CCleaner

[Li'l Abner]

I'm beginning to wonder if CCleaner is all it's cut out to be. My usual
plan of attack for most spyeare infested computers has been to boot into
Safe Mode, run CCleaner, and then Malwarebytes. Mt purpose in running
CCleaner first is so that MBam doesn't have to wade through a zillion
temporary files.

Yesterday I did just that on a 4 user computer, running CCleaner and MBam
from the most used account. CCleaner removed about a gig of files. When I
ran MBam,,, 55 minutes later it was still hacking away on one user's
Temporary Internet Files. It had found over 300 instances of MyWebSearch
and wasn't gaing so I aborted it, went into Windows Explorer, and
discovered that the IE5 folder for each of the other three users were cram
full of stuff. I deleted all of it, switched users and then found the same
to be true for the original acount, so I deleted those too.

Then I manually deleted all the temp files in each user's
Local Settings\Temp folders, and finally the contents of the Windows\Temp
folder.

Ran MBam again. It ran in less than 6 minutes. Found a bunch more
MyWebSearchs, one Trojan.Vundo, and one Adware.Hotbar.

So just exactly what is CCleaner supposed to do? :-)



--
--- Everybody has a right to my opinion. ---

[Rhonda Lea Kirk Fries]

Li'l Abner wrote:
> I'm beginning to wonder if CCleaner is all it's cut out to be. My
> usual plan of attack for most spyeare infested computers has been to
> boot into Safe Mode, run CCleaner, and then Malwarebytes. Mt purpose
> in running CCleaner first is so that MBam doesn't have to wade
> through a zillion temporary files.
>
> Yesterday I did just that on a 4 user computer, running CCleaner and
> MBam from the most used account. CCleaner removed about a gig of
> files. When I ran MBam,,, 55 minutes later it was still hacking away
> on one user's Temporary Internet Files. It had found over 300
> instances of MyWebSearch and wasn't gaing so I aborted it, went into
> Windows Explorer, and discovered that the IE5 folder for each of the
> other three users were cram full of stuff. I deleted all of it,
> switched users and then found the same to be true for the original
> acount, so I deleted those too.
>
> Then I manually deleted all the temp files in each user's
> Local Settings\Temp folders, and finally the contents of the
> Windows\Temp folder.
>
> Ran MBam again. It ran in less than 6 minutes. Found a bunch more
> MyWebSearchs, one Trojan.Vundo, and one Adware.Hotbar.
>
> So just exactly what is CCleaner supposed to do? :-)

Why don't you try clicking "Options", "Advanced" and then unticking the box
(ticked by default) that says "Only delete files in Windows Temp folders
older than 24 hours."

Let me know if that helps.

[Li'l Abner]

"Rhonda Lea Kirk Fries" <rhondaleakirk@earthling.net> wrote in
news:ipbjdl$480$1@news.albasani.net:

> Li'l Abner wrote:
>> I'm beginning to wonder if CCleaner is all it's cut out to be. My
>> usual plan of attack for most spyeare infested computers has been to
>> boot into Safe Mode, run CCleaner, and then Malwarebytes. Mt purpose
>> in running CCleaner first is so that MBam doesn't have to wade
>> through a zillion temporary files.
>>
>> Yesterday I did just that on a 4 user computer, running CCleaner and
>> MBam from the most used account. CCleaner removed about a gig of
>> files. When I ran MBam,,, 55 minutes later it was still hacking away
>> on one user's Temporary Internet Files. It had found over 300
>> instances of MyWebSearch and wasn't gaing so I aborted it, went into
>> Windows Explorer, and discovered that the IE5 folder for each of the
>> other three users were cram full of stuff. I deleted all of it,
>> switched users and then found the same to be true for the original
>> acount, so I deleted those too.
>>
>> Then I manually deleted all the temp files in each user's
>> Local Settings\Temp folders, and finally the contents of the
>> Windows\Temp folder.
>>
>> Ran MBam again. It ran in less than 6 minutes. Found a bunch more
>> MyWebSearchs, one Trojan.Vundo, and one Adware.Hotbar.
>>
>> So just exactly what is CCleaner supposed to do? :-)
>
> Why don't you try clicking "Options", "Advanced" and then unticking
> the box (ticked by default) that says "Only delete files in Windows
> Temp folders older than 24 hours."

That's one I wasn't aware of. Thanks for pointing it out to me!

> Let me know if that helps.

OK. Will do. Next time. :-)
As Lance pointed out, CCleaner does not clean the other user accounts. I
think that's what was hurting me the most. You would think to be thorough
it would clean ALL the temp files in ALL the accounts.



--
--- Everybody has a right to my opinion. ---

[Poutnik]

In article <Xns9ED56F1E0ECF5butter@wefb973cbe498>, blvstk@dogpatch.com
says...
>
> OK. Will do. Next time. :-)
> As Lance pointed out, CCleaner does not clean the other user accounts. I
> think that's what was hurting me the most. You would think to be thorough
> it would clean ALL the temp files in ALL the accounts.

One must remember CCleaner
is primarily maintainence utility, not security utility.

Temp cleaning for all accounts can have unwanted sideeffect,
epecially if users are members of a family
and/or if some of them has its own temp cleaning policy.

--
Poutnik

[Rhonda Lea Kirk Fries]

Li'l Abner wrote:
> "Rhonda Lea Kirk Fries" <rhondaleakirk@earthling.net> wrote in
> news:ipbjdl$480$1@news.albasani.net:
>
>> Li'l Abner wrote:
>>> I'm beginning to wonder if CCleaner is all it's cut out to be. My
>>> usual plan of attack for most spyeare infested computers has been to
>>> boot into Safe Mode, run CCleaner, and then Malwarebytes. Mt purpose
>>> in running CCleaner first is so that MBam doesn't have to wade
>>> through a zillion temporary files.
>>>
>>> Yesterday I did just that on a 4 user computer, running CCleaner and
>>> MBam from the most used account. CCleaner removed about a gig of
>>> files. When I ran MBam,,, 55 minutes later it was still hacking away
>>> on one user's Temporary Internet Files. It had found over 300
>>> instances of MyWebSearch and wasn't gaing so I aborted it, went into
>>> Windows Explorer, and discovered that the IE5 folder for each of the
>>> other three users were cram full of stuff. I deleted all of it,
>>> switched users and then found the same to be true for the original
>>> acount, so I deleted those too.
>>>
>>> Then I manually deleted all the temp files in each user's
>>> Local Settings\Temp folders, and finally the contents of the
>>> Windows\Temp folder.
>>>
>>> Ran MBam again. It ran in less than 6 minutes. Found a bunch more
>>> MyWebSearchs, one Trojan.Vundo, and one Adware.Hotbar.
>>>
>>> So just exactly what is CCleaner supposed to do? :-)
>>
>> Why don't you try clicking "Options", "Advanced" and then unticking
>> the box (ticked by default) that says "Only delete files in Windows
>> Temp folders older than 24 hours."
>
> That's one I wasn't aware of. Thanks for pointing it out to me!
>
>> Let me know if that helps.
>
> OK. Will do. Next time. :-)
> As Lance pointed out, CCleaner does not clean the other user
> accounts. I think that's what was hurting me the most. You would
> think to be thorough it would clean ALL the temp files in ALL the
> accounts.

It is a feature that has been requested repeatedly, but so far Piriform has
not implemented it.

These links may help.

http://www.ghacks.net/2008/03/17/run...-all-accounts/

http://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/46...for-all-users/

http://sites.google.com/site/eneerge...countsonthefly

[Lance]

Li'l Abner wrote the following on 4/27/2011 16:26:
>
> Then I manually deleted all the temp files in each user's
> Local Settings\Temp folders, and finally the contents of the Windows\Temp
> folder.
>
> Ran MBam again. It ran in less than 6 minutes. Found a bunch more
> MyWebSearchs, one Trojan.Vundo, and one Adware.Hotbar.
>
> So just exactly what is CCleaner supposed to do? :-)

I do something similar for rooting out malware. In my experience I've
found the following:
- For temporary files, CCleaner only cleans out the current user
- As Rhonda says the default is to clean temp files older than 24 hrs
- If you've added any custom includes: Under Options/Include, check
and see if "Include files and subfolders" is selected. Sometimes it'll
be set to "Include files only".

Lance
*****

[Li'l Abner]

Lance <lhill@suc.edu> wrote in news:ipbum7$bl1$1@gist.usc.edu:

> Li'l Abner wrote the following on 4/27/2011 16:26:
>>
>> Then I manually deleted all the temp files in each user's
>> Local Settings\Temp folders, and finally the contents of the
>> Windows\Temp folder.
>>
>> Ran MBam again. It ran in less than 6 minutes. Found a bunch more
>> MyWebSearchs, one Trojan.Vundo, and one Adware.Hotbar.
>>
>> So just exactly what is CCleaner supposed to do? :-)
>
> I do something similar for rooting out malware. In my experience I've
> found the following:
> - For temporary files, CCleaner only cleans out the current user

That's the one there that made it rather useless. Unless, of course I was
to run it in all four accounts. It's about as easy to just do it manually
with Windows Explorer. Once in a while a user will have their files set to
"private" and that has to be undone before you can access their temp files,
but that's usually the exception and not the rule.

> - As Rhonda says the default is to clean temp files older than 24
> hrs

That's one I wasn't aware of but I will check it in the future. Usually by
the time someone brings me their computer and I go to work on it, that 24
hours would be up anyway.

- If you've added any custom includes: Under Options/Include,
> check
> and see if "Include files and subfolders" is selected. Sometimes it'll
> be set to "Include files only".

Thanks for your input!

--
--- Everybody has a right to my opinion. ---

[Han]

"Li'l Abner" <blvstk@dogpatch.com> wrote in
news:Xns9ED4BB9D3C9ADbutter@wefb973cbe498:

> I'm beginning to wonder if CCleaner is all it's cut out to be. My
> usual plan of attack for most spyeare infested computers has been to
> boot into Safe Mode, run CCleaner, and then Malwarebytes. Mt purpose
> in running CCleaner first is so that MBam doesn't have to wade through
> a zillion temporary files.
>
> Yesterday I did just that on a 4 user computer, running CCleaner and
> MBam from the most used account. CCleaner removed about a gig of
> files. When I ran MBam,,, 55 minutes later it was still hacking away
> on one user's Temporary Internet Files. It had found over 300
> instances of MyWebSearch and wasn't gaing so I aborted it, went into
> Windows Explorer, and discovered that the IE5 folder for each of the
> other three users were cram full of stuff. I deleted all of it,
> switched users and then found the same to be true for the original
> acount, so I deleted those too.
>
> Then I manually deleted all the temp files in each user's
> Local Settings\Temp folders, and finally the contents of the
> Windows\Temp folder.
>
> Ran MBam again. It ran in less than 6 minutes. Found a bunch more
> MyWebSearchs, one Trojan.Vundo, and one Adware.Hotbar.
>
> So just exactly what is CCleaner supposed to do? :-)

For routine cleaning I use the microsoft supplied "disk cleanup". After
that I use ATFCleaner (freeware, works on XP and Vista).

I now also change a setting somewhere to have my computer clean up the
pagefile when shutting down.

Of course CCleaner is also a pretty good registry cleaner, which the
above are definitely NOT.

--
Best regards
Han
email address is invalid

[1PW]

On 4/27/2011 4:26 PM, Li'l Abner wrote:

Have you given consideration to the possibility that CCleaner will
only act on files who's ownership is only associated to the account
you are logged into? Even if you are logged in as an Administrator.

[Dustin]

"Li'l Abner" <blvstk@dogpatch.com> wrote in
news:Xns9ED4BB9D3C9ADbutter@wefb973cbe498:

> I'm beginning to wonder if CCleaner is all it's cut out to be. My
> usual plan of attack for most spyeare infested computers has been to
> boot into Safe Mode, run CCleaner, and then Malwarebytes. Mt purpose
> in running CCleaner first is so that MBam doesn't have to wade
> through a zillion temporary files.
>
> Yesterday I did just that on a 4 user computer, running CCleaner and
> MBam from the most used account. CCleaner removed about a gig of
> files. When I ran MBam,,, 55 minutes later it was still hacking away
> on one user's Temporary Internet Files. It had found over 300
> instances of MyWebSearch and wasn't gaing so I aborted it, went into
> Windows Explorer, and discovered that the IE5 folder for each of the
> other three users were cram full of stuff. I deleted all of it,
> switched users and then found the same to be true for the original
> acount, so I deleted those too.
>
> Then I manually deleted all the temp files in each user's
> Local Settings\Temp folders, and finally the contents of the
> Windows\Temp folder.
>
> Ran MBam again. It ran in less than 6 minutes. Found a bunch more
> MyWebSearchs, one Trojan.Vundo, and one Adware.Hotbar.
>
> So just exactly what is CCleaner supposed to do? :-)
>
>
>

Ccleaner is a per account deal. IE: you have to login to each account
and run it again. (Fun huh?) If you're using windows XP and down tho,
you can snag Cleanup!; it'll do ALL of the accounts (be sure your
logged in as administrator) in one fell swoop. Save you alot of time.

Cleanup! may have been updated to support vista/windows7, but I have no
experience using it on either of them.


--
If today was your last day... and tomorrow was too late...
could you say goodbye to yesterday?