Junk Files

Discussion in 'other software & services' started by John Bull, Oct 20, 2010.

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  1. John Bull

    John Bull Registered Member

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    Like others, I have CCleaner and Comodo System Cleaner and can call upon several more cleaner programs if needed.

    These always show a large number of junk files which as of yet I have done nothing about. Now, Auslogics Disk Defrag shows a tab called System Health.

    Running this, it comes up with over 1,900 junk files, then refers one to a website where another program is offered to clean them out.

    Now there is no way I am going to click a button and delete such a large number of files, so I am left with the knowledge that somebody says my PC is full of junk.

    The theme is as you know, that getting rid of all this junk will speed up my computer and I will be born again.

    My gut feel is that deleting 1,900 + files will render my PC completely useless.
    Back-up and Restore in case the worst happens ? Do I then just put the lot back ?
    If so, what is the point in doing it in the first place ?

    Nobody has explained how I find the few dozen files I must restore out of that large number to satisfy the system.

    What is the safe procedure in using these junk detectors, cleaning out the rubbish and not fragmenting important programs so nothing works ?
     
  2. Cudni

    Cudni Global Moderator

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    where are those "junk" files listed, what folders?
     
  3. Shankle

    Shankle Registered Member

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    Hi John Bull,
    I like you use Ccleanner regularly.
    I have a deep distrust of programs making claims
    like the one you got. I would definatly BACKUP
    before trying anything like that. It's most likely
    a scare tactic that someone is using to sell you
    something that might not work or do some serious damage.
    I pretty much trust the combination that I use.
    Ccleanner and ESET Smart Security. They have served me
    well. I have also separated my data
    from Windows Vista. This way I can spot any
    junk in the data and if the puter causes to much
    trouble I can just reinstall Vista without damaging
    my data.
    Good Luck
     
  4. John Bull

    John Bull Registered Member

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    Hello Cudni,

    CCleaner would perhaps give this information, but the Auslogics check just gave a total. I know there are a lot and this kind of count prompted me to ask the questions posted as a general knowledge matter as I really do not know how to play it - stick with the junk or try and clean it out.

    I was hoping for some guidance on how to tackle it safely.

    I suppose the Auslogics 2nd program which I believe you have to buy gives the details. In that case I may as well stick to CCleaner when or if things get serious.

    My simple count showed up as in the screen-shot. The "click here to find out more" just brings up their website and offers the 2nd program.

    Auslogics junk files.JPG
     
  5. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    If you've never cleaned that isn't that big a number.

    I use CCleaner and check everything down to windows log files under system. Then on the next tab I select all the applications I run.

    I then let Ccleaner do it's thing. Never had an issue.

    Pete
     
  6. bgoodman4

    bgoodman4 Registered Member

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    Most of the junk files are going to be temp files and you def do not need to keep these. I use Wise Disk Cleaner (free version) and you can tell it what file extensions to ignore and which to look for. By default it does not search for certain extensions and I have left these unticked.

    One of the things I really like about the program is it tells you what each extension is. An obvious example is .temp but there are any number of other temp type file extensions and knowing what these are makes deciding what to get rid of much less stressful.

    A fine little program and since its free you might want to run it and see if you get anywhere near 1900 junk files listed.
     
  7. culla

    culla Registered Member

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    if you actually bought the 2nd program it won't show or clean 1900
    its an old sales trick !
    did you clean with cc ?
    how many after you clean with cc ?
     
  8. John Bull

    John Bull Registered Member

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    As a result of this thread, I had another check of CC. Test deleted a bit of junk that was unimportant - it went, but NO back-up was offered. I sure am not going to delete a large number of "unknown" files under a no back-up procedure.

    I do not know how to arrange a personal back-up, two left feet on that one.

    PLEASE - a little off topic perhaps but can anybody answer this :-

    My CC list shows AVG9. I changed to AVG 2011 about a week ago. Why does CC still show AVG9 ?
     
  9. trjam

    trjam Registered Member

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    obviously it is being held in a registry setting with CC. First, the AVG should be Avast.... Second, CC started to wear thin with me. For a simple clean up I use Disk Cleaner. I have used it for years and it has never messed with me once.

    For a more secure cleaning I use Sweepi, it cleans deep, it offers a back up and it also, has never cleaned where it shouldnt.

    But AVGo_O?:cautious:
     
  10. FanJ

    FanJ Updates Team

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    Hi John Bull, Peter2150, trjam,

    May I add a few notes with all due respect:

    John wrote:
    I guess the following post from trjam was the answer to that:
    The following post from trjam was, I guess ;) , off topic and makes things more confusing:
    PS: I don't have AVG nor Avast.

    Peter2150 posted:
    If I understand you right, I'm not so sure whether that is a wise advice in general, in particular for novice users.
    Why?
    In that part (tab) of CCleaner your AV/AS/AT (generally: your anti-malware) might be listed. Let CCleaner put its hands off that; it has no "business" whatsoever with your anti-malware. Let your anti-malware (AV/AS/AT) handle that itself.
    I give an example:
    Let's say you have MBAM installed and that you yourself have put a checkmark in the MBAM box in CCleaner and that you are seeking help at a dedicated clean-up forum because you have an infection. Often such a dedicated clean-up forum asks you to run MBAM and to post its log. But if MBAM tells you to restart your computer, the MBAM logs are gone. The issue has been discussed here:
    https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=283091
    For example the Mandatory Steps at the DSLR Security Cleanup forum tells you now about it in the pre-cleaning step (f).
     
  11. John Bull

    John Bull Registered Member

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    @ FanJ

    What an excellent clarification post, much appreciated.

    If I uninstalled CC, then re-installed it - would that get rid of it`s passionate love affair with AVG9 and show AVG 2011 ?
     
  12. FanJ

    FanJ Updates Team

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    Hi John,

    You're welcome !

    I wished that I could tell you but I'am afraid that I cannot because I don't have AVG.
    You could try it. I don't think that it would do much harm when you do it.
    The decision is up to you. If you do it, then carefully go through CCleaner's settings again.
    Maybe someone who also updated from AVG9 to AVG 2011 can tell you, or you could post it in the CCleaner forum hoping that you get the desired answer.
     
  13. John Bull

    John Bull Registered Member

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    Just to maintain the flow of the posts, I have uninstalled and re-installed CC. AVG9 is still there !

    Even a reincarnated CC still has AVG9 firmly embodied in it`s genetic profile, like a pair of conjoined twins that no amount of cutting edge surgery is able to provide a successful separation.
     
  14. trjam

    trjam Registered Member

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    John, open regedit. Hit control key and F. Type in ccleaner in "find what" and hit enter. It will take you to each registry entry ccleaner has. You should see the wording ccleaner in the entry. You can delete that entry. Hit control key and F and repeat. Do this till it is finished and reinstall ccleaner and I will bet your issue is gone.

    Jeff
     
  15. crofttk

    crofttk Registered Member

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    bonus point: hit F3 instead to do the same.:)
     
  16. John Bull

    John Bull Registered Member

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    Hello Jeff,

    Now that piece of wisdom really tickles my fancy, sounds very promising indeed.

    I reckon that crafty CC plants it`s curse on a Registry item that the uninstall does not delete. Then when CC is re-installed, it looks up the Registry and copies all the old crap into the new entry.

    It is 01.42 BST (GMT+1) here now, so I`ll have a go tomorrow and let you know what happens. I`ll try your CNTRL+F and crofttk`s F3.

    Thank you both.
     
  17. culla

    culla Registered Member

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    jb you are so wrong
    those are reg keys left over in windoze
    nothing to do with ccleaner
    [which i've been using for years without issue]
    so why don't you actually let ccleaner do its job
    you'll find it works well
     
  18. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    Hi Fanj

    You are right about the AV's etc. Didn't think about that, as I don't run any AV's AS's etc.

    Pete
     
  19. stapp

    stapp Global Moderator

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    You only get offered the option for making a backup when you use the registry part of ccleaner (issues)

    If you were talking about the registry part of the cleaner then perhaps you unticked the option to make a backup of the entries you deleted. This unticking would have been done under options>advanced.

    Here is a link to the ccleaner documentation which is quite comprehensive.

    http://www.piriform.com/docs/ccleaner
     
  20. bgoodman4

    bgoodman4 Registered Member

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    I guess you never did go with Paragon Backup & Recover. I suggest that you make the effort to learn to do drive images, it will enhance your ability to sleep at night immensely.

    If you like I would be happy to walk you through the process for Paragon via e-mail, or if you prefer, PM (or even by phone if you are in north America). It really is very easy to do.

    BTW I have been using junk cleaners for as long as I have been using a computer and I have never had something removed that I wish had not been. I have used the following cleaners over the years, Norton Safe Clean (probably not the correct name, it was a long time ago), the junk cleaner that was part of Ace Utilities, the junk cleaner that is part of Tuneup Utilities, and currently Wise Disk Cleaner (free). None of them ever caused a problem. And we are talking about junk file cleaners here, not registry cleaners so why you are worried about your registry is a bit of a mystery to me.

    That being said I have been using registry cleaners for many years too and again never had a problem. All of the cleaners I have used offer a backup feature which automatically backup any reg entries they may be altering. 2 of the programs offer in addition the ability to run a manual backup (but they will automatically do a backup when you run the cleaner as well). The 2 programs are Registry Fix and Wise Registry Cleaner (free). The other registry cleaners I have used are the ones in Ace Utilities and Tuneup utilities.
     
  21. John Bull

    John Bull Registered Member

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    For all the kind members who have offered such generous advice on the CC infatuation with AVG9, I did stick the question into the lions mouth on the Piriform Forum. Here is the reply given by a Moderator so far :-
    ======
    View PostNergal, on 22 October 2010 - 12:26 AM, said:
    Developers will be adding AVG 2011 soon, i believe.

    however ccleaner still shows avg9 because the registry key for avg9 still exists (Ccleaner is Detecting HKLocalMachine\SOFTWARE\AVG\Avg9)

    am I correct in the assumption that both of you are using AVG 2011 Free?

    I can start writing a Winapp2.ini (note I can and will only test this on an XP SP3)

    [AVG AntiVirus 2011*]
    ID=2145
    LangSecRef=3024
    Detect=HKLM\SOFTWARE\AVG\AVG10
    Default=True
    FileKey1=%allusersprofile%\Application Data\avg10\Log|*.log
    FileKey2=%allusersprofile%\Application Data\avg10\scanlogs|*.log
    FileKey3=%allusersprofile%\Application Data\avg10\Log|*.xml
    FileKey4=%allusersprofile%\Application Data\avg10\update\backup|*.*
    FileKey5=%allusersprofile%\Application Data\avg10\Emc\Log|*.log



    Winapp2 entry Tested and works on XP SP3 can some one find me these files on a vista/win7 machine.
    =======
    I told him that YES I was using AVG 2011 Free.
    It looks like CC needs a slight poke to enter into the magic world of 2011 and so far they `aint poked it.

    Even if I deleted all these left-over Registry keys, it would not achieve anything.
     
  22. Shankle

    Shankle Registered Member

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    Will stick my nose in here again for what it's worth.
    It is very important to have a good backup of your system.
    To me it is a two fold operation.
    1. Backup to an external HD
    2. Backup Data to the same external HD or a DVD.
    If you move to a new PC the backup image will be worthless
    on a new Operating System. Hence the data backup.
    I have been using Clonezilla-live for quite awhile.
    Specially the i686.iso version. It is free and it
    has saved my butt several times.
     
  23. DOSawaits

    DOSawaits Registered Member

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    Pretty much what every else is saying.
    Crap cleaning applications can give you any number of "crap", but some play the game more honest than others, CCleaner for example doesn't tag temp files newer than 24 hours as such (if checked under Options/Advanced), and thus doesn't find as much "crap" as many others do, and at the same time offers a much safer/honest way of finding real "crap".
     
  24. LenC

    LenC Registered Member

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    I've had the same experience over the years. Furthermore, when I have neglected to run CCleaner (which I normally run every week or so), the speed of my webbrowser tends to bog down noticeably.

    But just in case, I would always have a prior image available. I use Shadow Protect.
     
  25. FanJ

    FanJ Updates Team

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    Hi John Bull,

    Would you allow me to make a note:

    Why would you let CCleaner remove logs from AVG at all?
    In my humble opinion that's not a good idea, regardless of whatever AV.
    Have a look at the thread I mentioned previously:
    https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=283091
    In reply # 5 Page42 said that he removed the checkmark for Avast! in CCleaner.
    And in reply # 7 Morro said the same thing.

    If my AV (NOD32) would have been listed in CCleaner (which it isn't), I would never let CCleaner remove anything of NOD32.

    Well, the decision is of course up to you.
     
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