FAQ and Safety

FAQ & Safety · 常見問題與安全

A plain-English (plus 粵語) answer sheet for the questions people ask before they start flipping toggles: is this safe, what needs administrator rights, where does WinForge keep my data, and how do I undo something. Every answer here is grounded in WinForge's actual code — AdminHelper, CrashLogger, SettingsStore, ConfigBackupService, ClipboardService, TrayService and the LauncherTweaks catalog.

WinForge 係 Windows 11 全方位控制中心，每個開關都會真正改到部機。所以開始之前，請先睇清楚呢頁嘅安全同常見問題。

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At a glance · 一眼睇晒

Question · 問題	Short answer · 簡答
Is it safe? · 安唔安全？	The tweaks change real Windows settings. Most are reversible; read each card first. · 大部分可逆，套用前睇清楚說明。
Are changes reversible? · 可唔可以還原？	Toggles flip back; choices reset; Config & Backup keeps git snapshots you can restore. · 開關撳返轉頭、快照可還原。
Does it need admin? · 使唔使管理員？	Only some tweaks (system-wide / HKLM / services / power). The app has one-click relaunch. · 部分先需要，一鍵重啟提權。
Where is my data? · 資料喺邊？	Everything under %LOCALAPPDATA%\WinForge — local only, no cloud. · 全部喺本機，唔上雲。
Does it run in background? · 會唔會背景運行？	Yes — closing hides to the tray; clipboard + hotkeys keep running. · 關窗收入系統匣，背景照跑。
What's the licence? · 咩授權？	MIT, "use at your own risk". · MIT 授權，自行承擔風險。

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Safety & reversibility · 安全與可逆

Safety · 安全 — These tweaks modify real Windows settings: registry keys, power plans, the network stack, privacy flags, Defender, services and on-disk cleanup. Most are reversible (toggle them back), but some need administrator rights or a restart / sign-out to take effect. Always read a card's bilingual description before applying it. WinForge is provided "as is" — use at your own risk (see the MIT LICENSE).

Is WinForge safe to use? · WinForge 安唔安全？

WinForge is honest about what it does. The in-app About page states it directly:

"These tweaks modify real Windows settings. Changes are reversible where possible, but please read each description first. Some require administrator rights or a restart to take effect."

Nothing is faked — every TweakCard maps to a documented Windows setting or a real command (reg, sc, netsh, powercfg, sfc, DISM, winget, schtasks, PowerShell). The risk is the same risk as editing those settings by hand; WinForge just makes them discoverable, bilingual, and one click away. The two things that protect you:

• Read-before-apply — every card carries a bilingual title + description and shows admin / restart badges where relevant, so you know the consequence before you act.
• Config snapshots — the Config & Backup module takes git-versioned snapshots of your settings that you can diff and restore (see Undo & restore).

Are changes reversible? · 啲改動可唔可以還原？

In almost all cases, yes:

• Toggle tweaks (Boolean registry coordinates) flip straight back — switch the card off and the original value is rewritten.
• Choice tweaks (a choice set, e.g. telemetry level, power plan) let you pick the original option again.
• Command tweaks (shell / PowerShell) are the ones to read carefully — some are one-way actions (a cleanup that deletes temp files, a DNS flush, an sfc /scannow). These don't have an "undo button" because there's nothing to undo a deletion to. Destructive cards are flagged destructive in the catalog.

For a belt-and-braces undo of configuration changes, take a snapshot before a tweaking session — see below.

What is genuinely irreversible? · 邊啲真係冇得返轉頭？

• Cleanup & Storage operations — emptying the Recycle Bin, clearing the Update cache, deleting temp files / thumbnails / event logs. The files are gone.
• Network resets — netsh winsock reset, TCP/IP reset (these need a restart and re-establish defaults).
• Repair operations — sfc /scannow, DISM /RestoreHealth modify system files in place.
• The launcher.remove / daily-backup-removal actions delete the scheduled task and shortcuts.

Read the description, and where the card is marked destructive, treat it like you would the same command in a terminal.

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Administrator rights · 管理員權限

What needs administrator and why? · 邊啲要管理員，點解？

WinForge runs fine as a standard user for the bulk of its modules. Some operations are system-wide and Windows itself requires elevation for them. As the Settings page puts it, admin is needed for "system-wide tweaks (HKLM, services, power)" · 全系統調校需要（HKLM、服務、電源）。

Typical things that require admin:

Needs admin · 要管理員	Why · 點解
HKLM registry tweaks	Writing under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE (machine-wide policy) requires elevation; HKCU (your own user hive) does not.
Services	Start / stop / change services (sc, service control).
Power & boot	Some powercfg and boot-configuration changes.
Security	UAC level, firewall, SmartScreen, Defender scans, Remote Desktop.
Repair tools	sfc, DISM, system file operations.
HKLM startup items	Toggling machine-wide Run entries.
No-UAC launcher setup	Registering the Task Scheduler task needs admin once (see below).

How do I run WinForge as administrator? · 點樣以管理員身分運行？

The app detects its own elevation via AdminHelper.IsElevated. On the Settings page:

• If elevated, it shows "✓ Running as administrator · ✓ 正以管理員身分運行".
• If not, it shows a "Relaunch as administrator · 以管理員身分重新啟動" button. Clicking it calls RelaunchElevated(), which relaunches the same .exe with the runas verb (triggering one UAC prompt) and exits the old instance. If you decline the UAC prompt, nothing happens and the original instance keeps running.

The Launcher category also has a live "Elevation status · 提權狀態" info card that reports Elevated · 已提權 or Standard user · 標準使用者.

Safety · 安全 — Only relaunch elevated when a tweak actually asks for it. Running every app as administrator all the time is a habit worth avoiding; WinForge is designed so you stay a standard user until a specific system-wide change needs more.

The no-UAC elevated launcher · 免 UAC 提權啟動器

WinForge ships an optional convenience: a launcher that starts the app elevated with NO UAC prompt, defined in Catalog/LauncherTweaks.cs. It works the standard Windows way — a Task Scheduler task with RunLevel = Highest plus a shortcut that triggers it:

Operation · 操作	What it does · 做乜	Admin?
Create no-UAC elevated launcher · 建立免 UAC 提權啟動器	Registers a scheduled task WinForgeSuiteElevated (highest privileges) and creates a WinForge (Admin).lnk shortcut on the Desktop and in the Start menu that runs it.	Yes (once)
Run WinForge elevated now · 立即以管理員運行	schtasks.exe /run /tn WinForgeSuiteElevated — starts a fresh elevated instance with no prompt (launcher must be set up first).	No
Remove the elevated launcher · 移除提權啟動器	Unregister-ScheduledTask + deletes both shortcuts.	Yes (destructive)
Open Task Scheduler · 開啟工作排程器	mmc.exe taskschd.msc so you can inspect the task yourself.	No
Elevation status · 提權狀態	Read-only: is this instance elevated.	—

The trade-off, stated plainly: creating the task needs admin once (and one UAC prompt). After that, the shortcut launches elevated forever with no further prompts. That's the same mechanism many power-user tools use, and it's fully reversible via Remove the elevated launcher.

Safety · 安全 — A no-UAC elevated shortcut is a convenience, not a default. Anything that can run that shortcut runs WinForge as administrator without asking. Only set it up on a machine you control, and remove it (one click) if you no longer want it. The task is plainly named WinForgeSuiteElevated and visible in Task Scheduler.

See Installation-and-Build for build/run details.

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Where WinForge stores things · WinForge 將資料存喺邊

Everything lives under one folder — %LOCALAPPDATA%\WinForge (i.e. C:\Users\<you>\AppData\Local\WinForge). It is local only: WinForge does not phone home and does not sync anything to a cloud account.

What · 內容	Path · 路徑	Notes · 備註
Settings · 設定	%LOCALAPPDATA%\WinForge\settings.json	Language lead, theme, full-screen flag, etc. Plain indented JSON. (SettingsStore)
Crash log · 當機記錄	%LOCALAPPDATA%\WinForge\crash.log	Appended timestamped exception dumps, including early FirstChance: loader faults caught before Main. (CrashLogger / StartupDiagnostics)
Startup trace · 啟動追蹤	%LOCALAPPDATA%\WinForge\startup-trace.log	Per-launch step markers (truncated each launch) for diagnosing a slow or failed startup. (CrashLogger.Mark)
Config snapshots · 設定快照	%LOCALAPPDATA%\WinForge\snapshots	A local git repo of settings history (+ a captured apps.json winget list). (ConfigBackupService)
Clipboard history · 剪貼簿記錄	%LOCALAPPDATA%\WinForge\clipboard	history.json + saved clip-*.png images, with its own local git log. (ClipboardService)

Because it's all under your local profile, you can inspect, back up, or delete any of it by hand. The settings store and snapshots are designed to survive corruption gracefully — a broken settings.json is simply ignored and rebuilt.

Does WinForge run in the background / sit in the tray? · 會唔會背景運行／喺系統匣？

Yes. WinForge installs a system-tray icon (TrayService, pure Shell_NotifyIcon P/Invoke — no third-party dependency). The behaviour:

• Closing the window does not quit the app. AppWindow.Closing is intercepted and the window is hidden to the tray instead. Background work — the clipboard monitor and the global hotkey pump — keeps running.
• Tray menu (right-click): "Open WinForge · 開啟 WinForge" and "Quit · 結束". Left-click / double-click reopens the window.
• Quit (from the tray menu) is the only thing that actually exits and removes the tray icon.
• Run on login — the startup manager can register WinForge to start with Windows minimized to the tray (the app accepts a --minimized flag and calls StartHiddenInTray()), so the clipboard history and hotkeys are live from boot without a window popping up.

If you'd rather it not live in the background, simply use Quit from the tray menu, and don't enable run-on-login.

Kiosk / full-screen mode · Kiosk／全螢幕模式

WinForge is described as a "kiosk-style control center", meaning it can run as a single full-screen surface:

• It opens windowed by default (roughly 82% of the screen).
• F11 toggles full-screen (AppWindowPresenterKind.FullScreen); F11 again returns to a normal overlapped window.
• The choice is remembered across launches (persisted as the fullscreen key in settings.json).

This is presentation only — it does not lock down the machine or replace the Windows shell; it's a roomy full-screen layout for the suite, not an enterprise assigned-access kiosk.

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Undo & restore · 還原與復原

How do I undo a single tweak? · 點樣還原一項調校？

1. Toggle / choice tweaks — open the card again and flip the toggle back, or re-select the original option. The card always shows both languages so you know exactly what you're reverting.
2. Command tweaks — if the description says it's a one-way action (cleanup, reset, repair), there is no in-card undo; treat it accordingly.

How do I roll back a whole session? · 點樣還原成批改動？

Use the Config & Backup module (ConfigBackupService), which keeps a git snapshot repo of your configuration:

• Take a snapshot · 影快照 — writes the current settings (and a winget app list) into the snapshots repo and commits them with a timestamp. Take one before a tweaking session.
• List snapshots · 睇快照 — browse the history (newest first), each with a short hash, date and message.
• Restore a snapshot · 還原快照 — checks out a past snapshot and re-applies it. It is non-destructive: WinForge automatically commits an auto: before restore safety snapshot first, so you can never paint yourself into a corner.
• Diff · 比較 — see exactly what changed between now and any snapshot.
• Export a .reg backup — exports the HKCU keys WinForge is known to touch (Explorer Advanced, Taskbar pins, Search, Personalize/dark mode, Advertising ID, Suggestions, Desktop, Mouse, Keyboard, Clipboard, Environment) into one human-reviewable .reg file. Only HKCU keys are included, so this export needs no admin.
• Portable .zip bundle — export/import all settings with a version manifest + SHA-256 checksums; Verify integrity runs git fsck and re-checks the checksums.

Tip · 提示 — A snapshot before you start is the cheapest insurance there is. Config & Backup → Take snapshot, then tweak freely.

See Windows-Tweaks-Overview for how individual tweaks are structured.

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Common gotchas · 常見問題

Why are some lists empty until I run as admin? · 點解唔做管理員啲清單係空？

Several modules read machine-wide state that Windows simply won't reveal to a standard-user process — for example HKLM Run startup entries, certain services, and other privileged inventories. When WinForge isn't elevated, those queries return nothing (or a partial list), so a panel can look empty. Relaunch as administrator (Settings → the relaunch button, or the no-UAC launcher) and the lists populate. This is a Windows permission boundary, not a bug.

Why didn't my tweak take effect immediately? · 點解套用咗都未生效？

Some Windows settings only apply after a restart, sign-out, or restarting Explorer. Cards that need this carry a restart badge. After importing a settings bundle, WinForge even says so: "Restart WinForge for all of them to take effect · 重開 WinForge 全部即生效."

Why did the app survive a module error instead of crashing? · 點解一個模組出錯都冇冧 app？

By design. CrashLogger installs global handlers for XAML, AppDomain and unobserved task exceptions at startup. A faulting page or handler is caught, logged to crash.log, and swallowed rather than taking the whole suite down — "A single module's error should never take the whole app down · 一個模組出錯唔應該拖冧成個 app." If a module misbehaves, check %LOCALAPPDATA%\WinForge\crash.log.

The app won't open / closes instantly at startup · 一開就閃退

A startup that dies before any window — Windows logs a crash in Microsoft.UI.Xaml.dll with exit code 0xC000027B (a stowed exception) — is almost always a type that failed to load during WinUI's XAML type-table init. The generated XamlTypeInfoProvider.InitTypeTables() eagerly resolves every XAML-referenced type on the first XAML load (App.xaml's XamlControlsResources), which runs before OnLaunched — so even a type used only on a later page is loaded at startup, and the in-app CrashLogger never gets a turn. The earliest diagnostic is Services/StartupDiagnostics.cs: a [ModuleInitializer] that runs before Main and writes any loader fault (TypeLoad, missing assembly/method/member, bad image) to crash.log as a FirstChance: entry — turning the opaque native code into a named managed exception.

One real example · 一個真實例子 — referencing both the LibVLCSharp and LibVLCSharp.WinUI NuGet packages (both ship an assembly named LibVLCSharp.dll) deployed the wrong flavour, so the Media Player's VideoView type was missing and every launch fail-fasted — a 100% deterministic crash. It was fixed permanently by referencing only LibVLCSharp.WinUI (a one-line csproj change); a retry can't paper over a crash that happens every time. The separate WinForgeLauncher.exe supervisor — which relaunches the app on an early 0xC000027B — is a safety net for transient fail-fasts, not the fix for a deterministic one. If you add a WinUI control from NuGet and the app suddenly won't start, check crash.log first. 加完 NuGet 控制項之後開唔到 app，先睇 crash.log。

Is anything sent over the network? · 會唔會上網？

WinForge's tweaks and storage are local. Individual modules may reach the network when that's their whole purpose (e.g. the Package Manager talks to winget/Scoop/etc. sources, the Git module talks to GitHub via gh) — but that's the explicit job of those tools, not background telemetry. There is no WinForge analytics/telemetry phone-home.

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Licence & disclaimer · 授權與免責聲明

EN — WinForge is released under the MIT License. It is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind. In the README's own words: "These tweaks modify real Windows settings… Use at your own risk." The About page footer reads "Version 1.0.0 · MIT License · Built with .NET + WinUI 3."

粵語 — WinForge 以 MIT 授權條款發佈，按「現狀」提供，不附任何形式嘅保證。呢啲調校會改到真實嘅 Windows 設定，自行承擔風險。

Full text: LICENSE in the repo.

Safety · 安全 — "Use at your own risk" is not boilerplate here. WinForge can change privileged system state. Take a snapshot first, read each card, and only elevate when a tweak truly needs it.

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Reporting issues · 回報問題

The project lives at github.com/codingmachineedge/WinForge (the in-app About page links straight to it). To report a problem:

1. Reproduce the issue and note which module / tweak and whether you were running as administrator.
2. Grab the crash log — %LOCALAPPDATA%\WinForge\crash.log (open the folder by pasting that path into Explorer's address bar). Attach the relevant timestamped block.
3. Open a GitHub issue at https://github.com/codingmachineedge/WinForge/issues with: your Windows 11 build, whether the app was elevated, the exact card/operation, and what you expected vs. what happened.
4. For a bad tweak, mention the card's English or 粵語 title (both appear on every card) so it can be found in the catalog quickly.

The sole contributor is Claude, so a clear, self-contained report with the crash-log excerpt is the fastest path to a fix.

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Part of Home · WinForge wiki.