DeskRipple v1.0.0

DeskRipple v1.0.0

DeskRipple 1.0 is out, and it's the paid release the beta pointed at all along: a one-time
purchase, not a subscription, with the price shown at checkout on
deskripple.com. If DeskRipple is already installed, it updates itself
in the background — the next launch asks you to accept the updated license agreement once, and
beta testers get their founder discount inside the app. New here? Grab
DeskRipple-beta-Setup.exe below (the file name keeps the update channel's name; it installs
1.0).

🔑 Without a license key, DeskRipple stops working on September 1, 2026. Enter a key once
under Manager → About and there's no expiry — the key is verified on your own PC, with no
account and no activation server. Until that date the app runs free, exactly as the beta
disclosed. By downloading you agree to the
license agreement (EULA).

🎟️ Tested the beta? You get 50% off. The founder code is shown inside the app — on the
license screen and in the one-time founder notice — and subscribers to the mailing list got a
personal code by email. Codes are time-limited; the app has the details.

🔧 What's new in 1.0.0

• License keys. Buy once at deskripple.com, and your receipt
  links a key page that shows your key from the order number and checkout email. Enter it under
  Manager → About; the same panel shows your license status and what the license promises
  about updates. Validation is offline — no account, no phone-home.
• The September 1 screen is a way through, not a dead end. From that date an unlicensed
  DeskRipple shows a license screen with the buy link, the founder code for beta testers, key
  entry that unlocks in place, a Restore my desktop shortcuts button that returns every
  archived desktop original, and a link to the latest version.
• Updated license agreement. 1.0 replaces the beta license with the full EULA — perpetual
  license, at least two years of Windows-compatibility updates from purchase, 14-day refunds via
  the terms of sale. Every install, updated or fresh,
  accepts it once on first 1.0 launch.
• The beta is wrapped up. Version labels, dialogs, and the welcome screen no longer say
  "beta"; the founder pre-notice from v0.5.1 became the real founder offer with the live code.
• The founder discount has a permanent home in the Manager. The one-time founder notice can
  be dismissed, and until September 1 nothing else puts checkout in front of you. The Manager
  footer now carries a Buy link on any install without a key: "Get 50% off" for beta testers,
  "Buy DeskRipple" otherwise. It disappears the moment a key validates.
• DeskRipple no longer changes your "Auto arrange icons" setting. A checkbox on the first-run
  desktop notice used to let DeskRipple clear that Windows setting for you, and it re-cleared it
  on every startup, with no way to switch it back off once the setting's own toggle was removed
  in a July release. The notice is informational now: DeskRipple still tells you when auto-arrange
  is on and what it does to folder placement, but it never touches the setting. Reported by a
  beta tester.
• A settings file that's locked when DeskRipple starts can't be overwritten. If an antivirus
  scan, a backup, or a second copy of DeskRipple held global.json or a profile's config.json
  at the wrong moment, DeskRipple started on empty defaults and then saved them over the real
  file, losing a license key, your diagnostics choice, or the folder list. A related path could
  fall back to the backup copy and quietly roll the install back one save, dropping the folder
  you had just added. A file DeskRipple couldn't read is now never written to for the rest of
  that session, and the next launch reads it normally.
• Deleting a profile can't destroy desktop shortcuts it failed to put back. Profile delete
  returns the desktop originals DeskRipple had moved into its archive, then removes the profile.
  A shortcut locked at that instant was returned by neither step and went with the folder. The
  restore now counts what it couldn't hand back and asks before going ahead, and it keeps those
  files where the other restore paths can still find them.
• About and the welcome screen fit on a small screen. Both had grown taller than the room a
  taskbar leaves: on a 1366×768 display at 125% scaling the welcome screen ran off the bottom,
  and About's buttons sat under the taskbar. That matters more in 1.0, because every install has
  to accept the license agreement once, and a dialog that can't show its own "I Agree" button is
  a dead end. Both are capped to the usable area now, and About is shorter, with Updates and
  Diagnostics collapsed until you open them.
• Smaller fixes. Esc closes every dialog. The license key box and its accept-or-reject message
  are announced by screen readers. The tray menu no longer offers a profile switcher when there
  is only one profile.

Everything else — desktop folder docks, five expand styles, drag-and-drop, desktop-icon
displacement, multi-monitor and mixed-DPI support, multiple profiles, automatic updates, and
opt-in diagnostics — carries over from the beta unchanged.

📦 Install / update

• Already installed: nothing to do — DeskRipple checks this repo in the background and
  applies the update silently at an idle moment. A tray notification confirms it, and the next
  launch shows the updated license agreement once. (Prefer to update on your own schedule? The
  About dialog has an "Install updates automatically" toggle.)
• New install: download DeskRipple-beta-Setup.exe below and run it. It installs
  per-user (no admin prompt), adds a Start Menu entry, and launches.

🛡️ SmartScreen prompt on the installer. DeskRipple is code-signed (Microsoft Trusted
Signing). Because it's still building download reputation, Windows SmartScreen may show a
prompt — if it does, click More info → Run anyway.

🔎 Can't find the tray icon? On Windows 11 it starts hidden in the ^ overflow chevron
near the clock. Drag it onto the taskbar, then right-click → Open Manager.

System requirements: Windows 10 and 11, 64-bit.
Full details.
(The .nupkg, releases.beta.json, and meta.json assets are the updater's feed;
DeskRipple-beta-Portable.zip is an unsupported convenience — the installer is the supported
path.)

🐛 Feedback

Found a bug or have a suggestion? Report it here — no login
required. The easiest path is right-click the tray icon → Send feedback (it pre-fills your
version, OS, and DPI scale, which makes reports far easier to act on).

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🔒 Privacy: DeskRipple runs locally — no account, no login. Out of the box its only network
traffic is the background update check against GitHub (no identifiers; can be turned off), and
the license key is checked on your PC, not on a server. Anonymous usage diagnostics are
strictly opt-in and off by default — you choose on first run and can change it anytime in
Settings. Purchases are handled by Lemon Squeezy as merchant of record.
Privacy policy.