Enhancement for Internet Explorer: Purge exceptions for ActiveX and Tracking Protection safety options

[VanguardLH]

Internet Explorer since version 9 has the following safety features:

• ActiveX Filtering: AX controls (e.g., Flash) are not allowed to load for sites.
• Tracking Protection: Subscribe to TPLs (tracking protection lists) to block unwanted content (ads) on sites.

The user can enable these safety features.  If the user decides to allow them at a site, they click on the blue hazard icon at the right-end of the address bar where they can disable these protections on a per-site basis. 

 

Alas, this is not a per-session exception; i.e., where the content only gets blocked for the current session and a new IE session will have this content again blocked when revisiting the same site(s).  Instead the exception is recorded in the registry and used again whenever the user revisits the same site(s).  Exceptions are applied globally across all IE sessions.  The user may want to allow an exception only for the current visit to a site and not always applied for the site.  I saved the registry keys as favorites in the registry editor (regedit.exe) but I have to manually delete each data item under these registry keys.  It would be handy if CCleaner added to its Internet Explorer app the following options (to clear the exception histories stored in the registry):

 

Internet Explorer:

...

ActiveX Filtering exceptions

Tracking Protection exceptions

...

 

The history (or cache) for these exceptions are stored at the following registry locations:

 

ActiveX Filtering exceptions:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Safety\ActiveXFilterExceptions

 

Tracking Protection exceptions:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Safety\Tracking Protection Exceptions

 

By deleting all the data items under each registry key, the history is erased for exceptions to the matching safety feature.  Since these are only for the currently logged on user (HKCU registry hive), erasing these histories will not affect other users under other Windows accounts who want to keep them (so revisiting a site applies the same exceptions as before).

 

[VanguardLH]

Since this topic has received no consideration to implement within CCleaner the ability to purge these entries in the registry, how about another solution: Let the user add registry entries (keys or data items) to add to the Include list under Options.  The user could then specify that certain registry keys or data items under them are to get deleted during the cleanup.  Instead of only specifying folder or files to delete during a cleanup in the Options -> Include section, let them also specify registry keys or data items under them.

 

This might sound hazardous but no more than letting users specify their own files to delete (which could be any file, including those for the OS).  Letting users specify both folders/files to delete along with registry entries would eliminate having to wait until Piriform made a decision and then later implemented other RFEs (request for enhancements), if ever.  Users could specify the cleanup items (files or registry entries) without having to wait for Piriform to add those to the checkbox lists.

[mta]

it may have received no consideration in the form of replies but the Dev Team do read all posts, so they would be aware of your idea.

as to converting any idea into code, that's a whole different exercise.

[VanguardLH]

On revisiting this forum and noticing my old post (and no replies), I thought that adding registry entries (keys or data items under them) might prove useful.  Instead of waiting for Piriform to add a checkbox for a particular registry cleanup that letting the user add the item to delete it during a cleanup would afford more flexibility (and obviously more hazard).  Whenever a user found a registry item that should get purged during a cleanup, they could simply add it to the Includes list rather than submit a Request For Change and wait for a much later version to include that registry item.

 

So, as a means of enhancing my original request, I'd like to see the Include section in CCleaner allow users to specify registry keys (delete the key and all subkeys and all data items within each) or data items under a registry key.  While CCleaner, for example, along with other similar cleanup tools, often include the MRU (most recently used) lists used by apps to record a history of entries in the registry, I'm sure they don't cover all apps.  So besides the list of AX and TPL excludes in the registry, there could be MRUs or other registry entries not currently covered by CCleaner that users might want to specify for cleanup (deletion).  As another example, I found Replay Media Catcher (Applian's variant from Jaksta) was storing a ton of history files in a folder despite I optioned that program to not store history.  So I added the folder to CCleaner's Include list to delete them on cleanup.  While they used files for history, they could've used the registry so I'd have to use "regedit.exe /s <regfile>" to do the delete of those superfluous history entries because I'd have no way to get CCleaner to do it.

 

So while adding checkboxes for AX and TPL exclusions in the registry would be handy (and eliminate users having to know where they are), I'd still like to see the Include section in CCleaner let me specify registry keys or data items to include in a cleanup.

 

 

There are a lot of registry entries that could be cleaned up but adding umpteen more checkboxes might make CCleaner more difficult to use.  The common ones might be included as checkboxes in CCleaner (to add them to the deletion list) but I suspect there are lots of "odd" ones that only some users might want to clean.

[Winapp2.ini]

you can create your own cleaning rules with winapp2.ini/winsys2.ini (this will result in an additional checkbox in the relevant tag, but has the advantage of not being in a wholesale includes list)

[VanguardLH]

Wow, never knew about that.  I started hunting around and found:

 

http://www.piriform.com/docs/ccleaner/advanced-usage/ccleaner-ini-files

 

I started with the notion of creating a new section under the Applications tab in CCleaner (Section=CustomCleanup) to differentiate my custom inclusions; however, then I thought why not add new "system" entries under the "Internet Explorer" section in the Windows tab. 

 

Also, by setting Detect to point at the same registry key that CCleaner would delete, that entry only shows in CCleaner if that registry key existed for CCleaner to delete it.  That is, if the registry key doesn't exist then it doesn't show in CCleaner, and if the registry key does exist then it shows in CCleaner.  This would serve as an indicator to show me whether or not the registry key was there to clean up.

 

So I created the following winsys2.ini file (in CCleaner's program folder since I don't know if it can read from an app-named subfolder under ProgramData):

[ActiveX filter exclusions]

LangSecRef=3001

Detect=HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Safety\ActiveXFilterExceptions

Default=True

RegKey1=HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Safety\ActiveXFilterExceptions

[TPL filter exclusions]

LangSecRef=3001

Detect=HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Safety\Tracking Protection Exceptions

Default=True

RegKey1=HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Safety\Tracking Protection Exceptions

This works.  When I ran CCleaner, there was no AX registry entry but was a TPL entry, so CCleaner just showed "TPL filter exclusions" under "Internet Explorer" in the Windows tab.  When I let CCleaner do its cleanup and after reloading CCleaner again, neither the AX or TPL entries were listed in CCleaner (because they no longer existed on which CCleaner was told to detect).

 

Thanks for the info.  Something new I learned about CCleaner.  Pretty cool.

[Winapp2.ini]

I'd personally recommend against ever setting default=true when making custom entries (this checks the box by default, making it opt-out instead of opt-in) but I'm glad you got sorted out