This release ships native ARM64 builds, labels your Windows edition more clearly on the dashboard, and adds Persian to the language list. Thank you to @NimaHp for the full translation #91.

New

• ARM64 builds. Each release now ships two files, optimizerDuck-Windows-x64 for most PCs and optimizerDuck-Windows-arm64 for Snapdragon and other ARM machines. Pick the one that matches your PC. Thanks to @matze19999 #90.
• The dashboard names your edition in full. The System card used to fold everything Home-related into plain Home. It now reads the EditionID and prints it next to the family name, for example CoreCountrySpecific (Home).
• Persian translation. For the first time, the full app is available in Persian (fa-IR). Thanks to @NimaHp #91.

New Contributors

• @NimaHp made their first contribution in #91

Full Changelog: v2.28.1...v2.29.0

This release fixes the startup crash on Windows 10, shows the real Windows edition on the dashboard, and rewrites the French translation to read natively. Thank you to @gsyp10032 for the fix guidance #86, to @Kevaee and @InsideMen0 for staying on the crash reports #50, and to @Robocnop for the French rewrite #89.

Fixes

• The app starts on Windows 10 again. CET shadow stacks ship enabled in .NET 9+ hosts, but CoreCLR calls QueueUserAPC2 when shadow stacks are on, and that API only exists on Windows 11 / Server 2022. So every build died at launch on Windows 10 with 0x80131506 ("Unknown Hard Error"). CETCompat is now off, keeping the Windows 10 support the README promises. Thanks to @gsyp10032 #86, @Kevaee and @InsideMen0 #50.
• The dashboard shows the real Windows edition. The Operating System card folded every Home-family SKU into Home, so CoreCountrySpecific (Home China) displayed as plain Home. It now reads the actual EditionID from the registry and keeps the family name next to it: CoreCountrySpecific (Home). IDs it has never seen display as-is instead of Unknown #88.

Improvements

• French rewritten to read natively. 819 strings reviewed, 232 rewritten. Literal calques rephrased, drifted recommendation reasons fixed, official Windows French terms used throughout. Thanks to @Robocnop #89.

New Contributors

• @gsyp10032 made their first contribution in #86

Full Changelog: v2.28.0...v2.28.1

This release adds a full record of what every apply and revert did, moves the remaining shell calls to native Windows APIs, and lets you change language and theme without restarting. Thank you to @zhymster and @Aa-creat for the NumLock reports (#70, #85), and to @Stargazed-Dreamer for the Windows 10 white window report and the fix guidance (#71).

New

See what every apply and revert actually did

• Every optimization now keeps a record of its last run. The record is written after an apply or a revert and survives a restart. Files live in %LocalAppData%\optimizerDuck\History.
• The chip under the risk badge shows when the item was last applied. Click it to open the details dialog, or hover it for a short summary.
• Each step explains itself. You can see what changed, what was already correct, what was skipped, what Windows refused, and why, in your own language.

Documented Windows APIs instead of shell scripts

• Services go through the Service Control Manager, restore points through the System Restore WMI class, and the Recycle Bin through shell32.
• Hibernation uses CallNtPowerInformation, USB power management uses root\wmi, and shell refresh uses SendMessageTimeout.
• Packaged (UWP / MSIX) startup apps are read from the per-user AppModel repository.
• Each call now returns a documented result code, so a failure is visible instead of being hidden in parsed text.

Change language and theme without restarting

• Language switches at runtime. The whole UI updates immediately, including open pages and dropdowns. No restart needed.

Redesigned first-run dialog

• The first-run dialog now has language and theme pickers, so you can set both before you start using the app.
• It also has a shorter welcome text, the legal links, and a new extras section (GitHub, Docs, Discord, Acknowledgements).

Clear state for items that need no change

• When Windows already matches every step, the card shows an "Already optimal" chip instead of doing nothing quietly. Click the chip to read the record.

Dashboard and System Info

• New dashboard data: memory type (DDR4, DDR5, LPDDR, HBM), VBS and Memory Integrity status, uptime, active power plan, and firmware mode (UEFI or Legacy).
• Disks report their media type: HDD, SSD, or NVMe.
• The dashboard refreshes live while it is open.

Localized scheduled task triggers

• Trigger types are translated in all 17 locales.
• Open the three-dot menu on a task to read the trigger details.
• Hover a trigger chip to read that trigger's own schedule detail, for example At 9:00 AM, every day.

Improvements

• Smaller download. The packaged-app scan no longer pulls in the Windows SDK projection.
• All 16 locales are complete. About 90 missing keys per locale were translated, and defective strings in Spanish, Portuguese and Vietnamese were fixed.
• Correct GPU driver versions. NVIDIA and AMD now show the version you see in their own tools. For example, 32.0.15.8195 shows as 581.95.
• Tooltips sit closer to the pointer and are shorter, without the empty ring the old template kept for its drop shadow.
• Faster and smoother. Shared gates use System.Threading.Lock, long scans stay off the UI thread, and the app no longer freezes while it works.
• Smooth scrolling behaves better on long lists.
• Logs are always in English, which makes bug reports and support easier.
• Modern C# 14 and .NET 10 patterns across the code base, with formatter and analyzer rules enforced by the build.

Fixes

• Revert safety. An unreadable revert file is parked instead of overwritten, a partial write keeps its compensation, and a step that changed part of the system can still be reverted.
• Windows-protected services are skipped instead of failing the whole optimization (#54).
• NumLock detection no longer reports the wrong state. Both the registry type and the bit handling were wrong. Thanks to @zhymster and @Aa-creat (#70, #85).
• White window on Windows 10 is fixed. Mica is skipped on Windows 10, which fixes virtual machines and Remote Desktop sessions. Thanks to @Stargazed-Dreamer (#71).
• The taskbar progress bar now clears when a run ends.
• Light theme was rebuilt on a deeper honey palette. Secondary text and badges now follow theme changes live.
  • One color issue remains inside the WPF-UI framework itself.
• Empty fields are hidden. Startup Manager and Scheduled Tasks no longer show blank lines for a missing description, publisher, command, path, or triggers. The Recycle Bin row in Disk Cleanup hides its empty path.
• Bloatware: removing a single package is parsed correctly.
• Disk Cleanup reports freed space only when the clean command really succeeded.
• Toggles no longer read an unset Windows value as Off. Windows stores only what differs from its own default, so an absent value is now classified through that default. This fixes the Recycle Bin on the Desktop page (and This PC, User's Files, Network and Control Panel), plus taskbar widgets, Game Bar and other settings Windows enables by default.
• Startup Manager rolls the toggle back when a write fails.
• The revert dialog offers Retry only when a failed step can actually be retried.
• 42 unused localization keys were removed.

Full Changelog: v2.27.6...v2.28.0

This release significantly expands Startup Manager, introduces a live taskbar progress indicator, and adds a fresh set of system, boot, and gaming tweaks. It also brings important safety improvements to the revert system, a more user-friendly bloatware warning dialog, and a range of quality-of-life enhancements. A huge thank you to @loliri for contributing numerous features and fixes to this release, and to @ether-btc for the detailed bug report that helped uncover and address issues in the revert system and Disk Cleanup.

New

Startup Manager gets much smarter, thanks to @loliri

• Modern packaged apps (UWP / MSIX) are now detected, including Windows Store apps that register themselves to start with Windows. You can toggle them on or off, and their state stays in sync with Windows Settings. Icons are pulled from the package automatically, so every app still shows a recognizable logo.
• 32-bit apps are now scanned as well. Many older apps and game launchers register under the 32-bit view of the registry, so optimizerDuck now shows them in the same list and lets you manage them alongside everything else.
• Real timestamps are now written when you toggle a startup item, matching what the native Windows Task Manager stores. You can tell exactly when a change was made.

Taskbar progress indicator

When a long optimization is running, the progress bar now appears directly on the optimizerDuck icon in your taskbar. You can keep working in other apps and still know how much time is left.

Bloatware safety dialog

Before removing any package whose name looks unusual or could be a system component, optimizerDuck now shows a clear confirmation dialog with the package name, publisher, version, and a risk badge, so you can make a safe choice and cancel the removal if something looks off.

Customizations, thanks to @loliri

• Combine taskbar buttons is a new option that controls how Windows groups taskbar buttons when you have many windows open (Always, When full, Never). The same setting applies on every monitor, so the taskbar looks the same on each screen. Windows 11 for multi-monitor support.
• Verbose Status shows a detailed step-by-step message during startup, shutdown, and logon. Useful when you want to find out why your PC boots slowly. Note: this only takes effect if DisableStatusMessages is not also set.
• UTC hardware clock sets your motherboard clock to UTC, so the time does not jump back and forth if you dual-boot Windows and Linux.
• Smart name resolution stops Windows from sending your DNS requests across every active network adapter.
• DLSS on-screen indicator lets you choose whether the small NVIDIA DLSS watermark appears in your games. You can pick Off, Debug only, or All versions. The option is shown only if your PC has an NVIDIA graphics card.

Optimizations, thanks to @loliri

• WebDAV file size limit raises the default WebDAV upload and download size from 50 MB to 4 GB, fixing the 0x800700DF error you can get when copying large files over a WebDAV drive. Requires the WebClient service to be running.
• Windows Update pause limit raises the longest time you can pause Windows Updates, giving you more control over when they install. Be aware that pausing too long can leave your system without security patches.

Improvements

• Source code viewer uses your installed version. Clicking "view source on GitHub" inside the app now opens the file at the exact release tag matching your installed version, instead of the development branch. You always see the code you are actually running.
• Smoother app during long operations. optimizerDuck stays responsive while running long optimizations, disk cleanups, and configuration loads. No more freezes during heavy work.
• Cleaner navigation and dialogs. Sidebar icons for Optimize, Startup Manager, and Scheduled Tasks have been refreshed. Spacing inside cards and detail popups has been tightened across the app.

Fixes

• Revert system is now safer on partial failure. When you undo a tweak that has several steps, optimizerDuck now keeps the undo record if any step fails. You can retry without losing your saved state, and the record is only removed when every step succeeds. Thanks to @ether-btc.
• Path safety check hardened. Strengthened the security check that loads revert files so it can no longer be tricked by unusual folder names. Thanks to @ether-btc.
• "Open file location" made safer. When you open a startup program's file location, optimizerDuck now validates the path and blocks attempts to pass extra arguments. Thanks to @ether-btc.
• Disk Cleanup no longer touches running .NET temp files. Fixed an inverted filter that could delete .NET temporary files while a .NET application was still using them, which previously could cause the running app to crash. Thanks to @ether-btc.
• Bing Search toggle works correctly, thanks to @loliri. The Bing Search customization now reads and writes both registry keys and group policies, so the on-screen state always matches what Windows actually uses.
• Taskbar alignment reads the actual default. On fresh Windows installs where the registry value is missing, the Customize setting now correctly reports Center (the Windows default) instead of showing a "Custom" or "Not set" placeholder.

New Contributors

• @loliri made their first contribution in #65

Full Changelog: v2.26.2...v2.27.6

This release makes optimizerDuck much smarter about your specific PC. For the first time, Optimizations and Customize settings can check your Windows version, CPU, GPU, and RAM to help you understand which settings are suitable for your system. This release also introduces a new AI category and adds three new languages.

New

• System compatibility checks: Compatibility checks are now available for Optimizations and Customize settings. Optimizations that may not be suitable for your Windows version or hardware are shown with a warning, helping you understand potential compatibility issues before applying them. You can dismiss the warning and apply the optimization anyway if you know it is suitable for your setup, or hide the warning for a cleaner experience. For Customize settings, options that do not apply to your PC are moved into a separate expandable section below the supported settings, so the main list stays focused on settings that are relevant to your system. For example, Windows 11 taskbar optimizations show a compatibility warning on Windows 10, while AMD GPU optimizations warn when an AMD graphics card is not detected.
• New AI category: You can now disable Windows Recall, including its AI snapshots and history, as well as the "Click To Do" AI overlay.
• More privacy and experience options: New optimizations let you disable News and Interests, Find My Device location tracking, peer-to-peer Delivery Optimization sharing, the "Meet Now" taskbar button on Windows 10, the Recommended section in the Windows 11 Start menu, and Microsoft 365 ads in Settings.
• Three new languages: optimizerDuck is now fully available in Arabic, Indonesian, and Italian, bringing the total to 17 languages. The README has also been translated into all three new languages. Thanks to @s5xx5s for the Arabic translation, @nekowawolf for the Indonesian translation, and @bandrea83 for the Italian translation.

Improvements

• Faster page loading: Customize settings now read registry values in the background, allowing pages to open and respond more quickly without freezing the UI.
• Better Customize setting handling: Dropdown settings now automatically handle values outside the available options. If the current system value does not match any predefined option, a "Custom" option is added so the actual value remains visible. Settings without a configured value now display a "Not Set" option instead of leaving the control empty.
• File Explorer startup location: The File Explorer Startup Location setting has been improved and converted into a dropdown with two clear options: "Quick Access" and "This PC", making it easier to understand and configure.
• More consistent Customize setting descriptions: Customize settings are now written and presented as features rather than actions. This makes each setting easier to understand by describing what the feature does instead of focusing on the action used to change it.
• Refreshed Bloatware Manager lists: The safe and caution lists now better match the apps commonly included with current Windows 10 and Windows 11 installations. This includes popular pre-installed apps such as TikTok, Netflix, Candy Crush, and Facebook, as well as OEM software from HP, Dell, Lenovo, LG, CyberLink, and others.
• Clearer naming: "Service host split" has been renamed to "Consolidate service hosts", with a clearer description explaining how the option behaves based on the amount of RAM available on your system.
• Polished translations: Wording has been refined across supported languages to make translations more natural, consistent, and easier to understand.
• Korean translation fixes: Several Korean translations have been corrected and improved. Thanks to @jakero for helping fix the Korean localization.
• Simplified Chinese translations: Several Simplified Chinese translation issues have been corrected. Thanks to @wcxu21.

New Contributors

• @s5xx5s made their first contribution in #55
• @nekowawolf made their first contribution in #59
• @bandrea83 made their first contribution in #60
• @jakero made their first contribution in #61

Full Changelog: v2.25.5...v2.26.2

A hotfix release addressing a startup crash and improving Bloatware Manager reliability.

Fixes

• Fixed a startup crash caused by the configuration tracing system. #52
• Improved Bloatware Manager to gracefully handle cases where the detection process returns an empty result or no standard output. #10 (comment)

Improvements

• Updated all NuGet packages to their latest stable versions.

Full Changelog: v2.25.2...v2.25.5

This release introduces new language support, stronger security hardening, faster application startup, and numerous usability improvements across optimizerDuck.

New

• Added German translation thanks to @pixeldepartment in #47.
• Added Hebrew translation thanks to @yosef-chai in #48.
• Added Right-to-Left (RTL) language support for a better experience in RTL languages.
• Added Select All and Deselect All buttons to Disk Cleanup for quicker cleanup management.
• Added a confirmation dialog before using Clean All Selected in Disk Cleanup to help prevent accidental cleanup.
• Added the Disable Web Search for Windows Start Menu optimization, contributed by @kelvin3720 in #45.

Improvements

• Redesigned the Scheduled Tasks deletion dialog with clearer information and a more polished interface.
• Empty values are now displayed with an "Empty" badge instead of em dashes for improved readability.
• Customization categories are now preloaded, making navigation faster and more responsive.
• Improved the System Information service to reduce hanging, improve startup performance, speed up disk detection, and prevent ManagementObject leaks.
• Improved cross-page synchronization, so changes made in Startup Manager, Scheduled Tasks, and Bloatware Manager are automatically reflected when returning to related pages.
• Improved application startup reliability with better error handling and clearer messages for fatal startup failures.
• Improved language switching with safer asynchronous error handling to prevent silent failures.
• Refined application logging by removing unnecessary entries and making logs more useful for troubleshooting.

Security

• Enforced TLS 1.2+ for all network requests, with improved certificate validation, logging, and connection pooling.
• Improved command escaping for Bloatware removal scripts to further reduce command injection risks.
• Canonicalized and sanitized file paths before launching explorer.exe from Startup Manager to prevent argument injection.
• Added WQL string escaping for WMI queries to prevent injection through device identifiers.
• Hardened Revert data loading by ensuring files are loaded only from the expected Revert directory.

Fixes #46.

Fixes

• Fixed an initialization issue that could create duplicate data when rapidly leaving and reopening a page before initialization completed.
• Fixed Service Process failing to detect service startup types correctly on non-English versions of Windows after it was reported by a Discord community member.

New Contributors

• @kelvin3720 made their first contribution in #45
• @pixeldepartment made their first contribution in #47
• @yosef-chai made their first contribution in #48

Full Changelog: v2.24.2...v2.25.2

Turkish support and even more ways to customize Windows! This release introduces Turkish language support, expands advanced customization settings, improves optimization categorization, enhances bloatware logo detection, and includes several UI refinements and bug fixes.

New

• Turkish has been added to the app.
  • Turkish language support was added by @amhunter1 in #37.
  • Turkish versions of the README and CONTRIBUTING guides were also added by @amhunter1 in #37 and @MarkesrBetter in #38.
• Customize Settings has been expanded with more advanced Windows options:
  • Preferences
    • Added Search Box Taskbar Mode to customize the Search box on the taskbar.
    • Added Taskbar Last Active Click, allowing taskbar clicks to switch directly to the most recently active window instead of showing grouped app previews.
  • System
    • Added Developer Mode, Allow All Trusted Apps, Long Paths, and Show Battery Percentage for advanced Windows customization.

Improvements

• Optimization metadata
  • Updated tags for several optimizations to improve categorization and discoverability.
  • Added Windows10Only and Windows11Only tags.
  • Reorganized tag priorities and display order.
  • Adjusted risk levels where necessary.
  • Fixed incorrect Flags values used by Disable Accessibility Keyboard Hotkeys.
• Bloatware Service
  • Improved logo detection and prioritization to prefer higher-quality icons and more accurate matches.
• Moved the toggle switches in Scheduled Tasks and Startup Manager to the left side for a cleaner and more consistent layout across different languages.
• Updated Third-Party Notices with the latest libraries used by optimizerDuck.
• The Start and Stop actions in Scheduled Tasks are now disabled when a task is disabled (Off).

Fixes

• Fixed an issue where the Scheduled Task Details and Startup Scheduled Task dialogs could not be scrolled.
• Fixed extra blank space appearing at the bottom of the Customize > Category page while scrolling.

New Contributors

• @amhunter1 made their first contribution in #37
• @MarkesrBetter made their first contribution in #38

Full Changelog: v2.23.0...v2.24.2

Added a new language: Portuguese (BR), contributed by @mhanelia in #33. Thank you for your contribution!

What's New

• Added Portuguese (BR) language support.

New Contributors

• @mhanelia made their first contribution in #33

Full Changelog: v2.22.4...v2.23.0

A maintenance update focused on performance, stability, and quality-of-life improvements. This release includes faster startup times, improved crash handling, expanded Bloatware classifications, and multiple bug fixes across the application.

What's New

• Added a Refresh quick action for Disk Cleanup items, making it easier to recalculate and update cleanup results on demand.
• Improved crash handling for unexpected application failures. Crash logs are now automatically saved to optimizerDuck/Crashes/*.log to simplify troubleshooting and diagnostics.
• Expanded the Safe Apps and Caution Apps lists in the Bloatware section with additional applications.

Improvements

• Improved overall application performance, resulting in faster startup times and smoother loading of Bloatware AppX packages.
• Improved service startup type handling by treating non-existent services as successful operations during optimization.
• Added additional resource cleanup routines and caching optimizations to improve responsiveness and reduce overhead.
• Updated NuGet packages to their latest compatible versions.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where the "Unable to create or enable System Restore" dialog could still appear even after a restore point was successfully created following a retry.
• Fixed excessive scrolling behavior on the Scheduled Tasks page.
• Fixed UI freezing that could occur while applying the Disable USB Power Saving optimization.
• Disk Cleanup items with no reclaimable space are now automatically disabled.
• Fixed memory leaks that could occur while loading system information.

Full Changelog: v2.21.1...v2.22.4