Installation

windowsweep is a PowerShell engine with a thin Node launcher. Installing it adds no service and no startup entry: the weekly Scheduled Task and the cleanup alias are separate commands you run yourself. Pick whichever path fits the machine. The desktop app is a window over the same engine.

Requirements

Requirement	Version	Why
Windows	10 (1809+) or 11	Clear-RecycleBin, Delete-DeliveryOptimizationCache and the Scheduled Tasks module ship with these
Windows PowerShell	5.1 (built in)	The engine targets 5.1; PowerShell 7 also works (--pwsh)
Node.js	14+	Only for the npx / npm install -g paths

Nothing else is installed. The package has no dependencies, and the command-line tool makes no network calls of its own.

Zero install with npx

--scan measures every target and deletes nothing:

npx windowsweep --scan

The weekly task and the profile alias need the global install. Under npx both installers refuse with exit 3, because a task or alias registered there would point at a cache npm evicts.

Global install

npm install -g windowsweep
windowsweep --help
windowsweep --install-task       # weekly Scheduled Task, Sundays 03:00, the safe batch
windowsweep --install-alias      # adds a 'cleanup' function to your PowerShell profile

Without Node

Clone the repository and use the .cmd launcher, or call the script directly:

git clone https://github.com/aoneahsan/windowsweep.git
cd windowsweep
.\windowsweep.cmd --self-test
powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\windowsweep.ps1 --scan

The .cmd launcher and the Node launcher both start Windows PowerShell with -ExecutionPolicy Bypass, so the machine's script policy never blocks a run. If you call windowsweep.ps1 yourself under the default Restricted policy, add that flag as shown above.

PowerShell 7

The launchers default to Windows PowerShell 5.1 because every Windows machine has it; to run the engine on PowerShell 7 instead, pass --pwsh or set WINDOWSWEEP_SHELL=pwsh.

Where output lands

Every path writes the same data directory, so npx cache eviction never loses your history:

Item	Path
Session logs	%USERPROFILE%\.windowsweep\logs\
JSON reports and exports	%USERPROFILE%\.windowsweep\reports\
Debug and crash bundles	%USERPROFILE%\.windowsweep\feedback\
Settings (developer answer, windows)	%USERPROFILE%\.windowsweep\config.json

Override the root with WINDOWSWEEP_HOME, or the two folders with --logs-dir / --reports-dir (WINDOWSWEEP_LOG_DIR / WINDOWSWEEP_REPORTS_DIR).

Uninstall

windowsweep --uninstall-task     # if you scheduled the weekly run
windowsweep --uninstall-alias    # if you added the profile alias
windowsweep --uninstall-data     # removes %USERPROFILE%\.windowsweep after confirming
npm uninstall -g windowsweep

Next

Quick start is four commands in order. The first is --self-test, which proves the guards on this machine before anything is deleted.

Last Updated: 2026-09-08