Disk Cleanup (cleanmgr.exe) Last Access check useless?
Hi,Is it just me or is the Disk Cleanup Last Access check pretty much useless?See here for more info on this option: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa969271.aspx#datadrivencleanerIt is "The number of days that must have elapsed since a file was last accessed or a directory was created for that file or directory to be considered for cleanup." and although you can't edit this in the GUI you can see in the registry for example that "Temporary Files" is set to 7 days.Here is the problem though. I've noticed some very old files in here, may be even a year old and I'm pretty sure they're not needed or used anymore but if you check the last access time stamp on the file (>right click >properties) they have been accessed today, possibly even at the same time the disk cleanup ran.I also created my own Disk Cleanup Handler to clean up files where I dump all my files (like downloads etc) and I know for sure there are files in here that haven't been touched in over 6 months but sure enough if you check the last access timestamp on the files they are time stamped today. It did seem to cleanup some files but not nearly enough. My suspicion is that the Anti Virus checker is getting in there first and checking the file for nasties and so changing the last access timestamp to the current date and time.Which does make me think the Last Access check is near useless. Does anyone else have this problem?Grateful to hear your views, Cellardoor1 person needs an answerI do too
July 7th, 2010 12:47pm

I think I got this sussed. It was Sophos causing the problem and you can stop it resetting the last access time stamp by creating the following registry key."By default, during immediate and scheduled scans, Sophos Anti-Virus will reset a file's last accessed time. This default behaviour can be over-ridden by setting the following value in the registry: Key: HLM\Software\Sophos\ADVANCED\ Value Name: RESET_LAST_ACCESSED_TIME Type: REG_DWORD Data: 0x00000000"Taken from: http://downloads.sophos.com/readmes/eng/readntg.txtTested and time stamps are no longer being reset simply by browsing to the folder. Hopefully Disk Cleanup will now do its stuff. I wonder if anyone else is having this problem with their AV Checker?
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July 14th, 2010 4:34pm

Think I spoke too soon as I've opened up a few folders and checked the timestamp of the files in them and they are changing to the present time. Is this the way last access is suppose to work?Tried changing the reg entry here but it doesn't seem to have had an affect:http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc959914.aspxWait and see what happens the next time Disk Cleanup runs I guess.
July 14th, 2010 5:28pm

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