WinModes v0.9.3-beta.20261002 (beta)

Beta. This is a pre-release for testing, not the stable version. A stable copy of WinModes never offers it as an update, and a beta copy moves to the stable version when it comes out. Please report what you find in the issues.

Added

• About and title bar: a beta build shows a "Beta" tag next to its version (and the full version, such as 0.9.3-beta.20261002, on the About page). A beta build looks for newer betas as well as stable versions; a stable build never hears about betas.
• Optimize: two settings for OneDrive that remove nothing: hide it in File Explorer, or keep it from syncing and starting by policy.
• Startup: a new page lists what starts with Windows (the Run entries of your account and of all users, and the Startup folders) and turns the items of your account on or off exactly the way Task Manager does, so nothing is deleted and each item can be reset to what it was. Security software, audio drivers, WinModes itself and the tools you rely on are shown as protected, and the items for all users, which need administrator rights, are shown but left to Task Manager.
• Debloat: a new page lists the preinstalled apps of your account (Clipchamp, News, Solitaire, Teams, Copilot, the promoted games and apps, Xbox pieces, Phone Link, and about sixty more, found by comparing what the well-known optimizers remove) and removes the ones you tick, for your account only. Each app is "Safe" or "Check first", and the ones to check say what stops working without them. Everything removed is listed on the page and Restore registers it again from the files that stay on the PC. The Microsoft Store, App Installer (winget), Edge, WebView2, the framework packages, Windows Security, the shell, Windows Terminal, the image and video codecs, the Xbox identity pieces and the apps of your daily tools are never offered, whatever the list says.
• Debloat: OneDrive can be uninstalled from the page. WinModes refuses while Desktop, Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos or Downloads live inside OneDrive, warns when an account is signed in or files exist only online, keeps every file that is on the PC and never touches the OneDrive setup program of Windows, so "Install OneDrive again" is always there.
• Modes: a mode can change power values (when the display turns off, sleep and hibernation, disk, processor speed, USB suspend) without ever editing your power plans: it makes a copy of the plan, changes the copy and uses it, then deletes the copy and goes back to your plan when it ends. A copy left by a crash is removed at the next start, and a plan you pick yourself meanwhile is kept.
• Modes and tray: automatic switching can be paused for an hour (and resumed) from the Modes page or the tray menu. While it is paused nothing is started or ended, and the mode that is on stays on.
• Modes: two new modes. Focus silences the notification pop-ups (Do not disturb), keeps the screen and the PC awake on mains power, and leaves the services and the dev stack alone; add the chat and social apps to close in the mode editor. Eco is for the battery: Power saver plan, WSL and Docker stopped, background services calmed and transparency off.
• Modes: a mode can now turn on settings from the Optimize list while it is active, and puts them back when it ends. Only per-user settings that take effect at once are used, so there is no extra permission prompt, and a setting that was already on before the mode is left alone. The preview lists them under "Windows settings". Game mode now turns on Do not disturb.
• Optimize: 51 more settings, found by reading the code of about forty more open-source Windows optimizers. They cover telemetry and error-reporting policies, promotions in Windows and Edge, Recall, Click to Do, Copilot and other AI features, Search, AutoPlay, the Sticky Keys pop-ups, the startup-app delay, File Explorer and taskbar options, and Game Bar, audio ducking and notification sounds. Each one shows how many projects ship it, can be undone exactly, and those that need care carry a note. The Recall setting now says that snapshots already saved are removed.
• Modes: a switch above the mode cards turns automatic switching on or off, and says what it is doing ("Code mode is on: Claude Code is running", or the time left before it ends). A mode started automatically is labelled "ACTIVE (AUTO)", and the tray menu has the same switch. The page now shows a switch made by the tray, a hotkey or automatic switching at once instead of at its next refresh.
• Automation: a "Coding tools" section starts a mode (Code by default) while Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, T3 Code, OpenCode, Windsurf or VS Code is open, and ends it after the last one closes. Each tool is a switch; "Open now" shows which ones are running. Claude Code is told apart from the Claude chat app, so chatting does not start Code mode. Turning automatic switching on for the first time switches on the usual coding tools.
• Automation: a "Wait before returning to normal" setting (30 seconds to 10 minutes, one minute by default) and a line that says what automatic switching is doing now, with a countdown.

Changed

• Services: the service knowledge base now also knows MMCSS, the Edge update services, the WSL and Hyper-V services, the Defender sensors and a few others that optimizers tend to disable, and marks them never to touch; Diagnostic Policy, IP Helper, Font Cache and Themes are now never to touch too, since other tools break Windows by switching them off. No mode stopped any of them.
• Optimize and modes: after writing a setting, WinModes reads it back. A setting that Windows refuses without an error (a policy, or the protection of default apps) is now reported as not applied instead of shown as applied, and nothing is recorded for it.
• Automation: a mode started automatically now stays on while any program or tool that triggers it is still open, and ends one minute after the last one closes, so going from Claude Code to Codex (or running both) no longer makes the PC go back and forth. A mode starts only after its trigger has held for 10 seconds, so a program that opens and closes at once changes nothing.
• Automation: automatic switching never replaces or undoes a mode you chose yourself. A mode it started is remembered, so it is still undone after WinModes was restarted.
• Automation: automatic switching waits 30 seconds after WinModes starts (Windows is still loading your programs) and stays quiet for 10 minutes after a switch that was refused or failed, instead of asking for the permission again at every check.

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Download WinModes-v0.9.3-beta.20261002-setup-win-x64.exe to install, or WinModes-v0.9.3-beta.20261002-portable-win-x64.zip, extract it and run WinModes.exe. No .NET runtime is needed.

WinModes v0.9.2

Changed

• Build: the GitHub actions and the test packages used to build and check WinModes are updated to their latest versions; nothing changes in the app.

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Download WinModes-v0.9.2-win-x64.zip, extract it and run WinModes.exe. No installation or .NET runtime is needed.

WinModes v0.9.1

Fixed

• Taskbar widget: the card of the AI tools memory now stays open when you rest the mouse on it, instead of being closed by each refresh of the widget.
• Widget page: privacy mode now hides the e-mail address of the WinModes account of Claude Code and Codex.

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Download WinModes-v0.9.1-win-x64.zip, extract it and run WinModes.exe. No installation or .NET runtime is needed.

WinModes v0.9.0

Added

• Widget: it can sit on the taskbar, on the desktop or on both ("Where it appears"). It fills the free room next to the app icons whether they are centred or on the left, reads that room again within a fraction of a second when you change the alignment or open or close an app, and shows less (network, then mode and CPU, then AI) when there is little room. You choose the side (automatic, left or right). Windows icons in colour and the tools' own icons (kept after the tool is closed) replace the text labels, the AI total is one line, and the limit resets you have in reserve ("↻ 2") are shown next to each plan.
• Widget: each of Claude Code and Codex has a "WinModes account": sign in once in your browser and WinModes reads the usage reliably, with a session of its own that is renewed by itself and never touches the sign-in of Claude Code or Codex. Tokens are kept encrypted for your Windows account and "Sign out" deletes them. The page shown in the browser once signed in matches the app. Anthropic does not document the Claude sign-in and may restrict it.
• Widget: for Claude, the limit resets in reserve are read too when the account is eligible.
• Widget: the Claude Code and Codex sections and their account rows show the logo of each tool, and the checks list whether WinModes is signed in.
• Widget: a "Check Claude Code" button lists, one by one, what is missing for the Claude usage to appear (plan, status line, last call of the status line, usage record, sign-in) and what to do about it.
• Widget: a "Check Codex" button does the same for Codex (folder, last usage record, plan, sign-in).
• Widget: resting the mouse on Claude or Codex for under a second opens a card instead of a plain tooltip: the tool and its plan, each limit with a coloured bar and the time it resets, the limit resets in reserve, and when the figures were read. It works on the taskbar and on the desktop widget, follows you from one tool to the next without waiting, and never takes the mouse or the focus.
• Widget: on the taskbar, resting the mouse on the AI tools figure opens a card with the total, its share of your memory and what each tool uses, with a bar of its share.
• Usage: a "Tokens" section counts the tokens Claude Code and Codex used, for today, the last 7 days or the last 30 days. For each tool: the total, how it splits (new input, output, cache read, cache write), a bar per day, and the models and projects that used the most. It is off by default: it reads the usage figures from the logs the two tools keep on this PC (never the text of a conversation, and nothing leaves the PC), the first read takes a few seconds and the next ones only what was added. Turning it off deletes the figures. winmodes tokens [days] prints the same in the command line.
• Widget: the Claude card shows the weekly limit of each model that has its own (Opus, Sonnet, Fable) and, when the account turned it on, the extra usage spent this month against its limit.
• Notifications: a new page lists everything WinModes can notify about and switches each one on or off, with a master switch and a "Send a test" button. For Claude Code and Codex: running low (5 %, 10 %, 20 % or 30 % left, for the 5 hour and the weekly limits), limit reached, available again once a limit you had used up starts over, and a limit reset added to your reserve. Also AI tools memory (all tools, or one tool), an idle session ended, mode switches, a new release, and a sign-in that expired.
• About: "Create support file" saves a zip to attach to a bug report: the version, facts about the PC (Windows, screens, taskbar, widget, which tools and sign-ins are present), your settings and the error logs. Your user name, PC name, e-mail addresses and anything that looks like a key are taken out first, and nothing is sent.
• Notifications: "Quiet hours" hold back the optional notifications between two times you choose (the end may be the next morning). Errors and the result of a mode switch you start are still shown; the limits are judged again when the quiet hours end, so none is missed, and a memory alert that was held back is shown then if the memory is still above its limit.
• Notifications: when both limits of a tool (5 hours and weekly) are used up, or both start over, in the same read, one notification tells both instead of two. A long notification is cut with an ellipsis before Windows cuts it.
• Notifications: what was already announced is remembered across restarts, so a limit left at 0 % is announced once per cycle instead of at every start of the app, and a release is announced once.
• Modes: when the administrator helper fails, the reason is written to helper-errors.log in %ProgramData%\WinModes\logs instead of being lost.

Fixed

• Settings: when "Start with Windows" is on but its startup entry points to a file that no longer exists (WinModes was moved, reinstalled or updated elsewhere), Windows skipped it silently. WinModes now says so once at start, and the Settings page offers "Use this copy of WinModes" to repair the entry.
• Widget: with an auto-hide taskbar, the widget on the taskbar now slides out of sight with it instead of staying over the desktop, and comes back when the taskbar does.
• Notifications: a plan limit that stayed low or used up no longer raised the same notification each time WinModes started; the update notification is no longer repeated at each start either.
• Notifications: the plan notifications no longer need the widget to be visible; they are watched in the background as long as the plan usage is turned on.
• Widget: on the taskbar it no longer disappears for a moment when the Start menu opens or closes; it keeps its place while Windows hides the taskbar icons from the readout, and ignores buttons of other windows that appear there for an instant.
• Modes: a switch interrupted by a crash or a failed restore stays listed as active and is retried on the next undo, instead of being forgotten with services left changed.
• Services and Optimize: a damaged record of original settings is set aside as a .corrupt- file instead of being overwritten, so the values to restore are not lost.
• Automation: when several rules match, a lower-priority program no longer replaces the mode of a higher-priority program that is still running; it takes over when that program exits.
• Usage and widget: a plan or status-line answer holding an impossible date or number no longer stops the reading; the value is shown as unknown.
• Settings, History and Claude status line: files are saved in one step, so a crash or power loss can no longer leave a half-written settings, usage history or Claude Code settings file.
• Claude status line: installing or removing it keeps the first backup of your Claude Code settings instead of replacing it, and no longer rewrites accents or symbols elsewhere in that file.
• App: an unexpected error in a page, the tray menu or a hotkey no longer closes WinModes; it is written to errors.log in %LocalAppData%\WinModes and a notification is shown.
• Modes: asking for a mode switch while another is still running (page, tray menu, hotkey or automation) is refused with a message instead of stacking administrator prompts.
• Modes: a switch started from the prompt and one started by the silent task can no longer overlap: the administrator helper runs one command at a time.

Changed

• Widget: when Anthropic or OpenAI fail or refuse a request, WinModes now asks that provider less and less often (up to once an hour) and waits as long as it says in its Retry-After, instead of asking again every 5 minutes; the other provider is not slowed down, and signing in or out asks again at once.
• Settings and Widget: the AI tools memory alerts and the "warn when Claude or Codex runs low" options moved to the new Notifications page. A choice you had made for the low-usage warning is kept.
• Widget: while WinModes is signed in to Claude or Codex, the "read the usage online" option of that tool is greyed out, since the usage is then read with its own session.
• Widget page: every option and every section has a coloured icon, and the options are laid out as rows in cards, so the page is easier to scan.
• Widget page: Claude Code and Codex each have their own section with their own options (show, read online, warn when low). The settings you already had are kept for both.
• Widget: the plan usage bars and percentages change colour with what is left: green with plenty left, then amber, and redder the closer to 0 %.
• Modes: listing and closing the apps of a mode, and measuring memory, no longer run on the interface thread, so the window stays responsive during a switch.
• Settings: preferences are read from disk once instead of at every refresh of the tray, widget and pages.
• Dashboard and widget: the live graphs redraw at most 30 times a second instead of 60, which lowers the CPU use of the app.

Security

• The shared WinModes folder in ProgramData is now restricted to administrators, and one that already exists under another owner is refused.
• The administrator helper now refuses any command, service name, tweak id or mode name that is not in the expected form, including through the silent switch.
• About and updates: a release can now be signed with a key only the maintainer holds. When the app carries the matching public key it checks the signature of the list of checksums before downloading an update and refuses a release that is unsigned or wrongly signed; a checksum published beside the package only proved that the download was not damaged. Releases are signed from this version on; earlier versions do not carry the key and keep checking by checksum only.

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Download WinModes-v0.9.0-win-x64.zip, extract it and run WinModes.exe. No installation or .NET runtime is needed.

WinModes v0.8.0

Added

• Settings: the interface can be shown in French, Spanish or Italian as well as English (the default). The language applies the next time WinModes starts and covers every page, the widget, the tray menu, the dialogs and the notifications.
• Widget: each plan shows a second bar for its weekly limit, next to the bar of the 5-hour limit; both bars are labelled.

Changed

• With French, Spanish or Italian selected, dates and numbers follow that language; in English they keep the format of Windows.

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Download WinModes-v0.8.0-win-x64.zip, extract it and run WinModes.exe. No installation or .NET runtime is needed.

WinModes v0.7.0

Added

• Widget: choose whether the plan usage shows Claude, Codex or both; a plan switched off is neither read nor asked online.
• Widget: the limit resets in reserve are shown in the compact layout too, and an option hides them.
• Widget: optional notification when a plan has less than 10 % of its limit left. Off by default.
• About page: a portable copy gets a Download button when a new version is found; the zip is checked against the release checksum and saved in the Downloads folder.

Changed

• Widget page: the plan usage options have their own section.

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Download WinModes-v0.7.0-win-x64.zip, extract it and run WinModes.exe. No installation or .NET runtime is needed.

WinModes v0.6.0

Added

• Widget: optional "Plans" block with your Claude and Codex plan, the usage left and when each limit resets. Off by default; read from files on this PC.
• Widget: the compact layout shows the usage left on each plan next to the tool's icon; the "Plans" block uses the icons instead of the names.
• Widget: "Record Claude usage" adds a WinModes status line to Claude Code, which records the 5-hour and weekly usage. It never replaces a status line you already have and keeps a backup of the settings.
• Widget: "Read the usage online" asks Anthropic and OpenAI for the live figures and the limit resets in reserve, with the sign-in Claude Code and Codex keep on this PC. Off by default.
• Automation: option to switch modes without the Windows permission prompt, through a scheduled task registered once. Off by default; installed copies only. Uninstalling removes the task.
• AI tools: MCP servers declared in the Codex configuration are recognised and shown under the name you gave them.

Changed

• Widget: at 100 % opacity the widget is fully opaque; its background used to keep a slight transparency.

Fixed

• AI tools: Codex and Claude desktop no longer count their own processes as MCP servers.
• AI tools: an MCP server started through npx is counted once instead of once per wrapper process.
• AI tools: prisma mcp, shadcn mcp and docker mcp are no longer merged under the name "mcp".

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Download WinModes-v0.6.0-win-x64.zip, extract it and run WinModes.exe. No installation or .NET runtime is needed.

WinModes v0.5.0

• Optimize page: a catalog of 28 Windows settings (privacy and telemetry, ads, search and AI, gaming, background, Explorer) plus the services the knowledge base advises to start only when needed. Each row shows the live state, how many of the 12 surveyed open-source optimizers ship it, and whether it needs a sign-out. The current value is recorded before each change and Undo puts it back. Security, update, start-up and service keys are refused by the engine. Nothing is uninstalled or deleted.
• Services page: a right-click starts or stops a service, changes its start type or restores the original one. Protected services cannot be changed, and the original start type is recorded before the first change.
• Widget: the mode label, the border and the compact dot take the colour of the active mode.
• Dashboard: AI tool tiles share the full width and the CPU, memory and background cards are more compact, so the graphs stay in view.
• Uninstalling undoes the machine-wide changes made from the Optimize and Services pages (service start types, policy values, scheduled tasks). Per-user settings are left as they are.

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Download WinModes-v0.5.0-win-x64.zip, extract it and run WinModes.exe. No installation or .NET runtime is needed.

WinModes v0.4.0

• AI tool icons in the desktop widget.
• Update check against the GitHub releases: once at startup (can be turned off) and on demand from the About page. Nothing is downloaded automatically.
• Widget: compact one-line layout, optional CPU and memory graphs, hiding during full-screen apps, and a click on the AI block opens the AI tools page.
• Usage page: opt-in history of the memory each AI tool used per project (today, 7 or 30 days), kept on this PC for 30 days.
• AI tools page lists the MCP servers running in several sessions and the memory they hold.
• Optional alert when a single AI tool passes a memory limit.
• Optional automatic end of project sessions idle for 30 minutes to 4 hours. Off by default.
• Automation rules can also trigger on battery power or during a daily time range.
• Deactivating a mode reports how long it was active and the memory it had freed.
• GPU utilization and disk activity graphs on the dashboard.
• Export a report of the PC state (names and totals only) from the About page, to ask for help.
• Installed copies can download and start the installer of a new version from the About page; the download is checked against the checksum of the release.
• Light theme (Settings, applied at the next start).

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Download WinModes-v0.4.0-win-x64.zip, extract it and run WinModes.exe. No installation or .NET runtime is needed.

WinModes v0.3.1

• The page area starts right under the title bar, level with the menu.
• The widget preview stays in view while the options scroll.

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Download WinModes-v0.3.1-win-x64.zip, extract it and run WinModes.exe. No installation or .NET runtime is needed.