warning about Vista's disk cleanup

[xpgeek]

Sorry to bump old thread, but I just learned about this the hard way.

So I'm bored last night with nothing to do, and decide to install Vista. Install went fine, no problems, latest X-Fi drivers actually work now, no crackling sound, woohoo, adding my favorite programs. Then I come across this.

Two 88.9 gigabyte entrys in Disk Cleanup, which you can see is obviously impossible because theres only 20 gigs on the drive. I pretty sure its either Registry Mechanic, or the latest beta version of CCleaner that caused this.

So I assume, how presumptuous of me, that I can just check em and it'll clear em out of there without actually doing anything as there obviously can't actually be that many error report files. So I check em, hit ok, it takes a while to do the cleaning, maybe ten minutes, when its done, all my desktop icons, quicklaunch icons, and entire list of all programs in the start menu goes completely blank, wiped out, ... uh oh, that can't be good, ah probly jus a little bug, I'll reboot. Windows Vista failed to start, can't locate, don't remember file name exactly but some critical windows driver, holy crap, it wiped out the, or at least some of, the Windows directory too. Tried a repair from the disk, nope, beyond repair just stopped and said can't repair this installation of Windows. Tried a thing or two more, safe mode, all the other repair type options, nope, Vista aint booting no more. Whatever it did, it completely trashed my entire Vista install. Had to start all over again from the very beginning, well theres 3 hours down the drain. Sonova b****!

So I installed Vista twice last night, that screenshot taken post second install, it happened again, definitely Registry Mechanic or CCleaner removing something to cause it, but I've burned a mental note into my brain never ever to check them again. Everything runs fine, zero problems, so watever the problem is it isn't actually affecting anything except those items in Disk Cleanup.

Suspect those two causes because, must be something doing it, as the problem came back too for second install, and I clearly remember running Disk Cleanup earlier before running them too to dump the hibernation file, and this problem wasn't there. All that changed between the first time I ran Disk Cleanup and the second, was bunch of Windows Updates installed, could be one of them that caused it but I'd think it would have happened to more people's systems too if that was the case, and some cleanup in preparation for copying all my personal data onto the drive, which consisted of a Registry Mechanic scan and cleaning, version 6.0.0.780, a CCleaner scan and cleaning, version 2.00.495 ReleaseCandidate, and a defrag with PerfectDisk, version 8.0.64. No manual registry or system tweaking done by me except for a few services shut down. I know it wasn't PerfectDisk as I've run this same version of it on Vista many times before up to a few months ago with no problems. I therefore assume it must have been Registry Mechanic, an overzealous registry scan can certainly lead to problems, or this version of CCleaner, which is not a final release version.

[Pikey]

No problems here, 3 entries about Windows Error Reporting, all below 1 MB ... I'd say get rid of Registry Mechanic, see if that makes a difference ...

[ViperAFK]

Hmm I use disk cleanup often to clean restore points I don't need and have never seen this issue, I will look out for it though.

[Dane]

I can't see the images, "File Traffic Over". :/

Edit: Ah yes I see them now. On my PC those two files combined are less than 2 GB in size. :/

Indeed mine too.

[kindpeacho]

see these two pictures:

btw running Disk Cleanup on my C: drive gives similar results

the first time i ran disk cleanup, i did check the bottom option only to find it deleted 9x% of my drive. I was not happy.

OMG - I've got the same exact problem -I LOST EVERYTHING after using the disk cleanup. My numbers were higher tho - I got hit twice - not sure what it is - but now after my second format, my Disk Cleanup numbers are back to normal.

Here is a post from another website that was trying to help me through this (the Vista Forums):

http://thevistaforums.com/index.php?showtopic=22065

Need Help ASAP!! I ran Vista's disk Clean up & I lost my program Files (luckily i have different drives and it did not delete my actual files but - all my program files are GONE!)

Okay - this has happened to me twice since Vista Home Premium came with my new Dell XPS 720 (a little over a month old).

The first time I ran disk cleanup (like i usually did on my other XP machines weekly) - it says i had over 800 GIGAbytes of files (hibernation files, Per User Archived Windows, Error Reporting (200gb), Per User Queued Windows Error Reporting (250gb), temp files, recycle bin, etc. etc.

All were checked - and when I went to clean it, ALL my icons on my desktop and quick launch started disappearing one by one. Poof!! they were ALL gone in a matter of seconds.

Then i went to my Start Menu - EMPTY! All my program files were gone. I typed in Outlook -- outlook came up and wanted to install - all my emails are gone. I installed Office 2007 again, then it couldn't find my outlook.pst files (personal files). So i lthink I lost everything there.

Went to open Firefox - Error message: Core DLL files not there

Went to open Ad-Aware : Skin File Error: 19811 has occured. Description: Cannnot load graphics. Application termitates.

Went to open my two FTP clients: Both tried to install it new again.

Get the jist... every program eitehr tries to reinstall or has a DLL error or missing file error message.

ALL MY PROGRAM FILES ARE GONE!!

So... Lucky me right? I'm smart - i did a system restore backup before I did this for the second time. But guess what?!?! The system restore is corrupt!! WTF?!?

I go to system restore from yesterday -- machine takes about 45 min to try to restore.. then re-boots itself saying it cannot Restore the last system restore point and everything is still gone!

What is happening?!?! This (will be) my second format because of this same problem in one month.

Would microsoft really have that in their Disk Cleanup for anyone to go and LOSE everything?!? Or does this sound like a virus? (BTW - I scannned before my disk cleanup with Ad-aware, Spybot & AVG and nothing was picked up except some lame tracking cookies).

I need help - I lost another 3 weeks worth of emails, etc. etc.

I googled till my fingers fell off and only found ONE other website that has a similar problem - but no solution.

Please help! blink.gif

My new machine is running vista Home Premium, 2 quad core cPU, 4 gigs of ram, etc. It's a sweet computer! tongue.gif

...and to answer some reasonable text book questions first: No i did not install any hardware or software right before this & I have not been playing with any settings. And when i did a search on my harddrives for outlook.PST i found one file from yesterday (yay right?!?!), but it's corrupt!!! . I downloaded three (free) software programs that are supposed to help with corrupt/missing outlook *.pst files but they were not able to recover my pst files. sad.gif sad.gif

I also just purchased $125 worth of ITunes/movies/tv shows for my new IPhone and I tunes won't load as well - I hope that stuff is not gone too!!

please help asap - i don't want another format - I want my program files back! with outlook*pst, etc.

Edited September 22, 2007 by kindpeacho

[Brandon Live Veteran]

Wow, that's pretty serious.

Definitely sounds like something horked up your registry or your filesystem. Heck, a lot of that stuff you're saying got deleted shouldn't be possible without elevating. Had you selected "my files" or the whole computer?

[Impact]

I just did a disk cleanup for the first time and I didn't have this problem, but it did free up 2 GB by checking the box "hibernation file cleaner" even though I have never hibernated even once lol.

[Shub]

After hours of research and cursing when my own disk cleanup decided to kill my OS, I figured I'd try to find a cure - and I have!

Open Regedit (start - run - regedit) and go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\VolumeCaches

There you will find 4 keys called Windows error reporting.

Now if you look closely you will see that one (or more) is missing the Folder string.

Now, lets get to fixing it.

If you are in the " Windows Error Reporting Archive Files " key

Right click - New - Expandable String Value.

Call it Folder and use the following entry:

%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportArchive

If you are in the " Windows Error Reporting Queue Files " key

use: %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportQueue

If you're in the " Windows Error Reporting System Archive Files " key

use: %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportArchive

and if you're in the " Windows Error Reporting System Queue Files " key

use: %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportQueue

This worked for me atleast, i tried removing the Folder string and the bug was back, hope this helps guys! ;)

[bob_c_b]

Well, that "Disk cleanup" is only for ?ber-n00bs who can't empty their thrash can, internet cache etc. on their own, so there's no good reason to use it anyway.

Yea, because wasting time combing through mulitple applets instead of doing it in one place shows mad skillz. What a stupid thing to say.

[CloudEngineer]

mine works fine, always has.

[Jake37]

mine works fine, always has.

I have the Same problem Disk Cleanup Wipped out my Drive, I used System Restore to bring it back, Using the Vista DVD, and booting from it and selecting System Restore from there.

Just boot from the Vista DVD and select your Lanquage and click next, then select Repair, if it tries to repair on its own click cancel and chose the other restore selections and go to System Restore Point, If it didn't wipe it out also.

I did still lost a lot of may files but about 90% i did get back. Lost my PST file for OUTLOOK also.

I Think this is the 3rd time this has happened to me, once on XP and 2 times on Vista, the only thing that I can think of that did it was MAX Registry Cleaner, I had just used it priorer to this happening, registry cleaners do not work well with Vista for sure.

[Grope for Luna]

After hours of research and cursing when my own disk cleanup decided to kill my OS, I figured I'd try to find a cure - and I have!

Open Regedit (start - run - regedit) and go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\VolumeCaches

There you will find 4 keys called Windows error reporting.

Now if you look closely you will see that one (or more) is missing the Folder string.

Now, lets get to fixing it.

That appears to be it, shub. I just tested it and DC showed that I had 133GB of WER files. Any of you using Registry cleaners, go through the undo data and check if any of the keys were deleted.

[xXTOKERXx]

wow nothing is wrong with maxtor drives, seagate bought them for a reason...

Simple, they used the brand and used their original hardware in them, called buying out the competition and adding a new selection of potential customers, half of PCWorlds stock is Maxtor - thats a lot of units

[bbendorf]

:woot: Hello I am a MCSE and beta tested XP. For all those users that are looking for Malware or other reasons that this is happining. I am a Victim!! Today My Dell Demension just toasted using The Disk Cleanup. The Factory drive is 74GB the wizard stated i could clean up 498GB of files of User improvment etc, and another box for 195GB of Microsoft Support stuff. Well All my quick launch icons gone, all my desktop items gone, all my programs and licences gone. Office 2007 Pro gone, Adobe Acrobat Standard gone, all my family photos gone, all 3gb of 9 years of email gone. I used the system restore after the process before reboot, and restored to 11 19 2007. It took 2 hrs rebooted and then no OS or boot sector. :cry: So i inserted my Vista Ultimate Enterprise that is all paid for legit software, and tried to repair and it does not even see the 74gb hard crive C drive as the boot drive instead it sees my Terrabyte drive as the boot drive. I tried to repair and nothing, fails on inteldrv.sys so i downloaded that. Nothing. I have worked on software Microsft for 17 years. This is a BUG a major one. No explanation. I bugged it at Microsoft, but intresting thing is it does not show up on knowledge base. Which means Microsoft is hiding and not dealing with it because of liability. I purchased R-Studio, and removing my 74gb Dell IDE and trying to put in my Dell XPS720H20 3.8Gig quad core and then try to recover the drive sectors to get my entire drive back. I will post how it works. Yes I have photo's backed up, that is not the issue. over 3 years i have purchased $1000nds of dollars of software online. I do not have all the licence keys, and some of the companys have gone out of business. So I need to recover it. Re-formatting is not an option. I figured it would take 2 man weeks on the phone, and arguing with Microsoft to re-validate the Licenses on all their products, along with adobe, Solidworks, autocad etc. Also all my Midi and HD recording software with USB keys. A BIG MESS. So this is a MICROSOFT BUG. Please do not use the utility!! I will post my attempts to recover. Everyone please contribute too. As a group we can post a solution to actually recover peoples data, that are victims of terrible code an Microsoft. Lets all work this issue out and then offer a fix to all. Then when people google it they will come to this blog. I had no virus's all legal software, T3 internet etc.

I am devistated. Thanks all and words like Vista The Disk Cleanup will allow google to find this blog so include them in different forms as Google will sniff them out and other users will get sucked in.

Kind Regards,

MCSEXPS

[Guest xiphi]

Looks like someone needs to press the Enter button every once in a while...

[xXTOKERXx]

Law suits going Microsofts way... legal documents...

[Grope for Luna]

Looks like someone needs to press the Enter button every once in a while...

For a 17 year veteran, he's surprisingly naive in the ways of backing up. :rofl:

Always have at least two hard drives with operating systems and backup software on both.