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2844 entries for Invalid Firewall Rule (never saw that before)


David12846

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I've been using CCleaner for many years. I'm on version 5.58.7209.

 

A few weeks ago when I had a previous version, the "Registry Cleaner" showed pages and pages of entries for "Invalid Firewall Rule". I thought maybe there was a bug in CCleaner but my new version is showing 2844 entries for "Invalid Firewall Rule". The Registry Key for ALL of them says: "HKLM\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\SharedAccess\Parameters\FirewallPolicy\FirewallRules". Another thread mentioned they were the result of previously installed software. I looked through the list and many of the entries are for software I still have installed.

 

I'm a bit concerned with removing this many entries in my Registry, especially since it appears not too many people have asked about this type of entry considering (at least for me) these entries only started appearing within the last few months.

 

David

 

Using Windows 7 Home Premium.

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It is probably due to a Windows update. (There have been quite a few in the last month or so).

I've just updated my Win 10 to 1903 and following the update CCleaner showed hundreds of 'issues' in the registry (including many firewall rules).

I left it alone and just looking again now CCleaner is only showing 50 or so 'issues'.
Obviously Windows has been cleaning itself up in the meantime.

I'd just leave them alone, it won't make any difference to your computers performance, and Windows will probably cleanup what is not needed when it gets around to it.

In fact don't run the registry cleaner at all, Microsoft themselves recommend that you don't use any registry cleaner.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/2563254/microsoft-support-policy-for-the-use-of-registry-cleaning-utilities

*** Out of Beer Error ->->-> Recovering Memory ***

Worried about 'Tracking Files'? Worried about why some files come back after cleaning? See this link:
https://community.ccleaner.com/topic/52668-tracking-files/?tab=comments#comment-300043

 

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Nukecad - Thanks for the reply. I scan for registry issues every few weeks just to see what CCleaner found. As a rule of thumb I very rarely select "Fix selected issues" for everything. I'll only "Fix selected issues" if, and only if, I am 100% sure. That is usually only for entries that say "Unused Files Extension". 

 

Never EVER do I let windows update itself immediately after an update is released. In the last year or two many Microsoft updates have been very buggy. I'll let others be the guinea pig for Microsoft.  I updated Windows back in March. I did it again in early June. I saw the pages and pages of "Invalid Firewall Rule" in mid May (before I updated Windows in early June). After I updated Windows in June, CCleaner showed "Invalid Firewall Rule". Probably the same ones from before I updated Windows.

 

Sometimes a legitimate installed program might need a registry value that is "owned" by another program or piece of hardware. Remove (or reset) that registry value and weeks later when you run that other legitimate program there could be problems with it.

 

Finding all these "Invalid Firewall Rule" entries makes me wonder about the validity of all the other options that CCleaner offers ("Custom Clean", "Tools", etc).

 

David

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With Win 7 coming to end of support have you considered upgrading to the latest Windows 10?

We've just been discussing it on another thread and have found that you can still upgrade Win 7 to Win 10 for FREE.

 

*** Out of Beer Error ->->-> Recovering Memory ***

Worried about 'Tracking Files'? Worried about why some files come back after cleaning? See this link:
https://community.ccleaner.com/topic/52668-tracking-files/?tab=comments#comment-300043

 

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Thanks for the 7 to 10 upgrade link. I've considered going to Windows 10 for one of my 3 computers later this summer. The second one will be converted to a network file server. The 3rd one will stay as Windows 7 (with no internet access) until I can find newer versions of ancient software for that PC that will run on Windows 10. I have a 4th PC that runs Linux. By the way... I go back to the DOS 3.0 days when I used an IBM-PCAT, an IBM-PCXT, a DEC 1134, a DEC 1140 and a Burroughs Mainframe at work.

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If/when you upgrade to Win10 then it's time to stop using any registry cleaners. Microsoft does not recommend using them. I've noticed from making daily registry backups on Win10 it will eventually shrink the registry size on its own, perhaps cleaning itself correctly versus a registry cleaner doing it incorrectly.

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15 hours ago, David12846 said:

 until I can find newer versions of ancient software for that PC that will run on Windows 10.

That is a consideration if you have old software.

I still have a Win98 PC, simply because I occasionally use a full copy of AutoCAD on it.
You can get updated AutoCAD, they bring out a new version each year, but it's a yearly license now rather than buying it outright, and it's pretty expensive for a license.
(Free alternatives are available, but they are not AutoCad if you get what I mean).

*** Out of Beer Error ->->-> Recovering Memory ***

Worried about 'Tracking Files'? Worried about why some files come back after cleaning? See this link:
https://community.ccleaner.com/topic/52668-tracking-files/?tab=comments#comment-300043

 

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