MAUS-0.8.0 alpha

Older version / Ancienne version. The latest release is 0.8.1: https://github.com/TERMINATORmdel101/MAUS/releases/latest (or winget upgrade TERMINATORmdel101.MAUS). La dernière version est la 0.8.1.

MAUS (Maintenance · Audit · Updates · Security) is a free, open-source (GPL-3.0) Windows 11 utility: a read-only audit first, then fixes chosen by the user, each one explained and reversible. MAUS is designed and coded with Claude, an AI by Anthropic, under the direction of its author.

This is an alpha version in active development: some features may be incomplete and bugs may occur.

Download: MAUS-0.8.0-installation.exe (installs to Program Files, .NET included, uninstall from Settings > Apps).
SHA-256: e37ac8e476fd1341439ffacd51c1cbc376b66f27cdeb71f19183c91290134354
Build provenance: this installer was built by GitHub Actions from this repository; anyone can check it with gh attestation verify MAUS-0.8.0-installation.exe -R TERMINATORmdel101/MAUS.

Not signed: this installer has no code signature yet, so Windows SmartScreen may show a warning ("More info", then "Run anyway"). Our application for free signing by the SignPath Foundation was declined for now (the project is still too new); we will apply again later.

What's new since 0.7.6

A security and stability release, following an eleven-point review: each point was first checked in the code, then fixed when it was real.

• The window no longer runs as administrator. Everything that reads the system in depth or changes it is done by a separate engine process (MAUS.exe --engine), started with the usual Windows permission prompt and connected to the window through a private channel:
  • the channel has a random name, is restricted to your account and closed to the network; each side checks with Windows which process is on the other end;
  • the engine only accepts a closed list of operations and never receives a ready-made write or command: fixes are designated by their identifier and taken from its own plan, command windows (DISM, winget, pnputil) are built by the engine itself, a process to stop is re-read by the engine, every identifier, folder and setting is checked;
  • the engine stops with the window; if the permission is refused, MAUS opens in limited mode (audit without admin rights, no fixes) and says so.
• Failed rollbacks stay visible: when a fix failed and restoring the original values failed too, the change could stay in Windows without an "Undo" button. It is now kept as "to resume", "Undo" retries it, and MAUS warns at startup.
• No more operations surviving a cancel: the Windows Update search is really aborted in Windows on timeout or cancel; a command started by MAUS (winget…) is stopped when you cancel.
• Benchmark safety stop: the benchmark stops if the graphics card reaches its slowdown threshold or the processor goes 5 °C past its limit (limits reported by the chips themselves).
• No more false "stable" results: the core-by-core test no longer reports "all cores held, no WHEA error" when some cores were not tested or the WHEA log could not be read; a test that verified nothing gives no verdict.
• Less misplaced trust: a program running from a Windows folder that any user can write to (C:\Windows\Temp, Tasks…) is no longer shown as a Windows component; the weekly audit task file is written to an administrators-only folder instead of the user's temp folder.
• Benchmark comparisons: different benchmark versions, interfaces, interrupted runs and different test sets are flagged; the combined score is only compared between identical test sets.
• Every build is identifiable: the commit is shown next to the version number (About, maus --version, logs); all tests run on GitHub for every change, and the installer is only built when they pass.
• Also: native libraries are only loaded from System32, a process-list leak is fixed, folder scans and loops are bounded, public functions check their parameters, benchmark thumbnails are kept on disk instead of in memory.

Full details: CHANGELOG.md (in French).