Reclaim Your Windows

A modern Windows 11 debloater and tweak suite — live state detection, reversible by design, Mica UI. No GeForce Experience, no Adrenalin, no DSA, no telemetry. Just the OS you paid for.

Windows 10 compatibility. Reclaim is Win11-first but runs on Win10 1809+ with graceful degradation: all registry/services/scheduled-task tweaks work, AI-related tweaks (Copilot, Recall, Click to Do) and Win11-only UI tweaks (Widgets, taskbar alignment, Mica) silently no-op where the underlying feature doesn't exist. The frosted-glass window effect falls back to a standard opaque window. No separate build needed — same binary, same catalog.

Inspired by Win11Debloat and ChrisTitusTech/winutil, but built from scratch with a focus on transparency, reversibility, and modern UX.

Install

One-liner in PowerShell — picks the installer or portable build for you, downloads from the latest GitHub release, and launches it:

irm "https://github.com/jonax1337/reclaim/raw/main/install.ps1" | iex

Non-interactive (pick the mode upfront):

$env:RECLAIM_MODE = 'portable'; irm "https://github.com/jonax1337/reclaim/raw/main/install.ps1" | iex
# Valid: install | portable | msi

Why a PowerShell one-liner instead of "download the .exe"? Reclaim is unsigned and Edge would otherwise show a "publisher unknown" prompt for the installer. Going through PS skips the browser's reputation check entirely — the same trick ChrisTitus' WinUtil uses.

Manual download is also fine — grab the asset you want from Releases.

Headless / CLI mode

The same reclaim.exe works as a sysadmin tool from cmd / PowerShell when called with -- flags. Designed for unattended deployment (MDT / Intune / autounattend <FirstLogonCommands> / gold images):

reclaim.exe --apply-profile basics --silent
reclaim.exe --apply-tweak telemetry-off,advertising-id-off
reclaim.exe --remove-bloat "*Spotify*,Microsoft.BingNews"
reclaim.exe --import-profile gold-image.reclaim --apply --include-bloatware --silent
reclaim.exe --export-state --json > state.json
reclaim.exe --help                              # full reference

Same binary, same catalog, same activity-log mirror. No second .exe to ship.

What it does

228 reversible tweaks across 12 categories with live status showing what's already on, and per-tweak revert that restores the Windows default:

Bloatware remover — 158 curated AppX patterns across 8 groups (consumer, office, gaming, communication, media, system, other, plus OEM bloat for HP / Lenovo / Dell). 121 are flagged recommended:true and form the standardized debloat list every ISO build + Bloatware route applies; the remaining 37 (Calculator, Notepad, Sticky Notes, Quick Assist, Xbox-Identity-Provider, Family Safety, Mail & Calendar, vendor support utilities etc.) require explicit opt-in. v0.19.0 added explicit publisher-prefixed patterns for the Sponsored Apps that Microsoft Store auto-pushes after first network connect (WhatsApp / Spotify / Disney+ / Netflix / TikTok / Instagram / Facebook / LinkedIn). Lists only what's actually on your system. Bulk-uninstall via Remove-AppxPackage (including provisioned packages).

OneDrive removal — Two-step flow: pick redirected folders (Documents/Desktop/Pictures/sync root) to back up via robocopy, then run the official OneDriveSetup.exe /uninstall, remove leftover folders, unpin the sidebar CLSID, and optionally write the DisableFileSyncNGSC group policy to prevent re-install.

App installer (winget) — 107 curated apps across 8 groups (Browsers, Communication, Dev, System tools, Media, Office, Gaming, Utilities). Per-app install / upgrade / uninstall, BulkActionBar for multi-install, Select-Recommended (17 picks), live upgrade-available badge with version diff. Streams stdout to an embedded xterm terminal.

Install media (Task Sequence editor) — Produces a bootable Windows 11 install medium with your chosen tweaks + the standardized debloat list baked in, in two modes:

• Simple mode (default). Pick a profile (built-in or custom from /profiles), set username/password/locale, toggle "Fully automated" if you want zero-clicks. Click Build ISO (repacks a Windows 11 ISO via Windows ADK oscdimg.exe) or Flash USB (writes directly to a USB stick — single FAT32 + DISM-split layout for install.wim > 4 GB, no Rufus needed). The generator emits both an autounattend.xml and a setupcomplete.cmd sidecar dropped into \$OEM$\$$\Setup\Scripts\ so Windows Setup auto-copies the script into %WINDIR% during install.
• Advanced mode (Task Sequence). Drag-and-droppable editor with 11 step types — locale & account, hardware-check bypasses, edition picker (KMS keys), OOBE skips, OOBE privacy defaults, auto disk wipe (opt-in for fully-automated), driver injection (folder picker → \$OEM$\$1\Drivers\), AppX debloat patterns (pre-filled with the recommended list — uncheck what you want to keep), registry tweaks (from the catalog), winget apps to install post-OOBE, and free-form custom commands attached to any of the 5 Setup hooks (windowsPE, specialize, oobeSystem, setupcomplete, firstlogon). Seven templates: Privacy Maximum / Gaming Rig / Esports Rig / Office Workstation / Bare Minimum / Blank Slate / Fully Automated (zero clicks).
• Headless from CI — reclaim.exe --gen-install-media <config.json> --out-dir <dir> produces autounattend.xml + setupcomplete.cmd without ever opening the GUI. Pair with scripts/gen-unattend-config.mjs which builds the JSON from --profile <id>, --locale <de-de|en-us|…>, --fully-automated, --username, --password, --target-disk against the same exported catalog the rest of the CLI uses.

Debloat is decoupled from profiles. Profiles control which Windows settings to flip (tweaks). Every ISO build's AppX debloat is the same standardized list — the 121 recommended:true patterns from the bloatware catalog, applied uniformly across all profiles. Customizing the debloat happens in Advanced mode, never in profile data. Cleaner mental model, one catalog to curate.

Sponsored-apps blockers fire in the specialize pass (before first network connect) — HKLM CloudContent + WindowsStore\AutoDownload=2 + 18 HKU\.DEFAULT\…\ContentDeliveryManager writes — so apps like Spotify, Disney+, WhatsApp etc. don't even start downloading after install. AppX removal then runs two passes 60s apart in setupcomplete.cmd as SYSTEM to catch anything that snuck through. v1.0.0 end-to-end install validation: 121/121 recommended patterns purged from a freshly-installed Win 11 25H2 VM, both Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers and Get-AppxProvisionedPackage -Online reporting zero matches.

Hosts & blocklists — Curated builtin lists (Microsoft Telemetry, Office/Edge, MS Ads) plus on-demand StevenBlack remote lists. Sentinel-based merge (# >>> Reclaim: Name … # <<< Reclaim: Name) leaves your existing hosts entries untouched. Raw editor with auto hosts.reclaim.bak and one-click restore.

DNS & DoH — Provider presets (Cloudflare, Cloudflare-Families, Quad9, AdGuard, Google, Mullvad). One-click apply-to-all-connected, per-adapter custom servers, reset-to-DHCP, flush-cache, DoH template registration.

Windows Update center — Scan + filter (Security / Quality / Drivers / Optional) + install via the native Microsoft.Update.Session COM API. No PSWindowsUpdate dependency.

Driver updates without the bloat — Detects GPU (NVIDIA / AMD / Intel). For NVIDIA: queries the public series/family API to find the latest driver, streams the download with live progress, launches the installer detached. Or use Auto-Search to open the vendor's manual search page with your specs pre-filled and the search auto-clicked.

System maintenance — Three sections plus a Power Plans manager, all wired to a real PTY terminal (xterm + ConPTY) with live stdout/stderr:

• Repair: SFC /scannow, DISM CheckHealth/ScanHealth/RestoreHealth, chkdsk scan/spotfix, WinSxS cleanup + ResetBase
• Cleanup: temp cleanup, icon cache reset, font cache reset, Store reset, CleanMgr launcher
• Defender: signature update, quick/full/offline scan
• Reset: Windows Update components, print spooler, network stack (winsock + ip + flushdns + release/renew), firewall, Memory Diagnostic launcher
• Power Plans: list + activate, "Unlock Ultimate Performance" duplicates the hidden GUID, delete custom plans

Profiles — Five built-in presets:

• Gaming (38 tweaks) — Game DVR / background apps off, MMCSS + HAGS + GPU TDR, mouse-hover + keyboard rate, USB selective-suspend off, TCP ack/no-delay, NVIDIA telemetry off, full Game Bar shutdown
• Gaming · Esports (48 tweaks) — everything Gaming does + the aggressive latency add-ons (NIC interrupt-moderation/EEE/flow-control off, AFD buffers, core parking off, HPET off, TSC enhanced). Meant for plugged-in desktops where competitive ping matters
• Privacy Maximum (52 tweaks) — full telemetry & tracking lockdown
• Performance (23 tweaks) — free RAM and disk
• Reclaim Basics — every recommended tweak

…plus a full profile builder for custom profiles. Pick any subset of tweaks + bloatware patterns, save, export to a .reclaim file (JSON envelope with schema versioning), share, import. Validation drops unknown tweak ids with a warning.

Gaming toolbox — six purpose-built routes beyond the tweak catalog:

• Gaming Session — Snapshot the system state, suspend background noise (Discord/Spotify/Edge/OneDrive/launchers — hardcoded whitelist, never csrss.exe), switch to Ultimate Performance, optionally pause Defender real-time. Click End and every mutation is reversed from the snapshot. Crash-safe — snapshot lives in localStorage.
• Per-game profiles — Per-EXE GPU preference (HKCU UserGpuPreferences — same key the Windows Settings → Graphics page writes), Fullscreen Optimizations off, HighDPIAware override, Run-as-admin via the per-user AppCompat Layers key. HKCU only — no admin needed.
• MSI mode manager — Per-PCI-device MSI / MSI-X interrupt toggle for GPU, NVMe and audio. Strict instance-id validation, sticky "wrong values prevent boot" warning, one-click restore-point shortcut.
• NIC tuning — Live editor for Get-NetAdapterAdvancedProperty. Curated list of 16 latency-relevant properties (EEE, flow control, interrupt moderation, RSS, jumbo packet, LSO, Realtek Green Ethernet, …) with explanations and recommended values; "Show all" expander dumps every remaining property.
• Latency monitor — Live ping with sparklines. Eight preset endpoints (Steam, Riot, Epic, Battle.net, Discord, Cloudflare, Google DNS, GitHub) plus user-added custom targets. 2 / 5 / 10 s polling, rolling 60-sample stats (min/avg/max/loss%).
• Anti-cheat compatibility — Probes Secure Boot, TPM 2.0, VBS, HVCI, Test Mode and kernel debugging, then renders a matrix for Riot Vanguard, Easy Anti-Cheat, BattlEye and VAC. One-click fixes for testsigning + kernel debug; "Open UEFI" shortcut for the rest.

System info — CPU / GPU (driver version + date) / RAM (per-slot speed + manufacturer) / Storage (per-drive usage + physical drives) / Motherboard / BIOS.

Startup apps — Enumerates HKCU\Run, HKLM\Run (incl. 32-bit), both Startup folders, and StartupFolderPackagedAppX (UWP autostart). Toggle via the same StartupApproved binary blob Task Manager uses. Per-row 3-dot menu: open file location, properties (real Shell.Application "Properties" verb), copy path/AUMID, search online.

Services — Curated "notable services" list (DiagTrack, WSearch, SysMain, Xbox, …) with plain-English explanations, or the full list of every Win32 service. Disable + stop in one click with a confirmation dialog.

Activity log — Every tweak applied/reverted, every app removed/installed, every restore point — persistent in localStorage and mirrored crash-safe to activity.log as JSON-lines in the app data dir. Filterable by severity, expand for stderr.

Background persistence service + tray companion — Reclaim lives in the Windows notification area instead of being a one-shot GUI:

• Closing the window with X hides to tray; right-click → Quit Reclaim to exit fully. Optional "Start with Windows" boots straight to tray at login (no UAC prompt, no window flash).
• Auto-persist active tweaks. One global toggle: anything you turn on is automatically added to the persistence set, anything you revert is removed. The drift loop walks that set after every Windows update and re-applies anything that got flipped back. Two modes: Update-only (default — only after a recent hotfix in the last 48h) and Strict (every tick). Configurable interval (1h / 6h / 12h / 24h). Expandable list shows exactly what's tracked.
• SYSTEM-context persistence for admin tweaks. Sub-toggle installs \Reclaim\Persist-Current as a SYSTEM-running scheduled task that re-applies HKLM + shell tweaks at logon plus on the configured interval — no UAC prompt at boot, no manual reapply after monthly Patch Tuesday. Auto-rebuilt whenever the tracked admin-id set or the interval changes.
• Push notifications. Native Win11 toasts when drift was re-applied, when Windows Updates are available, and when a newer NVIDIA driver is out. Battery-aware (skipped under 30% on battery), 24h throttled, click-to-route to the relevant page.

Windows activation launcher — Live license-state card (edition, status code, channel, partial product key) read from WMI SoftwareLicensingProduct, plus a one-click launcher that opens a new elevated PowerShell window running the external MAS one-liner (irm https://get.activated.win | iex). Reclaim does not bundle, modify, or contain the activation script itself — only the launch command is fired off. Includes a methods reference card (HWID / KMS38 / Ohook / TSforge / Online KMS) and an explicit disclaimer. Use only on systems you own a license for; Microsoft Defender may flag the script — that is expected.

Other things that make Reclaim different

• Real shell icons for Startup, Bloatware, and OneDrive — extracted from EXEs via Icon.ExtractAssociatedIcon (handles quoted paths, env-var expansion, .lnk target resolution, Squirrel updater path-hop, progressive whitespace trim for unquoted paths with embedded spaces). UWP entries get their real Square44x44Logo from the package manifest — same files Start Menu uses.
• Self-elevation on launch: clicks UAC for you on cold start. If you decline, the app runs in restricted mode — admin-requiring tweaks are hidden, admin-only pages are locked, and click-to-elevate buttons in the titlebar, Dashboard, every tweak section, and every locked page get you to UAC anytime. Denial is sticky for the session (no re-prompt loop).
• Reversibility is architecture: every tweak knows its Windows default. Toggle the switch and it's gone.
• Portable mode: download Reclaim-Portable-vX.Y.Z.exe from Releases — a single-exe build that writes nothing to disk next to itself. App state (theme, custom profiles, activity log) lives in the Webview2 user-data store; Windows manages that folder, so a portable run leaves no data/ directory behind. Built from the same sources via the portable Cargo feature.
• Restore point on demand from the Dashboard or Settings.
• Auto-updater wired up via Tauri's updater plugin against GitHub Releases (signed latest.json).
• Win11 Mica translucent window with custom violet/fuchsia accent.
• No telemetry. Activity log is local-only. We're a privacy tool — irony would be fatal.

Setup (development)

git clone https://github.com/jonax1337/reclaim.git
cd reclaim
pnpm install
pnpm tauri:dev

Requirements:

• Node 20+
• Rust toolchain (rustup)
• Webview2 runtime (ships with Windows 11)
• Windows 11 22H2+ for Mica (graceful fallback otherwise)

Production build

pnpm tauri:build

Produces NSIS + MSI installers in src-tauri/target/release/bundle/.

Architecture

src/                   Svelte 5 (runes) + Tailwind v4 + Bits UI
  lib/
    tweaks/
      catalog.ts       200 typed tweak records (apply/revert/check ops)
      bloatware.ts     155+ AppX wildcard patterns (incl. OEM + Sponsored Apps)
      profiles.ts      Built-in preset bundles
      bridge.ts        TS wrappers for every Tauri command
      executor.ts      applyTweak / revertTweak / getTweakState
      customProfiles.svelte.ts   localStorage-backed custom profile store
      profileEdit.svelte.ts      handoff state for ProfileBuilder
    apps/catalog.ts    106 curated winget entries (8 groups)
    tasksequence/      Install-Media Task-Sequence editor:
      types.ts           11 step-type discriminated union
      templates.ts       6 built-in templates incl. Fully Automated
      store.svelte.ts    Advanced-mode editable sequence
      simpleStore.svelte.ts  Simple-mode state (profile + 4 inputs)
      toUnattend.ts      Sequence → UnattendConfig converter
    hosts/             Builtin blocklists + remote sources
    network/           DoH provider presets, DNS helpers
    maintenance/       Operation catalog (op id → label/description)
    profiles/          Gradient presets, profile import/export helpers
    persistence/       Auto-tracked drift checker (HKCU) + update/driver
                       pollers + v0.15.1→v0.15.2 profile-list migration
    ui/                shadcn-style components (Button/Card/Switch/…)
                       BulkActionBar, Titlebar, Toaster
    components/        Layout, TweakSection, TweakRow, ProfileCard,
                       AdminBanner, TerminalPanel (xterm),
                       BackgroundServiceCard
    log.svelte.ts      Activity log (500 entries, localStorage + file mirror)
    admin.svelte.ts    Elevation + auto-UAC store
    theme.svelte.ts    system / light / dark
    prefs.svelte.ts    App prefs (theme, persisted to file + localStorage)
    tasks.svelte.ts    Long-running task registry (PTY-backed)
    cache.svelte.ts    SWR-style resource cache
    service.svelte.ts  Background service config (tray, interval, persisted
                       profiles, notification prefs)
    notify.ts          Win11 native toast dispatcher (throttled, route-tagged)
    route-cache.svelte.ts        per-route component memoization
    scroll-restore.svelte.ts     per-route scroll position
    startup-preload.svelte.ts    boot-time resource preloads
  routes/              33 routes (see below)

src-tauri/src/
  lib.rs               Plugin init + 118-command invoke_handler registry +
                       tray icon + close/exit handlers
  app_info.rs          Portable mode, app data dir, activity.log mirror
  cli.rs               Headless CLI dispatcher (--apply-profile / --admin-only
                       / --remove-bloat / --import-profile / --export-state)
  sysinfo.rs           Windows version + elevation + relaunch_elevated + accent
  sysquery.rs          Hardware (WMI) / Startup / Services / Power state
  tweaks.rs            PowerShell runner + AppX + registry + restore point
  winupdate.rs         Microsoft.Update.Session search + install
  driver_search.rs     Vendor webview with auto-fill JS injection
  driver_update.rs     NVIDIA API lookup + streaming download + detached launcher
  winget.rs            winget CLI integration (with streaming variants)
  network.rs           hosts file + blocklists + DNS / DoH
  maintenance.rs       ConPTY-based PTY runner + Power Plans
  onedrive.rs          Detection + robocopy backup + uninstall
  context_menu.rs      Shell-extension CLSID enumeration & Blocked toggle
  icons.rs             EXE icon + AppX icon extraction, command resolver
  files.rs             Text file I/O for user-picked paths
  defender.rs          Defender toggles + exclusions via Get/Set/Add/Remove-MpPreference
  schtasks.rs          Scheduled-task browser (path-grouped, Enable/Run/Delete)
  recall.rs            Copilot+ Recall snapshot store wipe
  firewall.rs          Sentinel-grouped (`Reclaim:`) outbound firewall blocks
  driver_packages.rs   pnputil enum/rollback for OEM driver packages
  activation.rs        Live license state (WMI) + external MAS launcher
  unattend.rs          autounattend.xml + setupcomplete.cmd generator
                       (FirstLogonCommands + RunSynchronous + $OEM$ sidecar
                       routing; custom_commands hook-dispatch; winget apps;
                       opt-in disk_auto_setup for fully-unattended installs)
  iso_builder.rs       ADK oscdimg.exe ISO repack pipeline + $OEM$ inject
  usb_flash.rs         USB flasher (single FAT32 + DISM /Split-Image for
                       install.wim > 4 GB; hardware-ID extractor for stable
                       per-stick serial display)
  service.rs           Tray-resident background tick loop + tray menu wiring
  persistence.rs       SYSTEM scheduled task installer (\Reclaim\Persist-Current)
                       for admin-tweak persistence + legacy-task cleanup

Routes (36 total)

Grouped in the sidebar as: Top · Clean up · Install · Customize · Network · Updates & drivers · System info · Licensing · App.

• Top: Dashboard, Profiles (+ Profile Builder)
• Clean up: Bloatware, OneDrive, AI & Copilot
• Install: Apps (winget), Install Media (Task Sequence editor + autounattend.xml + setupcomplete.cmd + ADK oscdimg ISO repack + USB flasher)
• Customize: Privacy, Defender*, Security hardening*, Browser (Edge), Explorer, Right-click menu, Taskbar & Start, Search, Notifications, Performance
• Network: Hosts & blocklists*, DNS & DoH*, Firewall*
• Updates & drivers: Windows Update, Drivers, Update settings
• System info: Specs, Startup apps, Services*, Scheduled tasks*, Maintenance*
• Licensing: Activation
• App: Activity log, Settings

* admin required. Hidden in restricted mode, click-to-elevate everywhere.

Stack

Roadmap

The ROADMAP.md tracks what shipped in v1.1.0 (28 new gaming tweaks, 6 new routes, gaming-esports profile, Win10 best-effort tier), what was dropped during execution and why, and what's open for a future v1.2+ (Process-Lasso-lite route, NIC tuning vendor presets, MessageNumberLimit slider in /msi-mode, DPC-latency probe in /latency-monitor, driver search expansion to Wi-Fi/LAN/audio, per-game watchdog, …).

Inspirations

• Win11Debloat — feature scope reference
• ChrisTitusTech/winutil — winget integration idea
• Sophia-Community/SophiApp — depth of tweak catalog
• builtbybel/privatezilla — privacy focus

All registry keys and PowerShell commands used here come from public Microsoft documentation.

License

MIT