Discussion on:

Five tips for using Ccleaner to degunk your system

I've said it before and I'll say it again: it's easier to cut off limbs than to reattach them.

Easier still not to cut in the first place.

The problem with "cleaning the registry" - even if you have made a registry backup - is that some issues that you create might not manifest or be noticed for days or weeks. A bit late then to be restoring the registry, in fact you could just make everything just that much worse.

My initial mistake with CCleaner was to "fix" all the registry "issues" found - after several iterations it stopped finding more issues - but only weeks later did I want to uninstall something and discovered I couldn't; the Windows Add/Remove programs app had no [Uninstall] or [Change] buttons any more, and CCleaner wouldn't do the uninstall either (I don't recall the details now, just that I couldn't do it). Any app that was installed *after* the Big CCleaner Purge was ok, so obviously some registry entry that CC "removed" or "fixed" had been damaged or removed.

I never managed to find out how to fix it. There were one or two other issues on the computer that CCleaner hadn't fixed so I ended up reinstalling the computer anyway. But be warned!

Use Revo Uninstaller, it does the job...

Try using Revo Uninstaller to remove apps that seem tough to get rid of.

I've aseen programs that needed special uninstall software. Granted, that software was "enterprise" class and not normally used by home users or most anyone else not doing document imaging. The developers included a tool to go thru the registry and the file structure, recommending what to delete. In fact, in order to re-install this software you really need to make sure all registry entries and files are removed.

My point is, while CCleaner is a good product, sometimes it's not enough and can damgae the registry/file system. One other file you need to safe guard against being removed is the empty new sql query file, the one that opens in SQL Server when you want to do a new query in T-SQL. Without the file, you get an error. It's easy to fix, but still a pain if deleted.

I have been using Revo for years now and found it to be excellent.

I have used Revo, but have run into the occasional "no go". I use Total Uninstall for those times. In fact, I now rely almost exclusively on Total Uninstal. It doesn't seem to matter whether it's a program that it monitored or some old partially removed program, it cleans out the leftovers that are causing problems with other apps.

I delete uninstaller reference files all the time, and I can still uninstall them with CCleaner. Maybe you need a Piriform update?

If you have an app that you cannot uninstall, download Revo uninstaller(it's free).
This program works great at uninstalling stubborn apps, broken or not.It is an extensive, well thought out program which does a backup and sets a restore point before removing anything.It even has a forced uninstall mode.

I agree totally

Although I love CCleaner and all of its handy tools, I too have had a couple of occasions where the uninstaller fell short. Like Chris, I can't recall the details (other than some crap I picked up whilst having a lapse of reason), but mother of all surprises, it was Windows uninstaller that finally got rid of them. Go figure.

I have been using this program on all of my personal computers, some of my friends and a couple of client systems.

I have never had a registry problem of any type. I have never lost vital data in a clean.

There is one thing that it will do if you don't check the settings first. It will destroy all cookies and flash cookies so if you have auto-logins to your favorite websites or settings and saves in flash apps you will lose all of this. It can be annoying if you use a lot of these features. Once you set it's behaviour it will stay that way even through updates so it's not that bad.

Thanks... Those little details are the sort that get lost, or not mentioned at all, too often, in discussions, and never on the box! (If it HAD a box) Your title, "Relatively Safe" says it all... Not totally Safe!, but not terribly dangerous either, IF one knows what they are doing. But, by the time one has learned what they are doing... it may be too late. So thanks again! We all, (OK, ME!) could use more such cautions, the 'gotchas' to look out for.

loosing one's cookies as a disaster; they are recharged upon next visit. It is simply a matter of saving them in the protected space so CCleaner will not remove them.

especially for newbies(as long as they backup the registry). I've used it on hundreds of PCs with never a problem. I discourage using the registry cleaner as a panacea for everything though, so maybe that is why.

I have been surprised at how it repairs Windows files when uninstalling damaged items after malware attack. It is definitely one of the simplest and quick rivets in a blended armor for defense. I was surprised to see it repair incorrect entrys for the Windows firewall in one instance. All downloading worked immediately afterward!

I PURPOSLY delete all form and password data as a security precaution. The bugs can find those in your hard drive. Using a password vault is better - although Mozilla claims to have a built in one now.

And it works very well. You simply input the master password the first time the vault is accessed and away you go. I was even able to transfer the vault between PCs when I changed laptops for work.

CCleaner usually offer program updates about once a month. These updates keep the program current with regards to other updates you may be installing, like new versions of browsers or MS updates etc. It is easy to update through the link in the lower right side of the page. As with any updates, watch what you are clicking during the install.

I think the general sway of discussion here revolves around the motherless registry. I once cleaned an uninstalled a program from the registry with CC and lost my MMC files in the process. Yes, an OS reload resulted. Lesson 1, do a registry backup. I had done this but to no avail. Lesson 2, know thy registry. This lesson cannot be taught in a school

I have used CCleaner on my personal machine for a couple of years and have had no problems and believe it has helped immensely. I recommend it highly.

I used to Analyze first, but nowadays I just hit Clean, and I don't have any problems in a complicated mixed-network environment of Windows and Novell 6.2.

Another favorite tool is ioBit's Advanced System Care 3 - they have a paid version, but the freebie does wonders on a lot of non-optimized machines.

I also have ioBit's Advanced System Care... But it scares me, I don't see what it's doing... And that's what scares me. As before, the 'gotchas' I should be watching out for would be good to know BEFORE I screw it all up! In fact, that's true for pretty much all of these types of cleaners. Sure, some offer to show you what they are about to remove, but it's worse than Greek to me, most entries are meaningless to me. And it seems so many are duplicates, but apparently, not every duplicate IS the same... Even bringing up the Task Manager, (Processes), shows the same thing over and over... (Such as svchost.exe) I may have 10 or more going all at once. Closing some seems to do nothing, while others, death! Or, at least, a BSOD and a reboot) With no clues as to which is what, I don't like to mess with it. Hence, the programs that offer to 'safely' do it for one... As MOST folks are like me... No idea what one scvhost.exe is from another with exactly the same lettering. Yet, we still hear that these 'programs' can't 'safely' go where we dare not tread... what's the point, then? Backup my work, and reinstall the entire OS? That's NOT a solution 98% of the time. Not to mention the time it takes, even with slipstreaming, and them the reactivation issues, etc, driver, hunting down all the little updates that didn't back up. (I've yet to find a single program that really does back up everything... I find empty folders, with no data, all the time) Any ideas? (I'm more of a hardware guy, not software...) I'm always 'assumed' to be the expert... though I admit I'm NOT! 'They' don't get it... Or don't want to!
Thanks

Go to the Microsoft Sysinternals website and get Process Explorer. It will show details about every running process.

Any windows process you'll ever encounter has been written up in concise terms, including whether it's required or not, what it does, if it's subject to malware or IS malware, etc.. a quick search of the process name yields all that info, usually the entire first page is relevant.

Without making you wade through the rest of the processes.

Read about it here and download it from here

Way cool! This is one of those "where have you been all my life" applications, I really could have saved a ton of time with this over the last few years.

EDIT: ps, too bad I can only give you one "+" vote, this should be the top rated post in this thread to get more eyes on svchost viewer...

I love this place, this has to be the most useful forum on the 'net.

I quit using it a while ago for that very reason: it isn't forthcoming on what exactly it does.

I believe iobit is a Chinese company. Don't quote me on that but I'm pretty sure I came across that info once and their contact page is rather devoid of specifics.

The company was bought out by the Chinese, and they have been accused of stealing from Maleware Bytes Anti-malware. If you don't have any intellectual property on you PC, maybe you don't have anything to worry about. But really, who needs that situation?

The clients I had, that installed it, ended up with hosed machines, I don't trust them any farther than I can spit!

I just posted the Chinese factor. I thought they were always Chinese, though.

I remember when they hit the market, iobit seemed to come out of nowhere to be the darling of the service tech world. I saw people throwing it on every system they laid hands on, never having evaluated or researched it. It was like that game on Star Trek: Next Generation where you put on a headset and sucked up tokens with little funnels... turned out to be a mind control mechanism so someone could take over the ship without resistance.

Sounds like something the Chinese powers that be would want to accomplish, take over the "ship" without resistance.

Using the ASC Pro and iObit Security 360 (Smart Defrag as well) for a couple years now. Win 7 Pro running smooth as ever.

I use the various utilities manually and know exactly what is being done. Earlier poster must be referring to "one click optimizer" - I'd never consider using anything like that.

Only hiccups I get with Win 7 Pro are from Windows Updates.

Keep cookies and other internet junk - that is something I will not do. I always get rid of internet junk in its entirety after each and every session. So I have to remember some passwords - its not so difficult and it is much safer. I don't have any use for realtime malware scanners (slows down my pc too much), but I frequently run malware detectors - never found one, never picked up a trojan, never found a root kit. My only problem is junk mail - I clean out my mailbox every day - there are at least 300 spam emails. Undoubtedly some will have embedded exploits but I don't download them to my PC, I clean them in bulk from the server.

PCs should have CCleaner permanently installed at the local administrator profile. Often running Microsoft's standard tools leaves a little more to be desired - having to click this and that at different places, and you can't tell what's the status too! CCleaner's like a trusty toolkit you are never without.

Mostly common sense stuff. I do use Ccleaner on my wife's machine, and she always complains afterwards that automatic logins to some well used sites are gone. I'll take your hint and set those cookies now.

So far I have not experienced any issue with CCCleaner and it's definitely one of the best for recovering free space as an SSD owner, where free space really matters. I have had cases where it recovered over 5GB of free space and in one case had over 10GB of content in my Windows Temp folder.

However, I have heard of past issues running CCcleaner on PCs with DRM crippled content, such as music or video purchased or downloaded that has copy protection, where the DRM meaning becomes Dumpster Ready Media. For example, after running a clean, affected DRM content would have to be reauthorised to play, which would be a problem if the number of allowed reauthorisations has been reached or older content where the content provider has taken its DRM servers offline.

Better to have something like Revo Uninstaller Pro that keeps track of installations and removes them about as cleanly as possible. For cleaning out temp internet files etc I use Cleanup!. Also keep C: drive images just in case.

The way I see it, I don't always need a cannon when a shotgun will do.

sorry - is wiki as good a place as any to get a grip on registries??

For the last two years i have been using Norton Utilities , which appears to do a fine job when it comes time to clean out the browser , temp files and fix any registry keys that need to be removed after a program has been uninstalled , most times i have used the programs unistaller file accessed from the folder !

Thru PAINFUL experience, I have made reg backup part of my "must do" routine. I ALWAYS back up the registry *before* using CCleaner. When customers have reg problems, 99% of the time it stems from use of reg cleaners and the customers ignorance of the importance of backup.

I wasn't aware ccleaner keeps google and yahoo cookies by default. I never pay it much attention, I handle cookie policy with the web browser. I wonder if those are the only default "keepers" or if there's others, like bing, or even wikipedia...

The correct name of the program is "CCleaner" and the company behind it is Piriform. The current version is 3.05.1409 and can be downloaded at no charge from this site = http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/update?v=3.05.1408&l=1033 The program runs on Windows 7, Vista and XP - both 32-bit and 64-bit editions. A little background always helps.

One other caution: do not run cleaners if it is possible that pending updates are waiting to be installed on reboot. Rebooting a pc before running cleaners would ensure that any pending updates have been applied and that their temporary files are no longer needed.

and only once had an issue. I trust it for XP and have begun testing on Windows 7.

I used this, with some reservations, until the latest update. The download from Hippo, sent my firewall/spyware programs into a frenzy. Perhaps the fact that CCleaner ferrets through my machine, gives the impression that it is a trojan. Any comments would interest me. regards, Dante

CCleaner and SuperAnti-spyware are under attack by the malware coders. You may have malware on there that is subverting Piriform's mission. I'd uninstall it and do a throughough scanning with MBAM, Avast, AdAware, and SAS. Just to make sure, before reinstalling the lastest version.

I assume you run as a standard restricted account? Cleaning temporary files using that configuration is one of the most effective preventions bar none. Some argue you don't need anti-virus with that combo. I reserve judgement on Zues attacks, though; those variants are morphing all the time.