Update to CCleaner 5.59.7230 installs CCleaner Browser PUP

[German]Today a blog post about CCleaner. There is an update to version 5.59.7230 and I have a warning. Piriform installs the CCleaner browser, which also changes file type assignments.

A word about CCleaner

CCleaner is a free tool to clean up Windows – Wikipedia writes here about 'optimization'. Some hints on what is 'cleaned and optimized' can be found at Askvg. I would quote CCleaner as a kind of snake oil (not really necessary).

(Source: Talos)

Whats new in v5.59.7230?

Ccleaner v5.59.7230 was already published on June 25th, 2019 – a user has made me aware of it with a comment. Piriform writes in the version history that in this version some translations have been added and several bugs have been fixed. Here is the list of the new features.

Easy Clean

• Fixed a bug that prevented Easy Clean from being shown correctly to a small percentage of users

Software Updater

• Fixed a DPI display bug in the upgrade window

Localization

• Inserted additional translations into the installer

The users of the free version of CCleaner update it manually. The new version of CCleaner Free can be downloaded from this website. CCleaner Professional is updated automatically. CCleaner 5.5x is available for Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8.1, and Windows 10.

I generally advise against using the tool. Actually these 'cleanups' are superfluous – Windows can do a lot too. In addition, there is always the danger that something will break. Piriform and CCleaner have also attracted attention in the past through a series of unpleasant stories. You can read the details in the following linked articles. So nobody can claim that I didn't warn.

CCleaner installs CCleaner Browser PUP

Two days ago I came across a tweet on Martin Brinkmann's article at ghacks.net and this Techdows article on an innovation in CCleaner that his fans should know about.

Beware: CCleaner may install CCleaner Browser and remap file associations #ccleaner #avast #windowshttps://t.co/PRYLVAuWCs pic.twitter.com/ry3dvejlL6

— ghacksnews (@ghacksnews) 17. Juli 2019

he message: CCleaner bundles third-party software with the program, whereby technically not all offers come from third-party providers. The Avast browser is from our own stable, because Avast is the parent company of Piriform. The CCleaner Browser is another such project. It's a chromium-based browser with some additional features.

If a user does not pay attention, CCleaner browser can be installed on the system with the Ccleaner Installer as PUP (Potentially Unwanted Program). The offer to install CCleaner Browser seems to have been integrated into version 5.59 of the application; Piriform has recently released version 5.60. The application is now available for download. In the Piriform forum there is a user who noticed that the CCleaner browser also reassigns the file types.

I am mad – I do not have time for this!  I have been hijacked!

I just updated to CCleaner v5.59.  Upon opening Windows Explorer I see that all my Adobe Acrobat documents (.pdf) have been changed to "CCleaner HTML Document"

I can no longer open a PDF to show in Acrobat from Windows Explorer  !!!!!!!!!!

The document opens as a webpage – I can't have this!

Now I've learned that my Snagit Editor does not work!

Version:  v5.59.7230 (64-bit)

(Changed file type assignments, screenshot from the Piriform forum)

Within this forum thread here are other users who complain about this. So fingers away from this snake oil.

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