CLEANUAI
FOR WINDOWS

Download the installer

Not sure which PC you have? In Settings › System › About, look at System type. If in doubt, x64.

The “Windows protected your PC” warning

When you open the installer, Windows should show a blue window with that title. That’s expected, and two clicks take you past it.

1. Open the file you downloaded, CleanUai-1.0.3-beta-win-x64-Setup.exe.
2. In the blue window, click More info. The link is right below the warning text.
3. Check that the file name matches and click Run anyway.
4. CleanUai installs for your user only, without asking for admin. Open the app: the 7 days start right away.

Why this warning appears

CleanUai’s installer isn’t signed yet. A signature is a certificate that tells Windows who published a program. Without one, SmartScreen warns you as a precaution and shows “Unknown publisher”.

The warning doesn’t mean Windows found a virus. It means Windows doesn’t know this file yet. Your browser may also ask whether you want to keep the download, for the same reason.

If you’d rather not continue, that’s fine: click Don’t run and nothing gets installed.

Want to check the file?

Each installer has a SHA-256 file next to it, holding its fingerprint. In PowerShell, in the download folder, run the command below and compare the result with what’s in the SHA-256 file. If they match, the file is exactly what we published.

Get-FileHash .\CleanUai-1.0.3-beta-win-x64-Setup.exe -Algorithm SHA256

What CleanUai for Windows deliberately doesn’t do

PC cleaners have a bad name, and they earned it. This stays out:

• No registry cleaning. The risk is real and the gain is nil. The registry is only read, to find apps and leftovers.
• No “memory booster”. Emptying apps’ memory is a placebo. The agent shows who’s using memory, and that’s all.
• No driver updates. The risk is a PC that won’t boot.
• No deleting browser history, cookies or passwords. Only the cache goes. Signing you out of everything isn’t cleaning.
• No “faster PC” promises. We show the bytes freed, measured.
• No hand-deleting Prefetch, WinSxS, Installer, DriverStore or Package Cache. That breaks the system. The Component Store is only cleaned through DISM.

The twelve channels on Windows

The same numbers as on Mac, each with its Windows equivalent.

• 00
  Home

  The smart scan, the cards and the total freed so far.

• 01
  Junk

  Temp files, crash dumps, thumbnail and icon caches, browser caches (the cache folder only), developer and AI tool caches. With admin: Windows\Temp and the Windows Update download.

• 02
  Lens

  Your disk in rings, on any disk, without counting hard links twice or following junctions.

• 03
  Large

  Filters by size, use and type. When NTFS keeps no last-access date, it uses the modified date, and the screen says so.

• 04
  Apps

  Installed apps and Microsoft Store apps. It runs the app’s own uninstaller, then looks for what’s left.

• 05
  Leftovers

  Folders in AppData and ProgramData with no owner app, and broken Start shortcuts. Nothing comes checked, and registry keys are only listed.

• 06
  Recycle Bin

  Size and items per disk, and emptying by holding the button.

• 07
  Updates

  winget lists and updates, and the Microsoft Store opens on its updates screen. CleanUai never downloads an installer on its own.

• 08
  Duplicates

  Compares size, part of the content and SHA-256. It skips hard links, ReFS clones and cloud-only files.

• 09
  Startup

  What starts with Windows. Turning one off uses the same place as Task Manager, so it’s reversible. Services are read-only.

• 10
  Tune-up

  DNS, reindexing Windows Search, rebuilding the icon cache, DISM /StartComponentCleanup, optimizing the drive and verifying the disk. No touching memory and no deleting restore points.

• 11
  Disks

  External disks: the disk’s Recycle Bin, Thumbs.db, ._* and .DS_Store, scan, clean and eject.

Good to know

• The Recycle Bin by default, and nothing is deleted without passing the guard. The guard refuses the Windows folders, Program Files, .ssh, password vaults, Outlook data and anything on a network or read-only disk.
• The Recycle Bin can delete for good. An item bigger than its quota, or on a removable disk, may skip it. CleanUai warns you before you confirm.
• Deleting from the cloud syncs. What leaves a OneDrive folder leaves the cloud too, and the screen says so. A scan doesn’t download cloud-only files.
• The app runs without admin. When a task needs it, Windows asks for admin once per run.
• The agent lives in the system tray, with CPU, memory, disk, network and battery.
• No account and no telemetry. Scanning stays free forever.
• Updates download quietly and only apply when you click Restart to update. The license includes 1 year of new versions.
• No Full Disk Access. That’s a macOS thing, and Windows has no such step.

The times published on this site were measured on a Mac. We haven’t published Windows numbers yet.

Already bought on Mac?

Your key works on your PC, with nothing more to pay and nothing to migrate: each license covers 1 Mac + 1 PC, at the same price. Haven’t bought yet? Buy a license, or try it for 7 days first.

Questions