RefreshifyRun all, in a safe order
Cleanup, Repair, Network, and Updates and security, in an order that avoids known failures. Or run one category, or a single tool.
- Tools
- 27, in five categories
- Run all
- 16 tools, in a safe order
- Safety net
- System Restore point first
- Data sent
- None
What it does
DISM, SFC, chkdsk, Windows Update, Defender and winget fix most of what slows Windows down, if you know which to run, in which order, and what their output means. Refreshify knows.
Plain language
Every tool says what it does, and troubleshooting tools say when to use them. You see each step's progress, duration and findings, never a terminal.
A restore point first
Refreshify lists what a run will do before it starts, and creates a System Restore point before anything changes.
Known problems, fixed
Recognizes 15 common failures, such as a damaged Windows Update cache, explains them and fixes the ones it safely can. Bigger fixes ask first.
Health checks
Looks at free space, drive health, battery wear, a restart that is waiting, uptime, virus protection, the last Windows update and activation, says what it found and what to do, and opens the tool that helps. Nothing is changed.
Disk space
Scans your files or a drive and shows the biggest folders and files, largest first, each with its size and share. Open a folder, see the 100 largest files, or open a place in File Explorer. Nothing is deleted.
Get help
Turns a failed step into a report to paste into an AI assistant, with your user name, computer name and profile folder hidden by default.
History and a reminder
The last 50 runs, with how long they took and the space they freed, and an optional reminder every 1, 2, 3 or 6 months.
Readable updates
Checks GitHub for a newer release at most once a day, shows what changed in plain words, verifies the installer's checksum before installing it, and shows what changed in the new version after you update.
How it works
Refreshify runs the tools Windows ships with and reads their results. Cleanups run in Refreshify itself: they skip files in use and never follow junctions or symbolic links.
Hidden processes
DISM, SFC, chkdsk, winget, PowerShell cmdlets and the Windows Update Agent API run without windows. Refreshify reads their progress and results and shows them in the app.
One approval per session
Tools that need administrator rights run in an elevated helper, started the first time one runs, so Windows asks once. The helper only runs tools from Refreshify's catalog, over a named pipe only the two of them can use.
A safe order
The restore point comes first. Cleanup frees space before DISM and Windows Update need it, Repair fixes the component store before updates use it, and DISM always runs before SFC.
Language-independent detection
Problems are recognized from exit codes, error codes,
CBS.logandDISM /English, never from console text, so detection works the same in every Windows language.Read-only where it can
Health reads the state of your PC and changes nothing, and Disk space reads folder listings and file sizes. Neither needs administrator approval, and neither sends anything.
Tested, and honest about limits
How it's verified
- 338 unit tests cover the tool catalog, the parsers for DISM, SFC, chkdsk, winget and Windows Update, known-problem detection, cleanups on real files, the elevated helper's protocol, the Health checks and the disk-space scan.
- UI Automation on Windows 11 Pro 25H2 checks every page, a real run, the dialogs, settings, both themes and the uninstaller's cleanup.
- CI builds the installer, then installs and uninstalls it silently on every push.
What it can't do
- Fix what Windows can't. Results depend on Windows' own tools and the services they use, such as Windows Update.
- Managed PCs. System image repair may need a Windows installation image of the same version, which Refreshify lets you choose.
- Everything at once. Disk problems that need exclusive access are repaired at the next restart, and optional updates are left for Settings.
- Health is a snapshot. The checks read the state of your PC at the moment they run, and Home shows the same results until you check again from Health.
- Disk space counts what it can read. Protected folders count as unreadable, links and junctions aren't followed, and cloud files that are only online aren't counted.
Questions
Is Refreshify free?
Yes. Refreshify is free and open source under the MIT License. It has no ads, accounts or telemetry.
Is it safe to run on my PC?
Refreshify only runs maintenance tools that come with Windows, plus winget. It lists what a run will do before it starts and creates a System Restore point first, skipped when one from the last 24 hours exists. A restore point covers system files, settings and programs, not personal files.
Does Refreshify work on Windows 10?
It runs on Windows 10 version 1809 or later, x64, but it has only been tested on Windows 11 25H2.
Why does it ask for administrator approval?
Repair and update tools need administrator rights. Refreshify runs them in an elevated helper that starts the first time one of them runs, so Windows asks once per session.
Does Refreshify collect any data?
No. Refreshify collects nothing. The only request it makes itself is the update check, which asks GitHub for the latest release and sends nothing but its version number. The Windows tools it runs, such as Windows Update, Microsoft Defender and winget, connect to Microsoft and app publishers as they do when you run them yourself. See the privacy statement.
Why does Windows SmartScreen warn about the installer?
The installer isn't code-signed yet. Check that its SHA-256 hash matches the one in the release notes (Get-FileHash in PowerShell), then choose More info and Run anyway.
What does the Health page check?
It looks at the free space on each drive, the health your drives report, battery wear, whether a restart is waiting, how long since the last restart, your virus protection, the last Windows update and whether Windows is activated. Each check says what it found and what to do, and where Refreshify has a tool for it, a button opens that tool. Nothing is changed, and Home shows a line when something needs attention.
Can I see where my disk space went?
Yes. The Disk space page scans your files or a drive and lists the biggest folders and files, largest first, each with its size and its share of the folder. Open a folder to go into it, switch to the 100 largest files, or open any row in File Explorer. Nothing is deleted from this page. Folders Refreshify can't read, such as protected system folders, count as unreadable, and cloud files that are only online aren't counted.
How will I know what changed in a new version?
Refreshify checks GitHub for a newer release at most once a day. When one is available, What's new shows only the release's changes, grouped New, Improved and Fixed, with the release date and a link to the full notes, and offers Update now. The first time you start a new version, Refreshify shows what changed in it, once. The automatic check can be turned off.