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CCleaner destroys my Windows 7 system?


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Hello,

 

Let me describe a scary scenario from yesterday on my main workstation.

 

Last weekend I purchased a program called NTLite to start work on a Windows 10 deployment project. This app allows me to build a custom install disk of Windows 10 for deployment purposes. That project is going well - but yesterday as part of my weekly cleanup routines - using CCleaner (which has been 1000% reliable to this point) - I noticed a very large folder called NTMount01 which appeared in my C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Temp folder.

Thinking this was safe to remove - I let CCleaner analyze and add this folder to the items to remove - this getting 11GB of precious SSD space back. Ran the cleanup and thought I was home free.

But when I started poking around on the workstation (after a reboot) - a whole series of bad things started happening - Office 2013 suddenly needed to be reauthorized. My Start Menu was missing 60% of it's icons. My Quicken program on the desktop was completely destroyed and so on and so on.

 

I cannot help but think the removal of this NTMount01 folder - clearly the work of NTLite - had something to do with this. Whatever this 11GB directory of things is - as soon as I removed it - it felt like CCleaner ripped the basement out of my Windows install making it inoperable.

Now - I have been using CCleaner for 4 years every week and have never seen anything like this. So I am suspect that it is the problem by itself.

Luckily I had a full Macrium Reflect backup of the entire system drive and was able to get back to normal quickly.

But what is going on here - have I hit a buggy CCleaner for the first time in a long long time? I am running Windows 7 X64 and CCleaner 5.24.5841. And I am terrified to use it again :)

 

Ideas?

 

 

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I find it just a bit odd that you were doing a big deployment project and yet you seemed to think it was safe to delete an 11gig temp file

 

 

NTMount01 folder - clearly the work of NTLite

 

You even mention the cause of the temp file.

 

Then you say....

 

it felt like CCleaner ripped the basement out of my Windows install making it inoperable

 

Why do you think it was Ccleaner's fault you had problems afterwards when it was you who told Ccleaner to delete the temp project deployment file?

 

 

(However kudos to you for having an image back up)

 

Support contact

https://support.ccleaner.com/s/contact-form?language=en_US&form=general

or

support@ccleaner.com

 

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It was stored in your user profile Temp folder, CCleaner cleans that folder recursively.

 

If doing special things on a PC such as you were it's best to refrain from using any cleaning software (including Disk Cleanup built into Windows) until you've finished. Most 3rd party cleaning software including CCleaner will delete the whole contents of the user profile Temp folder.

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I would add that you also go into NTLite and change it's 'temp' folder location to something not Windows related and away from your SSD.

 

But still, deleting that 11gig file should not have effected your Office installation for example, so perhaps that system temp folder also had other things needed by Office.

I know years ago there was a .bak file that if removed made Office go down the 'please reinstall me' path.

 

I'm confident you can still trust CC because as you say, you've been using it weekly for years and it only mucked up since using NTLite.

I last used NTLite very briefly a few years ago to slipstream updates into an ISO Win7 CD so by no means am I experienced, but I wonder if during your project NTLite has somehow 'included' your actual software locations into it's NTMOUNT file and when that was deleted, it also blew away links to your stuff.   (just guessing and thinking out loud really)

 

And as @hazelnut has said, well done on the system image backup.  You may only require them once in a blue moon, but when you do, they are a bloody lifesaver.

Backup now & backup often.
It's your digital life - protect it with a backup.
Three things are certain; Birth, Death and loss of data. You control the last.

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Yes. I am trying to get answers from everywhere at this point. I think I understand the NTMount01 folder now - but what I do not understand is what impact wiping it out via CCleaner has.

 

According the the NTLite folks - this folder SHOULD be benign (they claim is it simply the contents of the Win 10 image I am working on) - and while I was remiss for wiping it aggressively via CCleaner - I had no idea it was there or what it was for - until AFTER I ran CCleaner and then got myself into this mess.

 

That said - I still do not understand why my machine was totally torched after running CCleaner. As mentioned - I have really come to rely on this little app and love what it does.

 

I did make one change to my settings in CCleaner in the last week - and that is this item in Advanced:

 

"Only Delete files in Windows Temp Folders Older than 24 hours".

 

I ask about this - after seeing this comment from Andavari a bit earlier in the thread :

 

"Most 3rd party cleaning software including CCleaner will delete the whole contents of the user profile Temp folder."

 

I am not wondering if by allowing CCleaner to wipe everything from the Temp area regardless of how old it is - could this suddenly cause my WIndows 7 install to become completely screwed?

 

I am terrified to even try CCleaner now after this :(

 

B

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I see in the NTLite thread a post from a NTLite and Ccleaner user who states they have never had the problems you have had, and indicates your problems may lie elsewhere.

 

The 24 hour temp rule in Ccleaner is a safeguard, I am unsure why you decided to change the default setting.

 

We will probably never know why it happened as we do not know how your system and software settings have been set up or altered by you.

 

Support contact

https://support.ccleaner.com/s/contact-form?language=en_US&form=general

or

support@ccleaner.com

 

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- I think that a number of links/shortcuts started to point to/ended up in the image (made by NTlite). Were the main files for Office & Quicken still "untouched" ?

 

The first sign I knew something was wrong was when I started Outlook after the cleaning. Office decided it wasn't authorized and I had to go thru a bunch of steps to get it working again. I do not ever remember seeing the dialogs that I saw for that series of prompts and knew something was very weird.

 

Quicken - was totally trashed. The icon was gone and in it's place was one of those generic Windows shortcut icons. It was even more bizarre when I double clicked on it - I saw that Quicken Cash Manager (of all things) was trying to start - followed by a serious looking error message saying my install was corrupt and to reinstall Quicken.

 

I did not go deep enough to see if the actual program files for each were unscathed but I will assume so.

 

I was so freaked out that I immediately went into "repair mode" and started looking at my backups.

 

B

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- Generic icons mean that Windows can't find the files in which the icons are stored (anymore). (assuming you also cleaned the thumbnail caches). If the programs still can get  started (even with a bunch of errors) then the main files should be there.

- Look at properties of those shortcuts to see where those shortcuts point to.

- I think that NTLite has dropped the ball here. That image shouldn't be in that "Temp" folder in the first place. Much too risky.

- Ccleaner also "cleans" the environment path. (think:  "Path="). Perhaps that also had an impact.

System setup: http://speccy.piriform.com/results/gcNzIPEjEb0B2khOOBVCHPc

 

A discussion always stimulates the braincells !!!

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To get your faith back in CC (just in the off-chance you haven't been or didn't know), hit Analyse, and for each of the rows in the report, right click an entry and View detailed results.

You'll see what will be wiped, now this may not have helped, nor help in the future but it at least gives you a first look at at something that may cause issues and perhaps added to the EXCLUDE list.

Backup now & backup often.
It's your digital life - protect it with a backup.
Three things are certain; Birth, Death and loss of data. You control the last.

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To get your faith back in CC (just in the off-chance you haven't been or didn't know), hit Analyse, and for each of the rows in the report, right click an entry and View detailed results.

You'll see what will be wiped, now this may not have helped, nor help in the future but it at least gives you a first look at at something that may cause issues and perhaps added to the EXCLUDE list.

 

Awesome - I actually did NOT know this. During a sample run now - I do not see anything in the Temp area that would cause any issues. I will use this selective approach to get back up to speed.

 

Cheers!

 

B

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- I DO get the impression that there's a virus that's "messing up" those Start Menu & Desktop icons. Because this is the 3rd time in about 3 weeks that I came across this kind of "unwanted" behaviour.

- I know one virus that creates a new subfolder (in the folder with the desktop & start Menu icons) and then moves all files to that new subfolder.

System setup: http://speccy.piriform.com/results/gcNzIPEjEb0B2khOOBVCHPc

 

A discussion always stimulates the braincells !!!

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- Final thought: I personally would put the NTLite folks under A LOT OF pressure to change the location where that image, made by NTLite, is stored. Keep pressuring them until they have the changed that (default) location. Don't let them get away with the excuse "We never had this problem before". Because it has caused this problem NOW.

 

(I know one program that also would delete that file in that location)

System setup: http://speccy.piriform.com/results/gcNzIPEjEb0B2khOOBVCHPc

 

A discussion always stimulates the braincells !!!

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