![]() ![]() So they're tracking your moves more closely than ever. aimed at providing us with more accurate data". That statement, released by Avast on 6 August, admits ("as part of our ongoing mission", sigh) that version 5.45 "introduced some features. What did CCleaner have to say for itself?Īvast, which bought CCleaner's developer Piriform last year, spent the summer unleashing defensive drivel that ranged from empty cliches ("Your privacy is very important to us") to patronising filibuster ("In order to answer that question") via oodles of self-important jargon about analytics, aggregation, anonymisation and "underlying mechanisms". Sticking with outdated software isn't usually the safest policy, but this mess shows it can pay to wait for any problems to emerge before jumping into a new version. The one reassurance is that CCleaner's free edition doesn't update automatically, so you may be using an older version that does let you opt out. So by greying out its Privacy tick boxes, and then removing them completely, it appears CCleaner failed on at least three counts to meet required standards for consent. According to the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), which came into effect on 25 May, consent is not valid if: "There was no genuine free choice over whether to opt in you use pre-ticked opt-in boxes or other methods of default consent (or) people cannot easily withdraw consent" (see the ICO's website for more information).ĬCleaner 5.44 still tries hard to stop you switching off Active Monitoring – click Yes to ignore it "Somebody over at Piriform REALLY REALLY wants you to enable monitoring whether or not you like it" said one of many furious users on the Piriform Community Forum. Why else would CCleaner be so reluctant to let you close it? Users speculated that Active Monitoring, which claims to look out for temporary files, was being used to track you. What's more, CCleaner now kept running after you closed the program window, and its Active Monitoring process had become impossible to switch off.ĬCleaner 5.45 removed tick boxes for ads and data collection, but opted you in anyway Then came the infamous July release (5.45) which removed both Privacy tick boxes, but continued to opt you into data-gathering and adverts. CCleaner's June release (5.44), duly spammed users with pop-up adverts for a 'Summer Sale'.ĬCleaner 5.43 displayed tick boxes for data-collection and ads that you couldn't untick You couldn't untick either of them unless you paid for an upgrade. The trouble began in May, when CCleaner 5.43 added two pre-ticked boxes: 'Allow usage data to be shared with 3rd parties for analytics purposes' and 'Show offers for our other products'. CCleaner – still developed by Puriform, but now owned by Avast – was one of the most highly recommended free software tools around, until this summer when the great junk-remover became such a ghastly junk offender that even its own parent company withdrew its latest version.Ĭan our old favourite ever be trusted again? Here we answer your questions and look at the best free CCleaner alternatives. ![]()
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