[CatTrina620]

This morning I ran Ccleaner on my MacBook Pro. Afterwards I tried to open Thunderbird (which had been working fine until this point) and got a message saying it wouldn't open because "PowerPC applications are no longer supported". What happened and how can I fix it?? Thanks!

[Headrush]

Did you recently upgrade OS X to 10.7 or 10.8?

These versions no longer include an "emulator" that runs PowerPC applications which older Mac supported.
(Older Macs had this kind of CPUs)

You didn't post which version of Thunderbird you are running, but likely it's an older version. You can download a newer version on the Thunderbird web site which should run on the Intel CPUs now used in MAcs.

[tompatrick]

Originally Posted by CatTrina620

What happened and how can I fix it?? Thanks!

CCcleaner has wiped out the ThunderBird application files from your Mac. You need to reinstall ThunderBird.

[CatTrina620]

I did recently upgrade to OS X 7, but that was before I downloaded Thunderbird, so it was running fine on the OS X 7 up until using CCleaner this morning.

I'm not sure which version of Thunderbird it is (I'm at work and this was a problem on my home computer, so I can't check), however if I download the newest version, will it still use the email account/settings from the older one?

[CatTrina620]

TomPatrick: why would CCleaner wipe out these files? I use it occasionally and don't remember having problems with other applications afterwards?

[tompatrick]

Originally Posted by CatTrina620

TomPatrick: why would CCleaner wipe out these files? I use it occasionally and don't remember having problems with other applications afterwards?

Cleaning software like CCcleaners deletes universal binaries which are needed to run applications of PPC. On Intel based machines the software identifies PPC universal binary as junk and deletes them. So, you have to install thunderbird again.

[Headrush]

Originally Posted by tompatrick

Cleaning software like CCcleaners deletes universal binaries which are needed to run applications of PPC. On Intel based machines the software identifies PPC universal binary as junk and deletes them. So, you have to install thunderbird again.

I thought of this but it's curious that if she has an Intel Mac (which I assume she does), that the PowerPC part of the universal being removed, it should still run.

I wonder if CCleaner removed wrong bundle?

You are correct, a reinstall of Thunderbird should work.