
Windows 10 turns thumbs down on CCleaner - samizdis
https://techxplore.com/news/2020-08-windows-thumbs-ccleaner.html
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henriquez
The headline is misleading. The installer for the free version of CCleaner
includes numerous bloatware applications with privacy concerns. So Microsoft’s
issue is not CCleaner itself but the fact that it installs a bunch of unwanted
garbage, unless you’re tech-savvy enough to uncheck some boxes during the
install.

IMO it’s shady as hell to install or side-load other apps unless the user
specifically opts-in. I have no desire to download and inspect the CCleaner
Free installer, but I’ve seen numerous examples on other offenders where you
have to go into the “Custom install” option just to get the boxes to uncheck
in order to not change your browser homepage, install a toolbar, or other
types of bullshit.

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RealStickman_
Registry cleaners and driver installation software seem to be popular for
bundling stuff with them. I think the android version of CCleaner literally
installed ads on the phone.

I'm also doubting the positive effect claimed by such programs.

~~~
WorldMaker
Registry cleaners are absolutely a theatrical sham.

The worst part is they are more likely to do harm than any positive effects
simply by the nature of "registry cleaning". The registry is an extremely MRU
(Most Recently Used) optimized database. At best "regular cleaning" just
trashes MRU statistics deoptimizing exactly what the OS tries to optimize in
the first place. The registry is also heavily optimized to be read heavy
rather than write heavy. At worst that MRU churn from "regular cleaning"
directly becomes a cause for database corruption simply by the volume of
writes it forces and the likelihood that a power loss or similar occurs during
those writes. The number of times I've seen friends/family regularly using
CCleaner and then complaining about corrupt registry hives and needing to
drastically recover Windows is _far too many_.

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sevensor
Microsoft should take a hard look at why people feel the need to use software
like this. Personally I just accept that using Windows is going to be a
terrible experience, something that you do for work because you have to, but
people I've met who try to make it less terrible have used CCleaner in the
past. They use CCleaner on a new machine to strip out OEM crapware, and
install it first as a matter of habit. Microsoft needs to lead here and not,
for instance, allow a Windows 10 Pro machine like the one I was provisioned
for work to be sold with BS like "Xbox Console Companion."

~~~
bzb3
CCleaner does not remove OEM crapware. It "cleans up the registry" and does
other stuff that with time has been incorporated into Windows 10 itself.

~~~
nwah1
I think it offered some capabilities to free up disk space but Storage Sense
is now part of Windows.

The idea that Windows is some kind of nightmare to work with just isn't my
experience at all. It is stable, and the performance is fine. OEM crapware
sucks, admittedly, but it isn't as bad as it used to be.

One could reasonably complain that Windows 10 is invasive to your privacy, or
adds to the cost of a new computer. And it still lets idiots get into trouble,
but only after clicking that they are sure that they are an idiot a few times
in a row.

Apple solves that by only letting people do things that they are approved to
do by Apple, for a meager 30% fee on every transaction. So the question users
need to ask is whether the 30% idiot tax is worth it.

~~~
sevensor
To be honest, I've never taken the time to figure out how MacOS works. It's
like an OS written for cultists. From the strange way the pointing device
works, to the icons that don't mean anything to me, to the names that don't
make sense (it's called Finder but I can't figure out how to give it find(1)
arguments; isn't this supposed to be a Unix?), it seems designed to isolate
the initiated and alienate the outsider.

On the other hand, what I dislike about using Windows is the familiar list of
complaints: invasive and hostile telemetry, heavily mouse-driven user
interface, I-know-better-than-you automatic reboots at awkward times,
_incredibly_ poor performance on older hardware, advertisements and unwanted
widgets baked into the start menu, garbage applications I didn't want that are
installed because Microsoft wants them there, inconsistent application
installation behavior, deeply incapable budget SKUs for cheaper hardware, path
length limits, people running everything with administrator privileges, weird
file locking behavior (ever tried to write to a file that's opened the wrong
way for reading?), fragile support for terrible hardware that works just long
enough to make a buck, ... I could go on all day. Basically, my problem with
Windows is that when you use it, you've paid to have an experience that's
worse than what you can get for free in every way that matters to me but one.
The only thing Windows has going for it is that it runs Excel like a champ.

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tyingq
_" The free version of CCleaner is packaged with Google Chrome browser"_

Guessing that's the real motivation for this change.

~~~
RealStickman_
_Google Toolbar, Avast Free Antivirus and AVG Antivirus Free._

There's a lot more stuff being installed than just Google Chrome. I'd
definitely classify two seperate antivirus programs as problematic.

