MonWin v1.0.0

MonWin v1.0.0 — Initial Release

A lightweight, native Windows 11 system monitor for CPU, RAM, and GPU usage that
sits directly on your taskbar — built as a safe, user-mode alternative to tools
that rely on kernel drivers (WinRing0, OpenHardwareMonitor/LibreHardwareMonitor).

Features

• Live CPU (usage % + frequency), RAM (usage % + used/total), and GPU
  (usage % + memory) with rolling sparkline history (30/60/120/300s).
• Compact, Compact+Graph, and Detailed display modes.
• Sits directly on the taskbar (Left/Center/Right), or drag it anywhere and it
  remembers the spot; falls back to a floating window if the taskbar can't be
  located.
• Drag the corner grip to resize the whole card; double-click to reset.
• Follows Windows light/dark theme automatically, or set it manually.
• Customizable accent color — quick presets or the native Windows color picker.
• Left-click for the detailed view, right-click for settings, middle-click to
  hide/show, optional click-through mode.
• Settings opens as a light-dismiss flyout — click anywhere outside it to close.
• System tray icon; closing the detailed view doesn't stop monitoring.
• Local JSON settings, local rotating log file — zero network access.

Security

• No kernel driver, no admin rights required, no Explorer/DLL injection, no
  Defender exclusions, no telemetry, no network access of any kind.
• Every metric is read through documented Windows APIs (P/Invoke to
  kernel32/user32/shell32/powrprof, WMI, and the standard Windows
  performance-counter subsystem) — full breakdown in docs/SECURITY.md.

Requirements

• Windows 10 (1803+) or Windows 11, x64.
• No installer, no admin rights, no .NET runtime install needed (self-contained).

Known limitations

• True native taskbar embedding isn't possible on Windows 11 through supported
  APIs — MonWin renders its own window sized to fit on the taskbar instead.
• GPU total VRAM can show "Unknown" on some >4GB cards (a WMI/driver reporting
  limitation, not a MonWin bug).
• Network/disk metrics are modeled but not implemented yet.

Downloads

• SystemMonitor.exe — run directly, no extraction needed.
• MonWin-1.0.0-win-x64.zip — same thing, zipped.

Both are self-contained (no .NET runtime install required) and portable (no
installer, no admin rights).