Comments on: Serious Disk Cleanup Problem in Windows Caused by Broken Registration

By: Lyzek

Lyzek — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 16:36:02 +0000

August 29 2009.
Thanx tons, I just want to add that reading this left me very confused (as I lack knowledge of the technical wording here ) , but I eventually clicked the link (… cleanmgrfix.reg …) under the heading (… Fixing the Disk Cleanup WER Handlers in the Registry … ) and found a warning about adding to my registry. I proceeded to run the download, based on Felipe from Chile’s post above and it showed the file location. I double-clicked on the file and Voila, my problem is fixed. Many thanx again … Lyzek

By: Felipe Peña

Felipe Peña — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 02:38:32 +0000

Hey
I’m Felipe from Chile, I have to say, this post is very helpful!
I was about to clean up 32GB but I found it very strange !
So I search the web for problems related to Disk Cleanup and I found some pages like this one.
Thanks for post this. I think, it could definetily help a lot of people.
I have to say that my “Per user .. ” and “System queued” are just 55 MB aproximadtly, but the item called “Temporary files” is 32.0 GB.

I have to say I’ve read a lot of problems to other users to have deleted all of that data. Big lost for them, and I’m very sorry.

Be carefull, and I suggest you to delete temp files with another tool.
I suggest Microsoft to fix this…I have Service Pack 2 and this problem as I can see has been detected a lot time ago.

Be happy :)

By: Jim_O

Jim_O — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 16:09:25 +0000

This is NOT unique to Vista. I have seen this occur on three separate XP (all Home) systems. The error has only been observed in the Temporary Files selection where the folder entry location has been lost in the registry. The suttle indication something is amiss is that there is no kb or Mb extension as to the size of the files found in the Disk Cleanup selection screen. WinOptimizer and Registry Mechanic were the tools of choice for these three systems. I don’t believe it’s a MS problem. If these tools are being used pay close attention or lose a weekend!

By: Nick

Nick — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 02:04:04 +0000

This cant be true …this must be what everyone who experienced the same must have thought…i still cant believe it!!!

Quick Info – YES!! this problem can be caused by vista RegCleaner only!!!! (No viruses, no crappy regoptimizer toolz involved…just a plain and clean mashine)

“Lets clean up a little bit” were his(my) last words …and the system never booted ever since!!!Fucking Hell!!!

…anyone has found out anything?..any hope?…

cheers N

By: tctucom

tctucom — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 08:49:52 +0000

A very long and focused day!

It is (our Registry Cleaners) that are the culprints. It is not the fault of SP1. I accused SP1 of this problem early on, but I was dead-wrong.

I spent the day reinstalling Vista Business and downloading Windows updates (including customs). I then began to tweak the system. When I was finished with processes and services I made a back-up of the C:drive then installed and ran (RegistryFix Version 7).

As each group of errors was found, I would abort the scan and open each error to see where it was pointing to in Windows Registry. Low and behold when I got to the errors for “Complete Registry Scan” there were the 4 Keys for Windows Error Reporting! RegistryFix was going to delete those keys if I did not choose “ignore” each one.

DANGER Will Robinson!

I restarted the scan and allowed it to find and what it interpreted as errors, made a backup of those errors so I could reverse the cleaning, then allowed it to delete the keys.

I then ran Disk Cleanup and sure enough, there were all the huge files in GB’s and 100’s of MB’s all related to Windows Error Reporting and Archives. The four infamous keys had been deleted.

No Reboot yet.

I then restored the keys through RegistryFixe’s Backup and ran the Disk Cleanup again without a reboot. When it finished the four Keys were (not missing)! I allowed Disk Cleanup to finish and restarted the computer. Bingo! Right back to the desktop without a hitch.

So..bottom line is the Developers of our Registry Optimizers/Cleaners need to figure this out on their end. Believe me! I love to dump on M$ for allowing us to be the guinea pigs, but this time I know 100% that it has nothing to do with SP1. It has everything to do with our third party Registry cleaners/optimizers.

Took a long time but it’s worth it knowing that you all can do the same thing and adjust your Cleaners to “ignore” the Reg Keys for Windows Error Reporting before you finish the cleanup process. It’s tedious but it’s worth it. Phew!

By: The PC Doctor’s blog » Blog Archive » » Vista/Disk Cleanup bug

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 16:20:56 +0000

[...] I’ve not come across the bug personally but it is well documented over on the Winhelponline blog. [...]

By: Suzanne

Suzanne — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:12:45 +0000

Well this happened to me the weekend of August 9th. I didn’t know about this website or had even heard of this issue. Like Kelly commented above, I thought the GB a mistake (I have seen Windows programs misreport file sizes before) and let Disk Cleaner do its evil thing. I am still in the process of trying to recover my data because then Windows XP (my backups had been done in XP b/c my Vista machine was new), deciding that my backup was corrupted about a 1/4 way through restoring my files, went and then deleted my backup file without my permission (didn’t even ask me). Right now I am not too impressed with Microsoft’s programming ability. I did have a second incremental backup but so far, a number of things (not all the things) are lost. After reading over the posts, I don’t think this is just a Registry Cleaner issue but also an SP1 issue. Ultimately, regardless of fingerpointing, even Microsoft should have safeguards to protect data – in ANY case – from being deleted. This isn’t just a registry issue – but a programming issue. In my view anyway it is.

By: fsr

fsr — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:08:54 +0000

Two months ago, I had the same problem, I wiped my C:\ drive. DC reported 110 GB to be cleaned in a 150 GB drive with 15 GB in use; I suspected an error, but you never know. It was Eusing that deleted the values “for me”. I never used DC ever since, and right now it reports 160 GB to be cleaned. Your original post dates from 6 months ago, Microsoft should REALLY do something about this, why on earth do we have WINDOWS REGISTRY PROTECTION if Vista fails like this ?

Thanks for the fix !

By: dave

dave — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 03:30:32 +0000

I had the same problem and it was caused by the “EUSING FREE REGISTRY CLEANER”.

By: Lee Ray

Lee Ray — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 20:49:49 +0000

Well, I did my own experiment twice using RegistryFix before Windows Updates for Vista Business and then after Windows Updates.

Here’s the trial after I lost the entire system after using Disk Cleanup.

1. Disconnected Internet Connection.

2. Reintalled the system with the Recovery Media.
3. After first boot to desktop, deactivated Windows Updates.
4. Installed RegistryFix v7 then ran and rebooted system.
5. Ran Disk Cleanup then rebooted system.

At this point, no problems.

6. Reconnected to Internet.
7. Downloaded all updates including SP1
8. Ran RegistryFix v7 rebooted computer.
9. Ran Disk Cleanup and crashed the system. No way to get back to the HD to repair it.

Conclusion: Windows Updates effect how all of our Registry Cleaners are working (so it appears) and when they clean the registry they are changin/removing values that allow Disk Cleanup to destroy the hard drive. Holy Moly!!

Resolution. I am on my XP computer and will reinstall Vista Business on my other desktop. However, this time will no longer run Registry Fix and will be very careful to look at how much disk space will be cleaned up after ticking each item.

Vista is such a dissapointment. MS should give a credit to everyone who still has a receipt of Vista from wherever they purchased it and issue credits so they can all buy Windows XP Pro. We should all just wait until a new Windows OS is released. In my opinion, Vista is “belly-up in the water” just like Windows ME was destined to become soon after it’s release.

I love XP Pro. You can access everything you need to adjust the system. There are millions upon millions of excellent tips on the Internet that do not cause the average user (my client base) to jump through hoops to edit registries manually. It’s almost a crime!

My two cents: Lee