It was not so long ago when we saw a major problem with the Windows Vista Disk Cleanup tool, after a registry cleaner broke a vital handler information in the registry. Here is another such case, but on this occasion the system is running Windows XP.
One of our reader asks: I have used a registry cleaner in my PC and I have exactly the same problem as mentioned in the blog post Serious Disk Cleanup problem caused by broken registration. The Disk Cleanup program cleaned up everything including my Windows XP installation. Is there a fix for Windows XP?
(Information in this post applies to Windows XP systems only.)
After comparing the VolumeCaches branch which was sent to me by the asker, I narrowed down the issue to the following key:
In the above key, the value named Folder was missing. The Folder value should be present, and must have the following Value data
As a result of the missing value, when you select the entry Catalog files for the Content Indexer in Disk Cleanup, files in the current partition is erased.
Registry Fix
Here is a registry fix which reinstates the missing entry. Download contentindexcleaner.reg and save to Desktop. Right-click on the file and choose Merge. Click Yes when asked for confirmation.
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This is an update to my previous e-mail concerning Registry Defense. I verified that running this program will corrupt the Content Index Cleaner hive [remove Folder] and lead to a computer crash using Disk Cleanup. I hope this helps others avoid this condition.
Thank you so much. I had the same problem and had to wipe and reload my computer twice. After the second time a large number of bytes appeared under Catalog files after I downloaded and ran Reistry Defense. I finally found your site and downloaded the key fix and the Catalog file now reads zero. I reran Registry Defense and one of the errors it reported pertained to the Content Indexer Cleaner. I elected not to make the fix. I should have let it make it and see if it removed the Folder you talked about.