Disk Cleaner (verified freed space)

The Disk Cleaner reclaims space the honest way: it scans a fixed, hand-picked allow-list of reclaimable locations — temp folders, browser and shader caches, crash dumps, error reports, the Recycle Bin — clears only the categories you tick, and then re-measures the disk to tell you how many bytes were actually freed. No inflated numbers, no touching your documents, no counting a DNS flush as "disk space".

What it cleans (and what it never touches)

Every category is a curated entry in an allow-list. Nothing scans your personal files. The categories include:

• Temporary files (user and system) — your %TEMP% and C:\Windows\Temp, age-gated so anything written in the last 24 hours survives (an in-progress installer is never disturbed).
• Recycle Bin — emptied across every drive via the Windows shell.
• Thumbnail cache — only the thumbcache_*.db / iconcache_*.db files; Explorer rebuilds them on demand.
• Crash & memory dumps — app/system dumps including a multi-GB C:\Windows\MEMORY.DMP from a BSOD, plus LiveKernelReports.
• Windows error reports — queued/archived Watson crash reports.
• Browser caches — Chrome, Edge, Brave, Firefox, Vivaldi, Yandex, Opera/Opera GX, including Service Worker and GPU caches. Your logins, history and cookies are never touched.
• Legacy WinINet cache, Delivery Optimization files, and the Caution-rated Windows Update cache, Prefetch and Windows logs.
• GPU shader caches (Caution, off by default), plus existence-gated game launcher caches (EA / Battle.net / GOG) and developer caches (npm / pip / Adobe) that only appear if you actually have them.

The cleaner deliberately never touches IndexedDB, Local Storage, Cookies or Login Data — the things that hold your signed-in state.

Safe vs Caution categories

Categories are rated Safe or Caution. Safe categories are selected by default; Caution categories (Windows Update cache, Prefetch, Windows logs, shader caches, launcher and dev caches) start unticked because clearing them has a mild, honest cost — a one-time slower launch, a brief shader recompile, or losing logs that help troubleshoot a flaky PC. Each category shows an Aftermath line spelling out exactly what rebuilds and what (if anything) you give up.

How to clean up space

1. Open Disk Cleaner from the sidebar.
2. Click Scan. The cleaner measures each category and shows an estimated reclaimable size next to each one.
3. Review the list. Safe categories are pre-ticked; tick any Caution categories you understand and want (read the Aftermath line first).
4. Click Clean. After it runs, the log reports both the per-category total and the verified disk free space gained — the real before/after delta.
5. Each clean is recorded in a Recent cleans ledger so you can see your history.

The verified-freed number (why it's honest)

Most cleaners add up the size of what they think they deleted and call that your "freed space". That over-reports: locked or in-use files get skipped, NTFS hardlinks and compression skew the math. BRUTAL instead snapshots free space across your fixed drives before and after the clean and reports the actual difference as verified disk free space gained. If a category couldn't be fully cleared, it stays marked as not-cleared and the log names the likely culprit ("Chrome is open — close it and rescan").

Deep Windows cleanup (advanced)

For the largest legitimate system reclaim, the cleaner can run an Analyze of the Windows component store (WinSxS) read-only, and — if cleanup is recommended — a Deep Windows cleanup that runs DISM /StartComponentCleanup through the in-box Windows engine. It creates a system restore point first and never hand-deletes WinSxS (which would break Windows).

Common issues / troubleshooting

• "X couldn't be cleared" — a file is in use. Close the named app (browser, Windows Update) and rescan.
• Temp shows less than expected — the 24-hour age gate is protecting fresh files. That's intentional.
• Shader cache won't clean — it's automatically skipped while a game or emulator is running, to avoid a mid-session stutter from forced recompilation. Close the game and try again.
• Need admin — system locations (Windows Temp, Update cache, MEMORY.DMP) require the app to run elevated, which BRUTAL does.

To find where your space went in the first place, pair this with the Disk Analyzer. To remove folders left behind by uninstalled apps, see Install Residue.