Doc about Win 7 template customization recommends potentially unsafe software

Hi,

The documentation about Customizing Windows 7 templates instructs to install CCleaner in section “Manual tasks that can/should be started in the template”. However, according to Wikipedia, this software has been infected with malware at certain point in time. Considering that it is also proprietary, I am questioning how safe it is to follow this particular instruction in the docs.

What do you think?
Is there a safe alternative to that step?
How do you approach this particular cleaning?

It’s possible to install a pre-Avast version of this software from http://www.oldversion.com/ if you’re worried that later releases might be shady.

Considering that it is also proprietary, I am questioning how safe it is

It’s still better to have a trusted small proprietary program that we’re sure does no harm than constantly get free software big programs that one will never be able to audit.
People are able to reverse-engineer and hack game ROMs whereas I cannot imagine an individual auditing a modern-day browser.

To my mind:

  • Anything closed and unverifiable is shady and should be used only if absolutely necessary and if no FOSS alternatives exist.

  • A 49.8 MB binary is not a small proprietary program.

  • It is not one individual that audits big FOSS programs and makes them trustworthy. It is the community around the projects that does that.

Well, I may be wrong, you may be right. In any case, I am not looking for an argument :wink:

While looking for FOSS alternatives I found some program called BleachBit which seems to exist even as a package in Linux distros and also has a Windows version, including a portable one.

Have you tried it and what are your impressions?
If it does the same, wouldn’t it be better to recommend it in the docs instead of CCleaner?

That manual is wrong in so many ways, I even don’t want to discuss it.

I’ll name just one example, will not explain it and will stop there:

Manual tasks that can/should be started in the template
Disk defragmentation

[…] I even don’t want to discuss it.

But if it is not discussed, how can one possibly know what is wrong and what is the right thing to do? (Ideally also correcting the docs)

1 Like

I didn’t say not to be discussed, but I don’t want to discuss it would take too much time for nothing. I have no interest in this, and using this could bring one into lot of troubles. Just searx what windows 7 services can be disabled.

While looking for temp file cleaning alternatives I found TempFileCleanup.bat in Tron automated cleanup script. Not test myself, just skim .bat. Incomplete solution likely. Maybe a start? Maybe not.