Bulk Crap Uninstaller v5.1

Bugfix release with updated translations. For more details check the v5.0 release notes.

Changelog

• Merged Russian Translation update by @Kommprog (#292)
• Merged Simplified Chinese translation by @cc713 (#295)
• Fixed launcher crashing on some systems - don't depend on vc_redist (Fixes #291)
• Fixed SteamHelper not finding custom library folders after recent Steam update (Fixes #299)
• Prevent special system and user folders from being marked as junk (Fixes #297)
• Improved logging of Attempt errors
• Improved launcher error message boxes

Bulk Crap Uninstaller v5.0

Starting with this release, BCU will need Windows 7 or newer to run (if you get an error on startup in 7 / 2018R2 then try running Windows Update). If you want to use BCUninstaller on Vista or older, download the latest available 4.x release. This is because BCUninstaller is now fully in .NET 5.

The move was long overdue and finally got forced by GitHub switching to a new SSL encryption standard that is not supported by .NET 3.5, making it impossible to check for updates.

Because of being in .NET 5, BCUninstaller no longer is restricted to using only old and outdated libraries and APIs (it was stuck on .NET 3.5 before for backwards compatibility). This introduces some major improvements but also some drawbacks, most notably:

• Since it's a very new framework it's not installed on many systems, but thankfully it's now possible to compile the application as "stand-alone", which means it includes everything needed to run, even if your system doesn't have .NET installed at all (no more prompts to install .NET Framework).
• This stand-alone compilation is why the file size increased drastically - a good chunk of the framework is now bundled with BCU.
• Thanks to the stand-alone compilation and the new runtime BCU now starts and runs faster (might be hard to notice without a fast SSD).
• The stand-alone compilation forced me to include separate x64 and x86 builds. This can be fixed in the future by having only a x86 build, but a lot of code handling registy will have to be updated for that to work properly. Only the correct build for your system will be installed.
• The portable version will have both builds and a launcher that will automatically start the correct version of BCU. You can remove the x86 build if you only service x64 systems and vice-versa to save some space.

Changelog

• Converted to .NET 5, set up a new build pipeline
• Added "Put PC to sleep when done" checkbox to the uninstallation progress window
• Added "Tools > Create restore point" menu item
• Added experimental DPI-aware mode (turn on in Settings > Misc, expect interface to look weird in some places) #226
• Added option to never show post-update news popup (new check box in the said window)
• Added switch to directly open Startup Manger #284
• Changed file structure to make the root BCUninstaller directory cleaner
• Changed system restore into a setting, if enabled then automatically run at start of uninstall #265
• Cleaned up localized resources from unnecessary data
• Clear caches after updating to a new version
• Improved scoop output parsing to be more resilient #252
• Fixed BCU shortcuts being detected as junk #262
• Fixed checking for updates not working
• Fixed GetChildProcesses not working on some systems
• Fixed ManagementObjectSearcher exception if installed .NET is an ancient version
• Fixed first start wizard being shown on top of additional settings window
• Fixed marking config as corrupted too aggressively
• Fixed normalizing filesystem paths improperly
• Fixed not resetting config properly
• Fixed some settings not using the right provider or not being roaming (settings got lost when updating)
• Fixed sorting by size showing groups in wrong order #281
• Fixed window title typo #269
• Removed donate button from the status bar
• Show open/save .bcul text in advanced filters toolbar
• Updated manual with a better explanation of .bcul files #273
• Updated uninstallation manual #211
• Include all necessary projects in this repository, can now compile BCU easily from VS 2019
• Use a new automation library

⚠️ Looking for maintainers ⚠️

Bulk Crap Uninstaller v4.16

Changelog

• Added HeapLeakDetection junk scanner (#205)
• Added junk scanner for prefetch files (#229)
• Added logging for how long processes spawned by uninstaller factories run (#248)
• Refactored uninstaller factories to be easier to debug and slightly faster; Added logging of factory completion times
• Show ROT13 paths in readable form in junk results (#245)
• Fixed crash in ComScanner with invalid application installation paths
• Improved accuracy of some registry junk scanners that compare to application's installation path
• Fixed index out of range crash in ComScanner
• Fixed the "junk backup failed" dialog extending beyond the screen making it impossible to progress (#246); Added extra logging for junk backup failed errors
• Updated task scheduler library to the latest version
• Use a new code signing certificate

Edit 12/05/2021: Reuploaded the release signed with new signature.

Bulk Crap Uninstaller v4.15

Changelog

Features and fixes

• Added checking if junk might belong to a different application with a similar name to junk scan (e.g. Chrome, Chrome Updater, Chrome Remote Desktop) - more accurate junk confidence with less false positives
• Added quiet uninstall of Edge developer builds
• Reduced lag when writing in the search box
• Fixed loading dialog staying on top of all windows
• Fixed Scoop not being detected if placed in a custom directory
• Fixed corrupted registry string values causing crashes
• Fixed crash when trying to start an empty uninstall task
• Fixed deadlock when changing filtering options rapidly
• Fixed issues with starting helpers crashing list loading
• Fixed junk scanner crashes crashing the whole process (now the crashed scanner is ignored)
• Fixed system restore being wrongly detected as unavailable if periodic restore point creation was disabled
• Fixed rare ObjectDisposedException when closing BCU during uninstall
• Fixed rare nullreference crash when closing uninstall progress window

Translations

• Fixed invalid format crash with Turkish translation
• Fixed invalid format crashes with Arabic translation
• Fixed FormatException on some locales when updating statusbar

Bulk Crap Uninstaller v4.14

Changelog

Features and fixes

• Added detection for applications installed by Scoop
• Added export command to bcu-console and updated help
• Added "App" and "Game" folders to potential executable folder names
• Added App.config to bcu-console, fixes some issues
• Added Slant.co search engine
• Added context menu to uninstall progress list to help with accessibility
• Improved certificate caching, startup speedup after 1st start if cachin is enabled
• Improved loading times by using Everything search engine if installed
• Improved detection of application binary folders - better portable/unregistered scan and exe detection
• Fixed BCU-console not scanning some application stores
• Fixed ComScanner crashing on some registry configurations
• Fixed crash on invalid COM entries
• Fixed crashes on some Japanese systems
• Fixed main application list being unresponsive during uninstaller processing

Translations

• Added partial Japanese translation (very limited)
• Fixed some tr translations not being used

Bulk Crap Uninstaller v4.13

Changelog

Features and fixes

• Added "Advanced operations\Take ownership" function
• Added COM leftover scanning
• Improved junk result duplicate filtering
• Fixed DebugTracing junk scanner crash when an application has no install location

Translations

• Merged Dutch translation update by Jaap Kramer
• Merged French translation update by Thierry
• Merged Italian translation update by Luca Carrabba
• Resource cleanup

Bulk Crap Uninstaller v4.12.3

Maintenance release.

Changelog

• Added junk scanner for Debug Tracing/Logging Configuration
• Use renewed code signing certificate (fixes unknown publisher warning)
• Fixed invalid Steam library folders causing detection issues

Bulk Crap Uninstaller v4.12.2

Maintenance release.

Changelog

• Improved detection of System Restore availability (option is grayed out if not available)
• Fixed restore points not being created under Windows 8 or newer if there was a restore point made within last 24 hours
• Fixed unnecessary dialog showing up when clicking the create restore point button
• Made 1st Startup Wizard mandatory to always show network usage consent settings
• Merged Turkish translation update by Harun Güngör

Bulk Crap Uninstaller v4.12.1

Hotfix for crash on systems that don't support one of the new languages (tr-CY).

Fixes

• Fixed unsupported languages causing crash
• Fixed powershell scripts failing to run because of wrong argument order
• Fixed portable installer not showing directory selection if BCU was installed

Bulk Crap Uninstaller v4.12

Changelog

Additions and improvements

• Start command line uninstallers minimized if running quiet
• Minimize automatizer daemon by default
• Install location of chocolatey is now detected
• Improved "Uninstall in Chocolatey" junk confidence
• Added "Improve wallpaper quality" tweak
• Clearer naming of "Show x under This PC" tweaks
• Always run loud uninstaller if user clicks "Run uninstaller" in uninstall progress window
• Made Drive junk scanner thread-safe, code cleanup

Fixes

• Fixed NSIS exit code 1627 not being treated as success
• Fixed ScriptFactory crashing if .Net 4.5 is not installed, but 4.0 is
• Fixed automatizer daemon trying to automate CLI windows and helpers
• Fixed data merging in some cases mismatching uninstaller types and commands, causing bugs
• Fixed invalid strings in registry causing normalization crashes
• Fixed msiexec.exe showing in junk results in some cases
• Fixed uninstallers sometimes being detected as main executables
• Fixed wrong ordering of removing junk (mostly applicable to Chocolatey uninstall)

Translations

• Added Turkish translation by Harun Güngör
• Merged French translation update by Thierry