CCleaner Portable

[Midas]

... "anonymized" data is just PR speak nowadays anyway.

Precisely.

BTW, check this:

• Dont install or upgrade to CCleaner 5.45
  www.ghacks.net/2018/08/01/ccleaner-5-45-dont-install/

[Special]

More like can't, It's been pulled.

[webfork]

gHacks - Dont install or upgrade to CCleaner 5.45

Based on the ghacks article, I'm going to recommend we take the program offline.

[billon]

we take the program offline.

With 116 "points" it would be very hard

[Midas]

But not to the admin, I reckon...

[Special]

I don't see the point, they are back-pedaling pretty hard now that a lot of eyes are one them so I suspect their "next" version will be good, and they aren't malicious or anything. Heck remove Firefox then since that sends tons of telemetry that are super hidden via about:config options. This site also hosts tons of ad-ware based programs too.

[Andrew Lee]

It seems V5.45 has been pulled, so I suggest we wait and find out how Pinform/Avast are going to deal with this fiasco.

Personally, I have downvoted CCleaner, and I suggest the rest of you who feel strongly about this should downvote as well.

[Midas]

I did.

[webfork]

MakeUseOf also posted an article about CCleaner issues: Why You Should Stop Using CCleaner on Windows Right Now - https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/stop-usin ... r-windows/

[Midas]

MakeUseOf also posted an article about CCleaner issues: Why You Should Stop Using CCleaner on Windows Right Now - https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/stop-usin ... r-windows/

Reasonable overview, with a tidbit of bad advice (see below). While I agree you should thoroughly educate yourself and thread very, very carefully here, for someone who tests a lot of stuff (let's say your nominal 'power user'), cleaning the registry is what makes the difference from having to re-install Windows every few months and running a years old setup with no visible shortcomings or breakage... (that was in fact my main use for CCleaner).

Lastly, don’t worry about losing the Registry cleaner. Registry cleaners are useless, as even removing thousands of invalid entries won’t have the smallest effect on performance. There’s a better chance you’ll break something by cleaning the Registry than fixing it, so leave them alone.

@ www.makeuseof.com/tag/stop-using-ccleaner-windows/

[SYSTEM]

Piriform has now written a comprehensive list of the data CCleaner sends by default. It still looks a little excessive to me (the data includes button clicks in CCleaner, the installed AV, whether or not you have Chrome installed, and if CCleaner crashes, the full list of programs that were running at the time of the crash).

[webfork]

Ghacks is reporting on ongoing issues with this program. https://www.ghacks.net/2019/07/17/bewar ... r-browser/

[Midas]

Ghacks is reporting on ongoing issues with this program.

Apparently, MS has decided to blacklist CCleaner...

Microsoft has blacklisted the CCleaner utility and links to the software can no longer be posted in its support forums.

@ betanews.com/2019/09/25/microsoft-blacklists-ccleaner/

[billon]

Avast fights off cyber-espionage attempt, Abiss

[webfork]

Avast fights off cyber-espionage attempt, Abiss

Interesting stuff, if super frustrating from a freeware perspective. Everytime someone tries this type of attack, it just makes it harder for people to make and distribute freeware. Relevant quote:

Even though we believed that CCleaner was the likely target of a supply chain attack, as was the case in a 2017 CCleaner breach, we cast a wider net in our remediation actions.

On September 25, we halted upcoming CCleaner releases and began checking prior CCleaner releases and verified that no malicious alterations had been made. As two further preventative measures, we first re-signed a clean update of the product, pushed it out to users via an automatic update on October 15, and second, we revoked the previous certificate. Having taken all these precautions, we are confident to say that our CCleaner users are protected and unaffected.