WattClean 0.1.4

WattClean 0.1.4 adds Windows Store app removal and includes the Linux and macOS improvements accumulated since 0.1.3.

Changes

• Windows: open Uninstall programs → Windows Store apps to search and remove apps installed for your current account. Protected system packages, frameworks and resource packages are excluded. Results are recorded in Uninstall history.
• Store app removal uses Windows' own package removal. Windows removes the app's data too; WattClean cannot back it up or restore it. Other accounts and packages provisioned for new accounts are unchanged.
• Linux: improved package discovery, Flatpak and Snap handling, package-manager environment isolation for AppImages, removal failure messages, and operation on desktops without a tray.
• macOS: improved discovery of background jobs, helpers and leftovers from removed applications.
• Drive detection and free-space wipe checks handle nested mounts and compressed drives more accurately.

Downloads and requirements

• Windows 10/11 x64: setup installs WattClean and its CLI; portable EXE runs without installation. Requires Microsoft's Evergreen WebView2 Runtime, included in Windows 11. The separate x64-cmd.exe is the command-line tool.
• macOS 11+: the universal DMG contains a runnable app for Apple silicon and Intel; drag it to Applications if desired. Builds are unsigned; macOS may require Open Anyway in Privacy & Security. The separate universal CLI is also included.
• Linux x64: DEB, RPM and portable AppImage, plus the CLI. Requires a compatible GTK/WebKitGTK 4.1 desktop; see the README. An AppIndicator-capable desktop provides the tray icon.
• SHA256SUMS.txt covers all binaries and THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt.

Verification and known dependency finding

Windows full verification passed, including all 105 desktop UI tests. Linux full verification and acceptance against the packaged AppImage passed. macOS full verification and a native window check passed. Windows and both macOS architectures passed dependency advisory/licence checks; production npm dependencies have no reported vulnerabilities.

The Linux audit reports RUSTSEC-2024-0429, an unsound string-array iterator in glib 0.18.5, inherited through Tauri's GTK 3 runtime and already present in 0.1.3. The supported 0.18 line has no patched release; the upstream fix requires glib 0.20+, which cannot replace GTK 3's dependency as a direct version update. WattClean does not call the affected iterator directly. The finding has not been suppressed and the Linux advisory audit is not reported as passing. Review again by 2026-11-26 or at the next Tauri/GTK dependency update, whichever comes first. Linux licence checks passed.

WattClean 0.1.3

WattClean now runs on macOS and Linux as well as Windows. On a Mac or a Linux PC it is a disk cleaner and an uninstaller; the registry cleaner stays on Windows, the only system with a registry. This release also carries a safety review of every cleaner, with fixes on all three systems.

macOS (Apple silicon and Intel)

• About 60 cleaners: macOS itself, Safari, Chrome, Edge, Brave, Firefox, Arc and other browsers, Thunderbird, Slack, Discord, Teams, Office, Zoom, Spotify, Steam, Battle.net, World of Warcraft, Xcode (build data, device support, old simulators, the compiler module cache), Homebrew, MacPorts and Nix (through their own commands), developer caches (npm, pip, Cargo, Go, Gradle, Docker and more), old Codex versions, iPhone and iPad software downloads and Adobe's media cache.
• Privacy options for recent items, macOS's record of every downloaded file, Time Machine's local snapshots, the system log and the DNS cache (the last three ask for your password and are never ticked by default).
• Uninstall programs lists your apps, Homebrew formulae and casks and MacPorts ports, removes them with their own manager or moves the app to the Trash, then offers what they left in your Library: caches, settings, containers and background jobs (stopped before they go). Nothing is ticked for you and everything goes to the Trash. An app that is open is not removed, a Homebrew service is stopped first, and Show reveals a leftover in Finder.
• A menu-bar icon, Settings... on Cmd+, and a Cmd+Q that waits for a removal to finish. Folders macOS protects are reported with a button that opens Privacy & Security, where you can give WattClean Full Disk Access.

Linux (x64)

• About 70 cleaners: the system's temporary files, thumbnails, caches, logs and old journal entries, browsers (including their Snap and Flatpak copies), applications, games (Steam, Lutris, Heroic) and developer tools, and APT, dnf, zypper, pacman and AUR helpers, Flatpak, Snap, Nix and Homebrew through their own commands.
• Uninstall programs lists what APT, dnf, zypper, pacman, Flatpak and Snap installed, plus AppImages, and removes with the package manager. A removal that would take other packages with it is refused and names them. Leftovers in your home folder go to the Trash.

Safety fixes (all systems)

• Programs run with administrator rights come only from the system's own folders, never from folders your account (or a program you run) can write.
• Homebrew's "Downloads and old versions" clean no longer uninstalls formulae; that stays the separate, warned "Unneeded dependencies" option.
• The Shred tool and Custom paths take the path you chose literally: a ?, * or % in a name no longer matches other files. Shredding renames first and leaves a file it cannot remove untouched.
• Nothing is emptied or edited through a link, and a typed path may not step back up with ...
• On macOS and Linux a running program's items are left alone (these systems delete files in use), so close it and clean again.
• LibreOffice's cache option no longer deletes your extensions, and its backup copies carry a warning.
• The uninstaller never offers Apple's own files, another installed app's, or a vendor folder another app still uses, and a game folder that still holds an app is not offered.

Downloads

• WattClean_0.1.3_x64-setup.exe: Windows installer for all users (asks for administrator rights once), with a Start menu shortcut and the command line. Installs over earlier versions, keeping your settings and backups.
• WattClean_0.1.3_x64-portable.exe: Windows, runs without installing (starting with Windows needs the installed app).
• WattClean_0.1.3_x64-cmd.exe: the Windows command line on its own.
• WattClean_0.1.3_universal.dmg: macOS, Apple silicon and Intel. Drag WattClean to Applications. It is not signed by Apple yet: the first time, open it, then go to System Settings > Privacy & Security and choose Open Anyway.
• WattClean_0.1.3_macos-universal-cmd: the macOS command line on its own (the app also carries it, in WattClean.app/Contents/MacOS).
• WattClean_0.1.3_amd64.deb, WattClean-0.1.3-1.x86_64.rpm: Linux packages for Debian and Ubuntu, and Fedora and openSUSE, with the command line as wattclean-cmd.
• WattClean_0.1.3_amd64.AppImage: Linux, runs without installing (chmod +x, then run it).
• WattClean_0.1.3_linux-x64-cmd: the Linux command line on its own.
• THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt: the licences of the open-source packages WattClean is built with.
• SHA256SUMS.txt: checksums of the files above.

Requires Windows 10 or 11 (x64) with the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime (included in Windows 11; for Windows 10 see https://developer.microsoft.com/microsoft-edge/webview2/); macOS 11 or later with Safari 15.4 or later (built into macOS 12.3 and later); or a 64-bit Linux with WebKitGTK 4.1 (Ubuntu 22.04, Debian 12, Fedora 38 or later). No automatic updates yet. MIT licence.

WattClean 0.1.2

The rest of the safety review behind 0.1.1: fixes for rarer cases in all three cleaners and in how the app starts.

Registry cleaner

• With "Exclude removable drives" switched off, entries on a mapped or subst drive letter (such as Z:) were taken for missing when WattClean ran as administrator, which cannot see your own mapped drives. A letter that is still taken is now left alone.

Disk cleaner

• Shred refuses a file whose data has other names (hard links): overwriting it destroyed the data under every name. A shredded file that cannot be removed gets its own name back instead of being left empty under a random one.
• Wipe free space removes its filler files with retries, so a virus scanner holding one no longer leaves the drive full. The command line's wipe tidies up after an earlier one, and Ctrl+C stops a wipe, shred or clean between items (a second Ctrl+C ends it).
• winapp2.ini entries meant only for other Windows versions (DetectOS) are left out, and Detect= keys may hold wildcards.
• A cleaner never walks into a folder link (junction) found partway down its path.

Uninstaller

• Other installed programs are protected however Windows knows where they live (Windows Installer's records and their shortcuts too), so a program with no recorded install folder is still protected.
• A folder shared by several programs (such as Windows Kits\10) is left in place with a note instead of offered, and a component shared with another program is not taken for the program's folder.
• Another account's AppData\Local\Programs, Temp, Packages and package cache are never offered whole, and Windows' default-program lists are protected in the 32-bit registry too.
• Removing leftovers checks each one again against the PC as it is at that moment; one another program now uses is left in place and reported.
• A batch uninstall's restore point is named for the batch.

Everywhere

• The first-start copy of the old apps' data (WattCompClean, WattRegClean, WattUninstaller) tries a locked file again at the next start instead of skipping it for good, and lists anything it could not copy.
• Restart as administrator no longer risks leaving no WattClean open.

Downloads

• WattClean_0.1.2_x64-setup.exe: installs for all users (asks for administrator rights once), with a Start menu shortcut and the command line. Installs over earlier versions, keeping your settings and backups.
• WattClean_0.1.2_x64-portable.exe: runs without installing (starting with Windows needs the installed app).
• WattClean_0.1.2_x64-cmd.exe: the command line on its own.
• THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt: the licences of the open-source packages WattClean is built with.
• SHA256SUMS.txt: checksums of the files above.

Requires Windows 10 or 11 (x64) and the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime (included in Windows 11; for Windows 10 see https://developer.microsoft.com/microsoft-edge/webview2/). No automatic updates yet. MIT licence.

WattClean 0.1.1

Uninstall several programs at once, and a round of safety fixes across all three cleaners.

New

• Uninstall several programs at once: select them with Ctrl+click, Shift+click, Shift+arrow keys or Ctrl+A, then Uninstall. You confirm once and choose the options once; then each program is uninstalled in turn (its own uninstaller, its leftover scan, its leftovers) before the next one starts. One restore point covers them all, and a summary shows how each went.

Registry cleaner: it no longer removes entries that are still in use

• Type libraries that name a resource inside a program file (Google Updater's, OneDrive's and Office's among them) were taken for missing and removed. Most programs put theirs back; if you cleaned with 0.1.0, check Registry backups for type library entries you may want to restore (Office's AutoHelper and OCHelper, OneDrive's Sync Service).
• Commands it cannot read for certain are now left alone rather than guessed at: a dotted folder name (Booking.com Helper), an unquoted path with no known file type, a comma inside a quoted rundll32 path.
• Other accounts' entries that use their own folders (%APPDATA%, %LOCALAPPDATA%…) are no longer checked against yours.
• Setup bundles' uninstall entries (Visual C++ redistributables and the like) are never offered; an entry that names no install folder starts unticked; an entry whose icon file is still there is not offered.
• A key Windows could only partly delete keeps its backup, and restoring puts back what went.

Disk cleaner

• Deep scans no longer look inside OneDrive (both personal and work), so a clean cannot delete files there and sync that to the cloud.
• An exclusion that cannot be worked out (an unknown variable in a winapp2.ini entry) now skips that cleaner instead of protecting nothing; registry exclusions in winapp2.ini are honoured.
• The keep list refuses * and ?, which it never honoured.
• Links to folders are removed as links (they used to fail every time); folders Windows keeps are no longer removed by cleaners that target named files.
• Firefox and Chromium-browser site data cleaning leaves extensions' own data alone; Recent documents and Office's cache now warn that pinned jump-list items and unsynced Office changes go too.

Uninstaller

• A file whose backup copy failed (backup drive full, unreadable file) is no longer deleted.
• Restoring never overwrites data a program wrote back since, a partly failed restore can be tried again, and an item interrupted by a crash can be restored.
• Leftover scans no longer offer: your own web shortcuts on a shared site (github.com…), Windows' own file types (txt, http, mailto…), Windows settings found by the Advanced search, registrations of another program installed inside the one you remove, another program's versions of a shared type library, or another account's working copy of the same program. Forced uninstall refuses shared folders such as C:\Program Files.

Everywhere

• A held Enter or a double-click can no longer start an uninstall, a registry scan or a registry clean twice.
• Quit and Restart as administrator wait for a registry clean or an uninstall's removal to finish.
• The Registry Watcher only checks for changes while its page is open, and never files one key's changes under another.

Downloads

• WattClean_0.1.1_x64-setup.exe: installs for all users (asks for administrator rights once), with a Start menu shortcut and the command line. Installs over 0.1.0, keeping your settings and backups.
• WattClean_0.1.1_x64-portable.exe: runs without installing (starting with Windows needs the installed app).
• WattClean_0.1.1_x64-cmd.exe: the command line on its own.
• THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt: the licences of the open-source packages WattClean is built with.
• SHA256SUMS.txt: checksums of the files above.

Requires Windows 10 or 11 (x64) and the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime (included in Windows 11; for Windows 10 see https://developer.microsoft.com/microsoft-edge/webview2/). No automatic updates yet. MIT licence.

WattClean 0.1.0

First release of WattClean: clean your disk and your registry, and uninstall programs completely, from one Windows app with a Windows 11 look and an icon by the clock. It replaces three earlier tools (WattCompClean, WattRegClean and WattUninstaller) and copies their settings, history and backups the first time it starts.

Disk

• Disk cleaner: about 70 cleaners for Windows, Explorer, Chrome, Edge, Brave, Vivaldi, Opera, Firefox and its relatives, Thunderbird, Discord, Slack, Teams, Spotify, Office, VLC, 7-Zip, Steam, Battle.net, World of Warcraft, developer caches and build output (Rust, .NET, Python). Preview first; All ticks everything for a full clean after one look at the warnings.
• Shred files, wipe free space, keep list, custom paths, delete in-use files at restart, community cleaners (winapp2.ini) and BleachBit CleanerML files.

Registry

• Registry cleaner (Safe, Moderate, Advanced or Custom scans, every account if you like), with a backup of everything it removes, plus an optional restore point and full registry backup.
• Registry search, tuner (about 50 tweaks, each undone exactly), watcher (logs changes and, as administrator, which program made them), backups and schedules.

Programs

• Uninstall programs with their leftovers (Safe, Moderate or Advanced scans) and a backup that restores byte for byte; traced installs; forced uninstall; backups and history.

Everywhere

• Light and dark themes, accents and text size; keeps running in the notification area (optional); starts with Windows if you like.
• Command line: wattclean-cmd disk … (BleachBit's options) and wattclean-cmd registry ….
• No telemetry; the only network use is downloading winapp2.ini when you click it.

Downloads

• WattClean_0.1.0_x64-setup.exe: installs for all users (asks for administrator rights once), with a Start menu shortcut and the command line.
• WattClean_0.1.0_x64-portable.exe: runs without installing (starting with Windows needs the installed app).
• WattClean_0.1.0_x64-cmd.exe: the command line on its own.
• THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt: the licences of the open-source packages WattClean is built with.
• SHA256SUMS.txt: checksums of the files above.

Requires Windows 10 or 11 (x64) and the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime (included in Windows 11; for Windows 10 see https://developer.microsoft.com/microsoft-edge/webview2/). No automatic updates yet. MIT licence.