InstallScope 0.1.0 — legacy development build

Legacy development build (InstallScope 0.1.0). These preserved downloads predate the SetupSweep rename and the newer developer-toolkit work shown in the repository. They do not contain those newer capabilities. This is an early preview; current Windows runtime, accessibility, installation, and recovery gates are incomplete.

See the current source and readiness notes before choosing a build. Asset names are intentionally preserved for existing links.

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0.1.0 - 2026-10-20

First public release on GitHub.

Added

• Browser extensions (Tools page): every extension installed in the supported Chromium-based browsers (Chrome, Edge, Brave, Vivaldi, Chromium, Opera, Opera GX) and Firefox-based browsers (Firefox, LibreWolf, Waterfox, Floorp), grouped by browser and profile. An extension can be disabled safely and reversibly: its files are moved into InstallScope's data folder (nothing is deleted, the rest of the profile is untouched) and restored to exactly where they were, with one click each way after a confirmation.

• App Rewind, early prototype (CLI only): rewind one program to a recorded state without touching the rest of the PC. installscope rewind <log-id> --list shows the program's recorded states; --to <state> --dry-run prints the full plan, and anything that cannot be restored is named — a partial rewind is never presented as complete. Running a rewind (with --yes) takes a backup of the current state first, so the rewind itself can be undone from Backups, and records the moment before the rewind as a new state. File contents come from a new content store (rewind folder in the data folder, contents kept once each under their SHA-256) fed by rewind <log-id> --capture; the registry is restored from the install log's recorded before-images by the same reviewed machinery that uninstalls. The store has a storage budget (Settings, 2 GiB by default): older file states are evicted first, but a program's before-state and its newest state are never evicted, and every eviction is listed by --list. Not yet included: a graphical interface, and automatic capture of file contents while monitoring (today, capture is explicit with --capture).

• Installer Decrapifier (Monitor page, reviewing a recorded installation; CLI installscope components <log-id>): every service, scheduled task, autorun and Startup shortcut the installation added is listed and judged Required for the program, Optional or Bloatware / telemetry / silent updater, with the reasons. Bloat is ticked to be struck: it is removed (backed up first, unless backups are off in Settings) when the log is saved, and taken out of the log. Judging uses built-in rules; for components they can't judge, a language model running on this PC can be asked (Settings > Installer Decrapifier, any OpenAI-compatible endpoint such as Ollama). Only addresses on this computer are accepted, so nothing leaves it.

• Background monitoring waits on Windows' registry change notifications instead of checking every 30 seconds: between changes it uses no processor time at all, apart from the five-minute resource-use sample.

• Faster, leaner snapshots: paths and data are kept in shared pools instead of one allocation per entry, folders are listed with Windows' bulk directory reads, the registry is read with reused buffers, and two snapshots are compared in a single pass. Snapshots are saved in a compact binary format, written atomically and checked when loaded; snapshots saved by earlier versions still open.

• Crash-safe removals: every change is recorded in its backup, flushed to disk and written atomically, before it is made. A removal cut off by a crash or power loss is reported on the dashboard and the Backups page the next time InstallScope starts, with Undo what was done or Keep as it is; installscope backups marks it as interrupted.

• Stronger protection of critical locations: paths are compared the way Windows resolves them (.., trailing dots and spaces, \\?\ prefixes, forward slashes), and where a folder really leads (junctions, symbolic links, short names) is checked before it is deleted with its contents; links are removed on their own, never their targets. More folders (everything directly inside Windows, System32 and SysWOW64, every user profile, Windows' folders at the top of the drive) and keys (SAM, SECURITY, HARDWARE, BCD, numbered control sets, Winlogon, IFEO, Policies, per-user class hives) are protected, and the registry layer itself refuses to delete them.

• Stress tests: very deep and wide registry trees, thousands of files, paths over 260 characters, links inside removed folders and files held open by another program.

• A note about Windows SmartScreen and checksums in the download instructions.

• Release workflow, ready for signing and scanning: when the repository has a code-signing certificate (CODESIGN_PFX, CODESIGN_PASSWORD), InstallScope.exe for x64 and Arm64 and the installer are signed and timestamped, with checksums computed afterwards; when it has a VirusTotal key (VIRUSTOTAL_API_KEY), every download is scanned before publishing and the release notes link each report. Both steps are skipped until the secrets are set.

• The performance check now also keeps InstallScope.exe under 40 MB.

• Who is holding a locked file: when a file can't be deleted because it is open, the removal says which program, service or Windows component has it (Windows Restart Manager), instead of only that it will go at the next restart.

• Restart Windows Explorer during a removal (Settings > Safety, on by default; CLI revert --restart-explorer): if Explorer has the program's shell extensions loaded, it is closed for the removal and started again afterwards, so those DLLs are deleted at once. Only Explorer is ever closed, never another program.

• Close the program if it is running (Settings > Safety, on by default; CLI revert --close-programs): running copies of the program being removed are asked to close, so they can save their work, and its files are then deleted at once. Only processes whose own program file is being removed are closed; an application that merely loaded one of its files (an add-in) is left running.

• Try it, then undo (Monitor page, where Windows Sandbox isn't available, such as Windows 11 Home): installs on this PC under monitoring after attempting a restore point, shows the full review, then removes everything the installation added, without Simple mode's trimming since every item came from that installer minutes earlier. Keep it installed saves an ordinary install log instead.

• Locked-file tests on Windows: a file open in another program, a DLL loaded by another process, a running program inside the folder being removed, an add-in host that must not be closed, and a real service that holds its files until its process has exited.

• More installer types in the integration tests: Squirrel (Atom) and a WiX Burn bundle (PowerToys), plus InstallShield and Wise once the INSTALLSHIELD_URL / WISE_URL repository variables point to a test installer.

• Soak test: scripts/soak.ps1 installs and removes real programs in a loop with background monitoring running, failing on leftovers, background-monitoring misfires and growing handle or memory use; it runs for five hours weekly in CI and can run for days on a test VM.

• Shared-component reference counting: every removal review now cross-checks each item against all your install logs. Items are badged Used only by this program, Shared with N other programs (when another program's log also recorded the file, key, value, service or task) or No install log mentions this. Shared and unlogged items are never ticked automatically — including by Select all — and the review shows how many of your programs the reference data covers. The check is fully local; the CLI revert command prints the same labels.

• Slowdown Detective history capture (CLI installscope history and installscope slowdown): InstallScope now keeps a durable, versioned record of the changes behind "why is my PC slower than it was?" — programs installed, updated (with the version change) or removed, and autostart entries added, removed or changed — derived from install logs and from diffs of the installed-program and startup lists, stored as history.json in the data folder. installscope slowdown --from YYYY-MM-DD --to YYYY-MM-DD reports the period's changes, ranked by measured startup impact where Windows boot diagnostics or the usage tracker have a figure, and says so plainly when they don't. History starts accumulating from first use; early reports show an honest "not enough history yet" instead of invented numbers.

• Autostart Gatekeeper (opt-in; CLI installscope gatekeeper): when turned on (installscope gatekeeper enable, or Settings), each detection pass compares the programs that start with Windows — Run/RunOnce values and Startup-folder shortcuts — against a saved baseline. New or changed entries land in a review queue, attributed to the install log that added them when the evidence supports it (an entry recorded in a log is labeled with that program and the evidence; otherwise unknown origin — attribution is never guessed) and judged by the Installer Decrapifier rules. installscope gatekeeper scan runs one pass, allow <id> keeps an entry, remove <id> deletes it backed up first, exactly like other removals. The Gatekeeper never blocks an installer while it runs and never removes anything without your decision; undecided entries stay in the queue and out of the baseline.

• Per-command CLI help: installscope <command> --help (or installscope help <command>) prints that command's usage, flags, what it changes — including its backup and undo story — and how it confirms before destructive actions, then exits without doing anything. (Until now --help after a command was mistaken for an argument: installscope revert --help tried to load a log called "--help".) Errors for missing arguments now show the command's usage line instead of just naming the missing piece.

• Install monitoring: before/after snapshots of the registry and file system, run an installer under monitoring, or monitor manually; sessions survive restarts.

• Review captured changes, remove noise, and save them as an install log with auto-detected name, publisher and version.

• Precise uninstall from an install log: removes added files, folders, keys and values; restores changed and removed values; stops and deletes services; removes scheduled tasks; repairs PATH without touching later edits.

• Program list with 64-bit, 32-bit, per-user and Microsoft Store programs, sorting, search, details, real folder sizes, and a broken-entry finder.

• Uninstall wizard with vendor uninstaller, quiet uninstall, forced removal, batch uninstall, and leftover scanning.

• Backups of everything removed or changed (quarantined files plus a double-clickable .reg file for registry entries), with one-click restore.

• Optional: also send removed files to the Recycle Bin.

• Optional System Restore point before uninstalling.

• Windows Updates window: list installed updates and remove individual ones via DISM or WUSA.

• Startup manager for Run keys, Startup folders, services and scheduled tasks.

• Junk cleaner for temp files, crash dumps, caches, Windows Update downloads and the Recycle Bin.

• "Which program created this?" search across install logs.

• Export install logs as HTML report, .reg undo script, PowerShell removal script or JSON; import logs.

• Dashboard with status and quick actions.

• Simple and Advanced interface modes, first-run welcome, page help (F1), safety labels on removal items.

• Accessibility: keyboard shortcuts, high-contrast option, adjustable text size, screen-reader support.

• Installer Lab for developers: installer lint, uninstaller test with residue report, named snapshots and comparison.

• CLI lint and test-uninstall commands and --json output for CI pipelines.

• Dark interface with a native red Windows 11 window border and left-hand navigation.

• Translations: English, Spanish, German, French, Portuguese (Brazil), Italian, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Japanese; external lang/*.json files supported.

• Admin-rights check at every launch with relaunch as administrator.

• Command-line interface (monitor, snapshot, diff, logs, programs, revert, export, backups, restore).

• Installer (NSIS) and portable zip; single exe with no runtime dependencies.

Changed

• Rebranded the project from Expunge to InstallScope and renamed the executable and CLI command. Breaking change: the installed data folder is now %LOCALAPPDATA%\InstallScope, the portable data folder is InstallScopeData, Task Scheduler tasks live under InstallScope\…, the uninstall registry key is Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\InstallScope, the context-menu verb is InstallScopeInstall, and program-transfer packages use the .installscope extension. Data created by Expunge-branded builds is not carried over.

• Thirteen fewer third-party libraries: dates and times (with Windows' own daylight-saving rules), SHA-256, byte search, folder walking, file-change watching, registry access, JSON reading and writing, compression (DEFLATE and gzip), ZIP archives, PNG images, the Open/Save/folder dialogs (Windows' own, called directly) and test folders are now InstallScope's own code, straight on the Windows API. Install logs, settings, backups and transfer packages are written byte for byte as before, and files from earlier versions open unchanged (checked against saved copies of the previous output). Snapshots and transfer packages are still standard gzip and ZIP files (checked against other programs' readers and writers); every ZIP entry's size and checksum is verified as it is read, and entry names that could escape the destination folder are refused.

• Live activity during monitoring waits on Windows' change notifications (ReadDirectoryChangesW, registry notifications) and wakes the moment monitoring ends, instead of checking a flag several times a second.

• A System Restore point is now created before uninstalling by default (Settings > Safety; it was off before). Settings files that already record the choice keep it — the new default only applies where the choice was never saved.

• The command line asks before it destroys. revert, uninstall, clean, components --strike, restore, transfer import, gatekeeper remove, restore-point delete, restore-point rollback and rewind --to now share one confirmation discipline, extending the --yes convention rewind and rollback started: in a terminal they describe what will happen — the targets, whether a backup is taken, what cannot be undone — and wait for a typed "yes"; without a terminal (scripts) they change nothing, refuse and exit 1 unless --yes is given. Read-only commands and --dry-run previews never ask; clean --scheduled (the Task Scheduler entry point) never asks, because the schedule is the standing instruction. Scripted uses of these commands must add --yes (the README's pipeline example now does). Relatedly, the "not running as Administrator" warning no longer fires for read-only commands, where it only trained users to ignore it.

• The project moved to github.com/SeanShaffer88/InstallScope (formerly InstallScopeUninstaller); old links redirect.

• The README now describes every tool in its own section.

• Windows 11 only. InstallScope is engineered for Windows 11 (build 22000 or later): on older Windows the app and the installer explain this and stop, instead of running with rules meant for Windows 11.

• Darker red accent (#6B0700) across the interface and window border; red text uses a lighter shade of it for readability.

• "Administrator" is capitalized throughout.

• New icon in #6B0700: dark card with a red E at large sizes, and an inverted red card with a black E at taskbar sizes (16–48 px), for the window and sidebar.

• Backups also export registry entries as a double-clickable .reg file; optional Recycle Bin.

Removed

• The sidebar no longer shows four disabled “Planned” entries (Setup Package Creator, Developer Sandbox, Temporary Scratch Disk and VSS Viewer). They advertised features that do not exist yet; those features stay on the roadmap and will appear in the sidebar when they are real and working.

• InstallScope now focuses on being a complete, free replacement for Total Uninstall. Tools outside that scope were removed: the Anti-Telemetry page, the disk space map, the duplicate file finder, the Windows Updates remover, winget updates, the system health panel, the online reputation check, installer lint and the uninstaller test, repackaging and MSIX output, uninstall scripts, the Windows features and app aliases views, and Find by window.

Fixed

• Help and hover text no longer promises a backup unconditionally. The page help for Programs, Backups, Bloatware Shield and the right-click menu, the first-run introduction, the Ask and Monitor review notes, the Backups page's empty state, the Startup and right-click menu notes and several hover texts all said removals are "backed up" without mentioning that Advanced mode can turn backups off, when no backup is taken. They now state the condition; the Recycle Bin setting's hover no longer claims "everything is backed up either way" (it appears on the same screen as the backups-off warning); the Try it, then undo hover says a restore point is attempted first rather than guaranteed (it is a best-effort extra — System Protection may be off); and the Installer Decrapifier entry above is corrected the same way. Text that was already conditional on the real setting, or that is only shown when a backup exists, is unchanged.

• Dashboard "Space-wasters you don't use" no longer guesses when a program was last opened. The panel ranked programs by size using "days not opened", but for programs Windows has no last-opened record for, that number was really days since installation — so a program installed over six months ago could be listed as "not opened for 6 months", and offered for uninstall, even if it was opened yesterday. The panel now lists only programs with a recorded last-opened date under that heading; when no program has one, the same list is shown for what it is — "Big programs installed long ago", with a note that their last-opened dates are unknown and they may still be in use. Programs left out for either reason are counted in a note under the panel (with a pointer to the Programs page) instead of vanishing silently, as are old programs whose size isn't known.

• Control explanations are now reachable without a mouse (System Restore page first). egui shows tooltips only while the mouse hovers, so keyboard, touch and screen-reader users could not reach them at all — and the System Restore page had none. Controls now carry their explanation three ways at once: as the hover tooltip (including while disabled, with the reason), as a line at the top of the page that follows keyboard focus, and as the description screen readers announce for the control. The System Restore page is covered completely — every button, the disk-space slider and the description field; the remaining pages follow in later phases of the same work. Information a user must have (such as needing administrator rights, or System Protection being off) stays in always-visible text, as before.

• Removal text no longer claims a backup that does not exist. The removal window's progress line always said "everything is backed up first", and the review said nothing at all — even with backups turned off in Advanced mode, when no backup is taken. The review now states the run's real safety net up front (a warning banner when backups are off), the progress line follows the run's own configuration, the "files created later" option no longer claims those files "are still backed up" when they are not, and the completion summary says plainly when no backup was taken, when a backup could not be completed, or when none was needed — naming the backup that can undo the removal when one exists, and the restore point the uninstall wizard created (and that it cannot bring back deleted files) when it is the only rollback. The uninstall wizard's confirmation says the same about its leftover removal instead of always promising a backup.

• Bloatware Shield: deprovisioning no longer bypasses review. Deprovisioning (removing the copies Windows keeps for new user accounts) used to start the moment removal was clicked, before the uninstall review even opened, so cancelling couldn't stop it — and nothing explained that it affects the whole PC and cannot be undone. Now the option states those risks on the page; choosing it always asks for a dedicated confirmation first (even when confirmations are turned off in Advanced mode); and the deprovisioning itself runs only after the app was actually removed — programs that were skipped or failed to uninstall keep their provisioned copies. The outcome of each run (what was deprovisioned, what failed) is saved and shown on the Bloatware Shield page until the next run.

• Background monitoring no longer holds gigabytes of memory: its snapshots and comparisons run in a short-lived copy of InstallScope, so the process that stays running for days stays small. Found by the new soak test, where it had grown from 17 MB to over 2 GB.

• Background monitoring could record its own duplicate log of an installation being monitored from the command line; installscope monitor now marks the installation as monitored (and refuses to start while another monitoring session is in progress).

• Removing an installation no longer fails trying to restore keys Windows keeps only in memory (such as WMI's), which Windows recreates itself; WMI runtime keys, Windows Search bookkeeping and text-input statistics are now treated as background noise.

• Removing a service no longer races its own files: InstallScope waits until the service has stopped and its process has exited (up to 30 seconds) before deleting the files it used, which were otherwise often left for the next restart.

• Waiting for an installer or for registry changes could loop forever if Windows reported the wait itself failed; such failures are now reported. Kernel handles are always closed, the running-process list is no longer cut off at 4,096 processes, and the System Restore library is released after use.

• Map of where an installation put things (Install logs, Monitor and Snapshots: Map): changes are grouped by what they mean (starts with Windows, services and drivers, scheduled tasks, Explorer and file types, Windows folders, program folders, AppData, ProgramData, shortcuts, your folders, temporary files, registry) with a proportional overview bar, area filters, search, and folders and keys that expand like a tree. List keeps the classic table.

• Confidence colours on leftovers: every item in a removal review is green (safe), yellow (review) or red (careful), with the reasons on hover; Select only green ticks just the certain ones.

• The uninstall wizard now says, before you start, that a program's own uninstaller cannot be undone by InstallScope (only the leftover removal afterwards is backed up), explains what a restore point does, and says why the restore-point option is unavailable when InstallScope isn't running as administrator — instead of silently greying it out.

• Junk Cleaner shows its work before deleting: a scan now keeps the full file list, each category has a Review files expansion listing exactly what would be deleted, and the Clean confirmation names every category it will clean with its size and file count plus the total. Cleaning deletes exactly the reviewed files — never a fresh scan behind your back — and a ticked category that was never scanned is named as not included instead of being cleaned unseen. A new Protected paths list on the Cleaner page (paths, folders or glob patterns, one per line) keeps files out of every clean: protected files a scan finds are listed as kept, never silently dropped, and the protection applies to installscope clean and scheduled cleans too. (The Recycle Bin still can't be listed or protected item by item — Windows reports it only as totals, and the page now says so.)

• Monitor Review no longer claims a backup that may not happen, and Discard asks first: the note under the Installer Decrapifier checklist said ticked background components are removed "backed up first" when the log is saved — but saving honors the Backups setting, so with backups off nothing was backed up and the strike could not be undone. The note now follows the setting in force: with backups on it names the Backups page as the undo path; with backups off it warns plainly, before anything is removed, that the strike will not be backed up and cannot be undone. Separately, the review's Discard button used to delete the only record of what an install changed with no confirmation at all; it now asks first, stating that the log and the saved "before" snapshot will be deleted, that the program stays installed, and that without the log the install can no longer be removed precisely or undone from it.

• Pre-install check (Monitor page): before an installer runs, InstallScope checks it for bundled adware (OpenCandy, InstallCore and others), offer screens, coin miners, web installers that download more while they run, missing or broken signatures and download-site wrappers.

• Test in Windows Sandbox first (Monitor page, Windows 11 Pro, Enterprise and Education): runs an installer in a throwaway copy of Windows and shows everything it changed, without touching the PC.

• Silent installer from an install log (Export > Silent installer (Setup.exe)…; CLI installscope repackage <log-id> <folder>): a Setup.exe that reinstalls exactly the recorded version without a wizard, plus a folder with the files, install.reg, install.ps1 and uninstall.ps1.

• Ask InstallScope (Ctrl+K): search programs and install logs in plain English, such as "top 5 space-wasters I haven't opened in 6 months" or "remove the video converter I downloaded last week". Shows how the question was understood, updates as you type, runs entirely on the PC, and sends removals through the usual review.

• Usage tracking: when each program was last opened and how often (Windows' UserAssist and Prefetch records, plus light sampling while InstallScope runs), its processor use and its cost at startup, in program details; a Not used for 6 months view; and Space-wasters you don't use on the dashboard.

• Lightweight alternatives: for heavy or ad-supported programs, free and open-source alternatives that do the same job, installable with one click through winget or Scoop. Shown in program details and after an uninstall.

• Right-click menu manager (Tools > Right-click menu): every shell extension and menu command programs added to files, folders, drives and the desktop, with where it appears and what provides it. Turn entries off and on (reversible, backed up first unless backups are off in Settings), remove broken entries left by removed programs, and Deep clean COM classes, "Open with" entries and PATH and environment entries of removed programs.

• Bloatware Shield (Tools > Bloatware Shield; dashboard Remove bloatware): finds antivirus trials, sponsored games, VPN and storage offers, manufacturer promotion apps (Dell, HP, Lenovo, Acer, ASUS, MSI, Samsung, Dynabook) and consumer Store apps, ticks the recommended ones, and removes them one after another with the usual review and backup. It can also stop Windows from installing the removed Store apps for new user accounts. Drivers, audio and hotkey tools and Windows' own parts are never listed.

• Smoother interface: pages fade in, navigation hover and selection animate, windows and menus have soft shadows and rounded corners, and animations follow Windows' Animation effects setting.

• PortableApps Forge (Tools > PortableApps Forge; CLI installscope portable-build): turns a program's installer into a PortableApps.com Format package. InstallScope snapshots Windows, watches for 30 seconds to learn background noise, runs the installer (silently for MSI, NSIS and Inno Setup when asked), lets you start the program once so its first-run settings are captured, snapshots again and builds the package from the difference: the program's files in App\AppName, appinfo.ini, icons taken from the program, help.html, the Launcher settings ([RegistryKeys], [DirectoriesMove], [FilesMove] and clean-ups, with paths written as Launcher variables) and, optionally, the first-run settings as DefaultData. The capture runs in Windows Sandbox when it is turned on, so the PC is never touched; otherwise it runs on this PC and is recorded as an install log so the program can be removed precisely afterwards. InstallScope compiles the launcher itself with the official PortableApps.com Launcher source and its NSIS compiler (included in release downloads, otherwise downloaded once from GitHub and checked against a pinned SHA-256), and builds the .paf.exe with its own installer script, which supports the PortableApps.com Platform's /DESTINATION= option, silent installs and keeps Data on upgrades; the official PortableApps.com Installer is used instead when it is installed. A portability check reports what could stop the program from working portably (Java, .NET runtimes, Visual C++ runtimes, services, drivers, shell extensions, administrator rights, 64-bit only), marks the package's dependencies (UsesJava, Requires64bitOS, RequiresAdmin, [Activate] Java=require) and copies Visual C++ runtime DLLs next to the program.

• PortableApps.com Launcher settings export from any snapshot comparison (Snapshots page) or install log (Export menu; CLI installscope export <log-id> portable <file.ini>), leaving out shortcuts, installer bookkeeping and the program's own folder.

• Snapshots page with a quick before-and-after compare: one click before, one click after, and the differences appear, ready to save as an install log or export.

• System Restore manager (Tools > System Restore): list restore points with their type, create one with your own description (Windows' once-a-day limit is lifted for it), roll Windows back to a point, open Windows' own wizard, and in Advanced mode delete restore points, turn System Protection on or off and set how much disk space restore points may use. CLI: installscope restore-point list|create|delete|rollback.

• Merge install logs (Install logs > Merge with; CLI installscope merge): combine a program and its update or plugins into one log; later changes win and the originals are kept.

• Add a program by hand (Programs > Add program…; CLI installscope add-program): list a program Windows doesn't know about, such as a portable program, by its folder, so it can be analyzed and uninstalled with its leftovers.

• Monitoring profiles: save monitoring scopes under a name (Settings > Monitoring scope) and switch between them on the Monitor and Snapshots pages; --profile NAME on the command line.

• XML export of install logs and Print (opens a print-ready report and the print dialog).

• Korean and Polish translations (11 languages in total), also in the installer.

• Integration tests with real installers (GitHub Actions, weekly, on release tags and on demand): a Windows Installer package, an NSIS installer and an Inno Setup installer are each installed under monitoring on a clean Windows runner, removed with InstallScope, and checked to leave nothing behind. New CLI helpers: installscope check-clean <log-id> and installscope revert --keep-log.

• Live activity while monitoring an installation (Monitor page): files being added, changed and removed stream in as they happen, and registry areas report when something under them changes, using Windows' own change notifications (no driver). Excluded noise is filtered out; the exact list, including registry values, still comes from the final comparison.

• Background auto-monitoring (Advanced mode; Settings > Background monitoring): a low-priority installscope watch process started at sign-in keeps a snapshot and, when a new program registers itself, waits for the installation to settle and saves an install log tagged "auto", so even installations you forgot to monitor can be removed precisely. It steps aside while manual monitoring is running and refreshes its snapshot daily and after uninstalls.

• Arm64 builds: releases include a portable build for Windows 11 on Arm (Snapdragon and other Arm PCs), and CI builds it on every push.

• Startup impact: the Startup page shows how long the last Windows startup took and how much each startup program slowed it down (High, Medium or Low), measured by Windows' own boot diagnostics (needs Administrator rights). Also in installscope startup.

• Delayed start: Delay starts a startup program 2 minutes after you sign in instead of immediately, so Windows is ready sooner. It uses a Task Scheduler task and switches the original entry off without deleting it; Start normally undoes it exactly.

• Browser privacy cleaning in the Junk cleaner, each item off until you tick it: cookies, browsing history, website data (local storage, databases, offline data) and saved sessions for Chrome, Edge, Brave, Vivaldi, Opera and Firefox, LibreWolf, Waterfox and Floorp, in every profile. Firefox history is kept because it shares a file with bookmarks (its form history is removed). Plus the Windows font cache (Advanced mode).

• Scheduled junk cleaning (Cleaner page > Clean automatically; CLI installscope schedule-clean daily|weekly|monthly|off): cleans the ticked kinds of junk every day, week or month through Windows Task Scheduler, even when InstallScope is closed. What each run freed is recorded in cleaning.log in the data folder.

• Complete command line for unattended maintenance: installscope uninstall <name>... [--silent] uninstalls programs one after another and removes their safe leftovers (backed up); installscope clean [--categories] [--list] [--dry-run] cleans junk; installscope startup [enable|disable <name>] lists and toggles startup programs (essential entries are protected).

• Groups and tags for install logs: give any log a group and tags (Install logs > Edit details). The list is arranged by group, shows tags under each name, can be limited to one group, and search also matches groups and tags. CLI: installscope logs --group G --tag T [--json], installscope tag <log-id> --group G --tags a,b.

• Moving files to the Recycle Bin now asks before permanently deleting a file that is too large for it.

• Install with InstallScope in the right-click menu of .exe and .msi files: installs under monitoring in one step. Added for all users by Setup, or per user from Settings (portable). Relaunching as administrator keeps the installer.

• Program icons in the program list and details.

• Program trust info: each program's digital signature is verified offline (Authenticode). Shows who signed it, flags unsigned programs (new "Unsigned" filter) and broken signatures, and warns before uninstalling a program whose signature fails.

• Simple mode only offers safe options. Hidden until you switch to Advanced mode: forced removal, system components, cleaner items that slow the PC while caches rebuild (shader, thumbnail, browser and Windows Update caches), deleting startup entries (broken ones excepted), and the switches that turn off backups and confirmations. Startup entries that Windows, security software or hardware need can't be disabled. Removal lists leave out items marked Careful and uncertain matches the scanner leaves unticked (ordinary leftovers such as shortcuts and the program's folders stay visible).

• Deeper leftover scan: besides folders, shortcuts and registry keys, finds everything else a removed program registered in its install folder: COM classes and type libraries, file types and associations, "Open with" entries, context-menu verbs and shell extensions, environment variables and PATH entries (only the program's own entries are removed from PATH), Windows Firewall rules, scheduled tasks, and folders that would be left empty (such as the publisher's folder). Registry data is read once per scan, so batch uninstalls stay fast. Items that affect shared parts of Windows are labelled Careful and appear only in Advanced mode.

• Transfer programs to another PC: pick one or more programs (Programs page: Transfer to another PC…, or tick several and Transfer), and InstallScope packs everything that belongs to them — exactly from the install log for monitored programs, otherwise found with the leftover scanner (program folder, data folders, shortcuts, registry entries, file associations, PATH entries, services, scheduled tasks) — into one .installscope file. On the new PC, File > Restore programs from a package checks compatibility first (processor type, Windows version, missing drives, files that already exist, Administrator rights), puts files where they belong even with a different user name or drive, rewrites paths inside the registry to match, and records every change so the whole transfer can be undone from the Backups page. Programs known not to survive a copy (drivers, security software, machine-bound activation) are flagged. CLI: installscope transfer export|check|import.

• Other autostarts (Startup page, Advanced mode): the autostart locations beyond Run keys, Startup folders, services and tasks — Winlogon Shell/Userinit changes, Active Setup, program replacements (Image File Execution Options), AppInit DLLs, Explorer extensions and icon overlays, browser helper objects, boot-time programs and WMI event subscriptions. Entries whose file is gone are flagged; removable ones can be ticked and removed with the usual review, risk labels and backup. Windows' own entries are hidden unless asked for.

• Deep cleanup in the Junk cleaner (Advanced mode, Administrator), covering what Windows Slimmer–style tools trim, always with Windows' own tools: the previous Windows installation (Windows.old and upgrade leftovers), outdated component-store files (DISM component cleanup), files of turned-off Windows features, and every restore point except the newest. Analyze shows what each would free first; each is explained and confirmed separately, with an optional restore point before it runs. A link leads to removing unneeded pre-installed Store apps.

• New junk categories: Windows setup and update logs, system memory dumps, the Delivery Optimization cache, and Prefetch data (Advanced mode, since programs start a little slower afterwards).

• The program list's columns now always fit, so Size is never cut off.

• Find leftovers of removed programs (Tools menu and dashboard, Advanced mode; CLI installscope orphans): a system-wide scan for what programs uninstalled long ago left behind — COM classes and type libraries, file types and "Open with" entries, context-menu verbs, shell extensions whose class is gone, PATH entries and environment variables, App Paths, firewall rules and scheduled tasks — found because they point to files or folders that no longer exist. Windows' own entries are never included, 32-bit programs' paths are checked in both Program Files folders, and everything goes through the usual review, risk labels and backup.

• Unattended batch uninstall: tick any number of programs, choose Unattended, and walk away. InstallScope recognises each uninstaller's technology (Windows Installer, Inno Setup, NSIS, WiX bundles, Squirrel, publisher-declared silent mode, Store apps) and adds the right silent and no-restart switches; runs uninstallers strictly one at a time and waits while any other Windows Installer job is running (retrying on error 1618); moves on if one hangs for 15 minutes or finishes without actually removing the program; and reports restarts that are needed at the end. Programs that can't run silently can be skipped. A live list shows each program's progress, and one combined leftover scan follows. Single programs get an Uninstall silently button.

• Faster and lighter: snapshots scan folders on several threads at once while reading the registry; program sizes and signature checks are cached between launches, so the program list fills in immediately after the first run; install logs and backups load in the background, and saving a large log or deleting a large backup no longer pauses the window; install logs are stored as compact JSON (smaller files). Snapshots and Settings no longer re-read the disk or registry on every frame. CI now records snapshot time, peak memory and signature-check time against budgets.

• Full keyboard accessibility: a clear focus ring follows Tab / Shift+Tab; arrow keys, Home/End and Page Up/Down move through the program and install-log lists; Space ticks programs for batch uninstall; Esc closes every dialog and window; Ctrl+Tab cycles pages; F10 opens the menu bar; Ctrl +/−/0 zoom is remembered. Dialogs start on their main button. Custom controls (navigation, dashboard tiles and actions, list items, checkboxes) are named for screen readers such as Narrator and NVDA. All shortcuts are listed in Settings → Keyboard.

• Automatic exclusions: a built-in, always-current list of volatile locations (temporary files, Windows logs and traces, shell and shader caches, and the caches of every Chromium and Firefox-based browser and Electron app, any profile) is ignored by snapshots, so install logs contain only the installer's real changes and snapshots run faster. On by default; can be turned off in Advanced mode.

• Exclusion patterns are compiled once per snapshot instead of for every file and key: matching is about 50× faster, so snapshots finish sooner.

• Learn background noise (Settings, Advanced mode; CLI installscope learn-noise): two snapshots a minute apart reveal what this PC changes on its own, and the findings can be added to the exclusions with one click. Never suggests excluding a whole monitored location.

• CLI: installscope verify <file> and installscope programs --trust.

• Dashboard explanations are reachable without a mouse. Every control on the Dashboard — the four stat tiles, the quick actions, the Go to Monitor shortcut, the space-waster rows and their Review and uninstall… button, the recent-install links, and the interrupted-operation card's Undo what was done and Keep as it is buttons (that card also appears on the Backups page) — now carries an explanation the same three ways as the System Restore page: as a hover tooltip, as the description screen readers announce, and as a line under the status strip that follows keyboard focus, so keyboard and touch users read what mouse users get on hover. The explanations say what each control opens and what happens next, including that removals are backed up unless backups are off in Settings. The only layout change is that reserved line, which stays empty until a control has focus; no wording or behavior changed.

• Programs page, uninstall wizard and removal review explanations are reachable without a mouse. Following the System Restore page, every control on the Programs page (search, the six views, column sorting, the per-program buttons in the details pane, the batch Uninstall / Transfer / Clear actions and the per-row checkboxes), in the uninstall wizard (Unattended and its skip option, the restore-point checkbox — which now also says, while disabled, that it needs administrator rights — Start, Cancel, and the running stage's continue/skip buttons) and in the leftover review (Select only green, Select all / none, the item filter, the category headings, every item checkbox, the confidence chips' reasons, the two end-of-review checkboxes and the Remove button) now carries its explanation the same three ways: as the hover tooltip (including while disabled, with the reason), as a line that follows keyboard focus (at the top of the Programs page and at the foot of the wizard and review windows), and as the description screen readers announce. The program list's status glyphs — the signature shield, the monitored dot and the broken-entry warning — announce their meaning to screen readers too, instead of being a symbol only. Remaining pages follow in later phases of the same work.

• Settings explanations are reachable without a mouse, and its controls have names. Every control on the Settings page now carries its explanation the same three ways as the System Restore page (hover — including while a control is unavailable, with the reason — a line at the top of the page that follows keyboard focus, and the description screen readers announce); the explanations that already existed as hover text are unchanged, only reachable by everyone now. The interface-size slider, the language and profile menus, the model address and name fields and the five scope list editors are also linked to their visible labels, so a screen reader announces what each control is, not just its value. The remaining pages follow in later phases of the same work.

• Cleaner wildcard paths that mix / and \ on Windows.

• Dashboard tiles and quick actions are keyboard-operable: the stat tiles and quick-action rows are now real focusable buttons (they were mouse-only click frames), so Tab reaches them in a logical order, the focus ring outlines them, and Enter or Space — or a screen reader's activate command — clicks them. Nothing about their Command Deck look or behavior changed.