Pathweft 1.1.67

Pathweft 1.1.67 starts administrator access without UAC prompts, adds handle growth to System analysis, recovers from a stuck Everything, fixes copying downloaded files to drives without alternate streams, and shows loading progress in the space analyzer. (1.1.66 was not published; its changes are included here.)

• Administrator access: after one more approval, the installed Pathweft registers a hidden on-demand task and starts its administrator session through it, including at sign-in, with no further UAC prompt. Only the installed executable is accepted as the session; a failing task falls back to the one prompt. Settings › "Start administrator access with Pathweft" removes the task when turned off, and uninstall removes it (ACCESS-08, issue #7).
• System analysis › RAM: a Handle growth event (250,000 handles, or +100,000 within five minutes while growing), an optional Handles column, kernel paged/non-paged pool in RAM details, and a "parent ended" mark in process tables. A pinned process offers Handle types (read on demand) and End process, which asks first and rechecks the process identity. MCP get_top_processes and get_events report the same data (MONITOR-23, issue #5).
• Everything queries now give up after 45 seconds. Pathweft reports when Everything is loading or updating its index, and restarts a hung instance once per session, with its original options; the Everything service is never touched (SEARCH-05, issue #6).
• Copying to a destination without alternate data streams (FAT, exFAT, Tresorit Drive) leaves out only download marks (Zone.Identifier, SmartScreen), as Explorer does; any other alternate stream still refuses the file (TRANSFER-18).
• Space analysis shows a loading ring while an expanded folder is read, and lists its children before measuring unindexed subfolders (SPACE-09).
• Specification 1.24 records these.

Update from Pathweft's own updater or run the installer, which requests Windows administrator consent. Pathweft binaries and installer are unsigned; verify the published files with SHA256SUMS.txt and release-manifest.json.

Pathweft 1.1.65

Pathweft 1.1.65 lets you run PowerShell scripts from the context menu.

• Right-clicking a single .ps1 file offers Run with PowerShell, and Run as administrator under Tools. Both run pwsh -NoProfile -File on the script in its own console, starting in the script's folder; without PowerShell 7, Windows PowerShell runs it with a RemoteSigned policy for that run only. Run as administrator asks for Windows administrator consent.
• Opening a script still edits it, as in Windows.
• Specification 1.22 records this as MENU-04.

Update from Pathweft's own updater or run the installer, which requests Windows administrator consent. Pathweft binaries and installer are unsigned; verify the published files with SHA256SUMS.txt and release-manifest.json.

Pathweft 1.1.64

Pathweft 1.1.64 completes the Maintenance expansion (S47) with a read-only security check and opt-in hardening, and highlights runaway memory in System analysis.

• Maintenance › Security check evaluates the pinned HardeningKitty main machine list (MIT) read-only: 418 settings, 335 evaluated (registry, services, optional features, scheduled tasks, Microsoft Defender including attack surface reduction rules, BitLocker); the other 83 use methods Pathweft does not run and are not listed; the category's explanation says how many and why. Findings are grouped High, Medium and Low not met, then Met and Not checked, with current and recommended values. The category never changes anything; where a Windows tweak covers the same setting, details link to it.
• Eight Security-goal Windows tweaks with journaled, exact Restore: Defender network protection (block), potentially unwanted app blocking, Defender sandbox, LSA protection without UEFI lock (Caution), firmware-installed software off (WPBT; Caution), PowerShell 2.0 engine off, WMIC removed and VBScript removed (Caution). Optional features and capabilities are a typed action through Windows' servicing API in the administrator session approved at launch; restoring a removed capability downloads it from Windows Update.
• System analysis (Physical RAM) derives a Memory growth event when one app gains at least 15% of installed memory over at least 8 minutes at 0.25 GB/min or more, from the heavy-app snapshots Pathweft already records. Spike markers sit at the peak and name the largest app and, for RAM, the fastest-growing one, as sampled observations rather than proof of cause. Spike and growth markers use the caution colour; selecting one investigates its peak. No new collection or notifications; the performance MCP output is unchanged.
• Previewing a .lnk or .url shortcut shows what it points to, read from the shortcut itself, instead of its bytes: target, arguments, start folder, run state, shortcut key, icon, comment and whether the target is found; Open and Show target in its folder act on it. Previewing never resolves, launches or repairs the shortcut.
• 1.1.63 was built but not published; its changes ship here.
• Specification 1.21 records this as MAINT-40..45, MONITOR-22 and PREVIEW-39.

Update from Pathweft's own updater or run the installer, which requests Windows administrator consent. Pathweft binaries and installer are unsigned; verify the published files with SHA256SUMS.txt and release-manifest.json.

Pathweft 1.1.62

Pathweft 1.1.62 makes the administrator approval given at launch the only one.

• Maintenance now uses the administrator session approved when Pathweft starts instead of opening its own, and keeps it until Pathweft exits. Elevated Windows tweaks, services, all-users startup items, protected Cleanup review, restore points and administrator leftovers no longer show another UAC prompt.
• Desktop programs and Chocolatey packages are uninstalled through that session, so their uninstallers inherit it rather than requesting elevation again. Store apps and Scoop packages are still removed for the current user only.
• A request is made only when no session exists (the launch request was declined or turned off in Settings); its approval then lasts until Pathweft exits. The administrator shield still only switches Explorer browsing, and "Run as administrator" on a file is unchanged.
• The Maintenance details panel keeps its title and close button fixed while only the text scrolls, and protected rows explain why once.
• Specification 1.19 records this as ACCESS-07, superseding Maintenance's separate session (MAINT-23) and the unelevated uninstaller launch (MAINT-34).

Update from Pathweft's own updater or run the installer, which requests Windows administrator consent. Pathweft binaries and installer are unsigned; verify the published files with SHA256SUMS.txt and release-manifest.json.

Pathweft 1.1.61

Pathweft 1.1.61 turns Maintenance › Windows apps into an uninstaller with Bulk Crap Uninstaller's capabilities.

• Inventory: desktop programs from the machine (64- and 32-bit) and current-user uninstall keys, current-user Store packages (main packages only), Scoop apps and Chocolatey packages. Entries without a name, system components, Windows Installer patches and child updates are folded away. Rows show Name, Publisher, Version, Source, State, Size and Installed date, grouped by source; details show the uninstall command, location, registry key or package identity and whether the uninstaller is signed. Reading needs no administrator rights and changes nothing.
• Uninstall one or several: each app's own registered uninstaller runs the way Windows Settings does and requests elevation itself; Windows Installer products use msiexec by product code; Store packages are removed for the current user only; Scoop and Chocolatey use their own uninstall command. Quiet uninstall is used only where the entry declares it or the installer type (Windows Installer, Inno Setup) has documented silent switches. Several apps run one at a time in Bulk Crap Uninstaller's order, after an optional restore point (on by default when a desktop program is included); a Windows Installer uninstall waits if another installation is running. Each app is read again afterwards and reported Removed, Still installed or Cancelled. Pathweft never deletes an install folder as an uninstall and never clicks through an uninstaller.
• Find leftovers: the install folder, product or publisher folders in Program Files, ProgramData and AppData, shortcuts and startup entries pointing into removed locations and the product's Software registry keys, each rated Likely, Possible or Unlikely; only Likely ones are preselected. Files and folders go to the Recycle Bin; registry keys are exported to a .reg backup before removal and Restore imports it. Windows, other apps' locations and folders still used by an installed program are never offered.
• Store apps carry reviewed advice by exact package name from MIT donor ratings (Win11Debloat, Bloatynosy); desktop programs are never recommended for removal. Windows system packages, frameworks, entries without an uninstall command and Pathweft itself are protected.
• Bulk Crap Uninstaller (Apache-2.0) ideas are re-implemented in Pathweft code; its licence, NOTICE and the cited source files with hashes are under vendor/BulkCrapUninstaller. No BCU binary or rating service ships or runs.
• The Maintenance details panel closes with × or Esc, and long lists scroll smoothly.
• Uninstall, the installer-busy guard, cancellation and leftover removal and Restore were qualified in a disposable Windows Sandbox guest with owned fixture programs.

Update from Pathweft's own updater or run the installer, which requests Windows administrator consent. Pathweft binaries and installer are unsigned; verify the published files with SHA256SUMS.txt and release-manifest.json.

Pathweft 1.1.60

Pathweft 1.1.60 organises Maintenance › Windows tweaks by goal and marks settings with a cost.

• 81 new individual settings (121 in total), adapted per setting from MIT-licensed projects: Win11Debloat, Sophia Script, SophiApp, WinUtil, Bloatynosy, RemoveWindowsAI and UnattendedWinstall. They cover Copilot, Recall, Click to Do and agent policies; Notepad, Paint and Edge AI; Edge clutter; telemetry, CEIP, Appraiser, Maps and feedback scheduled tasks; app permissions, inking and typing, cloud search and clipboard; File Explorer navigation pane and title bar; Start and taskbar; Delivery Optimization peer sharing and GPU scheduling; and update behaviour (drivers, no automatic restart while signed in). Donor files, licences and hashes are under vendor/. No donor script ships or runs.
• Each setting states its goal (Debloat, Privacy, Performance, Security, Personalize) and its risk: Low, ▲ Caution (reduces a feature, recovery path or update behaviour) or ◆ High (weakens a protection or can break Windows). Caution and High are coloured, keep their symbol and word without colour, need a Yes/No confirmation with No as the default, and are never counted as pending suggestions. Nothing that weakens Defender, SmartScreen, UAC, VBS, Smart App Control, mitigations, BitLocker or Windows Update was adopted.
• Settings backed by scheduled tasks disable only the named tasks; the journal keeps each task's exact enabled state and definition for Restore. A task Windows no longer has is skipped.
• A rule made only of policy values that is present without a Pathweft journal shows "Set outside Pathweft". Restore Windows default removes those values, journaled for Restore; other values under the same policy keys are listed read-only and never removed.
• Every new setting was applied, read back and restored in a disposable Windows Sandbox guest (build 26100), including the task states and a policy reset round trip; the Windows 10-only settings remain Not assessed on Windows 11.

Update from Pathweft's own updater or run the installer, which requests Windows administrator consent. Pathweft binaries and installer are unsigned; verify the published files with SHA256SUMS.txt and release-manifest.json.

Pathweft 1.1.59

Pathweft 1.1.59 starts on every PC and quotes copied paths.

• Fixed: a fresh install on a PC without a D: drive closed at startup, and Setup reported that the Win+E helper could not restart. Since 1.1.11 Pathweft's bulk data (caches, undo journal, editor profile, activity store, runtime temp) defaulted to D:. A first start now uses an existing D:\AppData\Pathweft folder, else the first ready fixed non-system drive, else %LOCALAPPDATA%\Pathweft only when Windows' drive is the sole local drive, and records the choice in data-root.txt so it never drifts. A chosen drive that is missing is reported in a message. Existing installs keep their location.
• Fixed: with UAC turned off (EnableLUA=0, as in Windows Sandbox), Setup ended with "Update incomplete" and exit code 9 because its result channel check compared the pipe's token owner, which is Administrators for every process there. It now checks that the process at the other end runs as the same user.
• Copy path (menus and Ctrl+Shift+C, in panes and the search widget) quotes each path, one per line, as Explorer's Copy as path does.
• The address bar already accepted quoted paths; pasting a copied file path opens its folder with the file selected, now covered by a test.
• While hidden files are concealed, a folder or archive footer adds "· N hidden".

Update from Pathweft's own updater or run the installer, which requests Windows administrator consent. Pathweft binaries and installer are unsigned; verify the published files with SHA256SUMS.txt and release-manifest.json.

Pathweft 1.1.58

Pathweft 1.1.58 gives the command bar one consistent rule.

• While the file panes show, including with the Performance or Maintenance cards at the bottom, every command works as in plain browsing: file commands, hidden files, the administrator shield, panes, preview, and both Performance and Maintenance.
• While a Performance panel or Maintenance category replaces the panes, every command is disabled except the button that opened that view, which leads back. Transfers stays available.
• Previously Maintenance's cards disabled the shield and dimmed Performance, a Performance panel left Maintenance clickable, and hidden files lost its active state in both modes.
• Disabled commands keep showing their on/off state.

Update from Pathweft's own updater or run the installer, which requests Windows administrator consent. Pathweft binaries and installer are unsigned; verify the published files with SHA256SUMS.txt and release-manifest.json.

Pathweft 1.1.57

Pathweft 1.1.57 makes the administrator shield manage file browsing only.

• The shield switches file browsing between standard and administrator access and nothing else. It is disabled in the Performance panels, as it already was in Maintenance.
• Performance's detailed disk activity and drive health use the administrator access granted when Pathweft starts (or their own Enable actions); toggling the shield no longer affects them.
• The shield's "End administrator session" menu was removed, because it also ended Performance's elevated work. The administrator session ends when Pathweft exits.

Update from Pathweft's own updater or run the installer, which requests Windows administrator consent. Pathweft binaries and installer are unsigned; verify the published files with SHA256SUMS.txt and release-manifest.json.

Pathweft 1.1.56

Pathweft 1.1.56 fixes an update problem found in 1.1.55.

• If a folder was opened while an update was installing, the new Pathweft could start before the update had finished copying its files. It closed at once, the update stopped partway, and from then on no folder opened in any app until the installer was run again.
• Setup now copies the folder handler first, and while Setup runs, folders open in File Explorer instead of starting Pathweft.
• Pathweft also starts normally if that handler is missing, rather than closing.
• Keep both now renames the existing file to name.old.ext (for example report.old.pdf) and puts the incoming file under the original name; a failed or cancelled transfer and Undo restore the original name.
• Added a CRC32 column (column header context menu): archives show stored CRC32 values by default; folders can opt in to lazy background hashing.

If folders stopped opening after updating to 1.1.55, run this installer once; it repairs the installation.

Update from Pathweft's own updater or run the installer, which requests Windows administrator consent. Pathweft binaries and installer are unsigned; verify the published files with SHA256SUMS.txt and release-manifest.json.