Clean files for all users from one admin user account

[xyzzy]

Great program. I use it once a month on all my PCs.

 

But one thing about it is a pain in the neck. I have multiple users configured on some of my PCs. CCleaner cleans out folders only for the currently logged-in user. So to get the whole PC cleaned, I have to log into each user and run CCleaner separately.

 

Is it possible to clean up all users' files from one admin account login?

 

Thank you.

[brewmaker]

I agree - that's why I have to use "Cleanup!" ( http://www.stevengould.org/software/cleanup/ ) in addition to the (IMO) CCleaner.

[fireryone]

cleanup is a good cleaner but not anywhere near as customizable so if you have certain sections in CCleaner un-checked they may just get cleand up, check cleanup's options to find out what you can unselect if you need to keep some stuff.

 

Otherwise blow away that useless temp stuff,

 

May I leave 1 more tip/suggestion:

"Turn you speakers up before clicking the cleanup button enjoy lol"

[Ricky Marek]

cleanup is a good cleaner but not anywhere near as customizable so if you have certain sections in CCleaner un-checked they may just get cleand up, check cleanup's options to find out what you can unselect if you need to keep some stuff.

 

Otherwise blow away that useless temp stuff,

 

May I leave 1 more tip/suggestion:

"Turn you speakers up before clicking the cleanup button enjoy lol"

 

True, but what we want is that the tool will be configurable (via the GUI) to cleanup several user accounts at once.

 

I prefer CCleaner than Cleanup! on the customization point of view, but I'm missing the option in CCleaner to cleanup several accounts at once. (e.g. from the administrator account, when other users are not logged in, cleanup all their temporary data).

 

Maybe this is possible via some hidden configuration of CCleaner?

[nico]

Great program. I use it once a month on all my PCs.

 

But one thing about it is a pain in the neck. I have multiple users configured on some of my PCs. CCleaner cleans out folders only for the currently logged-in user. So to get the whole PC cleaned, I have to log into each user and run CCleaner separately.

 

Is it possible to clean up all users' files from one admin account login?

 

Thank you.

 

Using it under Vista I run into the problem, that only the account of the administrator is being cleaned, as I always have to approve running the program by the password of the administrator. Is there a solution for this?

 

Nico

[Yoda1888]

i have the same problem on my citrix servers with my 70 users... and it's not a good idea to use CCleaner with each account...

 

Is there a solution ?

[wchandler1962]

I also have issues with this. My children bring in a lot of temporary items and It is a big trouble to clean the drive, even when I am the administrator. Has anyone found a way around this?

 

Great program. I use it once a month on all my PCs.

 

But one thing about it is a pain in the neck. I have multiple users configured on some of my PCs. CCleaner cleans out folders only for the currently logged-in user. So to get the whole PC cleaned, I have to log into each user and run CCleaner separately.

 

Is it possible to clean up all users' files from one admin account login?

 

Thank you.

[AndyM]

I also agree. The ability to load the other regstry hives and clean the registry, in addition to cleaning out the temp files individually would be a great bonus.

 

-AndyM-

[Alan_B]

I also have issues with this. My children bring in a lot of temporary items and It is a big trouble to clean the drive, even when I am the administrator. Has anyone found a way around this?

 

TEMP and TMP are environment variable defined as C:\%USERPROFILE%\Local ... etc.

 

They are controlled via :-

My Computer -> Properties -> Advanced -> Environment Variables -> User variables

 

If you delete these two variables for each child's account, they should default to C:\Windows\TEMP

 

which is controlled via :-

My Computer -> Properties -> Advanced -> Environment Variables -> System variables

 

There-after whenever they create temporary junk it should, with luck, no longer go in their private TEMP folders, but in the communal TEMP which is immediately available to you for cleaning.

 

Alan

[joonasK]

SOLUTION!

 

I have a working solution to ALL OF YOU PROBLEMS (in this thread):

 

First, make CCleaner save its settings to an INI file (rather than Windows' registry).

 

Scond, remove the check on "cleanup on computer startup".

 

Third, make a registry entry as follows:

 

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

 

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]

"CCleaner"="\"C:\\Program Files\\CCleaner\\CCleaner.exe\" /auto"

 

So this way, when ANY USER LOGS IN TO THE COMPUTER, CCleaner will clean their profile. That way things will always be clean.

 

NOTICE! Remove the check to clear the recycle bin. People should empty it themselves. If they need something from there, and CCleaner removes it, that's no good. NOTICE!

[Alan_B]

SOLUTION!

 

First, make CCleaner save its settings to an INI file (rather than Windows' registry).

 

Scond, remove the check on "cleanup on computer startup".

 

Third, make a registry entry as follows:

 

I did something similar, excepting :-

1. I added a check to the option "Run CCleaner when the computer starts"

2. I therefore did not touch the registry.

 

I did NOT like the results, so I reverted to NOT using an INI file.

 

When the INI file is NOT used, the configuration is held in the user profile.

 

My daughter's profile has a TAME configuration so that nothing bad can happen, and nothing important can be lost.

 

Because I have 30 years experience as a professional Real Time software engineer, I risk a more aggressive configuration, but I always "analyze" and review every file on the hit list before they go.

 

In Options / Include I stipulate a few extra temporary file locations to be purged, including some within my user profile e.g. C:\Documents and Settings\Dad\Local Settings\Temp\*.*

My profile will not permit C:\Documents and Settings\Daughter\Local Settings\Temp\*.*,

and my daughter's profile does purge her Temp but not mine.

 

When I tried the INI file approach I found it was a one size fits all thing,

i.e. we both have a TAME configuration or an AGGRESSIVE configuration.

Additionally, trying to stipulate two user profile temporary folders is a hurdle I gave up on.

 

I concluded that that INI file would only work if there was a separate INI file in each User Profile, and since CCleaner.exe requires the INI file to be in the same folder, that would require installing multiple instances of CCleaner.exe in multiple user profiles. This was some time ago, so the situation MAY have altered.

 

Regards

Alan

[joonasK]

Great contribution Alan!

 

I use CCleaner at work, and I need to clean multiple computers. These are in public use so there should not be anything of value in the temp folders.

 

That's why I use INI files, so that the settings are specific to the computer, not the user.

 

And if it's been checked to run CCleaner on startup, it makes an entry in HKEY_LOCAL_USER which means it only runs on the specific user. Any other user on the same PC must also tick this choice, and also to make any changes to what CCleaner will clean, since the settings are user-specific this way.

 

Either open your daughters account and make the changes or you can switch to a global choice (INI + LOCAL_MACHINE).

 

Edit: Added: Isn't it common practice to place (on local machine, not on network) all your work in the user's profile folder? And temp folders are only to be used by applications, temporarily, to store information (often can be sensitive which _should_ be remove)?

 

Please enlighten me as to what files of importance could be in the temporary folders? Thanks.