an appearance. I had to uninstall Soda PDF 5, use Ccleaner (the Pro version) to get rid of Soda PDF 5's Registry entries, then restart the computer, then reinstall Soda PDF 5. After that, Soda PDF 5 worked correctly. I did open a docx file in Soda PDF 5, and noticed that, momentarily, MS Word ran (embedded) to be able to load the docx file into Soda PDF 5. To me, this AGAIN speaks to flakey things happening during the upgrade of Ccleaner (its installation procedure), not during running / usage of Ccleaner. If there were another way to install Ccleaner, I would love to try it.