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/AUTO worked for Standard user in Vista, then stopped working


tuttle

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Vista Home Premium, Service Pack 1

CCleaner 2.08 Slim build

UAC enabled

 

I setup this laptop for a non-techie friend. As Administrator, I installed CCleaner. I created a Standard user account for my friend, and in that account I created a shortcut for him to run CCleaner silently using AUTO parameter:

"C:\Program Files\CCleaner\CCleaner.exe" /AUTO

 

When logged in as Standard user, he has been able to use that shortcut to run CCleaner silently without any UAC prompt or password. However, sometime this week it changed: now when he launches the shortcut, he receives a UAC prompt requiring the Administrator password or it will not run CCleaner. Even if Standard user entered the Administrator password or ran CCleaner as admin, it would not be useful: if it is run as administrator, then CCleaner cleans the Administrator account and not the Standard user account.

 

Further info.: prior to this recent failure, the Standard user was able to run both the shortcut to /AUTO cleaning, and also open the entire CCleaner application without any UAC prompt or password. During that same time, the Administrator could not run an /AUTO shortcut or open the application unless he entered the Administrator password. (Pretty much the reverse of what you'd expect to happen.)

 

The only significant change this week has been that I installed Avast Home Edition 4.8.1201.80611 anti-virus. After I installed Avast, the Standard user could no longer run the CCleaner /AUTO shortcut unless he used the Administrator password. (I have disk images of my system before installing Avast and after, so I was able to roll back to an earlier image to test CCleaner's behaviour immediately before Avast was installed.)

 

Why did it stop working? Why did the silent /AUTO cleaning work for the Standard user before, but now it won't work without the Administrator password? Is there any solution?

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Vista Home Premium, Service Pack 1

CCleaner 2.08 Slim build

UAC enabled

 

I setup this laptop for a non-techie friend. As Administrator, I installed CCleaner. I created a Standard user account for my friend, and in that account I created a shortcut for him to run CCleaner silently using AUTO parameter:

"C:\Program Files\CCleaner\CCleaner.exe" /AUTO

 

When logged in as Standard user, he has been able to use that shortcut to run CCleaner silently without any UAC prompt or password. However, sometime this week it changed: now when he launches the shortcut, he receives a UAC prompt requiring the Administrator password or it will not run CCleaner.

 

Further info.: prior to this recent failure, the Standard user was able to run both the shortcut to /AUTO cleaning, and also open the entire CCleaner application without any UAC prompt or password. During that same time, the Administrator could not run an /AUTO shortcut or open the application unless he entered the Administrator password. (Pretty much the reverse of what you'd expect to happen.)

 

The only significant change this week has been that I installed Avast Home Edition 4.8.1201.80611 anti-virus. After I installed Avast, the Standard user could no longer run the CCleaner /AUTO shortcut unless he used the Administrator password. (I have disk images of my system before installing Avast and after, so I was able to roll back to an earlier image to test CCleaner's behaviour immediately before Avast was installed.)

 

Why did it stop working? Why did the silent /AUTO cleaning work for the Standard user before, but now it won't work without the Administrator password? Is there any solution?

Hello tuttle,

Welcome to the forum!!!

Thanks for such an informative report.

This seems to have been a problem in last few versions of CCleaner for Vista Home.

So you have not updated to Version 2.09 yet.Can you try the new version and give us a report also.

You are the first to report this strange(albeit correct) behavior after installing AVAST.

I am sure the "BUG FIXERS" will be able to use this information.

 

Thanks again,

:) davey

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Hello Davey. Thanks for the reply. I have installed CCleaner 2.09.600. The behaviour is the same.

 

I have seen some posts recommending that Standard users run CCleaner as administrator. I wonder if those are posted by people who have not tested that idea. Even if Standard user entered the Administrator password or ran CCleaner as admin, it would not be useful: if it is run as Administrator, then CCleaner cleans the Administrator account and not the Standard user account. To clean a Standard user account, the Standard user must be the account that runs CCleaner as otherwise CCleaner does not know which account to clean.

 

Is there any workaround to this? Is there any parameter that can be used, with /AUTO, to "tell" CCleaner which account to clean? If there is, then it might be possible to run CCleaner /AUTO as Administrator or as SYSTEM (via Vista Task Scheduler) but making CCleaner to clean the Standard user's account.

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This behavior persists in v. 2.09. There appears to be no way to clean a Standard User account in Vista. CCleaner runs from the Standard User account (after the user responds to the UAC prompts), but it only cleans the Administrator account. You can verify this by examining the Standard User's cookies after running CCleaner; or by noticing that the Standard User's cookies do not appear on CCleaner's list of Cookies to Delete (Options>Cookies).

I am not running AVAST.

Unless I'm missing something, this behavior really needs to be fixed.

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Additional info:

Are you running with Administrator privileges ?

Have you tried Run AS ?

If I log on as Administrator, or log on as Standard User and run As Administrator, or log on as Standard User and input password at UAC prompt, CCleaner runs, but only cleans the Administrator account. No apparent way to clean the Standard User account.

 

CCleaner version ? 2.09

OS,edition ,32bit or 64bit and version ? Windows Vista Business, 32 bit, no service pack, on Dell 690 with 2gb RAM

Browsers and ver.? IE7

Security software and ver? AVG 8

1 Administrator account, 1 Standard User account

 

Thanks for trying to track this down.

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Do not login as Administrator, do not Run as Administrator. There is no benefit to that, and whoever suggested it did not understand how elevated privileges work in Vista. Doing so will only clean the Administrator's account. To clean a Standard User account, the Standard User must login and CCleaner must be run as that Standard User.

 

 

Problem solved on my Vista system

 

I fixed the problem on my Vista system. The Standard User can now run CCleaner.

I found that the shortcut and the Program Files\CCleaner\CCleaner.exe had become set to "Run as administrator". So, I unchecked that. Now when the Standard User is logged in, launching the shortcut or directly launching CCleaner.exe is done as Standard User, so CCleaner cleans the Standard User's account.

 

 

Required CCleaner enhancements

 

1. It would be useful if the developers would add a function to CCleaner to allow an Administrator to clean all accounts with one scan. Vista's Disk Cleanup has this functionality: when an Administrator launches Disk Cleanup, it prompts to ask if you want to clean "My files only" or "Files from all users on this computer". That's what CCleaner should do.

 

2. More fully implement support for Vista's User Account Control. For example, a Standard User should not be permitted to run the Registry cleaner, nor the Tools function, nor to edit Options other than Cookies to save.

 

3. Allow the use of a command parameter/switch that can be used, with /AUTO, to "tell" CCleaner which account to clean. Then it should be possible to run CCleaner /AUTO as Administrator or as SYSTEM (via Vista Task Scheduler) but making CCleaner to clean any or all Standard users' accounts.

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you have erased the files that deal with all that you mention it's not the cleaners fault you can not use it for what it is ,

it's not perfect but 99.9% perfect is close enough for me,

the rest is down to you study how to use it more carefuly.

 

 

it will do exactly what you tell it to do.

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Thanks, but this did not work for me.

(I'm using CCleaner v. 2.09.6, and Windows Vista Business).

 

Do not login as Administrator, do not Run as Administrator. There is no benefit to that, and whoever suggested it did not understand how elevated privileges work in Vista. Doing so will only clean the Administrator's account. To clean a Standard User account, the Standard User must login and CCleaner must be run as that Standard User.

 

I log in as Standard User after the computer boots.

Problem solved on my Vista system

 

I fixed the problem on my Vista system. The Standard User can now run CCleaner.

I found that the shortcut and the Program Files\CCleaner\CCleaner.exe had become set to "Run as administrator". So, I unchecked that. Now when the Standard User is logged in, launching the shortcut or directly launching CCleaner.exe is done as Standard User, so CCleaner cleans the Standard User's account.

 

The shortcut is not/was not set to "Run as Administrator." When the Standard User is logged in, launching CCleaner from the shortcut or from its .exe file invokes a UAC prompt for the Administrator account, not the Standard User account. Supplying the Administrator password, of course, runs CCleaner as Administrator. I would note that PurgeIE, a simple cookie manager, does not have this problem with Vista user accounts.

Required CCleaner enhancements

 

1. It would be useful if the developers would add a function to CCleaner to allow an Administrator to clean all accounts with one scan. Vista's Disk Cleanup has this functionality: when an Administrator launches Disk Cleanup, it prompts to ask if you want to clean "My files only" or "Files from all users on this computer". That's what CCleaner should do.

 

2. More fully implement support for Vista's User Account Control. For example, a Standard User should not be permitted to run the Registry cleaner, nor the Tools function, nor to edit Options other than Cookies to save.

 

3. Allow the use of a command parameter/switch that can be used, with /AUTO, to "tell" CCleaner which account to clean. Then it should be possible to run CCleaner /AUTO as Administrator or as SYSTEM (via Vista Task Scheduler) but making CCleaner to clean any or all Standard users' accounts.

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you have erased the files that deal with all that you mention it's not the cleaners fault you can not use it for what it is ,

it's not perfect but 99.9% perfect is close enough for me,

the rest is down to you study how to use it more carefuly.

What the heck are you talking about? Many users have reported that a Vista Standard User cannot run CCleaner. That was why I posted details here, and posted how I solved the problem on my system. I also made three suggestions which would allow CCleaner to work better with Vista and user accounts. If you don't use Vista or don't use multiple user accounts, then you would not see the issue anyway and so your criticism of our efforts to solve the problem is not helpful.
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What the heck are you talking about? Many users have reported that a Vista Standard User cannot run CCleaner. That was why I posted details here, and posted how I solved the problem on my system. I also made three suggestions which would allow CCleaner to work better with Vista and user accounts. If you don't use Vista or don't use multiple user accounts, then you would not see the issue anyway and so your criticism of our efforts to solve the problem is not helpful.

 

Your method for running as Standard User does indeed work; I failed to notice that you indicated that "run as administrator" needed to be cleared in BOTH the shortcut AND the .exe file.

Thanks very much for your help--this has been driving me crazy for months. And I heartily second your suggestins for improvements.

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Your method for running as Standard User does indeed work; I failed to notice that you indicated that "run as administrator" needed to be cleared in BOTH the shortcut AND the .exe file.

Yaaay! So, my fix has worked for two of us. Perhaps others who were having this problem will try it and report. Maybe I've found the solution for all of us Vista users.

 

Thanks very much for your help--this has been driving me crazy for months.

You're welcome.

 

I heartily second your suggestins for improvements.

I hope the developers will consider them.

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