Author Topic: CCleaner now deleting security software log files...  (Read 21040 times)

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Hermite15

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CCleaner now deleting security software log files...
« on: September 27, 2010, 07:17:22 PM »
...just found out, after updating it to version2.36.1233 >>> included on my system are Avast5 and MalwareByte. Haven't used mbam for a while so there was nothing to delete, but usntr.log (persistence cache log file) was included for Avast. As it's not protected by the self-defense module, that was easy. This said that's just a log file, this won't break your Avast...but it might be needed for troubleshooting purposes...well sometimes, mainly during beta testing phases. They must have considered that the file contained private data...which is probably true but okay, just wanted to mention that and send a little warning ;)

ps: other Avast log files are protected, so they can't be deleted like that.
« Last Edit: September 27, 2010, 07:21:51 PM by Logos »

Online CraigB

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Re: CCleaner now deleting security software log files...
« Reply #1 on: September 27, 2010, 07:44:53 PM »
I quite like the new add in to ccleaner, got rid of 28meg of old avast junk  :)

Offline DavidR

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Re: CCleaner now deleting security software log files...
« Reply #2 on: September 27, 2010, 07:48:24 PM »
I unchecked the Avast5 option in the Applications section right away, whilst it shouldn't be able to delete protected files, I can't see it needing to delete any avast files. The deletion of the usrntdat.log (not usntr.log) would be pretty pointless (would slow subsequent scan) and in my system this is 1KB. The nsrnt.dat is 256KB, neither of which I would want ccleaner playing with.

I have MBAM but there is no check against that option, I can't recall is this option was there before and I unchecked it for the same reasoning, I don't want ccleaner playing with any security based application.
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Re: CCleaner now deleting security software log files...
« Reply #3 on: September 27, 2010, 08:06:51 PM »
I unchecked the Avast5 option in the Applications section right away, whilst it shouldn't be able to delete protected files, I can't see it needing to delete any avast files. The deletion of the usrntdat.log (not usntr.log) would be pretty pointless (would slow subsequent scan) and in my system this is 1KB. The nsrnt.dat is 256KB, neither of which I would want ccleaner playing with.

I have MBAM but there is no check against that option, I can't recall is this option was there before and I unchecked it for the same reasoning, I don't want ccleaner playing with any security based application.
No malwarebytes wasn't there before, ccleaner has alway's cleaned defender well so there just adding some popular av's and scanner's now and i find it did well and hasn't harmed anything, i did an update and tried a reboot and firewall settings have not been touched but it deleted 28meg of un'needed old file's so im happy. Oh and my full scan just finished at 17mins which is what it is usually.

Offline DavidR

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Re: CCleaner now deleting security software log files...
« Reply #4 on: September 27, 2010, 08:19:21 PM »
They are adding them in what they are calling Utilities , which at the very least is a major misclassification and would lull people into thinking there is no downside.

You didn't say what these files were - I don't know how you managed to accrue 28MB of old avast files as there is a housekeeping routine to keep the major logs down to a workable size, whist retaining enough information should it be required for debugging, etc.
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Re: CCleaner now deleting security software log files...
« Reply #5 on: September 27, 2010, 08:25:18 PM »
They are adding them in what they are calling Utilities , which at the very least is a major misclassification and would lull people into thinking there is no downside.

You didn't say what these files were - I don't know how you managed to accrue 28MB of old avast files as there is a housekeeping routine to keep the major logs down to a workable size, whist retaining enough information should it be required for debugging, etc.
They are setup.logs and usntr.logs

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Re: CCleaner now deleting security software log files...
« Reply #6 on: September 27, 2010, 08:38:52 PM »
Can confirm that it did reset my update timing back to 240 min and my virus chest size was reset also so iv turned it off now anyway, no harm done and i like to experiment and now i know what it does.

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Re: CCleaner now deleting security software log files...
« Reply #7 on: September 27, 2010, 08:54:02 PM »
Posters above refer to CCleaner 2.36 deleting files usrntdat.log and usntr.log.

First of all, I could not find file usrntdat.log in my machine, only usntr.log.

And, second, CCleaner 2.36 did not delete usntr.log, with Avast! Antivirus 5 "utility" checked.

As a side note, I remark that the transient cache is not working correctly here (both caches checked).  Files keep being scanned repeatedly, even after two subsequent uses only seconds apart.  For large files, this is quite a nuisance!  Might the absence of the file usrntdat.log have anything to do with this problem?

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Re: CCleaner now deleting security software log files...
« Reply #8 on: September 27, 2010, 09:07:46 PM »
Posters above refer to CCleaner 2.36 deleting files usrntdat.log and usntr.log.

First of all, I could not find file usrntdat.log in my machine, only usntr.log.

And, second, CCleaner 2.36 did not delete usntr.log, with Avast! Antivirus 5 "utility" checked.

As a side note, I remark that the transient cache is not working correctly here (both caches checked).  Files keep being scanned repeatedly, even after two subsequent uses only seconds apart.  For large files, this is quite a nuisance!  Might the absence of the file usrntdat.log have anything to do with this problem?
No it didn't delet the log file it just cleaned it, just tried another scan now and it completed in 11 min's. I only have one option ticked under persistant cache.Transient cache is ticked also.
« Last Edit: September 27, 2010, 09:11:12 PM by craigb »

Hermite15

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Re: CCleaner now deleting security software log files...
« Reply #9 on: September 27, 2010, 09:32:01 PM »
well as far as I know this is just a log file, meant to refer to to get information, but in no case used by Avast to operate anything. It just contains the persistence cache log, therefor is seen by CCleaner as directly relating the content of your hard disk. Deleting it won't change the behavior of anything, won't reset anything...hey, it's not a setting file (aka *.ini), and again, it's the only log file that's not protected by the self defense module explaining how CCleaner can delete it. The persistence cache files themselves won't be affected obviously. As to the 28 MB size, yes, the longer it's been used, the bigger it becomes. Same here on my system.

ps: now I'm ready to hear from an Avast dev if this file has any other impact, I can be wrong of course.

edit: hmm David, the usntrdat.log doesn't exist ;D >>> you might have been thinking about the actual persistence cache dat files. Noone has ever said that those would get deleted :D ...which would indeed be completely stupid.

edit: just seeing now as expected in the selfdef.log file that access was denied to the other log files.

edit: other log files get actually deleted (not all, two are protected), seeing it now. I most likely deleted them in a previous run of CCleaner without looking at the result pane, and as they got re-created, they're targeted too >>> screen shot.

 
« Last Edit: September 27, 2010, 10:18:31 PM by Logos »

Offline Rednose

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Re: CCleaner now deleting security software log files...
« Reply #10 on: September 27, 2010, 11:41:22 PM »
I don't want ccleaner playing with any security based application.

Exactly !

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Hermite15

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Re: CCleaner now deleting security software log files...
« Reply #11 on: September 27, 2010, 11:45:12 PM »
it doesn't play with anything, it just deletes logs if you want to. Just for some reason Avast is checked by default, and that's a mistake.

Offline Chim

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Re: CCleaner now deleting security software log files...
« Reply #12 on: September 28, 2010, 02:56:16 AM »
I ran a Scan with CCleaner 2.36 a while ago and NOTHING, not a single Byte of avast was tagged for removal.
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Re: CCleaner now deleting security software log files...
« Reply #13 on: September 28, 2010, 03:09:01 AM »
It's a shame that avast does not do housekeeping by itself. A shame!
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cadremis

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Re: CCleaner now deleting security software log files...
« Reply #14 on: September 28, 2010, 03:25:05 AM »
I just did a full scan with Avast 5 after using Ccleaner and nothing changed...

I took 10 minutes to scan my entire sistem, see picture attached...