Temp_Cleaner GUI — Just what I was looking for

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FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT By Deanna McElveen When I go looking for a piece of free software for a particular need, I usually have a checklist in my mind. In
[See the full post at: Temp_Cleaner GUI — Just what I was looking for]

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fisher75, Norio, abbodi86

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Installable. Yes, that’s right. I said “installable,” not “portable,” because I want our customers to be able to easily uninstall it if they wish.

Installing/uninstalling on Windows is a horrible task.
For uninstalling you need a 3rd party software (portable of course)

Portable is the way to go. Right-click on folder/app, delete.

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This may not be the case for system cleaning. Especially if you want to set up an app for clients who are not tech people.

The idea here is to provide ordinary end-users with something they will not forget to use. A Tray Icon with a Reminder popup (toast notification) on a timer would be more effective, but apparently it would be more challenging to code for the developer, who works primarily in Python Scripts.

I do like that this program is Open-Source, so we can judge for ourselves how good or bad the programming is.

But for everyday computer users, the last thing I would want to do is introduce extra steps (inserting a Flash Drive, for example, or clicking on a desktop icon and going through a UAC prompt) to stand between them and cleaning their systems.

Best of all would be to set up with a Standard Profile and make it run automatically as a Scheduled Task. Most end users wouldn’t touch that arrangement. But I don’t know if this is even an option with this utility app.

-- rc primak

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The following issue gets glossed over a lot when vendors/developers advertise Windows cleaning products: I saw in the video demo a LOT of “Access Denied” errors.

This means the product is NOT performing any cleaning of these items. GUI products don’t show these errors, and report that they have “cleaned” items where access was denied. Windows Disk Cleanup (GUI) is also guilty of this kind of “dumbing-down” behavior. (And even more so with the Win 10- Win 11 Storage Settings cleanup screens.) Even in Windows, Permissions Matter! (This is one reason why products like CCleaner often will only clean for the Current User.)  At least this cleaner is honest about this issue.

(BTW, if you know what you’re looking at, Linux from an external USB instance or another disk or partition, can and will delete nearly anything in Windows, unless Bitlocker or other encryption is enabled or the system partition is locked. May no longer be true with Windows 11 — haven’t tested this in awhile. One exception is the Windows Registry, but you don’t want to be messing with that anyway.)

Re. product ownership:

GitHub is owned by Microsoft. Make of that what you will.

CCleaner and all Piriform products are owned by Avast, which is owned by Norton. Make of that what you wish.

Let’s not get into the “who owns what” and “this owner/this country taints everything they own” game. It never ends well. (Remember when folks were falsely claiming that Zoom was spying on behalf of the Chinese military?)

 

-- rc primak

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I gave it a try and selected the Nuclear Option! It cleaned out 10Gb of space on my 256Gb NVME Boot Drive.

Unfortunately, I should have read all things it was going to do first!

It cleaned out all my File Explorer Quick Access Links, which I use extensively, and also the Task Bar Jump Lists which I also use extensively.

These are not hard to recreate but it is time consuming. Fortunately, I had an Image backup and quickly restored my C: drive.

Next time I’ll be more careful, but I’ll also Image the C: drive locally just before I do it JIC!

While I was messing around I also got rid of a bunch of APPs I no longer use which got me 14Gb back.

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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Will Fastie, rc primak

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Just as with any other program, you are more likely to use Temp_Cleaner GUI if it’s not buried in the Start Menu (see Figure 2). That was the original purpose of the Windows desktop — it was an easy way to get to the things you use most often. Why Microsoft has decided to make it empty by default is an odd change for me. Really, Microsoft? Not even a Recycle Bin?

Well, isn’t that what the Windows Task Bar is for? If the developer really wanted us to never forget to use his product, couldn’t he have created a Notification Area (Tray) Icon?

Most other free Windows cleaner apps create a Tray Icon. And it always starts with the Windows Desktop and NEVER shuts up in most cases! No way to remove or minimize or prevent the Tray Icon from starting up with the Windows Desktop in many of these apps. Change their Registry settings to no longer always launch with Windows Desktop and these programs stop working altogether. Make of that what you wish.

-- rc primak

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If you run this under a local account, it doesn’t delete the local temp data (recycle bin). Annoying. Also, it would be nice if it showed you what it was going to delete before it deletes it, not after.

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rc primak

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This is the first time I’ve heard that AVG and Avast are owned by Norton.

Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you recognize a mistake as soon as you make it again.

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These articles should clarify things for you.

https://www.pcmag.com/opinions/is-norton-planning-to-kill-free-antivirus

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/020316/top-5-companies-owned-microsoft-msft.asp

Peace, CAS

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Charlie wrote:

This is the first time I’ve heard that AVG and Avast are owned by Norton.

It’s very twisty. Avast acquired AVG in 2016. NortonLifeLock merged with Avast last year. A new company, Gen, is emerging; see the press release at Avast. Gen brands include Norton, Avast, LifeLock, Avira, AVG, ReputationDefender and CCleaner.

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TechTango, SueW, rc primak, Charlie

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Will,

Good to know! I’ll put all those products on my NO-FLY list. IMHO ever since Peter Norton sold out to Symantec everything they put out is bloated junk that just messes up systems as they put their tendrils into every corner of the system.

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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Compared to HDCleaner, which Deanna recommended last October, is Temp_Cleaner GUI better and a replacement for HDCleaner (or BleachBit for that matter), or is Temp_Cleaner GUI more like an alternative?

I had liked that HDCleaner was identified as portable.

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Of that entire list, I am only aware of Bleachbit having withstood the test of time. It has an excellent reputation among both Windows and Linux users, and is trusted not to overclean. It also is free of self-serving spyware, pushware (pushing a paid product with nag screens) and adware. I don’t know whether the others have been so widely accepted as safe and effective cleaners.

BTW, a technician friend of mine tested Temp_Cleaner GUI. Its installer and its uninstaller raised red flags with Malwarebytes. And when running, the program raised red flags about possibly damaging Windows Update, which would require repairs to be made to the Windows system.

Make of these reports what you will.

-- rc primak

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Alex5723, IBM1130

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Using that program did damage Windows update on my laptop and I’m still trying to get it to work with no results.

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the program raised red flags about possibly damaging Windows Update, which would require repairs to be made to the Windows system.

I (by myself) have tried running the cleaning process with the “Windows update cleaning” option checked and Windows Update was waiting for a pending restart and yes, I can confirm that rebooting didn’t install downloaded system updates, but Windows Update downloaded them again after booting from that reboot.

So no, Temp_Cleaner GUI does NOT damage Windows Update in any possible way.

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rc primak

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So no, Temp_Cleaner GUI does NOT damage Windows Update in any possible way.

I think your post demonstrated that the red flags were correct. MS Updates was damaged. It simply managed to recover without resorting to formal system troubleshooting tools.

-- rc primak

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Repairs which you speculated were not required. (Formal or informal!)

Windows 11 Pro version 22H2 build 22621.1778 + Microsoft 365 + Edge

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rc primak

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MS Updates was damaged. It simply managed to recover without resorting to formal system troubleshooting tools.

No, MS Updates wasn’t damaged, it simply tried to install an Update that it couldn’t find it’s files, so it didn’t install anything, Also, the same behavior is implemented with the Windows Update cleaning feature of other PC Cleaning Software so I it doesn’t only happen with Temp_Cleaner GUI.

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Just because other cleaners do the same damages does not mean there is no damage. b states there are no damages, but he does not reply to the red flags. Since I did not run the tests my colleague reported, there is no way to know what those red flags were referring to at this point.

Windows update cleaning does remove files and caches which are needed to inform the system of which updates are available. Once this happens, the caches need to be refilled. This is a repair. And it is automatic.

-- rc primak

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What about using Cleanmgr.exe (been in Windows for ages) and the good ol’  %temp% ?  And perhaps a search for all other “tmp” files .

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When using the Maximum Clean setting, Temp_Cleaner GUI wiped out several icons as a result of the cleaning that involves the IconCache.db file. After putting the missing icons back, I ran the program again, making sure to deselect the box next to IconCache.db as it was my intention to remove it from the parameters and thereby create what I’d hoped would be a Maximum Clean minus the icon removal, but it still removed the icons anyway.

Also, the program asks for the location of Win XPE (which my PC does not have), so if you don’t specify the location, the cleaner gets to a point where it says something to the effect of “location of Win XPE not specified, cleaner cannot continue.” I suppose I could deselect that parameter as well but after the double-dose of icon deletion, I just deleted the program altogether.

So, I think it’s worth noting that this program is a little bit scary on account of the fact that an individual parameter that has the potential to delete your icons can get lost amidst the 70 or so parameters that are offered, and is therefore not to be trifled with.

Since the author Mr. Ziad has replied to another user’s post, perhaps he can reply to this one as well and advise what I did wrong?

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rc primak

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I tried the cleaner you suggested and it removed most of my icons and replaced them with blank default ones.  Microsoft Office, Photoshop and many others.  Tried all week to get them back with no luck.  Why would someone make a program like this. Larry Laughman

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Same thing happened to me, plus I can’t upgrade from Win 11 21H2 to Win 11 22H2. I’m about to do a clean install because of that. Don’t use that program if you don’t want major problems !

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