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Aug 22, 2026
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CrapFixer is a free, open-source Windows toolbox from developer Belim that scans for preinstalled junk apps, Start menu ads, telemetry and other unwanted defaults, then reverses them in two clicks, with almost every change undoable.
A new Windows 11 machine arrives with games you did not ask for, ads in the Start menu and a Copilot button you cannot remove through Settings.
CrapFixer is a free, open-source tool that finds those defaults and reverses them, and almost everything it changes can be changed back.
You can download CrapFixer 2.00.10 here, and it is a portable download released under the MIT licence.
What CrapFixer Actually Does
It targets the things Windows decides for you: preinstalled apps that reappear after updates, promoted content in the Start menu and lock screen, telemetry and diagnostic settings, and assorted defaults nobody chose.
It is not a disk cleaner. It will not free up gigabytes of temporary files, and if that is what you came for, the tools further down this page do it better.
The developer, Belim, has been building Windows tweaking tools for years and CrapFixer is deliberately plain. The interface looks like it escaped from Windows XP, which is the point - two buttons and a list beats a dashboard.
How It Works
Every option is switched on when you launch it, so there is nothing to configure first. Press Analyze and it scans your system against that list.
Results come back colour-coded. Red means the tool recommends a change; grey means that item is already set the way it would set it, so there is nothing to do.
Press Run Fixer and it applies the red ones. That is the whole workflow.
Find out what a tweak does before you run it. Right-click any item in the list and choose Help, or press F1, and it explains that specific change - including an online lookup if the built-in note is not enough.
Afterwards, the log can be uploaded to the developer's browser-based log analyzer for a plain breakdown of what was actually changed.
What Changed in 2.0
This release landed after roughly eight months of quiet, and it is mostly catch-up work with one addition that deserves attention.
- [Added] - Completely new CrapFixer core, rebuilt with WinForms and .NET Framework 4.8
- [Added] - New signature-driven tweak engine powered by Wintweak2.ini
- [Added] - Scan, review, apply and restore workflow inspired by FluentCleaner Classic
- [Added] - Support for registry tweaks containing multiple keys and values
- [Added] - Automatic handling of Windows versions, administrator requirements and restart hints
- [Added] - Context actions for individual tweaks and complete categories
- [Added] - Restore the original Windows default for one tweak or a whole category
- [Added] - New analysis summary showing how many settings are OK and which ones require attention
- [Added] - Detailed result view with registry paths, current values, recommended values and Windows defaults
- [Added] - Result sorting with incorrectly configured settings shown first
- [Added] - Online result analyzer and clipboard report format
- [Added] - Optional AI explanations for individual tweaks
- [Added] - Support for Groq, OpenAI, Anthropic and OpenAI-compatible providers
- [Added] - AI explanations follow the selected CrapFixer language and never take part in scanning or applying tweaks
- [Added] - JSON-based localization that can be edited without recompiling CrapFixer
- [Added] - Complete English and German translations, including tweak names, categories and descriptions
- [Added] - Custom Tweaks tool for creating your own small Wintweak2 signatures
- [Added] - App Remover powered by the separate Winappx.ini package database
- [Added] - Lightweight Extensions area for optional PowerShell tools
- [Added] - Built-in database updates and support for merging an additional custom database
- [Added] - Registry backups before applying tweaks
- [Added] - Proper restart-as-administrator flow when a selected tweak needs elevated rights
- [Added] - Portable settings.json mode plus manual settings import and export
- [Changed] - The complete interface now follows the look and workflow of FluentCleaner Classic
- [Changed] - CrapFixer is no longer tied to a hardcoded list of Windows tweaks
- [Changed] - Tweak names remain stable internally while translated names are used only for display
- [Changed] - Extension catalog, downloaded scripts and cached data now live together under Extensions
- [Changed] - The old CrapFixer internals have been replaced instead of being carried into the new generation
- Windows 11 25H2 support. The tweaks are checked against the current release, so items that moved or were renamed are detected correctly again.
- FlyOOBE ExtensionsEngine support. CrapFixer can now run extension scripts from the developer's other project, which is where the new capability lives.
- Better resource management and a round of core optimisations after a long gap between updates.
- NAppClean.exe removed. It is no longer bundled, and now lives as a separate download on the developer's GitHub if you used it.
The new scripts are switched on by default. One of them is an extended PowerShell script that strips AI features out of Windows 11, which means Copilot and Recall can disappear on your first Run Fixer if you did not go looking.
If you want to keep them, review the list before you press the button rather than after. This is the one thing to check in this release.
Before You Run It
THREE THINGS FIRST
Run it as Administrator. Several fixes write to machine-wide registry areas, and without elevation those items quietly fail while the rest appear to work.
There is no installer. Extract the archive and run the executable inside - nothing is added to your Start menu, and you uninstall it by deleting the folder.
Make a restore point anyway. Almost every change is reversible from inside the tool, but "almost" is doing real work in that sentence and a restore point costs you a minute.
It runs on Windows 11, which is what it is built for, and on Windows 10. Nothing older is supported.
The Bit That Bites Media Users
Debloating and media playback collide more often than people expect. Strip out a Windows component and the video file that played yesterday throws an error today, with nothing obvious connecting the two.
This is not specific to CrapFixer - it happens with every debloating tool - but it is worth knowing which removals cause which symptom before you run any of them.
| Symptom afterwards | What went missing | How to get it back |
|---|---|---|
| HEVC and H.265 files will not open | The HEVC extension was removed with the Store apps | HEVC Video Extension, or the device manufacturer version |
| AVIF images and AV1 video fail | The AV1 extension went the same way | AV1 Video Extension |
| Almost nothing plays in any Windows app | Media features were disabled at the Windows level | Media Foundation Codecs |
| Photos or Media Player are simply gone | The apps were uninstalled, not broken | VLC replaces both and needs no extensions |
| Thumbnails vanished in File Explorer | The decoder Explorer was using is gone | K-Lite Codec Pack restores broad coverage |
If something stopped playing and you cannot tell which of the above applies, our How to Fix: Codec is Not Supported guide works through it in order.
The Codec Troubleshooter will narrow it down faster if you would rather answer a few questions than read, and the Media Players section covers players that carry their own decoders and sidestep the problem entirely.
CrapFixer or One of the Other Cleaners
Half a dozen tools here look interchangeable and are not. They solve genuinely different problems, and picking by name gets people the wrong one.
| Tool | What it is actually for | Pick it when |
|---|---|---|
| CrapFixer | Windows defaults, junk apps, ads, telemetry | The machine is annoying rather than full |
| Win11Debloat | The same job as a PowerShell script | You would rather read the script than trust an app |
| CCleaner | Temporary files and browser leftovers | You want disk space back |
| BleachBit | The same, open source and without the upsell | You want disk space and no nagging |
| Microsoft PC Manager | Junk files and startup apps, from Microsoft | You want the safest possible option |
| Revo Uninstaller Free | Removing one stubborn program cleanly | A specific app will not uninstall |
CrapFixer and a disk cleaner are not rivals, and plenty of people run one of each. Wise Disk Cleaner and Kudu are the other two worth a look.
The full set lives in the Drive Cleaners section if you want to compare them side by side.
Who Should Look Elsewhere
Four reasons to close this page, all of which you can settle without downloading anything.
- Your drive is full. This removes apps and settings, not gigabytes of cached files, so a disk cleaner is what you want.
- The PC is managed by your employer. Tweaking machine-wide policy on a work device is a conversation with IT, not a download.
- You use Copilot or Recall deliberately. The default script set removes them, so you would be fighting the tool from the first click.
- You only want to clear browsing traces. That is a narrower job and Privacy Eraser Free does it without touching system settings.
Is It Safe to Download?
The build here is the developer's own release, virus-checked and served from direct mirrors with no wrapper or bundled extras. The project is open source under the MIT licence with around 2,400 stars on GitHub, so the code can be read by anyone who wants to.
Safe to download and safe to run with defaults are different questions, though. It asks for Administrator rights and it changes system settings, so read the list before you press Run Fixer rather than after - and if privacy is the reason you are here, the Security Tools section covers the other half of that job.
Quick questions
Can I undo the changes?
Almost all of them, from inside the tool. Make a restore point first anyway, because "almost all" is not "all" and it takes a minute.
Is it really free?
Yes, open source under the MIT licence with no paid tier and no account. The developer funds it through voluntary donations.
Why is there no installer?
It is portable by design. Extract the archive, run the executable, and delete the folder when you are done.
Will it remove Copilot?
With default settings, yes. Version 1.30 ships with an AI-removal script enabled, so review the list first if you want to keep Copilot or Recall.
Does it work on Windows 10?
Yes, though it is built and tuned for Windows 11. Anything older than Windows 10 is not supported.
My videos stopped playing after I ran it.
A removed Windows media component is the usual cause rather than the tool breaking anything. The table above maps each symptom to the extension that restores it.
It sits in the Other Tools section, and the cleanup tools it is most often compared against are in Drive Cleaners.
Download CrapFixer 2.00.10 and see what it finds on your machine, or tell us how you got on if you have used it before - which fixes you kept and which you reversed is the most useful thing anyone can leave on a page like this.
