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PatchCleaner, Optimization utility.

PatchCleaner is software that optimizes your system disk by deleting certain files placed in a hidden system folder. 

When applications are installed and updated on Windows operating system, a hidden directory “ c:WindowsInstaller » is used to store installation files (.msi) and hotfix or patch files (.msp).

These files are usually important when updating, patching, or uninstalling software. If you delete all the files in this folder, you will be forced to reinstall Windows. As patches are installed, older ones become obsolete and orphaned. They are therefore no longer necessary, but they can occupy up to several gigabytes of data.

Thus PatchCleaner identifies these redundant/orphaned files and allows you either:

– To move them to another location. If you want to play it safe, just move them to another location, and you can always get them back if something goes wrong. (Highly recommended method).
– To delete them.

How does it work?

The Windows operating system has a list of current installers as well as patches accessible via Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) calls.

PatchCleaner obtains this list of known msi/msp files and compares it with the “msi/msp” files located in the “c:WindowsInstaller” directory.
Anything in the folder but not on the Windows provided list is considered an orphan file and is labeled to be moved or deleted.

HomeDev cannot guarantee that PatchCleaner will not make a false positive and remove a required patch, which is why we added the filter functionality.
To filter, we recommend using the move function so you can retrieve a particular patch if necessary.

CLI – Command Line Interface.

Starting with version 1.3, PatchCleaner implements a Command Line Interface. (CLI). The application can now be run from the command line with the following switches:

/d – this runs with the delete action.
/m – This will perform the move action with the default location stored in your local app configuration.
/ m