Is Avast or Piriform going too far with the new update?

As PC Welt , Chip and Futurezone report, the new CCleaner version 5.45 collects more data than the user might like.

CCleaner deletes unused and temporary files from the hard drive as well as the history of websites visited, recently used files or search terms entered. However, anyone who installs the current update v5.45 will not be very enthusiastic, as this version provides deep insights into the user's behavior.

The data protection regulations also expressly point out that user behavior is analyzed and data is collected anonymously - the results are also passed on to third parties. However, the developers emphasize that they do not access personal data.

Critical innovations

If you deactivate this in the options under “Activate monitoring”, you will have to manually remove the corresponding check mark the next time you start the system.

According to PC Welt, CCleaner 5.45 can no longer be closed. Even if you click the “X button” to exit, only the tool window closes - but CCleaner continues to run in the background. Even a right click or the context menu does not offer the option to completely exit the program.

If you want to stop CCleaner completely, “you must deactivate the monitoring function in CCleaner, set the CCleaner entry under “Autostart” in the task manager to “deactivated” and then end the “CCleaner” task under Processes.”

And what does Avast say about it?

Avast/CCleaner shared the following statement with PC Welt:

“We are continually working to optimize CCleaner to provide strong value to our customers and have introduced new features in version 5.45 designed to provide us with more accurate data to help us identify bugs in the Find software more quickly and understand which functions are used and which are not.
The information we collect through these new features is aggregated and anonymous so we can identify overall trends. This helps us improve our software to ultimately provide our users with a better product. We do not collect any information that allows us to identify individual people and their user habits.

We value the feedback from our users and are currently working on the next CCleaner version, which will separate the cleaning function within our “Active Monitoring” function from the “Analytics Reporting” function. The next CCleaner version will also offer more control options for users, which the software will maintain even if the user CCleaner and then reopens it.
In order to create transparency, we will also provide an information sheet in which we will explain what data we collect, for what purpose and how we process it. We're also redesigning the data settings in CCleaner to make them clear and easy to understand.
It sometimes takes time to build, customize and test software, but we are working hard to deliver our next version as soon as possible.” Paul Yung, VP Products

If you no longer feel safe with v5.45, you should uninstall the program and use alternatives.

CCleaner 5.44 in the download database


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