Clear Glass is a modern Windows optimization application designed to enhance system performance and privacy. Built with a sleek glass-effect UI, it provides powerful tools for Windows system optimization and customization.
- Download the latest
ClearGlassSetup.exefrom the releases page - Run the installer with administrator privileges
- Follow the installation wizard
- Launch Clear Glass from the Start menu
- Clone the repository:
git clone https://github.com/DanielCoffey1/ClearGlass.git cd ClearGlass - Ensure you have the following prerequisites:
- Visual Studio 2022 or later
- .NET 6.0 SDK
- Windows SDK
- Open the solution in Visual Studio
- Build the solution (Release configuration recommended)
- Run the application with administrator privileges
Comprehensive system optimization tools that:
- Create system restore points for safety
- Clean temporary files and perform disk cleanup
- Optimize Windows services
- Enhance privacy settings:
- Control advertising and personalization
- Manage app tracking and telemetry
- Configure inking and typing privacy
- Disable unwanted features (Copilot, suggestions)
- Improve system performance
- Remove Windows bloatware (with protected apps support)
- Optional Windows 11 start menu clearing (user choice to remove all pinned applications and disable recommendations for all users)
- Optional Microsoft Edge removal (with detailed warnings about potential system impacts)
- Safely remove pre-installed software:
- Microsoft 365 and Office products (all installation types)
- Microsoft OneNote (Program Files and Store versions)
- McAfee products and services
- Norton and Norton 360 products
- Thorough cleanup of related services and registry entries
- Multiple removal methods (setup.exe, ODT, registry, winget)
Built-in application management that allows you to:
- List all installed applications on your system from multiple sources:
- Windows Package Manager (winget) registered applications
- Applications installed in Program Files directories
- Applications registered in Windows uninstall registry
- Select multiple applications for batch uninstallation
- View detailed information about each application:
- Application name
- Package ID
- Version number
- Advanced uninstallation features:
- Creates system restore points before uninstallation
- Takes system snapshot to track file changes
- Uses native uninstallers when available
- Performs deep scanning for leftover files:
- Tracks new and modified files during uninstallation
- Scans common system directories
- Detects various file types (.exe, .dll, .sys, .ini, etc.)
- Identifies related files using smart name matching
- Thorough registry scanning
- Optional removal of all detected leftovers
- Uninstall applications using Windows Package Manager (winget)
- Modern glass-effect interface matching Clear Glass design
- Easy-to-use checkbox selection system
- Confirmation dialogs to prevent accidental uninstallation
- Detailed progress feedback during uninstallation process
Note on Steam Games:
Steam games are detected automatically by their app ID (e.g., "Steam App 1091500") and are always uninstalled using the Steam client (via steam://uninstall/<AppID>). They are not uninstalled using winget or other methods. This ensures proper removal and avoids errors.
- Select which apps to protect during bloatware removal
- Temporarily store protected apps list during the session
- Reset to defaults when application restarts
- Easy-to-use interface with checkboxes for selection
- Automatically detects and lists installed Windows apps
- Remembers essential system apps by default
Optional Microsoft Edge removal during bloatware cleanup:
- User Choice: Prompts user whether to remove Microsoft Edge
- Clear Warnings: Detailed information about potential system impacts:
- Windows Update may fail to download updates
- Some Windows features may not work properly
- Applications may have compatibility issues
- System stability may be affected
- Safe Execution: Runs after main bloatware removal completes
- Comprehensive Removal: Uses advanced removal techniques:
- Standard WinGet removal (recommended)
- Force removal if standard method fails
- Registry cleanup and file removal
- Startup entry removal
- User Feedback: Clear success/warning messages
- Logging: Full operation logging for troubleshooting
Note: Microsoft Edge is no longer protected by default and can be removed during cleanup. Users are strongly advised to consider the potential system impacts before choosing to remove Edge.
Comprehensive removal of Windows AI features and components with enhanced reliability and professional progress tracking:
- Prerequisite Warning: Before removing AI components, you MUST first remove Windows bloatware:
- Certain bloatware components can interfere with AI removal
- Some AI features are tied to bloatware packages
- Removing bloatware first ensures cleaner AI removal
- Recommended order: Run 'Remove Windows Bloatware' → Restart PC → Run 'Remove AI Components'
- Targeted AI Removal: Removes Windows AI components including:
- Windows Copilot and related features
- Recall functionality and data
- AI-powered suggestions and recommendations
- Machine learning components and DLLs
- AI-enhanced features in applications (Paint, Notepad, etc.)
- Enhanced Reliability Features:
- Robust Service Management: Advanced handling of WSAIFabricSvc service with graceful fallback
- Copilot+ PC Warning: Proactive warning for users with Windows Copilot+ PCs about potential manual service termination
- No Mid-Process Restarts: Uses DISM disable instead of immediate package removal to prevent restart prompts
- Improved Error Recovery: Handles manually terminated services and inconsistent states
- Eliminated Hanging Issues: Removed verification loops that could cause script to hang
- Better Process Termination: Graceful service stopping with fallback to process killing
- Professional Progress Interface: Windows Update-style progress screen featuring:
- Real-time progress bar with completion percentage
- Detailed status messages for each operation
- Timestamped log entries showing all activities
- Dark theme interface matching Windows design
- "Please do not turn off your computer" guidance
- Process Management: Kills running AI processes before removal
- Registry Cleanup: Disables AI-related registry keys and policies
- Package Removal: Removes AI AppX packages and components using reliable methods
- File Cleanup: Removes AI-related files, scheduled tasks, and data
- User Guidance: Provides clear restart recommendations for complete removal
- Safe Execution: Runs with elevated privileges and comprehensive error handling
- Enhanced Feedback: Professional completion dialogs and error notifications
Note: The script now completes without requiring mid-process restarts. Some AI components will be marked for removal on the next restart, ensuring a smooth user experience while maintaining complete removal effectiveness.
A modern, minimalist theme that includes:
- Dark mode with glass effect
- Left-aligned taskbar option
- Task View visibility toggle
- Search icon visibility toggle
- Desktop icons visibility toggle
- Custom wallpaper that complements the glass effect
- Proper theme application sequencing for reliability
- Automatic wallpaper download and caching
The complete Clear Glass experience now includes optional user choices:
- Optional System Tweaks: Choose to apply additional system optimizations:
- Remove Microsoft OneDrive completely
- Disable search suggestions and Bing integration
- Disable privacy permissions and tracking
- Enable End Task in taskbar context menu
- Set File Explorer to show "This PC" by default
- Restore classic right-click context menu
- Optional Microsoft Edge Removal: Choose whether to remove Microsoft Edge (with detailed warnings about potential system impacts)
- Optional Start Menu Clearing: Choose whether to clear the Windows start menu and disable recommendations
- User Control: All major changes are now user-controlled with clear explanations
- Progressive Enhancement: Tweaks are applied before main Clear Glass functions for optimal system preparation
Modern, streamlined progress tracking for all system operations:
- Full-Screen Overlay: Elegant full-screen progress dialog with dimmed background
- Glass Effect Progress Panel: Sleek, transparent progress panel at bottom center
- Click-Through Design: Interact with pop-ups, PowerShell windows, and other applications during operations
- Real-Time Updates: Live progress tracking with step-by-step status updates
- Silent Operation Modes: Background processing with minimal user interruption
- Fade Animations: Smooth fade-in/fade-out transitions for professional appearance
- Crisp Text Display: Clear, readable progress information without blur effects
- Unified Workflow: Single progress interface for all optimization steps (tweaks, optimization, AI removal, bloatware removal, theme application)
Curated selection of privacy-focused and performance-enhancing applications:
- LibreWolf Browser (privacy-focused web browser)
- Revo Uninstaller (thorough application removal)
- Automatic installation and updates through winget
- Silent installation without user interaction
- Bundle installation option for all recommended apps
Additional system customization options:
- Enhanced Privacy Controls:
- Disable advertising ID and personalized ads
- Turn off website language list access
- Disable app launch tracking
- Remove suggested content in Settings
- Disable Settings app notifications
- Turn off custom inking and typing dictionary
- Disable Windows Copilot (preview)
- Disable search box suggestions and Bing integration
- Remove Microsoft OneDrive:
- Multiple removal methods for different installation types
- Registry cleanup
- Process termination
- Service disablement
- Access to Windows Image Backup
- Quick access to system tools:
- Windows Settings
- Control Panel
- Registry Editor
- User Accounts
- Enable End Task in taskbar context menu
- Adds End Task option when right-clicking app icons
- Quickly terminate unresponsive applications
- No need to open Task Manager
- Set This PC as default File Explorer view
- Removes Home and Gallery views
- Provides cleaner, traditional file management
- Automatically restarts Explorer to apply changes
- Automatically creates system restore points before making changes
- Includes error handling for all operations
- Provides progress feedback during optimization
- Shows success/warning messages for all operations
- Protected apps list to prevent removal of essential software
- Confirmation dialogs for important actions
- Rollback capability for failed operations
- Glass-effect interface
- Animated overlay panels
- Smooth transitions
- User-friendly button layout
- Progress indicators
- Clear success/error messaging
- Intuitive app protection interface
- Dark mode support
- Responsive design
- Accessibility features
- Professional Progress Screens: Windows Update-style interfaces for system operations
- Real-time Status Updates: Live progress tracking with detailed operation logs
- Enhanced User Feedback: Professional dialogs and notifications throughout the application
- Unified Progress Experience: Modern full-screen overlay with glass-effect progress panel
- Click-through Overlay: Interact with pop-ups and PowerShell windows during operations
- Silent Operation Modes: Background processing with minimal user interruption
- Windows 10/11
- Administrator privileges (required for system modifications)
- .NET 6.0 or later
- Internet connection for addon installations and updates
- Winget package manager (automatically installed if needed)
- Minimum 4GB RAM
- 100MB free disk space
- Run the application with administrator privileges
- (Optional) Configure protected apps using the "Keep Apps" button
- Choose your optimization approach:
- Click "Clear Glass Theme" for visual customization only
- Click "Windows Optimization" for system optimization options
- Click "Run Clear Glass" for the complete experience:
- Optional system tweaks: Choose to apply additional tweaks (OneDrive removal, privacy settings, context menu, etc.)
- Optional start menu clearing: Choose whether to clear the Windows start menu and disable recommendations
- Windows settings optimization
- Bloatware removal with protected apps
- Clear Glass theme application
- Wait for the process to complete
- Review the success message for confirmation
You can install recommended applications in two ways:
-
Individual Installation:
- Click "Recommended Addons"
- Choose an application
- Click "Download" to install/update via winget
- The application will automatically:
- Install winget if not present
- Check if the app is already installed
- Update existing installations
- Install new applications silently
-
Bundle Installation:
- Click "Recommended Addons"
- Click "Download Bundle" to install all apps
- The process continues even if individual apps fail
- Provides detailed feedback for any failed installations
Clear Glass includes automatic update checking for:
- The application itself (checks for new versions on startup)
- Optional updates with user confirmation
- Continue using current version if preferred
- Installed recommended applications
- Winget package manager
- Application installations and updates run silently without user interaction
- Progress indication through button text updates
- Detailed success/error messaging for all operations
- Automatic download and installation of new versions when available
The application is built using:
- C# / .NET 6.0
- Modern WPF UI
- PowerShell for system modifications
- Windows Registry manipulation
- System service management
- Winget package manager integration
- Serilog for logging
- Microsoft.Extensions.Logging
The application uses Serilog for comprehensive logging:
- File-based logging for troubleshooting
- Console output for development
- Structured logging format
- Different log levels for various operations
- Automatic log rotation
- Error tracking and reporting
If you find Clear Glass useful, consider supporting its development:
- Support on Ko-fi
- Report issues on GitHub
- Contribute to the codebase
- Share with others
This project is licensed under a custom non-commercial license. See the LICENSE file for details.
Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request. See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.