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Patch reliability is unclear. Unless you have an immediate, pressing need to install a specific patch, don't do it. |
I use CCleaner on a daily basis and it works great with Windows 10. Good for cleanup of temp files and browser cache. It lets you set cookies that you wish to keep, while stomping out the rest 🙂
Speccy is a cool tool to inspect or review your installed hardware config. You can save a report with specs to share with support if needed. Also gives a good view of WiFi access points in reception range.
Windows 10 Pro 22H2
Yep, I use both programs as well. Note that CCleaner should NOT be used on any computer which is infected with malware. Only use CCleaner on a computer which is clean or which has been first and thoroughly disinfected of all malware and all malware remnants.
Finally, never run CCleaner on a computer which has just been booted up. Why? Because and most likely, there are updater programs for various software which also automatically launch on startup. Those update utilities might still be running at the same time you run CCleaner. It is much better to run CCleaner at least 10 minutes after having booted your computer such that any auto-update programs have completed their update tasks, or running CCleaner just prior to rebooting.
Speccy. What else can I say other than it is the handiest utility which I have come across for reviewing your computer’s internal hardware.
You cannot be 100% sure, obviously. Turn it around: if you suspect you might have malware, do not use CCleaner.
CCleaner can clean out logs, memory dumps, droppers stored in temp. folders etc. which could prove useful in diagnosing the infection (or w/e is causing the troubling symptoms). Some malware has also been known to ‘hide’ user files in the recycle bin, run CCleaner and they’re gone.
Makes sense. I never thought about it that way. Thank you.
Since this thread about Ccleaner is in the Tools subforum,
and was last added to several months ago, when Ccleaner and its developer Piriform were still considered pretty reliable and safe (with certain caveats about not using the serious parts of the Ccleaner “registry cleaner” without knowing exactly what you were doing) and could be widely recommended to computer users at all levels of technical ability,
I thought I’d post links to 2 of Woody’s blog posts about serious problems that Ccleaner has had in recent months:
https://askwoody.com/2017/ccleaner-back-door-botnet-infection-updates/
https://askwoody.com/2017/is-your-ccleaner-safe-new-evidence-suggests-maybe-not/
—-
P.T.
FYI – from an article I saw on Martin Brinkmann’s site:
In a break with its past behavior, the free version of CCleaner is apparently connecting daily to Piriform and receiving automatic software updates now.
For users of the program who want to decide their own updating schedule for it, especially after its recent malware troubles, this info is good to know.
Apparently you can disable the updating task in the Task Scheduler, and using the portable version might be a safer route if you want to avoid auto-updating — see the article for more details.
from: https://www.ghacks.net/2017/10/25/ccleaner-5-36-emergency-updater/
“The new version ships with two major changes, namely a new Emergency Updater feature, and new default cleaning rules for some programs. […]
Emergency Updater is a new feature of CCleaner that comes with its own executable file — CCUpdate.exe — and a new scheduled task called CCleaner Updater. […]
Piriform [will] push out updates to the program to user machines even if only the free version of CCleaner is installed on these machines. […]
The task is set to run on system start, and once a day as well. […]
The second major change of CCleaner 5.36 changes some of the program’s default cleaning rules. […]
won’t delete browsing session data anymore by default. […]
does not clean Windows Defender’s scan history, the MRUs of Microsoft Office, and most recently used documents and other MRU files of Windows Explorer anymore.”
—
P.T.
I also notice with the new Version 5.43.6522 Piriform is no longer offering the free portable version which does not have the Emergency Updater, and can be used on a USB stick.
Bill C.@ Current Ccleaner portable is on MG http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/ccportable.html
It’s also available from portableapps.com at the following link: https://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/ccportable . Same version as listed above, 5.43.6520, Rev. 2, making it 5.43.6522.
It’s also available from portableapps.com at the following link: https://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/ccportable . Same version as listed above, 5.43.6520, Rev. 2, making it 5.43.6522.
From the website: “CCleaner® is a registered trademark of Piriform Ltd. PortableApps.com is not affiliated, sponsored, authorized or otherwise associated by/with Piriform Ltd or its associated companies.”
That is not the root issue for me. Portableapps also wants to run an installer of some type. Uh, no… The reason for the portable is to NOT have to install it.
The link to Majorgeeks also wants to download an .exe, (actually the portableapps software) whereas Piriform offered the portable version of CCleaner as a zipfile that worked without any thirdparty .exe software.
Looks like it is back to the free version and just disable the updater task and/or delete the updater file. I find all of this automatic updating and phoning home without user authorization is getting a bit too much.
UPDATE: It now appears that Piriform has released the new truely portable CCleaner in .zip format.
FYI, I’ve always downloaded CCleaner from their “builds” page …
https://www.ccleaner.com/ccleaner/builds
What I’ve noticed is whenever Piriform releases a new build, it can take anywhere from a couple of days to a week or so before the portable & slim builds become available for download.
By the way, the same thing goes for their portable versions of Speccy, Recuva, & Defraggler …
https://www.ccleaner.com/speccy/builds
https://www.ccleaner.com/recuva/builds
https://www.ccleaner.com/defraggler/builds
Group B / Win7 (Ultimate & Pro) [x64 & x86]
RDRguy
Win7 - PRO & Ultimate, x64 & x86
Win8.1 - PRO, x64 & x86
Groups A, B & ABS
This will be a long post. And it possibly should be moved to its own thread. But this may be of interest to users of CCleaner who update the program using downloads from the official CCleaner download site.
Note that this year Avast took full control of CCleaner. The result was a malware download embedded in one of the CCleaner updates. Ever since that time there have been reports of mysterious appearances of installed Avast Antivirus after some users downloaded CCleaner updates from the official download page.
Well, on July 3, 2018, it happened to me.
July 3, 2018, evening Eastern Time Zone, USA — I had all my Windows updates done. Everything was ready for cleanup. Then I went to update CCleaner. It installed something from Avast Antivirus with no opt-out and no warnings. (This was later identified as Avast Antivirus Free, not polluted with any malware if my other scanners are correct.)
I used Geek Uninstaller to do a Forced Removal of Avast Antivirus. Initially the Windows Defender Security Center said Avast was still there, and tried to get me to activate it. That would no longer work due to the Geek Uninstaller removal process. Now Windows was getting through the bootloader to the selection screen which shows Boot Options (Macrium Reflect or Windows 10). But it could get no further. Windows did an automated disk Check (no errors reported or repaired) and then offered to go into Advanced Startup Options. Windows still wouldn’t boot, and Advanced Startup Options couldn’t start.
I looked to see if there’s online documentation about how to fix this disaster without reinstalling Windows from the beginning and ending up with Version 1803.
Linux could not access the NTFS partitions in that PC (Intel NUC with a Ubuntu-Windows dual-boot setup). I knew from experience this could only mean one thing — Windows had failed to shut down completely and left the NTFS partitions locked.
Try Windows in Safe Mode. I had to look up how to do this during the Windows boot process. The other way to do it would have been to take my OEM Full Retail Windows 10 install media (commercially purchased three years ago with the NUC) and use the little links to get into its Windows 10 Repair and Recovery Options. That should work on the NUC, but it would never work on any WIMBoot or compressed Windows Image device. (I was at this point glad I gave away my Windows 10 32-bits ASUS tablet this spring — let that be someone else’s problem.)
Anyway, booting into Windows 10 Safe Mode (several hoops to jump through from the Recovery Options>>Troubleshoot screen) worked. If I had downloaded the Avast Removal Tool in the first place, this is where that Tool would have taken me, and I could have run it from there and been rid of the majority of Avast, then cleaned up the rest from Windows 10 Normal Mode. But I had to restart and get into Windows 10 Normal Mode, then download the Tool, then get back into Windows 10 Safe Mode from there. Then run the Avast Removal Tool. And then repair Avira and Windows as needed.
I think the CCleaner/Avast issue was a sort of drive-by download and forced install courtesy of the CCleaner official download site. It wasn’t blocked by Avira, Windows Defender or any of my ad-blocking Chrome Beta extensions, nor by the Chrome Beta (version 68) Browser itself.
This says to me that Avast has devised some sneaky way to foist their free antivirus product onto the PCs of Windows users who only want to download CCleaner. For this reason, I am officially withdrawing my endorsement of CCleaner until Avast ceases and desists. Which of course will never happen. For just myself, I’ll just keep the Avast removal tool close to the vest, and maybe download a fresh copy every time CCleaner wants to be updated. It’s that serious.
I am a fairly savvy and experienced PC user, and yet this drive-by caught me napping. Think what an unsophisticated user would be doing, and how much it might cost them to get their issue fixed. Or maybe they would decide to just live with Avast and suffer from that program’s known issues with Windows performance and conflicts with other antivirus which may still be present on their PCs.
If this was indeed a drive-by install, it is the lowest of the low in terms of business practices. (Short of downloading and installing outright malware, that is. Some companies do that, as do many third-party download sites.) If this is really what happened to me, this behavior alone should drive customers away from anything owned by Avast.
I wonder, does anyone else know for sure whether this is in fact a drive-by? Is Avast itself (the company) responsible for these drive-by installs of their antivirus product?
BTW, I see in the CCleaner installer itself no mention of Avast Antivirus, and no opt-in or opt-out. I think I used to see something about that somewhere along the way and I had to uncheck a checkbox. All that’s gone now. From the CCleaner installer anyway.
-- rc primak
I accidentally edited this reply instead of replying to it. If Admins can recover the original I would be grateful.
— rc primak —
@rc primak – I suspect using a 3rd party uninstaller caused more damage than using Avast’s specific uninstall tool, perhaps exacerbated by W10’s fast reboot ‘feature’. Bad luck getting that install in the first place though.
This is exactly what I suspect happened. Complete with the shutdown not being completed, but going into a state similar to the “fast startup” hybrid-hibernate condition. This is what tripped up my Linux before (Ubuntu 16.04, since upgraded to 18.04, which is different in many ways).
I see only one report on the CCleaner support forum recently (there may be more on other fora/reddit, etc.), the OP there suspects it happened due to his AV being temporarily disabled and Avast filled the ‘void’. https://forum.piriform.com/topic/52155-unwanted-avast-installation/
No, my Avira was on fully-enabled status. I have since cranked up the active shields heuristics to very strict (highest level). no “void” to fill. I also now have Windows Defender enabled to do as much as it can with Avira taking the lead.
I would be satisfied with the explanation that something in the installer slipped past my notice. I do go through third-party updates in Windows 10 fairly rapidly.
Fortunately I was able to (eventually) boot into Windows Safe Mode. That was the key to my recovery without rolling back using Macrium Reflect Rescue Media. I’m not sure even that would have unlocked all the NTFS partitions.
-- rc primak
Hmmm, Interesting as I have been using CCleaner for years and am up to 5.44 with latest install. I looked in Programs & Features and there is no Avast listed and CCleaner is listed as being from Piriform.
The only thing new that I noticed is a pop-up when I start CCleaner that is trying to sell the full version but it disappears in about 5 seconds and says that the sale is only until July 7.
Don't take yourself so seriously, no one else does 🙂
All W10 Pro at 22H2,(2 Desktops, 1 Laptop).
grrr, I should have mentioned about this GHacks.net page about CCleaner 5.44 containing ads (but didn’t quite had the time – oh well better late than never):
https://www.ghacks.net/2018/06/28/ccleaner-5-54-comes-with-advertising-popups/
I’ll go look for an older version of CCleaner like v5.32, which was owned by piriform before the next version was made by Avast (and that one was purely ad-free).
My thoughts on CCleaner / Installation and its Functions.
Always make sure it comes from a legitimate and reputable resource and preferably from a HTTPS secure page such as …..
On installing the setup box will display 6 install options which are your choice. I find the Enable Intelligent Cookie scan the more important.
The next dialog box will prompt you to install the Google Toolbar along with CCleaner, and possibly Google Chrome as well. ( Un-check both if you do not want these and then click the install button ).
Wait for the installation to finish.
Click Finish when you see the Completing the CCleaner Setup dialog box. A browser window will open asking you to buy CCleaner Professional edition. You can safely ignore this.
CCleaner main console window is divided into Windows and Application tabs. On the right is where information or results from operations are displayed. Beneath that are the Analyze and Run Cleaner buttons. ( I would suggest to leave these at their Default Settings ).
Most free progs have adds and add ons to keep them financially viable through advertising and other.
My personal thoughts on CCleaner :
THE GOOD :
Small footprint / low on resource use / easy to run / versatile / ease of access to Windows and Application Tabs for cleaning and checking of files that it finds all within one console without having to go to : Start – All Programs – Accessories – Systems Tools in Win 7.
The CLEANER TAB : gives you option for checking or un-checking check-boxes for cleaning within Windows and or Applications. ( I would suggest to leave these at their default settings ).
The REGISTRY TAB : for scanning for registry issues. Once scanned you can Right Click on the problem and select Open In Reg-edit to see its location. Useful for finding those remnants left behind from bad uninstalls. <b>( Use with caution as one wrong removal of a wrong entry in this field can render the computer unstable or un-bootable requiring a complete re-install of the Operating System or render certain installed programs unstable or unusable )</b>.
The TOOL TAB : has many useful functions such as for uninstalling programs / Startups to see what loads on computer startup and options to stop these from loading up on startup / Browser Plugins to see what plugins are being loaded / Disk Analyser to see which type of files are using disk space / Duplicate Finder to search for duplicate files / Systems Restore to make restore points or remove them / Drive Wiper ( Read and use with caution ).
The OPTIONS TAB : for for selecting or de-selecting options of these tabs : Settings / Cookies / Include / Exclude / Scheduling / Monitoring which monitors your applications to perform automatic cleaning which is checked by default, ( i would suggest un-check these if you have a slow computer or prefer to clean manually or dont wish to have a CCleaner Icon appearing on your task bar ) / Users / Advanced / Privacy.
THE BAD :
The REGISTRY TAB : There is no harm in scanning the registry to see what errors are found but remember the removal of the wrong entry by using the fix button can render the computer unstable or un-bootable as i have mentioned before.
( If using this tab i would suggest one should have a firm grasp of the registry and its function firstly ).
ADD ONS when starting installation of CCleaner. Read and look carefully and un-check anything that you dont want installed automatically as i have mentioned at the beginning.
Overall as with any cleaner for systems files and registry’s err on the side of CAUTION.
Edit to remove HTML. Please use the “Text” tab in the entry box when you copy/paste.
I have been using Version 5.44 portable that is also in a zipfile format. This version has a single check box to prevent sharing data with 3rd parties. Prior versions had 2 boxes.
They just released version 5.45, this switch is now totally gone in hte portable version. Reading the Privacy section on the website, even the new portable version phones home at 12 hour intervals.
ALso saved coockies by default now invlude avast. I do not use it as a cleaner so the coockies part is not used, but I inspect ALL settings now and my programs.
Just an FYI.
I updated to v 5.45 and if you go to Options>Monitoring, there is a check in enable active monitoring. Unchecking it gives you a “Not recommended to disable” warning but I choose to disable it. Every time I start CCleaner again the box is checked again.
How/where can I get an older version like 5.43 of CCleaner? CCleaner used to have the older versions available for D/L but that is no longer the case. Whenever you click on an archived version it wants to D/L 5.45.
Don't take yourself so seriously, no one else does 🙂
All W10 Pro at 22H2,(2 Desktops, 1 Laptop).
Beware!: If you go looking for an older version of CCleaner, be sure to check the links and download on VirusTotal before downloading, as there are a good few which flag up as suspicious. My advice is to use the portable version if you can find one.
You may wish to read this prior to looking though:
https://techdows.com/2018/05/avast-auto-updates-old-ccleaner-versions.html
To counter this, you need to establish the IP of piriform connections using Nirsoft’s
network_traffic_view which is a brilliant utility to monitor background internet connections,
then create a firewall ruleset to block the connection completely 😉
Thanks for the article.
Interestingly, while reading the article I followed the link for CCleaner Portable but it takes you to the main D/L page for CCleaner which is 5.45 and NOT portable. Looks like Avast has “fixed” every avenue. What a shame that Piriform was taken over by such a ruthless company which ( IMHO ) has ruined a good/helpful application. Not sure what to look for as a replacement now.
Don't take yourself so seriously, no one else does 🙂
All W10 Pro at 22H2,(2 Desktops, 1 Laptop).
I was a CCleaner user… have moved to Wise Cleaner. It is possible, if you don’t pay attention to what you have approved for cleaning, to clean too much… but once I figured it out, it is easy and thorough. It is listed on Majorgeek’s Top Freeware Picks.
Non-techy Win 10 Pro and Linux Mint experimenter
@Elly, Wise Cleaner also uses a background phone home, as do most of their utilities. It’s not during a scan but during the clean process when on-line. Unable to establish what data was being reported back during a clean, I blocked their IP also. What a trusting digital world we live in eh..<sigh>
Just because your paranoid, doesn’t mean they’re not out to get your data..
Thank you for the heads up, @Microfix.
Non-techy Win 10 Pro and Linux Mint experimenter
I have nearly all of the older versions of CCleaner going back to version 5.11. I even have the infected version 5.33 version which was downloaded on June 21, 2017. Contrary to what Avast has reported, both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions were infected, and the secondary payloads did activate on all of my Win7 computers. I had to restore all of my Win7 computers using offline backups, dated before June 2017, in order to remove the infection since the secondary payload was undetectable by anything — except GMER which would occasionally show several unknown threads. The secondary payload probably was created by a state actor.
If you want 5.43 or 5.44, I can upload either to my Dropbox.
My original post was about the Portable 5.45 min.zip format, not the .exe installed version.
My review of the .ini file for the 5.45 Portable also revealed some interesting issues in that there were entries that I did not have checked or even related to the versions I had used. (I missed the infected versions fortunately).
As I archive all my software version, I went back to version 5.44 after totally deleting the CCleaner folder and files, and checking in the registry for any entries from the earlier installer versions. I also removed those. I also checked other folders with that might have program data.
After the ‘cleaning’ I then re-installed the 5.44 Portable. I launched it once and unchecked all the cleanings settings (I do not use it for cleaning and the default settings are too aggressive), and reset others to a much more conservative settings. I then checked the box to NOT share data. I shut down and compared the new 5.44 Postable .ini file to the ‘old’ 5.45 file. It was much smaller and had the line “PrefsPrivacyShareData3rdParty=0“, which the 5.45 file did NOT even have.
I also used the program itself to not retain the Avast and Piriform cookies, and then manually deleted those cookies in Firefox and IE.
I have used the program for a number of uses and the .ini file has remained constant. I also had backed the new file up to a separate folder in case it changes.
This is the sorry state of software today, free or otherwise – spying and collecting who knows what data (the CCleaner website is however much more forthcoming on what they do collect and when) and injecting auto-updater routines and software.
Yup, I carefully install CCleaner and ensure that is ALL I get. Then I block it at my firewall. Same as I do for all the annoying phone home apps.
I used to rely on Avast, and recommend, but I have concerns about their current marketing strategies. So I keep Avast as far away as possible now.
Windows 10 Pro 22H2
Long ago I tried Avast and AVG ( on XP ) and did not like the obtrusive actions that either of them use so I went to MSE and MalwareBytes free. CCleaner was one of the best until they sold out.
Don't take yourself so seriously, no one else does 🙂
All W10 Pro at 22H2,(2 Desktops, 1 Laptop).
Sounds like a plan. Once you’ve set up your portable CC (off-line), go through all the settings and make sure nothing phones home etc.. start the network traffic view connect on-line and start CC whilst monitoring the traffic viewer, the IP should show connecting to piriform (take note and block it/ them using your firewall)
Around 12-14 months ago (avast related?) there used to be one IP but I found more as the newer versions came along which prompted me to lock-down the utility and never update it again. I’m still on v5.41.6446 portable on both W8.1 and W7 (XP has an older version)
I don’t use the registry cleaner but, I do check it now and again after an uninstall and then manually remove keys via regedit usually within HKLM and HKCU 😉
According to the link Microfix posted, there is a need to keep CCleaner updated since there are many changes to Chrome etc. that has to be dealt with and that makes sense since Chrome is constantly evolving.
You raise a good point here, that I think also applies in a much more broad context with regard to today’s software ecosystem.
All software is evolving, including the OS, browsers, applications, security apps. If you sit still with one version of anything too long, soon you will realize that compatibility issues are abundant, and you will have to deal with that one way or another …
Windows 10 Pro 22H2
I just reinstalled v5.44 since I don’t want Avast to share anything with third parties. My OS is Win7 and I don’t use Chrome. Last night I read Avast’s data collection and security policies. Avast admits that they collect personally identifiable information and that they share it with third parties. I need to have a good look at BleachBit as an alternative to CCleaner.
A few years back I looked at AVG anti-virus (which had been recommended to me by a work colleague, as a replacement for Norton; and the AVG free version was accepted by our employer for “remote workers” but the paid version wasn’t). I read the T&C rather carefully; I was appalled to find that they claimed the right to “make any use they wanted of any information they found in my computer”.(Recalled / paraphrased, probably with errors.) I said “nope” to that, and found something else.
concerning v5.40 phoneing home, i had good outcome by deleting the ccleaner_updater.exe application in programfiles/ccleaner folder, and also in options, uncheck / turn off all monitoring, and in options, top settings, be sure to uncheck box about inform me of updates to ccleaner. as above disable the ccleaner related tasks.
Note to all who use CCleaner:
Do not install or upgrade to CCleaner 5.45 as advised by Martin Brinkmann at Ghacks.
More info here: ccleaner-5-45-dont-install
Thanks, Microfix.
I am intending to stay with CCleaner 5.40 as long as possible – still works OK with Windows 7 and Windows 10 (1803).
Little off topic but it looks like everyone has been jumping onto the “telemetry bandwagon” lately. Samsung Magician and NVIDIA are two that come immediately to mind.
In the case of Samsung Magician (for Samsung SSD’s) I have stayed with version 4.9.7 which allows you to not accept the Privacy agreement – “I do not agree” so no telemetry is collected. Later versions won’t install unless you select the “I agree” option. The downside to this is you can’t update the firmware for the SSD unless you reinstall the program and agree to the telemetry collection.
With NVIDIA drivers, they introduced telemetry a few releases back but you could disable it from the NVIDIA Control Panel (Help > untick “Allow Customer Experience Program”), now that option has been removed from the last couple of driver releases. You now need to go into Windows Services and stop and disable “NVIDIA Telemetry Container” which I assume stops the telemetry.
Working one’s way through software and drivers is like a minefield these days.
Carl D
There’s a handy tip at ghacks.net for installing just Nvidia drivers without the telemetry and the all other stuff that Nvidia give you:
https://www.ghacks.net/2017/06/30/install-only-the-driver-for-nvidia-graphics-cards/
Note to all who use CCleaner: Do not install or upgrade to CCleaner 5.45 as advised by Martin Brinkmann at Ghacks. More info here: ccleaner-5-45-dont-install
Simple solution: Install – run – uninstall 😀
Windows 10 Pro 22H2
Thanks, Microfix. I am intending to stay with CCleaner 5.40 as long as possible – still works OK with Windows 7 and Windows 10 (1803). Little off topic but it looks like everyone has been jumping onto the “telemetry bandwagon” lately. Samsung Magician and NVIDIA are two that come immediately to mind. In the case of Samsung Magician (for Samsung SSD’s) I have stayed with version 4.9.7 which allows you to not accept the Privacy agreement – “I do not agree” so no telemetry is collected. Later versions won’t install unless you select the “I agree” option. The downside to this is you can’t update the firmware for the SSD unless you reinstall the program and agree to the telemetry collection. With NVIDIA drivers, they introduced telemetry a few releases back but you could disable it from the NVIDIA Control Panel (Help > untick “Allow Customer Experience Program”), now that option has been removed from the last couple of driver releases. You now need to go into Windows Services and stop and disable “NVIDIA Telemetry Container” which I assume stops the telemetry. Working one’s way through software and drivers is like a minefield these days.
I agree that telemetry has gotten out of hand. It is a bit concerning that the practice has been deemed almost acceptable by the industry.
I guess there is a price to pay for ‘free’ services. Although some paid software attempts this as well. That really ticks me off if something I paid for will not let me opt out.
In the end though, to control telemetry and phoning home, I rely on a firewall that lets me block outbound network access on a per application basis. I use the Samsung Magician with my EVO SSD drive, and the firewall stops that one cold! I notice that if I remove that policy from the firewall, Magician requests network access immediately upon launch. Denied! 🙂
Windows 10 Pro 22H2
I switched from CCleaner to Bleachbit years ago when Piriform forced Ninite to remove all their apps. It does the same cleaning and has no extra nonsense. https://www.bleachbit.org/
I agree that telemetry has gotten out of hand. It is a bit concerning that the practice has been deemed almost acceptable by the industry. I guess there is a price to pay for ‘free’ services. Although some paid software attempts this as well. That really ticks me off if something I paid for will not let me opt out. In the end though, to control telemetry and phoning home, I rely on a firewall that lets me block outbound network access on a per application basis. I use the Samsung Magician with my EVO SSD drive, and the firewall stops that one cold! I notice that if I remove that policy from the firewall, Magician requests network access immediately upon launch. Denied! 🙂
What these companies deliberately choose to forget is that there are many, many people without affordable and reliable broadband access (in the US, most rural areas). MS recognizes it with it metered connection setting, but still has constant telemetry and massive update and version downloads that could take many hours thereby bringing the machine to a standstill. What forewall do you use?
I currently use GlassWire Pro. https://www.glasswire.com/
Prior to that I used Sphinx Windows Firewall Control (free). I believe Noel Carboni has done some testing with the paid versions of Sphinx.
The limitation with the free version of Sphinx, is that while you can block user applications with rules, all system programs are allowed by default. So no stopping any Win 10 related junk. But with GlassWire, for one example, I can stop Windows Store, (I have more than a few like that in my list!).
All Windows firewalls today (since Vista) are basically front-ends for the Windows Filtering Platform (WFP). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Filtering_Platform
In Microsoft computer-systems, the Windows Filtering Platform (WFP) comprises a set of system services and an application programming interface first introduced with Windows Vista in 2006/2007. It allows applications to tie into the packet processing and filtering pipeline of the Next Generation TCP/IP network stack.
So if you really want to, you can just open up Windows Firewall and set manual rules to block outbound traffic, but it’s not very user friendly.
Both 3rd party firewall solutions I have mentioned are blocking ‘per application’, and not by IP address.
Overall in my opinion, GlassWire is the most user friendly firewall I have ever used. It is good for non-techy users, as everything is point and click (click to allow; click to block). Nice traffic monitor and logging features show where all of your bandwidth is being used, and what type of traffic it is, as well as all server connections made.
You can try the full version of Glasswire free for 7 days, after which it reverts to the free version. The free version has no firewall features, but the network monitoring will continue to function.
Can I use GlassWire for free, and what are GlassWire’s free features?
GlassWire 2.0 comes with a free 7 day trial so you can try out all its paid Basic, Pro, Elite features. After the 7 days or not GlassWire will revert to its free version. The free version of GlassWire includes its extreme network monitoring functionality where you can see your live and past network activity in detail. You can also set Data Alerts to stay under your data limits, and scan your network related apps with VirusTotal. GlassWire’s free version also allows you to monitor one PC remotely. The free version of GlassWire has no firewall functionality, and none of our security features are activated with the free version of GlassWire.
Windows 10 Pro 22H2
I believe Noel Carboni has done some testing with the paid versions of Sphinx.
More than that, I use the Network/Cloud edition actively on all my hardware and virtual systems. It’s the only firewall I’ve found manageable at the level of control I require while minimizing maintenance because it performs name to address translation on the fly, meaning you can tell it to allow or disallow connections to a named server, and you’re covered for things like server banks or content delivery networks. Dynamic name-based operation alone cuts the ongoing trouble of managing a deny-by-default firewall configuraiton to a tiny fraction of what it is for other firewall interfaces where you’re expected to manage lists of IP addresses because while addresses change, names don’t.
The paid versions are well worth the price.
One thing I’d like to see expanded is an ability to define which service gets what access. That makes more sense now that Windows 10 has expanded things to roughly one service per svchost.exe instance. However, it may not actually be possible to ask the Base Filtering Engine to differentiate between services.
-Noel
Both 3rd party firewall solutions I have mentioned are blocking ‘per application’, and not by IP address.
THAT is the time saver and what makes it user friendly. At least for me…
That is important because of the use of distributed content delivery networks and cloud services. Plugging IP addresses in the modern cloud scheme is a just a giant game of “whack-a-mole”.
Windows 10 Pro 22H2
I think the point with using a free product is that you will pay with your data, unless you know how to lock it down.
Use a paid version, and maintain your privacy.
Windows 10 Pro 22H2
Here are some CCleaner alternatives from the How to Geek website, 02 August 2018,
You may not have read this portion of the blogpost, which links the downloads from source 🙂
Now, feedback has resulted in changes, as noted on piriform.com today:
Today we have removed v5.45 and reverted to v5.44 as the main download for CCleaner while we work on a new version with several key improvements. You can grab version 5.44 from one of the links [below]:
(You can find those download links here)
CCLeaner version 5.46 has been released. There are both installed versions and portable versions.
Check the website for a list of changes. the installed version still has the updater.exe file.
https://www.ccleaner.com/news/release-announcements/2018/8/30/ccleaner-v5466652
Also here is the Data Factsheet.
https://www.ccleaner.com/about/data-factsheet
Thanks, but no thanks, I will stick at 5.44 Portable.
For folks still using CCleaner, you may wish to read the most recent Gunter Born column (Sept 12, 2018) on his website Born’s Tech and Windows World.
https://borncity.com/win/2018/09/12/ccleaner-forces-update-from-v5-38-to-v5-46/#more-6967
Definitely not good. I echo the author’s comments that users are really going to have to evaluate their personal positions on this type of behavior and their true need for this product.
From personal experience though, if you are reverting back to an earlier version, you really need to make sure you have uninstalled the ccleaner.ini file, by doing an uninstall of the newer version. Do not install the older version over the newer. When I compared the before and after .ini files, I found the default privacy settings of the newer version will not be changed by the install of the older version.
For now the portable version is clean from the ccupdater file.
I intentionally upgraded to v5.46. Turned off the telemetry option in privacy settings.
And for good measure I’ve blocked the following apps in my firewall:
CCleaner
CCleaner Emergency Updater
CCleaner Installer
No worries! 🙂
Windows 10 Pro 22H2
If you are really concerned about CCleaner, just use BleachBit. https://www.bleachbit.org/
Free and open-source, for Windows and Linux. 🙂
Windows 10 Pro 22H2
I’ve used CCleaner for years (rarely using the registry cleaner) and have found it generally useful, safe and robust. The times they are a changin’, though.
Until recently, I had 5.38 CCleaner with “inform me of updates” and “send anonymous data” both unchecked. I can confirm that I’ve been silently and forcibly updated to 5.46 without my consent. Sending of data was turned back on without my consent. Every time I open the program an Avast cookie is regenerated which I promptly delete. Two CCUpdater tasks existed which I’ve now deleted. I’ve also deleted CCUpdater.exe and .ini, changed the settings back to not sending data and deleted incoming firewall rules that allowed CCUpdater. I haven’t created outbound rules but will do so shortly.
I’ll be watching for any changes going forward – while I seriously evaluate other tools to replace this sneaky ugliness.
The software industry is running amok everywhere, it seems. I understand that there are trade-offs when using free software but there should be clear and simple communications within installers and the UI, respecting the user’s ability to accept or decline those trade-offs. If I choose not to accept the trade-offs, I would understand if the installer exited. Or offered me the choice to buy a ‘full’ version.
Unfortunately, even paid-for ‘full’ versions of software still scrape data, track, invade privacy and monetize beyond the price paid by the user – often without the average user’s knowledge. It all feels almost criminal. I detest being a ‘resource’ to be mined. <rant finished>
Win10 Pro x64 22H2, Win10 Home 22H2, Linux Mint + a cat with 'tortitude'.
Unfortunately, even paid-for ‘full’ versions of software still scrape data, track, invade privacy and monetize beyond the price paid by the user – often without the average user’s knowledge. It all feels almost criminal. I detest being a ‘resource’ to be mined. <rant finished>
It does appear that the “average user” had been pwned.
Gotta be 5% smarter than the average … 🙂
(Like no need to be able to out run a bear, just gotta be faster than your buddy).
Windows 10 Pro 22H2
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