Tweaks in four groups
Tick the tweaks you want and press Apply. Each one comes with a full explanation and lists exactly which registry values, services and scheduled tasks it changes, with their current state: Applied, Partly, Not applied, or Not found when what it targets is not on this PC.
- Privacy: Windows and NVIDIA telemetry, the advertising ID, settings sync, data collection tasks, location
- System: startup delay, AutoPlay, switching the keyboard layout with Ctrl+Shift, the classic Windows Photo Viewer, automatic registry backups
- File Explorer: file extensions, This PC on Win+E, long file paths, recent files history, menu delay, no Microsoft Store in Open with
- Context menu: the classic Windows 11 menu, Copy to and Move to folder, take ownership, block a program in the firewall, file checksums, copy image, tools in the This PC menu
Revert and system snapshots
Before a tweak is applied for the first time, SimpleTool saves the original values, and Revert puts them back; where there is no saved copy, it sets the Windows defaults. On top of that, it takes a snapshot of every setting it can change before each Apply, Revert and restore, so you can go back to any earlier state.
- The original state is kept for good: SimpleTool saves it the first time it runs as administrator, before it changes anything
- Any snapshot can be restored from the System snapshots page
- Before Apply, SimpleTool checks for a Windows restore point from the last 24 hours and offers to create one; the System snapshots page has a button for it too
Memory limiter
Keeps chosen programs within a RAM limit while SimpleTool is open. It lists the programs installed on the PC, with the ones running now first and the memory they use. Pick one, or any running program, then set the limit and the mode.
- Soft, the default: the limit is for the whole program, all its processes together. When it goes over, SimpleTool trims the largest processes first until the program is back under the limit
- Hard: Windows caps the memory of every process of the program. It holds the limit firmly, but a program that really needs more memory can slow down
- Neither mode closes a program or takes memory away from it: pages it is not using move out of RAM, and Windows brings them back when they are needed, sometimes with a short pause
- With the limiter on, closing the window hides SimpleTool to the notification area, and it keeps working
- System processes such as Explorer and svchost cannot be added
Troubleshooting
Looks for the usual causes of lags, freezes, crashes and conflicts, and explains every finding: what it means and how to fix it, with a button that opens the right Windows tool. It only reads: nothing is changed and nothing leaves the PC.
- Performance: memory and processor load with the programs behind it, one memory stick or XMP/EXPO off, a driver leaking memory, the page file, the power plan and turbo boost, the graphics driver, a monitor plugged into the motherboard instead of the graphics card, a card on too few PCIe lanes, the refresh rate, startup programs, the microcode of Intel 13th and 14th Gen processors, boot options left by “optimizers”
- Drives: free space, drive health, Windows on a hard disk, drive and file system errors, temporary files
- Stability: blue screens and sudden shutdowns, program crashes and the overlay or driver they crash in, graphics driver crashes, hardware errors, devices without a driver or in conflict, services that keep failing or were turned off by “debloat” tools, damaged system files, battery wear, crash reports that browsers and apps like Discord keep outside the Windows log, hangs recovered without a blue screen, programs with documented problems such as Nahimic or the inpoutx64 driver
- Protection and updates: no antivirus or two at once, UAC turned off, Secure Boot and TPM for anti-cheats, Windows updates that keep failing, the end of support for your version of Windows, a proxy or hosts file that breaks the internet
Programs
Every installed program with its own icon, size and installation date. Uninstall runs the program’s own uninstaller after a restore point, then SimpleTool shows what the program left behind and removes only what you tick.
- Leftovers: its folders in Program Files, ProgramData and AppData, Start menu and desktop shortcuts that lead nowhere, its registry keys and startup entries
- Matched by the program’s own names only: Windows and user folders, the folders of other installed programs and shared registry keys are never offered
- Registry keys are saved to .reg files and files go to the Recycle Bin, so everything can be brought back
- Programs removed through Windows settings are found too, if they left something behind
System overview
At startup SimpleTool checks which Windows services for telemetry, location, performance, Xbox and security are on, off or not installed, and explains what each one does. If it cannot read something, it says why and how to fix it.
Updates and bug reports
Once a day at start SimpleTool quietly checks whether a new version is out and marks the Help button with a dot. Help → Update installs it in one click: SimpleTool downloads it from GitHub, checks it against the published checksum and restarts. The check asks this website for the number of the latest version and nothing else; Help → Check for updates daily turns it off.
- Found a bug? Choose Report a problem in the same menu, or write to service@blagotech.uk
- Say what you did and what happened, and attach error.log from %LOCALAPPDATA%\SimpleTool if there is one
