AfterDawn: Tech news

CCleaner update addresses privacy concerns, reverses previous changes

Written by James Delahunty @ 30 Aug 2018 9:02

CCleaner update addresses privacy concerns, reverses previous changes A new version of CCleaner has been released that rolls back some of the changes in the controversial v5.45 update while addressing some data collection concerns.
On the privacy side of things, the new CCleaner v5.46.6652 now allows for the Monitoring feature and reporting of anonymous usage data can now be controlled separately (previously both were controlled by the 'Active Monitoring' checkbox). A separate control is also added for the reporting of anonymous usage data.

Additionally, there is now a Data Factsheet on what exactly is reported back to the developer and why. You can read it at the CCleaner website.

In the previous version, users also noted that trying to close the program minimized it to the system tray and the option to exit the app had been removed. This meant that to exit the previous version, you would need to use Task Manager or a similar tool to manually kill the process.



In the new update, the prior minimize behavior has been restored to the application, while the Exit option has also be added to the Tray menu again.

On top of that there has been fixes for stability issues and other changes. Here is the changelog for CCleaner v5.46.6652.

Privacy Settings
  • The Monitoring feature and reporting of anonymous usage data can now be controlled separately (previously both were controlled by the 'Active Monitoring' checkbox)
  • Added a separate control for the reporting of anonymous usage data
  • Added a link to a Data Factsheet, which explains the data reported from CCleaner, why it's reported, and what it's used for (in summary, CCleaner only reports anonymous, statistical data for the purposes of maintaining and improving the app, and it does not report any personal information)
Smart Cleaning
  • Renamed the 'Monitoring' feature to 'Smart Cleaning', to better describe its purpose (intelligent cleaning alerts) and underline the fact that it does not report usage data
  • Reworded the 'System Monitoring' checkbox to 'Tell me when there are junk files to clean'
  • Reworded the 'Browser Monitoring' checkbox to 'Enable automatic browser cleaning'
  • Reworded the 'Active Monitoring' checkbox to 'Enable Smart Cleaning'
  • If Smart Cleaning is disabled, CCleaner's background process will close and the feature will not run on startup (same behavior as in v5.44)
General
  • Added 'Minimize to System Tray' option and restored previous minimize behavior
  • Added 'Exit' option to the Tray Icon menu (closes the background process)
  • Fixed various stability issues

You can get the new CCleaner v5.46.6652 from AfterDawn now, or from the CCleaner homepage.

Tags: CCleaner
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