I have to reinstall CCleaner after each run!

I'd been trying to run CCleaner the last couple of days, and the Windows and Applications screens were coming up blank. Checked for updates, found a new one, and downloaded it. Uninstalled all vestiges of the previous installation, installed version 17 and ran it - it found the usual ton of stuff, which I deleted. But now the same thing is happening: my Windows and Applications screens are blank when I open the program. I uninstalled it and reinstalled, and those two screens appear normal again initially, but as soon as I run the program, there they go again!
Any suggestions?
Thanks!

 

This is the reply I got at the CCleaner forum:
"Sounds to me like you may have been low on memory. Common problem with Windows 9x/ME "
I'm following up on that there as well, but I'm wondering if anyone here has any comment on that possibility.
Are they talking about RAM? I have 127 MB of RAM, and my System Resources show up as 59% free (firewall, antivirus, antispyware stuff running in the background; nothing else open). Why might CCleaner consistenly work for me once after each installation, and then have those task panels show up blank forever after (even after rebooting)?

 

I don't buy their explanation. I think Ccleaner is hosing something that is important to the system and when you isolate it all will become clear.

I recommend that you not go with the default setting that CC has. Instead, approach it incrementally. Frankly, I never let it do much beyond what is listed on the first tab (Windows) since I regard that as a safe area.

It seems apparent that you must be allowing CC to perform some action in the "Issues" tab area. I say that because that is the only area that creates backup files that will allow reversal of the actions. With that, you should be able to restore the system by merely running the reg file backup it creates. The fact that uninstalling CC restores your functionality bears out that fact.

Good luck.

 

Thanks, Surferdude!
The Windows tab is the only one I've ever actually run "Clean now" on, although running that one alone leads to all 3 tab panes going blank afterwards. But I'll take you up on your suggestion and uncheck all but one of the boxes in the Windows tab, and try running CCleaner progressively that way.
Just out of curiosity, can you tell me if your listings under Windows and Applications are the same when you click on "analyze "? I realize the tab panes (on the left) contain entirely different sets of items (for example, Windows has IE stuff, Applications has Mozilla/FF ones), but when I click on "analyze" for one, the list remains unchanged when I then change to the other tab. I don't think I ever even opened the Applications tab until this week, so I don't have an earlier time to compare my results to.

 

I can confirm that the right hand panel does not update after analyze has been run and then you change the page tab. It requires you to run analyze again for each page to update the display.

I think I misunderstood your problem and thought the program was doing harm to your system. I now understand (think) that you are thinking that you are having a problem with the CC program apparently doing some damage to itself. I think you may just not fully understand how the program works.

When you run the analyze tool for any screen, it will fill the right hand panel with data about what it has found and proposes to clean. That panel will stay filled even though you switch pages, as mentioned in my first statement in this post. Now, if you close the program and restart it, the panels will be cleared. They will stay that way until you run 'Analyze" again. If your installation works that way it's normal.

Does it?

 

Update! I have found a bug in the way CC operates, at least on my XP Home box. When I run the "Analyze" on the Windows tab page, it erases the typed in browser urls from history list in the address field. Of course, along with that goes the "Run" history in the Start > Run field. That wasn't true with the previous version. I just updated to ver 1.17.090 yesterday. The 16 version was bug free as far as I could tell.

I do like the Analyze feature that was added but I'll have to think about the price I'll be paying and may decide to go back to the older version.

EDIT. Further testing reveals that if the history items it erased are not checked for analysis, they are left alone. That's all well and good but it makes the analyze feature worthless since it equivalent to pressing the "Run Cleaner" button in so far as I can tell as yet.

Further edit: I reported the apparent bug to the CC forum so let's see what they say.

 

Thanks for all your follow-up, Surferdude!
The CC program is definitely just doing damage to itself - as far as I can tell, the computer overall is running as well as it usually does.
Not sure if I've made myself completely clear, so let me try this again: what's happening is that the panels in the tabs on the LEFT side are all blank after I click on "Run Cleaner" in the Windows tab. When I reinstall the program, the left-hand panels are filled with the appropriate entries. As long as I do nothing more than click on "analyze ", the panels all look as they should.
I just downloaded v.16, and will give that a shot once I'm offline. I'll post back later with results on that.

Addendum: I just ran v.16.
When I clicked on "Run Cleaner" in the Windows tab, it removed a bunch of entries (came back with the message "complete [removed xx bytes]" -- I don't remember the exact number, but it looked appropriate). When I then opened the Applications tab, and clicked on "Run Cleaner" my RIGHT hand paned remained identical (complete, removed xx bytes -- exactly the same info as under the Windows tab).
When I ran "Scan for Issues ", I noticed I had the option of checking "invalid file extension" for both .tmp and .wav - even *I* know that both of those are legitimate extensions, so I must not be understanding what the message is saying. (Don't worry, I'm not going to run "Fix selected issues - I may be curious, but I'm not an outright masochist!)
However, once I closed the program and reopened it, all my left-hand panels are blank again...

 

Thanks for the update Rebecca.

Yes, I finally understood what you were posting. I went to the CC site and posted up my bug experience for their attention and happened to notice your thread.

It seems that the ver. 1.17.090 is pretty buggy right now so they have a lot of work cut out for themselves. It's a great concept and I hope they can get it ironed out.

I'm surprised that you're having the same trouble with the older version though. It was trouble free for me although, like you, I don't do the "Fix Issues" portion, it scares me and I'm fearless. It probably wouldn't damage anything but why push it for so little of a gain. I just resist doing fixes that may not show their effects until some time later when I have forgotten what I did to cause them. That doesn't take too long either.

I'm gonna lay back in the bushes and wait for them to fix the issues before trying the product again.

Good luck.