Kernol

The manual check for updates button will NOT work if you follow all the advice given. No big deal in my view as it is simple enough to go to the website to check - PLUS check this forum before updating - in case more "tricks" have been bolted in to the latest update. On updating you will find that the CCUpdate.exe is again installed - and you should also check your "Smart Clean" and "Privacy" settings again - just in case your settings get overwritten. Important to note: Spyware has always been part of CCleaner ... so those relying on older versions under the belief that telemetry is NOT being provided to Piriform/Avast are mistaken. The solutions posted above are relevant to ALL versions of CCleaner [and any other of their products made use of].

RETRACTION ***** - Please ignore my post above giving "respect" to Piriform / Avast. They have failed abysmally once again - telemetry STILL runs even after un-ticking the Privacy Options which would lead you to believe they allowed a paid user to turn off the data flow to both their servers [CCleaner and Avast]. Without blocking them at the Firewall - they will still be accessing your data ?

RETRACTION ... Trust remains BROKEN ... despite un-ticking all three options under Privacy - leading one to believe that Piriform/Avast had become "honourable" in allowing telemetry to be turned OFF as implied by the options - this is NOT the case and it remains necessary to BLOCK the program at the Firewall to fully prevent data from being sent to both CCleaner AND to Avast. This applies to the paid for Pro version as well !!!! ? Geez guys - I really thought you would get this one right - but I guess what I said in my first post on this forum "Trust ... once broken is seldom restored" proves to be fully correct - even when given the opportunity to come CLEAN - you have failed to do so !!!! ?

Well done Piriform for taking on board the concerns expressed by members, including moderators, about "monitoring" [now called "Smart Cleaning"] and more importantly, telemetry ["anonymous" data gathering] bolted in to version 5.45. Although the installation defaults switch both "ON" - users are allowed to turn both "OFF" by un-ticking the options under Smart Cleaning and under Privacy. This applies even to the Free edition where in the past a user could opt out of allowing data sharing with 3rd parties - but not the gathering of anonymous data itself. The only further improvement I would have expected is not to have to un-tick the install of Avast Anti-Virus in the PRO [paid for edition]. At least take the Avast default install OFF if you are utterly compelled by your new owners to offer the product - and allow users to tick it if they really want the package. Keep it CLEAN guys!

RESPECT ***** - having previously abandoned CCleaner after the obligatory "monitoring" saga in version 5.45 [even on the Professional Version] - I was curious about whether lessons had been learned in the latest edition - 5.46. I am delighted to observe that it seems that member concerns have been FULLY taken on board - to the extent that not only can you permanently turn off "monitoring" [now renamed "Smart Cleaning"] - but even in the Free version under Options > Privacy the user can completely turn off telemetry [data gathering - whether "anonymous" or not]. As I recall in prior Free versions one could turn off the 3rd party sharing of telemetry - but not the data gathering itself by Piriform. The key to success going forward will be to completely resist the temptation to "sneak" telemetry back into future updates - in other words respecting the choices set by users in their existing setup of CCleaner and not overwriting those to their default of allowing the gathering of "anonymous" data. As a precaution I have blocked the product at my firewall - and so far no sign of heart-beats ... but I will be alerted if any further attempts are made to access my data. As mentioned by Andavari in a post above [23 August 2018] there are MANY programs that gather telemetry [and much more] including in particular the Windows 10 OS - and in some it is possible to opt out - but all too often no opt out options exists and blocking access requires a high level of technical skills not available to most users. Well done Piriform ... the functionality of the CCleaner product has always been great with relatively few glitches over a long period of time. I am pleased that I have been able to return to using it - albeit with a watchful eye after the 5.45 "bruising". ?

As a complete newbie on this particular forum - but as a decade long FORMER user of Ccleaner ... I would just like to echo Imacri's post [quoting Tex2018] by thanking and indeed congratulating the Moderators for their willingness to take issue with the product developers and in so doing reinforce the discomfort expressed by so many end users [not only on this forum but in Social Media as well]. Rare indeed !!! I have personally concluded that this "monitoring" imposition was entirely deliberate as was the tardy response in rectifying - so that as much data as possible could be collected from the less knowledgeable end-users to serve the dubious mission of the present owners of Piriform. This view is only reinforced by the fact that their Facebook page makes no mention of the "recall" of version 5.45 and reinstatement of version 5.44 [last post is dated 24 July 2018 and promotes version 5.45] This "solution" also leaves one feeling that the programmers needed more time to find a surreptitious way of achieving the same objective - gathering "monitoring" information without alerting users as clumsily as they did on their first attempt. Trust is a precious commodity - and once broken is seldom restored.