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Deleting Plugins in Firefox Startup


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Hi,

 

I am a new CCleaner (ver. 4.01.4093) for windows7 user.

I have a question about the CCleaner > Tools > Startup > [Firefox] tab.

I see lots of plugins list in the screen and I want to delete some of them, especially old version plugins, but I cannot delete them by the right side of the screen Delete button. The Delete button is always gray color and it seems to be unactive.

What is the problem and would you tell me how to delete unnecessary plugins in the list through the CCleaner?

 

Thank you for reading!

/Nobu/

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What are these "lots" of plugins ?

Are you including in that number the less invasive Extensions ?

 

Do you have full administrator privileges ?

What is your Operating System.

Is UAC or any malware or registry protection obstructing CCleaner ?

 

I have 64 bit Windows 7 Ultimate and UAC is fully disabled.

My browser has only one plugin, Adobe Flash, and a dozen extensions.

 

CCleaner / Tools / Uninstall lists none of the extensions,

it only lists Adobe Flash and many non-browser applications.

When I select any item in the list, including Adobe Flash, I see on the far right three options

Run Uninstaller, Rename Entry, Delete Entry,

ALL THREE options are fully active for every item, including Adobe.

 

You and I may have totally different ideas upon the purpose of "Delete".

I understand that "Delete Entry" simply hides the item from view, and does not remove or even disturb the functioning of the designated item

Your instead probably need "Run Uninstaller"

 

I would guess that if "Run Uninstaller" is greyed out for absolutely everything that is installed,

then to protect you from yourself.Windows has severely restricted your capabilities.

If it is only greyed out for some things, then perhaps those things have invoked extra protection for themselves,

and you may need to contact the individual suppliers of those things to find out how to remove them.

 

The first thing to do is to DISABLE the plugins via the Firefox menus Tools / Addons.

That might remove the first level of defence that obstructs Deletion.

 

The next stage may be to visit Softpedia, which I believe is a good place to download a removal tool to purge the Adobe Flash Plugins.

You could alternatively visit Adobe themselves, but the last time I did that they refused to allow me the tool,

instead all they provided was their own special down-loader to do everything that they determined was good for me - no thank you.

 

If you have other plugins they may be hooked into the operating system like Adobe Flash,

and every plugin is likely to be hooked in a different way and each may need its own specific removal tools and techniques.

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Thank you for all who replied to me.

 

Dear Alan_B,

 

>What are these "lots" of plugins ?

 

For example,

No Plugin Adobe Acrobat 10.1.3.23 default-133996.... Firefox 21.0 C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Reader 10.0\Reader\AIR\nppdf32.dll

No Plugin Adobe Acrobat 11.0.2.0 Adobe Systems Inc. default-136855.... C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Reader 11.0\Reader\browser\nppdf32.dll

No Plugin Adobe Acrobat .........................

................

................

No Plugin Java Deployment Toolkit 7.0.40.255 10.4.1.255 Oracle Corporation Default-133996.... Firefox 21.0

No Plugin Java Deployment Toolkit 7.0.40.255 10.4.1.255 Oracle Corporation Default Firefox 21.0

...................

Most of them are gray color that means disabled, but it is still in the list and the list exist even I delete the file manually.

 

 

>Do you have full administrator privileges ?

 

Yes,

 

 

>What is your Operating System.

 

32 bit Windows 7 Ultimate.

 

 

>Is UAC or any malware or registry protection obstructing CCleaner ?

 

What is UAC?

I am not sure about malware or registry protection. How do I find malware or the protection?

 

 

>You and I may have totally different ideas upon the purpose of "Delete".

I don't want to see the list even gray colored lists. "Delete" is Delete and not "Disable".

 

 

>The first thing to do is to DISABLE the plugins via the Firefox menus Tools / Addons.

>That might remove the first level of defence that obstructs Deletion.

 

I can disable the plugins, but I cannot delete the lists.

The list shows different version of the file, but same file name so that I cannot delete the file.

 

I attached the screen shot file with this message, so please check it.

 

 

You suggested about "Softpedia" or other things, but It is too much for me now since I am a bigginer so far.

I prefer step by step so that please comment after watching the screen shot.

 

Thank you so much and I really appreciate your reply.

/Nobu/

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To answer a few of your questions :-

 

UAC is User Access Control, which is Windows default way of stopping you from doing things that could be "dangerous".

 

Malware protection includes :-

Firewalls which obstruct hackers and arrival of some forms of malware - and just possibly cripple good software downloads.

AntiVirus software that may disable software that it thinks is malware - and sometimes it kills Windows

Behaviour monitoring software that obstructs keyloggers and applications that "phone home" with your bank and credit card information.

The question is, what brand of protection (e.g. Avast, ESET, Norton,) do you have ?

 

To your problem with delete :-

Under the Firefox Tab every one of the three buttons is disabled until I select an entry.

 

Only 1 extension has NO in the first column, and when selected this has only the "Disable" button greyed out because NO means it is already disabled

All the other extensions have YES in the first column, and as each is selected only the "Enable" button is greyed out because YES means it is already enabled.

The "Delete" button is enabled as each of the extensions are selected.

When I use the "Delete" button I fully expect that it will not only remove the entry from the startup list,

but it will also Delete it from Firefox and if I should change my mind I will have to download and re-install it - which is a minor inconvenience that costs time but not money.

 

I only have one PLUGIN which is Shockwave Flash that is almost always a gateway for malware.

The first column is YES and the ONLY button I can use is "Disable", when I click that I am told that CCleaner will close Firefox, so I abort.

I strongly suspect that CCleaner can ONLY implement what Firefox itself can do via Addons,

and Addons can be told to either DISABLE or to REMOVE any Extension

but is only able to DISABLE the Shockwave Flash Plugin - you need to get special software to Remove or Delete Shockwave Flash Plugin(s).

 

I think you are more vulnerable to malware by having multiple versions of Adobe Flash Plugins,

and I have concerns about obsolete versions of SilverLight Plugins,

but perhaps like .NET Framework the SilverLight versions are built on obsolete foundations.

I will leave it for others to address the issues of obsolete software.

 

I think that CCleaner is NOT able or willing to Uninstall Shockwave Flash Plugin from the "Startup" menu because this would be inappropriate,

but under the Unistall menu it has the capablity of Run Uninstaller upon many items including Adobe Flash Player 11 Plugin.

 

I think there is a grave danger that you would need to reinstall Microsoft Office (and possible pay again) if your Startup menu were to Delete Microsoft Office Plugins.

So far as I can see, you are not allowed to use the Startup menu to delete Plugins because this would be very destructive.

CCleaner appears to me be be working perfectly for you in this respect.

 

 

I am astonished by your screen-shot, I do not see how your computer can be working

 

Your screen-shot shows that :-

You are running 64 bit CCleaner,

Shockwave Flash Plugin Files are at C:\Windows\SysWOW64\...

which does NOT exist in 32 bit Windows and confirms that you are using MS Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit SP1

and yet you only have 1 GB of RAM

 

Windows 7 System Requirements include "1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)", as per :-

http://windows.micro...em-requirements

 

I suspect something is horribly wrong with your system.

Just possibly it is only CCleaner itself that is wrong.

 

I suggest you download from

http://www.piriform....ccleaner/builds

the second item down which is

CCleaner - Portable

Zip file, no installer

4,099 kb - ccsetup401.zip

 

You can unzip this to a Flash Drive or a new folder in "C:\Program Files",

and it will not disturb your existing installed version of CCleaner.

With the existing installed version closed, just double click on the new CCleaner64.exe,

and see if this also shows that you have 64 bit Windows running with only 1 GB of RAM.

 

Alan

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still in the list and the list exist even I delete the file manually.

 

 

Look in the registry where most plugins are found by Firefox (and other browsers that use Firefox plugins) like Adobe Flash Player, etc.

 

Even though you've deleted the plugin off the hard disk the registry key(s) can still be in these locations:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\MozillaPlugins

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MozillaPlugins

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I have some doubts about the viability of the registry or anything else on a 64 bit Windows 7 computer with only 1 GB of RAM.

 

And I am really surprised by what appears to be two different versions of Microsoft Office that have applied Plugins to the Firefox Browser.

I think of that as far too much of a bad thing.

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Thank you for your reply.

I think my computer is old so that it is 32 bit computer and not 64 bit. But, you see the screen "64 bit Windows 7". I don't know why.

Anyway, 1 GB RAM is working for 32 bit Windows 7 so far since I disabled many unnecessary services such as superfetch, IP Helper, even windows audio etc.

I see only 30 services through "services" command. Let me read your comment later.

Thanks again!

/Nobu/

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Dear Alan_B,

 

I suggest you download from

http://www.piriform....ccleaner/builds

the second item down which is

Quote

 

CCleaner - Portable

Zip file, no installer

4,099 kb - ccsetup401.zip

 

You can unzip this to a Flash Drive or a new folder in "C:\Program Files",

and it will not disturb your existing installed version of CCleaner.

With the existing installed version closed, just double click on the new CCleaner64.exe,

and see if this also shows that you have 64 bit Windows running with only 1 GB of RAM.

 

Yes, I downloaded the other CCleaner and run it. But the result is same "64 bit Windows ! GB of RAm" showing and it works fine.

I still cannot delete the plugins even though desabled it and delete the files.

Thank you!

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@nobu_us

 

Click start on your pc, then right-click on 'computer' (used to be 'my computer' in XP) and then select 'properties' from the list which shows.

 

The panel which then comes up shows info including what 'bitness' of Windows 7 you have.

 

If it says 64bit then that's what you have.

 

Support contact

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

or

support@ccleaner.com

 

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Dear hazelnut,

Thank you for your message and I checked the computer. Yes, it says "64 bit of Windows 7".

But, it is so strange since my computer is "compaq presario v3500" and it had Windows Vista (2005). Then, I installed windows xp and Windows 7 now.

It is/was 32 bit computer??? That's why it has only 1 GB RAM.

Anyway, return to the original topic, "tools > startup > firwfox" has lots of lists even thgouh they are disabled and does not exist in the computer (I deleted the files).

Does someone help me or has suggestion?

/Nobu/

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Hi,

 

I am the this topic questioner.

 

I installed CCleaner (ver. 4.01.4093) for windows7 to the other computer (64 bit windows 7 desktop).

Then,

I checked the CCleaner > Tools > Startup > [Firefox] tab.

I see lots of plugins list in the screen and I tried to delete some of them, but I cannot that, same as my laptop computer simptom.

"delete" button is gray color means "does not work", even "delete" sign does not show by left mouse click on the plugin line.

 

I don't think it is my laptop computer problem, but CCleaner problem.

Would you fix this problem for the next version?

 

Thank you for reading and thank you for the people who replied to me.

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@nobu_us,

as stated by @Andavari in post #2, you cannot delete a plug-in in Firefox once it has been installed.

you can only Disable it or change its Options.

Extensions can be removed, but not plug-ins.

If you cannot remove a plug-in by the 'official' method from within Firefox, then CCleaner won't offer any extra level of getting around that limitation.

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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As I indicated in my post #9,

You have only half the minimum amount of RAM which Microsoft recommend for a 64 bit Windows 7.

This gives very poor performance, and may even be a source of errors.

I am surprised your computer can even boot up.

 

I think very few people use Microsoft Office Plugins for Firefox,

and having multiple versions suggests that something is wrong.

Normally I would expect an obsolete version to be uninstalled to remove vulnerabilities to malware (and conserve disk space)

Is it possible that the old stuff was not uninstalled due to insufficient memory errors ?

 

I suggest that following on from Hazelnut's suggestion, you then do a little extra :-

 

Click start on your pc, then right-click on 'computer' and then select 'properties'.

This shows you 1 GB of RAM, it shows me 8 GB of RAM

Two lines above this I see my system is rated at 6.7, you probably have a lower rating

On the Bottom left corner is a link "Performance Information and Tools".

 

Click on that link and you have a new screen which gives more detailed information on five items,

Processor through to Primary Hard Disk.

A screen shot showing those 5 items and their values might give evidence upon how your 64 bit computer is coping with only 1 GB of RAM.

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As I indicated in my post #9,

You have only half the minimum amount of RAM which Microsoft recommend for a 64 bit Windows 7.

 

Having enough RAM solves so many things, and with RAM upgrades being so inexpensive when bought online nobody has to realistically deal with not having enough RAM anymore, might as well max out the RAM in my opinion.

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Thank you for all who wrote the message,

 

I installed the CCleaner (version 4.02.4115) in the other computer (64 Bit, 8GB RAM) and checked firefox tab, as I mentioned in the post # 14.

I cannot delete any items in the list since the right side "delete" button is gray (means inactive) and the "delete" command with right click selection does not exist.

I deleted some of plugins by formal way, but the name of the list does exist in the CCleaner.

 

Please see the attachment with this message. It is the screen shot.

 

I don't think it is my labtop computer problems but CCleaner problems as I mentioned in the post # 14.

OR

Do you make this configulation intensionally for certain porpose?

 

Does the list disapper when I delete the CCleaner and re-install it?

 

Thank you for reading!

/Nobu/

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See the link below it says to rename the plugin .dll file and the plugin will be removed. The expose full path instructions mentioned do not work in FF21 only FF20 and below but the full path will be in FF22.

 

See here. From https://support.mozi...shooting plugin

 

With plugin trouble it also says to find the pluginreg.dat file in your profile, exit FF then delete the pluginreg.dat file and FF will build a new one. I would make a backup copy of the pluginreg.dat file just in case. it's worth a shot to see. Ccleaner might be getting the info from the pluginreg.dat file.

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Dear jm1647,

 

Thank you so much, I made it!

See the attachement screen shot file.

 

The process is that

 

1)

First, "Manually uninstalling a plugin"

https://support.mozilla.org/.../Troubleshooting+plugin

 

I renamed the ....dll files such as "npDeployJava1.dll" to "XnpDeployJava1.dll", "nppdf32.dll" to "Xnppdf32.dll" so on.

I also deleted uneccessary old version plugins and files with "....dll" files.

So, I don't see the plugin names in the Firefox Add-ons windows anymore.

 

2)

Delete "pluginreg.dat" in the Firefox directory.

C:\...\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\....fefault-...\pluginreg.dat

 

That's it!

 

The point is "pluginreg.dat".

I thought that the CCleaner read the plugin info of the Firefox from some data file since I saw lots of plugins by the CCleaner (see my first attachent file), but I didn't know which file the CCleaner read.

 

Anyway, thank you for all you commented to me.

/Nobu/

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doesn't seem a very elegant solution - but a solution none the less, which has achieved what you were after and made you happy, so a win at least.

 

seems more a back-door hack than a nice uninstall.

 

can't see why Firefox or the plug-in authors don't put in a Remove button - doesn't seem hard, so there must be some reason ???

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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can't see why Firefox or the plug-in authors don't put in a Remove button - doesn't seem hard, so there must be some reason ???

 

Probably because if software could be removed via it just imagine the malicious potential of exploits that could cause.

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I agree about post # 22, 23 and I would like to request to the CCleaner next version for setting "Remove button" for the plugin in the Firefox.

It should have the warning popup window "This action has own your risk!" before removing the plugins to avoid the risk in the post #23.

(I mentioned this issue in my previous post as you can see.)

 

Many Firefox users don't pay attention about the plugins and they don't know how many plugins are running during the Firefox browsing, like me.

It is very beneficial and practical way to set the plugins delete button in the CCleaner system.

 

For instance, "Registry" setting in the CCleaner is very helpful for me and I often delete unnessecery registries time to time.

Please consider to make the "plugins delete button" in the next version.

 

That is C"Cleaner", means cleaner, isn't it?

Thank you for reading.

/Nobu/

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