DJJ123

Yes. If the files are in the folder I mentioned in my original post, they can be safely deleted.

That's strange. My installation of CCleaner had the option checked by default. Maybe the scheduled task didn't get removed when I uninstalled the previous version first. Anyway, as this is the Speccy forum, I'll leave it there!

I have noticed that both Speccy and CCleaner contain an option to skip the user account warning that appears when they are opened - by setting up the necessary scheduled task. However, whereas CCleaner has this option selected by default, Speccy does not. In order to give a more uniform look, would it not make more sense for Speccy to have this option selected by default as well?

Would it be possible to add an option to CCleaner to clear the history that accumulates when you search from the Charms Bar. This would be the automated equivalent of opening PC Settings, selecting Search and Apps, and clicking the Clear button. For the time being, the corresponding winapp2.ini entry is as follows: [* Charms Bar Search History] LangSecRef=3025 Default=True FileKey1=%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Windows\ConnectedSearch\History|*.lnk

Hello Richard, The files and folders you mention correspond to Windows Search content indexing. They can be deleted as follows: 1. Stop the Windows Search (wsearch) service via the "services.msc" MMC applet. 2. Delete all files and folders in "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Search\Data". 3. Delete the DWORD registry value at "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows Search" called "SetupCompletedSuccessfully". 4. Restart the Windows Search (wsearch) service via the "services.msc" MMC applet. Windows will begin indexing from scratch, recreating any folders as necessary. Naturally, the addition of this functionality would be welcome as an option in CCleaner, even if it was not selected by default. Regards DJ

TASK SCHEDULER FileKey1=%systemroot%\Tasks|SchedLgU.txt The above key is locked by the Task Scheduler service, which is not stoppable. However, the key can be added to the PendingFileRenameOperations registry value found at "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager". AVG FREE 8.5 FileKey1=%programdata%\avg8\emc\Log|*.log FileKey2=%programdata%\avg8\Log|*.log FileKey3=%programdata%\avg8\Log|*.xml FileKey4=%programdata%\avg8\scanlogs|*.log FileKey5=%programdata%\avg8\update\backup|*.*|REMOVESELF FileKey6=%programdata%\avg8\update\download|*.bin Most of the "*.log" files mentioned above are locked and require the changing of administrative ownership and access (similar to running TAKEOWN and ICACLS from a command prompt). The files can then be added to the PendingFileRenameOperations registry value mentioned previously. WINDOWS SIDE BY SIDE FileKey1=%systemroot%\WinSxS\ManifestCache|*.* This folder is responsible for the caching of Windows Side By Side Manifests in Vista. It only contains a few files (if that) but at least one of them will be huge in size and the remainder may even be orphaned from previous Windows updates and service pack updates. The Windows Module Installer (trustedinstaller) service must be initially stopped if it is started. Also, administrative ownership and access are required (similar to AVG Free above) for all files in this folder. The files can then be deleted immediately and the Windows Module Installer service restarted. By and large, deletion of anything in the WinSxS folder should be avoided at all costs, but the said files can be safely deleted and will be recreated by the Windows Module Installer service. Regards DJ

The following items could be useful additions to CCleaner. I have used the default Vista environment variables in my examples so please adjust to suit your particular operating system. 1. GENERAL [a] Currently, during an analysis or actual cleaning, by and large it is only deleted files that are listed in the resulting log. The log would be more complete if it also included registry entries and folders that are deleted. Certain log files (eg %systemroot%\WindowsUpdate.log) are locked during normal Windows usage, but can be safely deleted via the same PendingFileRenameOperations registry value that is used for the "Index.dat files" option in CCleaner. Unfortunately, usage of the said registry value seems to be limited in CCleaner to around four main index.dat files and nothing else. CCleaner should use this registry value for EVERY relevant file that cannot be deleted through normal means. The current failure of CCleaner to add other locked files to the PendingFileRenameOperations value results in ever increasing file sizes for those files, and the requirement for using third-party utilities (eg DelNext by Gammadyne Corporation) to do a job that CCleaner is perfectly capable of doing by itself. 2. INTERNET EXPLORER 8 The following settings need to be added to those already included for Internet Explorer: FileKey1=%localappdata%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer|frameiconcache.dat FileKey2=%localappdata%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Recovery\Active|*.dat FileKey3=%localappdata%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Recovery\Last Active|*.dat 3. TEMPORARY INTERNET FILES FileKey1=%systemroot%\System32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files|*.*|RECURSE The above can be added to the existing entry in CCleaner and includes an index.dat file in the Content.IE5 subfolder, which is usually not in use and deleted outright. However, this could be added to the existing "Index.dat files" option. 4. COOKIES FileKey1=%systemroot%\System32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Cookies|*.*|RECURSE As with the previous section, this setting can be added to the existing entry in CCleaner and also contains an index.dat file which can be deleted instantly. 5. WINDOWS SEARCH It would be nice if CCleaner could include winapp2.ini parameters like StopService - for inclusion before FileKey, RegKey, and ScriptKey entries - and StartService for inclusion after them. An example of where this would prove useful would be for clearing and rebuilding Windows Search indexing, as in: StopService=wsearch FileKey1=%programdata%\Microsoft\Search|*.*|RECURSE RegKey1=HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows Search|SetupCompletedSuccessfully StartService=wsearch Without stopping the Windows Search service first, it is difficult to ensure that all files are deleted, accordingly. Furthermore, immediately after cleaning the above entries, the service must be restarted to avoid a "Problem Reports and Solutions" window appearing soon after. 6. CONCLUSION If some or all of these features could be included in CCleaner, this would be appreciated. Regards DJ

Following are a few additional items that could be included in CCleaner (the locations given are for Vista): 1. Windows Photo Gallery - %userprofile%\AppData\Local\Windows Photo Gallery 2. Digital Certificates Cache - %userprofile%\AppData\LocalLow\Microsoft\CryptnetUrlCache\Content\* - %userprofile%\AppData\LocalLow\Microsoft\CryptnetUrlCache\MetaData\* 3. Event Logs - Equivalent batch file syntax: for /F "tokens=*" %%I in ('wevtutil el') do @wevtutil cl "%%~I" 4. Microsoft Management Console - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Microsoft Management Console\Recent File List 5. Add/Remove Programs Cache (Programs and Features Control Panel) - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Management\ARPCache Regards DJ

Hello Jonathan, I am a Vista Home Premium user and have not experienced any problems myself with regard to deleting the entire contents (files and subfolders) of the VirtualStore folder, regardless of which applications have been installed or uninstalled. Files and subfolders get rebuilt in the VirtualStore folder as and when necessary. As a test, simply open the VirtualStore folder in Windows Explorer and rename one of the subfolders relating to a particular application. Now open the application in question. You should find that subfolders and files are recreated in VirtualStore as and when relevant actions and functions are triggered in the chosen application. The addition of VirtualStore folder cleaning should certainly be a very easy one to include in a future release of CCleaner. Regards DJ

CCleaner does not appear to automatically clean AVG 8.0 temporary files. In Windows Vista, the program stores these files in the following locations: "%programdata%\avg8\update\download\*.bin" "%programdata%\avg8\emc\Log\*.log" (currently locked and not deletable by default) "%programdata%\avg8\Log\*.log" (some logs deletable, others are locked) "%programdata%\avg8\Log\*.xml" "%programdata%\avg8\scanlogs\*.log" "%programdata%\avg\update\backup\*.*" If these entries could be included in CCleaner as standard, this would be appreciated. Regards DJ

If you open Control Panel, Performance Information and Tools, Advanced Tools, and select "Generate a system health report", Windows Vista will, after approximately one minute, generate a system diagnostic report showing potential areas that could be affecting your systems performance and reliability. The information for these reports is created in "%systemdrive%\PerfLogs\System\Diagnostic\<date>" and can be viewed immediately upon creating the report or at any other time from the Reliability and Performance Monitor (Reliability and Performance, Reports, System, System Diagnostics, <date>). The reports can be deleted manually from the Reliability and Performance Monitor, but it would be nice to have the option included as standard in CCleaner. If the PerfLogs folder or its subfolders are deleted, they are automatically recreated by Windows as and when required. Also, the folders appear to delete successfully even with User Account Control turned on (which I prefer). Regards DJ

This would be a welcome addition to CCleaner. In Windows Vista, the path to the icon cache file is "%localappdata%\IconCache.db". Even though the relevant settings can be added to winapp2.ini, it would be good to see the option included as standard in the program. Regards DJ

Currently, Windows Vista event logs can be cleaned by running an advanced command prompt, or disabling User Account Control, and typing... wevtutil el > EventLogs.txt ...to list all available event logs to a file called EventLogs.txt, followed by... wevtutil cl > logname ...where "logname" is one of the logs listed in the EventLogs.txt file that requires clearing. Annoyingly, if User Account Control is enabled the event logs cannot be cleared with a batch file, even when set to "Run As Adminstrator" from its properties, and access is denied. The majority of Windows Vista's event logs are stored in "%windir%\System32\WinEvt\Logs" and are locked against deletion. Whereas they have a size limit, which is configurable from the Event Viewer, they can take up a lot of hard disk space due to the sheer number of logs. Clearing the log files shrinks them back down to their standard 68KB size. It would be nice if the above functionality could be included in CCleaner as standard. The program may need elevated privileges to overcome the User Account Control issue, but the feature would certainly be a welcome one considering the overall amount of hard disk space gained. Regards DJ

I appreciate that there may be some overlapping information between the custom winapp2.ini file and what I have written here, but the original point I was trying to make was that I would like to see the features I mentioned included in CCleaner as standard because some of them can take up large amounts of hard disk space just for the sake of logging. Regards DJ

Another option would be to open the registry editor (RegEdit) and export the key, "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\VB and VBA Program Settings\CCleaner", to a registry (.reg) file. Following any future installation of CCleaner, double click the .reg file you created to restore your previous settings. Regards DJ