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Comment by Someone1234 | Hacker News Reader

It is surprising how many 90s tools remain popular today: WinZip, WinRar, WinAmp, CCleaner, Icq, Real Player, etc.

People just get into using something and simply never stop. Then there's the comfort barrier to switching (e.g. I know how to use WinZip but 7Zip is new and unfamiliar).

CCleaner is still popular with low level tech support types, which is quite ironic as it damages the Windows Registry on later versions of the OS. There is also built in tools (Disk Cleaner, Recycling Bin maximum size, auto-Defrag/Trim, etc) which accomplish most of the same things.

Teachers use Real Player. Several nationalities (Russia?) use ICQ.

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> CCleaner is still popular... which is quite ironic as it damages the Windows Registry

CCleaner has two main use-cases: a performance tool (allegedly) and a privacy tool.

You assume that CCleaner is popular because people think that it boosts performance. This was never my use-case and anyone that I've seen actually uses it as a privacy tool, i.e., to clean up browser history, delete caches, wipe free space, etc., to not expose what they've been looking at, searching for, and downloading.

With respect to privacy, if I see someone using CCleaner, I recommend that they switch over to BleachBit[1] which is open source and which even Bruce Schneier swears by. I used both simultaneously for awhile on my Windows systems and found that BleachBit found many more privacy-sensitive files to erase than CCleaner.

[1] http://bleachbit.sourceforge.net/

If you're interested in privacy and have Windows 8 Pro, you can use Client Hyper-V and Differencing Disks to make what is effectively a "read only" system. You boot into the VM, do whatever it is you have to do, then shred the differential [0].

Alternatively just encrypt the VM[1].

Alternatively again just run a Linux "Live OS" from a DVD and pull the power to "wipe."

Alternatively ad-infinitum make a Windows To Go Thumb Drive and smash it with a brick when you're done.

[0] http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc720381(v=WS.10)...

[1] http://www.virtualizationadmin.com/kbase/VirtualizationTips/...

I see CCleaner on probably at least 50% of the desktops shown by people streaming on Twitch. Seems so odd to me.

Then again, I used WinRAR up until probably 2010 or so, whenever ninite made it easier to install 7zip.

A sort of related oddity is how often I see OpenOffice on the desktops in doctors offices - usually alongside Microst Office icons. I have no idea what they would use it for.

It's a little ironic, but I still find WinAmp to be the best audio player.

I mean - all I want to do is to quickly setup a playlist out of a bunch of directories and eventually do searches in it, which is incredibly common at a party when you quickly assemble playlists from multiple sources. Other media players are completely retarded.

I am from Czech Republic.

ICQ was popular here way more than in the rest of the world, but it got displaced by Facebook Messenger (and to some smaller extent Google Talk/Hangout/what's the name now).

I have no idea about Russia or Israel, where it was too popular.

To this day I can't figure out how ICQ ever became popular, but yes I can vouch that there are still people who use it and probably always will.

It originally became popular simply due to lack of competition.

AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) was popular but full of ads and didn't offer many features. MSN Messenger (later "Live Messenger" ".Net Messenger Service") didn't exist yet (1999) and while Windows had something called Netmeeting it was simply terrible.

ICQ technically came around before AIM, being released in 1996 Vs. 1997 but AIM hit the ground running as AOL hooked up their massive (then) subscriber base. So while AIM was a more popular service, ICQ became popular with a certain more savvy class of user (e.g. tech' nerds, who wanted more functionality, and something NOT tied to their email address).

ICQ offered that. Less ads, more features, and slightly anonymous (ICQ numbers). ICQ sucks by todays' standards, but in 1996-1999 it was really competing with AIM. There's also Yahoo! Messenger that came out in 1998 which was fairly popular (particularly as an "AIM replacement").

ICQ just somehow remained popular in certain parts of the world for the same reason Facebook isn't going away: It reached a critical mass, now "everyone" is using it which means "everyone" has to continue using it...

Don't forget that the A in AOL stands for 1/193 countries. In AU (yes - anecdote != data) -- friends I would chat with were all on ICQ - before switching over to msn. Never heard of AIM

Second datapoint. In FI everyone who did not use IRC used ICQ and then switched to MSN.

Also AU and used ICQ; then MSN.

Note there was a strong anti-AOL sentiment throughout the 90's.

I used MSN. Now I use XMPP 'cause they wanted me to use skype instead... pffff...

For some reason it was considered anonymous and safe from surveillance.

Can you point me to a description of CCleaner's problems? It's still my go-to tool for cleaning computers, and I've never had a problem or heard of anything major (besides the normal bugs that get fixed). It also isn't a 90s tool, being first released in 2003.

What's your idea of a better alternative?

I listed the alternatives already. They're all built in.

CCleaner's registry cleaner is the main issue (aside from the fact it makes computers literally slower by clearing every single cache it can find). Some of the issues it has caused:

- Registry damage: Windows 8 store was damaged/corrupted by a previous version (you had to run DISM to repair it), Windows uninstaller corruption (this impacted Mcafee anti-virus around 2009, the uninstaller would become unusable), deletes preferences for unconnected devices (USB sticks, external drives, network drives, etc) so if you have any software installed externally the drive letter may shift and the software will break, deletes unmounted but valid COM objects, and so on...

- Damage: http://features.en.softonic.com/the-dangers-of-using-ccleane....

- Article: https://bitsum.com/regcleanerfacts.php

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Registry_cleaner

- Microsoft support article ("serious issues can occur when you modify the registry incorrectly using these types of utilities"): https://support2.microsoft.com/kb/2563254

- Microsoft Article: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/are-registry-clea...

Everyone is saying the same thing. Registry Cleaning is unnecessary, won't improve performance, and really only offers you a chance of doing damage. Registry cleaning hasn't been important since XP, and XP shipped over ten years ago.

Everyone else CCleaner does is either stupid (clearing caches) or duplicated of internal functionality (IE cache clearing, Recycling Bin emptying, etc). Plus Disk Cleanup isn't a new addition to Windows.

>Everyone is saying the same thing. Registry Cleaning is unnecessary, won't improve performance, and really only offers you a chance of doing damage.

Well, shit. I've been using the registry cleaner for years now on Windows 7. I've always liked that it seems to clear certain cruft from my system (unused file extensions, crap left behind by uninstalled programs, etc.), as I have a certain need for digital tidiness. I'm now considering abandoning the feature after these posts.

Thanks for the explanations!

Before anything else, I should mention that I haven't worked help desk in over 5 years.

Back when I worked help desk, the most common reason for a completely FUBAR and need a re-install was that the user ran CCleaner on it.

Your organization likely did something unconventional with the registry that made systems break when touched by CCleaner (perhaps a groupware tool, or perhaps the broken systems had already been FUBAR'd by intrusive software and CCleaner's attempt to fix that FUBAR triple-FUBAR'd it).

That doesn't mean CCleaner's behavior is correct, but it's probably a situation the developers haven't been able to test against. For what it's worth, I've run CCleaner's registry cleaner on dozens of machines and never had a problem of any type, and I still use CCleaner sometimes because it's a simple way to clean the temp/junk files left by many common applications with one button click.

I always feel a little nervous when I run the registry cleaner, and while I haven't noticed any problems, I also haven't noticed a meaningful improvement after running it either. I should probably stop doing it just for that reason.

> That doesn't mean CCleaner's behavior is correct, but it's probably a situation the developers haven't been able to test against.

So reading between the lines, you're saying that CCleaner is a bad idea simply because they cannot possibly understand the registry well enough to make the changes that they're making.

We agree completely.

Honestly if people want to use CCleaner to do jump lists, file history, and caches (although that last one is misguided) then I'm all for it. There's very little chance anything will break with those (it is hard to screw up!).

I just warn against the registry cleaner primarily, and just feel like with Disk Cleaner and Windows' automatic cleaning that has been integrated for a while you could live without using CCleaner (unless you still have a Windows 9x box).

you're saying that CCleaner is a bad idea simply because they cannot possibly understand the registry well enough to make the changes that they're making.

It sounds more like, "the software vendor is doing incorrect or incomplete things with the registry and CCleaner cannot possibly know that."

As a long-time Windows software developer, I've been stunned at how sloppy desktop programs and installers are, even today. People ignore Microsoft guidelines, somehow get the software to the "works for me" stage, and deploy it.

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