The Windows cleaner that doesn't lie to you.
PersonalCleaner is an honest, open-source Windows cleaner and optimizer. It shows you what it actually finds and what it's about to change — no fake "3,000 problems!", no scare tactics, no hidden data collection.
/ ____ _
// | _ \ ___ _ __ ___ ___ _ __ __ _| |
/// | |_) / _ \ '__/ __|/ _ \| '_ \ / _` | |
////// | __/ __/ | \__ \ (_) | | | | (_| | |
/// |_| \___|_| |___/\___/|_| |_|\__,_|_|
// ____ _
/ / ___| | ___ __ _ _ __ ___ _ __
| | | |/ _ \/ _` | '_ \ / _ \ '__|
| |___| | __/ (_| | | | | __/ |
\____|_|\___|\__,_|_| |_|\___|_|
Free forever · Open source (MIT) · No account · No telemetry · No network calls
Download from Releases · View Source · Report an Issue · License
Current release: v1.2 — free build with Pro gating (unlock via L1).
You've seen the pattern: "Your PC has 3,847 problems!" — a scary number, a flashing warning, and an upgrade prompt.
But what is a "problem"? Most cleaners never tell you. A meaningless count isn't useful unless you understand what was actually found and what will happen if you act on it.
PersonalCleaner takes the opposite approach.
Scan → Review → Decide → Clean
Every number you see is a live measurement on your own machine — RAM usage, CPU load, disk space, frozen apps — and every cleanup is a preview you approve before anything is deleted.
| Feature | What it does | Why you'd care |
|---|---|---|
| 🧊 Catch frozen apps | Detects "Not Responding" programs and offers to close them | A hung app freezes your work — close it safely instead of fighting it |
| 🧠 Free up RAM | Purges the Windows standby list to reclaim cached memory | Recover cached RAM when memory is high (shows real before/after numbers) |
| 🧹 Clean junk | Removes old user temp, Windows temp, WER reports, and empties the Recycle Bin | Frees disk space — only files older than 24h, only in known temp folders, skips anything in use |
| 🚀 Speed up boot | Enable/disable startup programs by their real names | Fewer apps at boot = faster sign-in (same method Task Manager uses, fully reversible) |
| 🪟 Close a stuck app | Mini task manager — see the top memory hogs and close any non-critical app | Lower RAM usage by closing apps you don't need, with a confirmation first |
| 🔄 Restart Explorer | Fix a hung taskbar/desktop in one command | Recover from a frozen shell without a full reboot |
| 📊 Activity log & history | Timestamped local log of everything the app did | See exactly what happened and when (kept ~7 days) |
| Feature | What it does | Why you'd care |
|---|---|---|
| 🌙 Background automation | Silent upkeep on idle + daily via Task Scheduler | Runs only the actions you ticked, logs everything, shows a toast |
| 🔁 Weekly idle restart | Optional scheduled restart — only when you're away | Clears long-session slowdowns, always with a cancellable warning |
| ⚙️ Defender exclusions | Add/remove Microsoft Defender folder & process exclusions | Stop Defender from slowing your dev builds and dev tools |
| 🔧 Service tuning | Sets a few noisy background services to Manual/Disabled | Cut background load; originals are captured and restorable |
Every feature is opt-in. A fresh install does nothing on its own — nothing is deleted, closed, or scheduled until you switch it on.
The same portable app contains all features. Free maintenance (above) works with no key. The four Pro features are locked until you enter a license key.
1. Run the app → type L1 → copy your Machine ID (16 characters)
2. Buy PersonalCleanerPro on Gumroad and send us the Machine ID
3. We reply with your key (e.g. PC.BD831B957C258E78.2027-08-06.XXXX)
4. Open the app → L1 → paste the key → A2/A3/P1/P2 are unlocked
- Pro: one-time fee · 1-year key per PC — 1 key, 1 PC, valid 1 year, 100% offline, machine-locked. No subscription games, no cloud, no phone-home.
- M1 Scan & fix measures live CPU/RAM per app and flags genuine problems (Not Responding, high memory, high CPU) — with the evidence shown for each one.
- Junk cleanup runs as a preview first — "Would free 240 MB" — and only deletes after you confirm.
- Free RAM reports the actual before/after numbers, and tells you honestly when freeing cache won't help (because your RAM is used by real apps, not cache).
This is an open-source, local-first tool. The app makes no network calls at all — inspect the source if you don't believe it.
- ✅ Open source (MIT) — read every line of quick_fix.py
- ✅ No telemetry — no analytics, no usage collection
- ✅ No account — nothing to sign up for
- ✅ No cloud — no servers, no sync
- ✅ No phone-home — even the Pro license check is fully offline (HMAC-SHA256)
- ✅ Local storage — settings and logs live next to the app (or
%LOCALAPPDATA%)
Don't trust our marketing claims. Read the code.
- A hardcoded blocklist of critical OS processes (explorer, lsass, csrss, svchost, …) that can never be closed.
- Junk cleanup only touches a hardcoded allowlist of known temp folders, only deletes items older than 24 hours, and skips locked/in-use files.
- A boundary guard ensures cleanup can never escape its target folder.
- Every destructive action asks first — process termination, Explorer
restart, and file deletion all require a
[y/n]confirmation. - Reversible where it matters — startup items and service changes are fully restorable; scheduled restarts show a warning you can cancel.
- Local activity log with 7-day retention.
Honest caveat: junk file deletion is a one-way delete. That's why it always shows you a preview first — what you approve is what gets removed.
- ❌ No fear-based messaging — no "your PC has thousands of problems!"
- ❌ No meaningless scare numbers — every figure is a real measurement
- ❌ No hidden cleanup — nothing runs or deletes unless you enable it
- ❌ No forced account — there is no account to create
- ❌ No unnecessary telemetry — no data leaves your PC
- ❌ No touching critical system files or processes
We'd rather show you what we found than scare you into buying something.
Supported: Windows 10 / 11 · Type: portable — no installer.
- Grab the latest
PersonalCleaner-vX.Y.zipfrom the Releases page. - Extract the ZIP anywhere (a normal folder, not Program Files).
- Right-click
PersonalCleaner.exe→ Run as administrator. Admin rights are needed for RAM trim, closing elevated apps, HKLM startup items, exclusions, service tuning, and scheduling. - A menu opens — type a code (e.g.
M1) and press Enter.
First launch: Windows SmartScreen may warn (see below).
Menu
MAINTENANCE: M1 Scan & fix M2 Free RAM M3 Startup programs
M4 Close an app M5 Restart Explorer
AUTOMATION: A1 Settings A2 Background schedule 🔒 A3 Weekly idle restart 🔒
PRO TUNE-UPS: P1 Antivirus exclusions 🔒 P2 Service tuning 🔒
LICENSE: L1 License status / enter key
INFO: I1 Activity log I2 Run history I3 About
🔒 = requires a PersonalCleanerPro key.
Update: download the newest release ZIP and replace the exe — your settings
and log are preserved (they're stored next to the app / in %LOCALAPPDATA%).
Uninstall: it's portable, so just delete the folder. If you enabled background tasks, turn off A2 and A3 first to remove the scheduled tasks.
CLI / power users: --auto, --dry-run, --settings, --free-ram,
--startup, --tasks, --restart-explorer, --defender, --services,
--scheduled-restart, --install-scheduler, --uninstall-scheduler.
(Pro features require a key even via CLI.)
The executable is not code-signed yet. Because it's unsigned and new, Windows SmartScreen may show a blue "Windows protected your PC" warning the first time.
This is expected and normal. We do not recommend blindly bypassing security. Instead:
- Verify the download came from this repository's Releases page.
- Optionally skim the source — it's one readable file: quick_fix.py.
- Click More info → Run anyway on first launch. Once.
If a signed build matters to you, that's exactly the kind of thing a Pro purchase would fund.
We scan every release with VirusTotal before publishing — no exceptions.
- v1.2 (current):
0 / 67engines flag it. Clean. ✅ - Honesty note: an earlier build once showed
1 / 71— the single hit was Microsoft Defender. That's a known false positive for PyInstaller / unsigned Python apps (the bundler wraps a legit script; some AV heuristics trip on it). It is not malware, and later builds came back clean.
Unsigned software always draws extra scrutiny from AV and SmartScreen. That's exactly what a code-signed build (funded by Pro) removes. Until then: scan the exe yourself, read the source, and decide.
We'd rather users find a problem and report it than blindly trust us.
Found a bug? Did it clean something it shouldn't? Close something unsafe? Show a misleading number? Miss a feature you need? Open an issue — include what you did, what you expected, and what happened.
No formal roadmap yet. Ideas we're considering (not commitments):
- GUI — a graphical front-end on the same engine
- Code signing — remove the SmartScreen warning entirely
- More cleanup categories — with the same age/allowlist safeguards
- Localization — non-English menu translations
- Report a bug / request a feature: open an issue
- Contribute code: fork → make a change → open a pull request
# 1. Set up a virtual environment
python -m venv .venv
.\.venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1
# 2. Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt
# 3. Run from source to test (licensing.py is included in this repo)
python quick_fix.py
# 4. Build a one-file exe (bundles licensing for gating)
python -m PyInstaller --onefile --name PersonalCleaner --console --icon icon.ico --paths . quick_fix.py- Language: Python —
quick_fix.pyis the whole app (one readable file) - Runtime dep:
psutil(bundled into the exe) - Licensing:
licensing.py— offline HMAC-SHA256 key validation (no network) - Build tool: PyInstaller
- Python version: 3.10+ · Platform: Windows 10 / 11
Note for builders: because
licensing.pyis in the repo, a build from source is the same gated build. The signing secret is honour-based — this is not DRM, it's a trust barrier (seelicensing.py).
MIT © 2026 Sanket Thakkar.
This version is MIT — free to use, modify, and share. The PersonalCleanerPro key/licensing system is a separate commercial component on Gumroad. Future feature releases may ship under a different license; this version remains MIT.
I didn't want to build another application that tells people their computer has thousands of "problems."
I wanted a Windows maintenance tool that was useful, transparent, local, and open source. One that shows real numbers, never touches critical system files, and — above all — doesn't lie to you. This is that tool.
Download it. Star it. Try to break it.
⬇ Download · ⭐ Star · 🐞 Report an Issue
Open source · Windows 10/11 · Local-first · No account · No telemetry