Giveaway of the Day Forums

1. 

   Dragonlair
   Member

   I upgraded to CCleaner 7 (free version) a couple of weeks ago. I realized yesterday that it was preventing my monitor from going to sleep (after 30 minutes inactivity). I did some checking and found notes that it can be taken from the start list by using the Task Scheduler. However, that does not work. I did finally find the task scheduler but there was no Piriform folder there as described and what I did find of CCleaner didn't have the "disable" option I was told to find.

   I can manually stop it from running AFTER boot by using Task Manager but having to do that every day (or every time I boot) is a pain.

   I even found a comment in the CCleaner forum where someone asked and no one answered. That lead to one of the task scheduler instructions that didn't work.

   Is there any way to prevent this program from running in the background from startup? I only run it weekly to clean the garbage - cache, logs, temporary files, recycle bin kind of stuff - just before I run the weekly full anti-virus scan of the hard drive.

   Does anybody have any ideas? TIA

   Posted 4 weeks ago #
2. 

   ChrisS
   Administrator

   It's probably starting as a "service" rather than a program.

   Two ways to remedy:

   Open a run box (Win + R) and enter "services.msc". Find CCleaner in the list, see if the "Startup Type" is listed as "Manual" and, if so, double-click to open a properties box and, in the middle of the page, change the "Startup Type" to "Manual". The service will then only start when you start the program.

   The second is very similar, Open a run box (Win + R) and enter "msconfig". Click the "Services" tab, find CCLeaner and uncheck the box to disable it.

   In both cases, the service will then only start when you start the program. However, you might need to check after you run to program to ensure that CCleaner didn't change the status back to it's desired state.

   Posted 4 weeks ago #
3. 

   Dragonlair
   Member

   Thanks!

   I did BOTH. It still showed the icon on the taskbar notification area (which I then turned off). When I checked both services.msc and msconfig, CCleaner shows as disabled. I'll have to wait and see if it solves the monitor sleeping problem. It probably won't be until this evening that it will have a chance to go to sleep (we turn it off when we go out and it's grocery day).

   All the searches yesterday said to look for Piriform and I still can't find that.

   It's at least a start. I did open the product to change the option on the task icon. Even with it disabled in both places on startup, the icon showed. After turning off the icon, I closed the program, which of course, left it running in the task manager. I checked both system service checkes and they had NOT been changed from disabled. I stopped it in the task manager.

   Now the only question, which I'll find the answer later, is if just the leftover of usage rather than startup affects the monitor going to sleep.

   Posted 4 weeks ago #
4. 

   mikiem2
   Moderator

   In case it helps at all, monitored installation & 1st run/scan in my Win11 Pro 25H2 VBox VM...

   In addition to the program's main folder in Program Files\, a 2nd folder is created in Program Files\ Common Files\ Piriform\, a third in ProgramData\, and a fourth in Users\ [UserName]\ AppData\ Roaming\. I recorded 3 new kays in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, a new key for uninstall, the app's key in \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\, a new class key in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ WOW6432Node\, a new key in \HKEY_USERS\ .DEFAULT\, and the key for the new service in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\ Services\ CCleaner7\.

   The registry run keys are all clear as are the 2 Start Menu auto-start folders. CCleaner auto-starts the service in its properties, and uses 4 scheduled tasks that run at every Windows log-in: CCleaner 7 - Skip UAC - S-1-5-21-54161338-4068258897-2220097527-1001, CCleaner 7 - S-1-5-21-54161338-4068258897-2220097527-1001, CCleaner 7 BugReport, CCleaner 7 Update.

   Disabling all 4 services had an unexpected effect after Win11 restart -- the Windows Security icon went missing in the notification area, though opening the security window via Settings everything looked good. I tried restarting 4 times in case it was an anomaly. Setting the CCleaner service to manual start in its properties in Services, then restarting got the security icon back, but starting CCleaner did Not start the service -- it had to be manually started, and then CCleaner appeared to work normally.

   I did finally find the task scheduler but there was no Piriform folder there as described and what I did find of CCleaner didn't have the "disable" option I was told to find.

   In Win11 I usually pin the Windows Tools in the Start Menu to the sort of front page of the Start Menu -- I use it often. It includes the link to fire up Task Scheduler. When I opened Task Scheduler the very first entry was the 1st CCleaner task I listed. Expanding the tree of tasks on the left, the bottom folder was Piriform, and contained the other 3 tasks.

   Posted 4 weeks ago #
5. 

   Dragonlair
   Member

   The service.msc and msconfig steps did NOT work! I booted this morning as normal and it was about a half-hour before I actually started using the PC. The first thing I checked was Task Manager and CCleaner was there!

   I clicked to "end task" and I'll leave my other changes but I'm still stuck with this. I don't like playing with the registry. That's just the way I am.

   Any other ideas? Or, any GOOD and FREE alternatives to CCleaner? They like Micro$oft's method -- dig in where you can and don't let the customer block you!

   Posted 4 weeks ago #
6. 

   ChrisS
   Administrator

   There might be another service that needs to be set to manual start. You could try Autoruns from Sysinternals. It includes columns for Publisher and Installation Path which makes it easier to find services related to a particular program. If you find something else from CCleaner or Piriform just uncheck the box or open "services.msc", locate the particular service, and set to manual start.

   Alternatively, you might be able to do everything you want with the already installed Windows Disk Cleanup tool. Here's a link to a tutorial from ElevenForm: Use Disk Cleanup in Windows 11. I don't know if the tool does more than it once did or if the presentation is just more confusing such that it now requires a tutorial.

   Posted 4 weeks ago #
7. 

   mikiem2
   Moderator

   Purely FWIW...

   The service.msc and msconfig steps did NOT work! I booted this morning as normal and it was about a half-hour before I actually started using the PC. The first thing I checked was Task Manager and CCleaner was there!

   As I posted earlier, from my quick testing in a VM, there are 4 tasks that start CCleaner whenever anyone logs into Windows. Whether the service is running or not at least the 1st 2 tasks will start CCleaner running in the background. Also, if you start CCleaner with its service not running, you can check Task Mgr. and see that the CCleaner service is still Not running, and that several of the menu items on the left hand side of the CCleaner window are missing. If you want to start Windows and not see CCleaner at all in Task Mgr., you have to disable those scheduled tasks along with having it's service disabled, but then you have to start that service [you can do it in Task Mgr.] before you start CCleaner.

   Any other ideas? Or, any GOOD and FREE alternatives to CCleaner?

   There are loads and loads of utilities out there, and the amount of stuff they delete varies, from very minimal to what I feel personally is a bit scary. I don't use a cleaner so there's nothing I can recommend personally, but whenever it's given away LOTS of people seem to be fans of Glary Utilities -- neowin[.]net/software/glary-utilities-634038/

   Alternatively, you might be able to do everything you want with the already installed Windows Disk Cleanup tool.

   In my experience it *often* *partially* works for Windows Update leftovers -- after running disk cleanup, running dism /online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup at the command prompt running as admin most always finds and removes more. It will usually remove crash dumps, but is 50/50 when it comes to old driver versions after a driver update. Microsoft, I believe out of their China offices, provides PC Manager in Windows Store. It can be buggy -- found it partially starting with Windows in a couple of copies of Windows -- and it doesn't remove nearly as much as cleaners from Glary & such, but it does remove a lot from the temp folders and browser caches.

   Posted 3 weeks ago #
8. 

   Dragonlair
   Member

   Well, I ended up undoing everything I tried! As has been noted, stopping some services from booting can affect the actual running of the software.

   I started CCleaner and it seemed to come up but NOT COMPLETELY. Most of the options/actions to take were not there. I undid the msconfig and services.msc steps. Oddly enough, services.msc had switched CCleaner from "disabled" to "manual".

   Then everything worked fine. I guess I'll just have to close it from task manager after I run it and check occasionally. If everything is set normally, there are TWO items in Task Manager - CCleaner and CCleaner services as a folder.

   At least I won't have to be bothered by the monitor going to sleep just as I sit down. Besides, modern monitors aren't supposed to get burned in like the old ones did and it's just a mild energy savings to put them to sleep.

   Posted 3 weeks ago #
9. 

   mikiem2
   Moderator

   You're right, monitor burn-in isn't much of an issue today unless you're using an OLED monitor. I do use sleep on our PCs & laptop for several reasons... one is that having the system sleep means the fans aren't running, and when they're not running they aren't pumping more dust into the interior. Even though the air intake is filtered, I still notice a very real difference in how often I have to open the case for cleaning. Another reason is electricity is expensive, and is only going to become more so [thanks AI]. During sleep the PCs only use a trickle of energy. There's also the matter of heat & longevity. Fans do wear out, and while electronic components aren't subject to mechanical wear, they do eventually wear out. The heat generated by Win11 background processes might accelerate that -- my current AMD CPU runs hot, and those background processes when I'm away from the PC can surprisingly lead to peaks near 80 degrees C. And last, I have no idea what or why those background processes can use sustained 100% CPU, but it makes me uncomfortable as I don't trust Microsoft. Since whatever only runs when I'm not using the PC, I prefer it not run anything, i.e., sleep.

   Posted 3 weeks ago #
10. 

    gergn
    Member

    Like you, I let laptops and desktops sleep, if I do not need them for a few hours, or less. If I do not need them for a longer period, I shut them down and sometimes even unplug the cord. But my old Apple Classic II (more than 30 years old now) needs to be re-connected to the mains for a few days, before it will boot.
    My professor - I graduated more than 60 years ago - once asked me to review a paper that described the relation between ageing and operating temperature of transistors: 10 degrees Celsius extra would reduce their life by half.

    Posted 3 weeks ago #
11. 

    ChrisS
    Administrator

    If you still want to pursue a fix to your PC's insomnia then you might consider this article: Fix Windows 10/11 Sleep Mode Not Working [Solved].

    It describes how to use the powercfg commands to identify programs and processes that keep your PC from entering sleep mode. If you find something, the article also gives the command to over-ride the processes request to keep the PC awake. I've never used it for that but I have used it to discover what caused the PC to awake from sleep. I'd set a system restore point before issuing the over-ride command.

    If powercfg doesn't show anything then you could check the Event Viewer logs (Win + R then "eventvwr") for a known 30 minute period where you left the PC idle. There should be some event listed that led to the PC not sleeping.

    Posted 3 weeks ago #
12. 

    mikiem2
    Moderator

    The latter portions at the link you provided [thanks Chris] are how I normally fix sleep issues, checking the device properties in Device Mgr. & the advanced settings in Control Panel\ All Control Panel Items\ Power Options. Tried the command line options out of curiosity, finding powercfg -devicequery wake_armed just stalled FWIW.

    In my experience I've found Windows sleep can be a bit arbitrary, or even fickle, depending primarily on the motherboard, which I always set in the BIOS to disable all wake options, but also the mouse, keyboard, and any other attached peripherals. With this current build, this PC will *usually* sleep after 30 minutes of inactivity, but not always, so I've taken to activating sleep from the shutdown menu before I step away. And very occasionally it will repeatedly wake immediately after activating sleep, which is usually cured by a restart. The previous motherboard/CPU combo behaved differently with the same copy of Windows, as did the build before that.

    Posted 3 weeks ago #
13. 

    gergn
    Member

    For all kind of handy things I use an .ahk-script. The part of the script that handles sleep or halt is given below:

    ; sleep and shutdown
    ^!s::DllCall("PowrProf\SetSuspendState", "int", 0, "int", 0, "int", 0) ;Ctrl+Alt+s to sleep
    ^!h::Shutdown, 1 ; Ctrl+Alt+h to halt or shutdown

    Since I use this script, I have had no sleep issues.

    After sleep, my next most popular script is to add an extended date/time stamp to my mails or documents. Like

    in week 47 opgesteld op de E16423 MEDION2024 op donderdag 20 november 2025Q4 om 19:36 uur

    The script is:

    ^!d:: ; Ctrl+Alt+D hotkey
    ; Get OS info
    OSInfo := GetOSInfo()
    OSName := OSInfo.Name
    OSVersion := OSInfo.Version
    OSArch := OSInfo.Architecture
    OSEdition := OSInfo.Edition
    OSBuild := OSInfo.BuildNumber
    sysInfo := GetSystemInfo()
    make := sysInfo.Make
    model := sysInfo.Model
    FormatTime, mijnMaand,, MM
    mijnMaand +=0
    kwartaal := Floor((mijnMaand+2)/3)
    ; FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,, ' (%OSName% version %OSVersion%) op 'dddd d MMMM yyyy 'Q'kwartaal 'om' HH:mm 'uur '
    FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,,dddd d MMMM yyyy'Q'%kwartaal% 'om' HH:mm 'uur '
    Weeknummer := SubStr(A_YWeek, -1)
    SendInput in week %Weeknummer% opgesteld op de %model% %A_ComputerName% op %CurrentDateTime% {Enter}
    return

    Posted 3 weeks ago #

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