Pulse Diagnostics v1.6.1

Pulse Diagnostics v1.6.1 — New name, Windows Server and two-GPU fixes

Pulse is now called Pulse Diagnostics, the name it already had in the Microsoft Store. This update also fixes PulseService on Windows Server and the GPU shown on PCs with two GPUs.

Changes

• New name: Pulse Diagnostics. Window and title bar, tray menu, Start menu and desktop shortcuts, Programs and Features, the service in services.msc (Pulse Diagnostics Service), report headers and the download files (PulseDiagnostics-Setup-<version>-windows-x64.exe). Setup updates an existing install in place: same folder, settings and history, and it removes the old "Pulse" shortcuts.
• New addresses. The repository is now Regncreative/PulseDiagnostics and the website pulsediagnostics.regncreative.com. Old links redirect. Update checks and release links use the new address.
• PulseService.exe has file version information. Its Properties → Details tab shows the product name and version, like Pulse.exe.

Fixes

• Windows Server (#50). PulseService did not start on Windows Server without the Wireless LAN Service feature: Setup showed "wlanapi.dll was not found" and Pulse stayed offline. Wi-Fi details are now read only when Windows has them.
• PCs with two GPUs (#54). System Health described the integrated GPU. It now shows the GPU Windows ranks highest for performance, the one apps get when they ask for "high performance". Every GPU stays listed under GPU → All GPUs.
• Idle GPU. A GPU with nothing running on it showed "—" instead of 0 %, as Task Manager shows it.

Upgrade notes

• Confirm Diagnose → Service shows 1.6.1 after installing.
• An existing install keeps its folder (C:\Program Files\Pulse); new installs go to C:\Program Files\Pulse Diagnostics. Settings, logs and history stay where they were.
• Releases are not code-signed yet, so SmartScreen may warn about the new file name. See the Code signing policy.

Downloads

Windows x64 Installer

PulseDiagnostics-Setup-1.6.1-windows-x64.exe

Payload ZIP

PulseDiagnostics-1.6.1-windows-x64.zip (PulseService is still required; see portable vs service)

Checksums

SHA256SUMS.txt

Pulse Diagnostics remains read-only and local-first: no telemetry, no cloud, no account.

Pulse v1.6.0

Pulse v1.6.0 — Crash history

What crashed on this PC lately, how often, and why? The new Crashes page answers that from the Windows Event Log, in plain language.

New

• Crashes page (sidebar, under Timeline; Ctrl+2). Blue screens, app crashes, apps that stopped responding, unexpected restarts, graphics driver resets, service crashes and hardware errors of the last 7, 30 or 90 days. A one-sentence overview, a counter per category that filters the list, and a bar for each day.
• Grouped by cause. The same crash is listed once with how often it happened: an app crashing in the same file with the same error, a blue screen with the same stop code, a service, a graphics driver. A blue screen that Windows records twice (Kernel-Power 41 and the bug check report) counts once.
• Why it crashed. Each group says what happened in plain language and what to try next. For app crashes Pulse names the file the crash happened in and whether it is the app's own, part of Windows, part of a device driver or another program loaded into the app, with the publisher from the file's version information. Error codes come from Windows' own definitions; an unknown code is shown as it is, never guessed.
• Versions and events. A group lists the app versions it happened on and its latest events; each opens in the Timeline's Explained, Technical and Raw XML views.
• Crash history report as JSON, CSV, HTML or PDF. Like every report, it masks user and computer names and profile paths by default.
• Assistant: a read-only crash history tool, so the local Assistant can answer "what crashed this month?". It gets no file paths.

Changes

• App crashes in the Timeline name the app. "Discord Crashed: Discord closed unexpectedly after a memory access error. The error happened in nvwgf2umx.dll, part of a device driver." instead of "Application Crashed". Apps that stop responding and crashed services are named too.
• Keyboard shortcuts follow the sidebar. Ctrl+1 Timeline, Ctrl+2 Crashes, Ctrl+3 System Health, Ctrl+4 Inventory, Ctrl+5 Reports, Ctrl+6 Diagnostics, Ctrl+7 Settings.

Fixes

• Blue screens, sudden restarts and wake-ups that were already in the Timeline when Pulse started showed the generic wording; only later events got the detailed explanation.

How it works

PulseService reads crash events from the System and Application logs only when you open the Crashes page (at most every two minutes), press Refresh or export a report, or when the Assistant asks. Nothing runs in the background, nothing leaves the PC, and Windows is never changed. Details: 43 — Crash history.

Not yet

• Minidump analysis. Reading C:\Windows\Minidump needs administrator rights and the Windows debugger engine. It is planned as a separate step you start yourself.
• Windows keeps a limited amount of log history, so on a busy PC older crashes may already be gone.

Upgrade notes

• Confirm Diagnose → Service shows 1.6.0 after installing. An older PulseService cannot answer the Crashes page; it then asks to update.
• Event types hidden in the Timeline stay hidden there; the Crashes page lists every crash.

Downloads

Windows x64 Installer

Pulse-Setup-1.6.0-windows-x64.exe

Payload ZIP

Pulse-1.6.0-windows-x64.zip (PulseService is still required; see portable vs service)

Checksums

SHA256SUMS.txt

Pulse remains read-only and local-first: no telemetry, no cloud, no account.

Pulse v1.5.0

Pulse v1.5.0 — Every GPU, quieter Timeline

Two long-standing requests: System Health for PCs with more than one GPU (#9), and a way to quiet events you already know about (#25).

New

• Every GPU in System Health (#9). On a PC with an integrated and a dedicated GPU, the GPU panel lists both under All GPUs, each with its load and its dedicated and shared memory, and marks the GPU the rest of the panel describes. The Assistant's GPU tool and health reports include the list. A PC with one GPU looks the same as before. Software adapters (Microsoft Basic Render Driver) are left out.
• Hide events you expect (#25). In an event's details, Hide events like this hides every event with the same provider and Event ID from the Timeline and its error and warning counts. A hidden events counter in the filter bar shows them again on demand, and Settings → Timeline → Hidden events lists each hidden type with Show again. Nothing is hidden by default. Only Pulse's view changes: Windows' logs are untouched, and reports and exports still contain every event. A critical event of a hidden type no longer raises a desktop notification.
• One Pulse at a time. Starting Pulse while it already runs, even hidden in the tray, brings that window forward instead of opening a second Pulse with a second tray icon. Starting with Windows never pops the window up.

Changes

• GPU load is computed like Task Manager. Windows reports GPU engine load per process. Task Manager adds the processes on each engine together and shows the busiest engine; Pulse took the busiest single process, so it read low when several programs shared the GPU. Pulse now does what Task Manager does, so GPU load can read higher than in 1.4.

Feedback wanted

The All GPUs list was checked on a PC with one GPU. If your PC has an integrated and a dedicated GPU, a comment on #9 comparing Pulse with Task Manager → Performance is welcome.

Upgrade notes

• Confirm Diagnose → Service shows 1.5.0 after installing.
• Hidden event types are stored on this PC only.

Downloads

Windows x64 Installer

Pulse-Setup-1.5.0-windows-x64.exe

Payload ZIP

Pulse-1.5.0-windows-x64.zip (PulseService is still required; see portable vs service)

Checksums

SHA256SUMS.txt

Pulse remains read-only and local-first: no telemetry, no cloud, no account.

Pulse v1.4.3

Pulse v1.4.3 — Exit crash fix, custom date range

A small update with fixes reported after 1.4.2.

New

• Custom date range in the Timeline (#15). The date filter has a Custom… option: pick a from / to date and time in local time. The range includes the whole "to" minute, works with the other filters, shows on the filter chip (for example 18 Oct 14:05 – 18 Oct 15:30) and is kept in saved searches.
• Assistant replies render Markdown. Local models answer in Markdown, and the panel showed it raw. Bold, italic, inline code, headings, lists and code blocks now render. Links are shown as text and are not clickable.

Fixes

• No more crash on exit (#32). When Pulse closed, Windows could send one last message to the Flutter view that was being destroyed, which crashed in flutter_windows.dll and left an Application Error in the event log. The view is now detached before it is destroyed.
• Resizable BAR shows Unknown (#31). Windows has no documented way to read it, so Pulse never did, but the GPU panel said "Not supported", which read as "this GPU lacks it". It now says Unknown and points to the GPU maker's control panel.
• Enter sends in the Assistant. Enter inserted a new line, so messages could only be sent with the button. Enter now sends; Shift+Enter adds a line.
• Clean uninstall. A Pulse running in the tray kept running after Control Panel → Uninstall, and its files stayed until the next restart. The uninstaller now closes the Pulse from its install folder first; copies elsewhere are left alone.
• "Pulse" in Task Manager. The app was listed as "Windows Diagnostics", which looked like part of Windows.
• Power-on time. The disk health row is labelled Power-on time instead of "Power-On Hours", since it shows days and hours.

Upgrade notes

• Confirm Diagnose → Service shows 1.4.3 after installing.

Downloads

Windows x64 Installer

Pulse-Setup-1.4.3-windows-x64.exe

Payload ZIP

Pulse-1.4.3-windows-x64.zip (PulseService is still required; see portable vs service)

Checksums

SHA256SUMS.txt

Pulse remains read-only and local-first: no telemetry, no cloud, no account.

Pulse v1.4.2

Pulse v1.4.2 — Disk panel fixes

A small update that follows up on #29, reported the day after 1.4.1.

Fixes

• Total capacity of every drive. The Disk panel header and overview showed only the system drive, so a PC with two 2 TiB drives showed "2 TiB". They now add up every local drive, for example Total (2 drives). The "disk space is running low" status still looks at the system drive.
• Drive details are back. Interface, bus, model, serial number, firmware, partition style, sector size and TRIM showed "—". As with SMART in 1.4.1, PulseService opened the disk with read access, which its LocalService account does not have. These details now come from queries that need no access rights.
• The system disk, not disk 0. Those details now describe the disk that holds Windows, found with the documented volume disk-extents query, instead of whichever disk Windows numbered 0. The panel titles them System disk.
• Logs show local characters correctly. Pulse's logs were already UTF-8, but without a byte order mark Notepad and PowerShell 5 read them as ANSI, so a Polish Odmowa dostępu showed as Odmowa dostÄ™pu. New log files now start with a UTF-8 byte order mark.

Upgrade notes

• Confirm Diagnose → Service shows 1.4.2 after installing.
• The byte order mark is added to new log files, so today's existing log file stays as it is.

Downloads

Windows x64 Installer

Pulse-Setup-1.4.2-windows-x64.exe

Payload ZIP

Pulse-1.4.2-windows-x64.zip (PulseService is still required; see portable vs service)

Checksums

SHA256SUMS.txt

Pulse remains read-only and local-first: no telemetry, no cloud, no account.

Pulse v1.4.1

Pulse v1.4.1 — Every disk, every wake

Pulse v1.4.1 is built from what users asked for after 1.4: health for every disk, what woke the PC, plain-language Secure Boot events and a deeper, safer Assistant.

Highlights

• Health for every disk. System Health → Storage → SMART now shows one block per physical disk: model, bus, health and temperature, and for NVMe drives also wear, spare capacity, power-on time, unsafe shutdowns, media errors and data read / written. NVMe critical warnings are spelled out, for example spare capacity is below its threshold (#20, #12).
• What woke the PC. The wake event now names the cause:
  • PC woke up: Intel(R) Ethernet Connection I219-V, with where to stop a device from waking the PC
  • PC woke up for a scheduled task, naming the task and the program, with where to turn off wake timers
• Secure Boot events, explained. The TPM-WMI Secure Boot update events, several logged as errors, get plain titles that follow Microsoft's documentation. Applied updates are marked as routine. The SBAT update failure (1796) says Windows tries again at the next restart. Firmware and BitLocker cases say what to do (#25).
• Deeper Assistant diagnostics (#17):
  • Process details include the command line, elevation, architecture, start time and total CPU time
  • Processes can be ranked by private bytes, which shows a leak better than the working set
  • A new read-only Windows services tool answers questions like "is Windows Search running?"
• Assistant connection settings (#21). Settings → Privacy → Assistant sets the Ollama and LM Studio ports and an optional LM Studio API key, which is kept in Windows Credential Manager. Local AI not found now says where Pulse looked, for example LM Studio server is not running on 127.0.0.1:1234. Start it in LM Studio → Developer.

Fixes

• Disk temperature and SMART data were missing. PulseService opened disks with read access, which its LocalService account does not have. Disk health is now read without it and refreshed every 5 minutes.
• Assistant replies from Ollama repeated themselves ("HelloHello!Hello! I…"). This had been in every release since 1.1. LM Studio could also drop text split across network packets.
• The Assistant kept showing "Connected" after Ollama or LM Studio was closed. A failed message now re-checks the runtime.

Security

The Assistant talks only to a local AI on this PC, and there is no setting to change that:

• Only 127.0.0.1 and ::1 are accepted. localhost is refused, because the hosts file can point it at another machine.
• Redirects are never followed, and system or environment proxies are ignored.
• The settings have a port field but no address field, so other computers and cloud services cannot be set.

Upgrade notes

• Confirm Diagnose → Service shows 1.4.1 after installing.
• If you changed the Ollama or LM Studio port, set it in Settings → Privacy → Assistant. The defaults are 11434 and 1234.

Downloads

Windows x64 Installer

Pulse-Setup-1.4.1-windows-x64.exe

Payload ZIP

Pulse-1.4.1-windows-x64.zip (PulseService is still required; see portable vs service)

Checksums

SHA256SUMS.txt

Pulse remains read-only and local-first: no telemetry, no cloud, no account.

Pulse v1.4.0

Pulse v1.4.0 — Explain the crash

Pulse v1.4.0 answers the questions people paste into help threads: why did my PC restart, what was that blue screen, and what does this log from another computer say. It also makes reports safe to share.

Highlights

• Blue screens and sudden restarts, explained. Pulse reads the event data instead of showing a generic title:

  • Windows restarted after a blue screen — with the stop code name (for example DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE (0x0000009F)), what usually causes it and what to check
  • PC was forced off with the power button
  • PC lost power or stopped suddenly — no error recorded: power cut, power supply, overheating or a freeze
  • Windows crashed with a blue screen — the stop code and the crash dump path
  • Hardware reported a fatal error / Hardware corrected an error (WHEA)

  The restart and the blue screen are grouped as one Blue screen and restart incident on the Timeline.

• Open an .evtx from another PC. The folder button on the Timeline opens an exported event log (for example System.evtx from a customer's PC) and explains it the same way, even while PulseService is offline. Back to live returns to this PC (ADR-014).

• Reports you can share. Settings → Privacy → Mask personal details in exports (on by default) hides user and computer names, profile paths, account SIDs, e-mail, IP and MAC addresses and serial numbers in reports, Timeline exports and diagnostics bundles.

• Update notice (GitHub edition). Settings → Updates → Check tells you when a newer Pulse is out and links to its release page. Optional weekly check, off by default. Nothing is downloaded or installed.

Fixes

• The Timeline could list a days-old event above recent ones once it held more than 32 events
• Exports failed with PathNotFoundException when Windows Security's Controlled folder access blocked Pulse from Documents; exports now go to Downloads\Pulse (or a folder you choose) until releases are code-signed
• Store edition: notifications showed a raw package id instead of "Pulse Diagnostics"
• Repeated "Critical memory usage" notifications piled up; Pulse now keeps one on screen per alert and repeats at most hourly by default
• A stuck step on the first launch after Setup could skip the start-with-Windows setup; each start-up step now runs on its own with a time limit and is logged

Also in this release

• README: what Pulse sends (nothing by default), how it compares with Event Viewer and Reliability Monitor, and how it is built (with AI coding assistants)
• New security guide; the old PulseMCP guide is gone
• Releases are built in GitHub Actions with SHA-256 checksums
• ADR-015 (proposed): kernel activity will come through ETW, not drivers

Upgrade notes

• Confirm Diagnose → Service shows 1.4.0 after installing
• Exports now land in Downloads\Pulse; earlier exports stay in Documents\Pulse
• The notification repeat interval default is now 60 minutes (a value you changed yourself is kept)

Downloads

Windows x64 Installer

Pulse-Setup-1.4.0-windows-x64.exe

Payload ZIP

Pulse-1.4.0-windows-x64.zip (PulseService is still required; see portable vs service)

Checksums

SHA256SUMS.txt

Pulse remains read-only and local-first: no telemetry, no cloud, no account.

Pulse v1.3.0 — Stability

Pulse v1.3.0 is a stability and housekeeping release: no crash after restarting the service, no leaked connections, a much smaller install, and a cleaner AI story built on the local Assistant.

Highlights

• No more crash after Restart service. Start / Stop / Restart ran the administrator prompt and the wait on the UI thread; Pulse could crash a few seconds later. It now runs in the background and the prompt opens in front of Pulse.
• Connections no longer pile up. Diagnose → Connected clients stays flat; PulseService no longer runs out of pipe slots.
• Smaller install. The private Node.js runtime and the old setup leftovers are gone.
• New look outside the app. Lime app icon and a dark, Midnight-styled installer.

Removed: AI Integration (PulseMCP)

The MCP bridge for Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf and Cline is removed (ADR-013). It accounted for about 100 MB of the install. The local Assistant (Ollama / LM Studio, localhost only) stays and is the way to ask Pulse questions in plain language.

When you upgrade:

• Setup closes any running PulseMCP and deletes its files.
• On first launch, Pulse removes the pulse entries it had added to AI client configs. Each file is backed up first (*.pulse-backup-*); entries you added yourself are left alone.

Fixes

• Pulse.exe crash (flutter_windows.dll) after Start / Stop / Restart service
• Leaked PulseService connections from PulseMCP handshake failures and Restart IPC Connection
• The Latest badge marked a pinned event instead of the newest one
• Setup kept ~41 MB of leftovers (PulseService.pdb, the VC++ redistributable) and an empty redist folder
• Blank taskbar icon after upgrading (Explorer icon cache is refreshed now)
• A cancelled administrator prompt and a blocked request (error 5) now show different, clearer messages

Also in this release

• The app log is written to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Pulse\logs\app\ (JSON lines, kept 14 days) and records uncaught errors — attach it to bug reports
• Assistant status tool renamed mcp_self → pulse_status
• LICENSE is detected as MIT on GitHub; the README documents the code signing policy

Upgrade notes

• Confirm Diagnose → Service shows 1.3.0 after installing
• If an AI client still lists a pulse server, remove it from that client's MCP settings

Downloads

Windows x64 Installer

Pulse-Setup-1.3.0-windows-x64.exe

Payload ZIP

Pulse-1.3.0-windows-x64.zip (PulseService is still required; see portable vs service)

Pulse remains read-only and local-first: no telemetry, no cloud, no account.

Pulse v1.2.0 — Midnight

Pulse v1.2.0 is a complete visual redesign. The new Midnight identity makes Windows activity easier to read at a glance: plain language first, technical detail one click away.

Design decision: ADR-012.

What's New

Midnight design

• Near-black canvas, flat panels and hairline borders
• Lime signature accent for live state, selection and primary actions
• Bundled Geist and Geist Mono fonts (SIL Open Font License, no runtime download)
• Information severity is blue, so the accent never reads as an event level
• Light mode updated with neutral surfaces and a darkened accent for contrast

Shell

• Slim icon rail replaces the sidebar; Assistant and Settings sit at the bottom
• PulseService status dot in the rail footer
• Command search moves into a pill in the title bar (Ctrl+K)

Timeline

• Plain-language summary of the last hour, with event, error and warning counts
• 24-hour activity strip in 30-minute slices, colored by the worst severity
• Story-feed rows: local time, severity node, human sentence first, technical hints after
• Event inspector with Explained / Technical / Raw XML tabs (the AGENTS.md information hierarchy); raw XML loads when the tab opens

System Health

• Overview bento: system pulse tile with health score, uptime and a 0–100 % CPU chart
• Live tiles for memory (ring), CPU, GPU (with temperature) and network
• Utilization colors and charts on the Midnight palette

Reports, Assistant and controls

• Floating export summary panel in Reports
• Assistant: side-by-side provider and model pickers, suggestion pills, inverted user bubbles, pill composer
• Pill segmented controls and flat form fields across the app

Fixes

• System Health showed "Windows 10" on Windows 11 machines (the registry ProductName is never updated by Windows); builds 22000 and later now report Windows 11
• Assistant send icon was white on the accent fill and hard to read
• Search field drew a doubled border
• PulseService is registered with a quoted image path (fixes the unquoted service path under C:\Program Files and the false "Paths match: No" in Diagnose)
• Diagnose reported build version 1.1.0 for the new service
• Microsoft Store package embeds the full PulseMCP payload for AI Integration

Upgrade notes

• The accent preference starts on the new lime accent once after upgrading; choose another under Settings → Appearance
• Confirm Diagnose → Service shows 1.2.0 after installing
• If you use MCP: Settings → AI Integration → Unregister → Register

Downloads

Windows x64 Installer

Pulse-Setup-1.2.0-windows-x64.exe

Payload ZIP

Pulse-1.2.0-windows-x64.zip (PulseService is still required; see portable vs service)

Pulse remains read-only and local-first: no telemetry, no cloud, no account.

Pulse v1.1.0 — Local AI Assistant

Pulse v1.1.0 — Local AI Assistant

Pulse v1.1.0 introduces the new local AI-powered Pulse Assistant.

What's New

Local AI Assistant

• Local LLM support through Ollama and LM Studio
• Analyze your system using local AI
• CPU, memory, GPU, storage, network, process and event diagnostics
• Read-only diagnostic tool access
• No cloud AI required
• No arbitrary command or system modification capabilities

Background & Tray

• Keep Pulse running in the system tray
• Background monitoring
• Local Windows notifications for critical system conditions
• Quick access to Pulse sections from the tray

System Health

• Semantic utilization colors:
  • Green: 0–49%
  • Yellow: 50–69%
  • Orange: 70–89%
  • Red: 90–100%

Assistant UX

• Assistant integrated into the main sidebar
• Manual local AI/model selection
• Streaming responses
• Diagnostic tool activity
• Session-only conversation history

Improvements

• Improved switch interaction
• Improved navigation
• Improved System Health visualization
• Various stability and UX improvements

Downloads

Windows x64 Installer

Pulse-Setup-1.1.0-windows-x64.exe

Portable ZIP

Pulse-1.1.0-windows-x64.zip

Pulse remains local-first. Diagnostic data is processed locally and the Assistant does not have permissions to execute commands or modify the system.

Upgrade from 1.0.0

1. Install Pulse-Setup-1.1.0-windows-x64.exe (UAC)
2. Confirm Diagnostics → App / Service show 1.1.0
3. If you use MCP: Settings → AI Integration → Unregister → Register
4. Fully quit and reopen Cursor / Claude Desktop if MCP configs changed

Microsoft Store

• Store ID: 9PNDTLNTJ82T (Pulse Diagnostics)
• Identity: Regncreative.PulseDiagnostics / CN=72B69D57-C9E8-4280-AF56-B142286B0D20
• Build: .\tools\scripts\package_msix_store.ps1 → dist/msix/PulseDiagnostics-1.1.0-Store.msixupload
• Package version: 1.1.0.0
• Guide: microsoft-store.md

See also

• CHANGELOG.md
• Upgrade notes
• Prior release: v1.0.0.md