PC Washer — Help

PC Washer runs on Windows 10 (Version 2004 or newer) and Windows 11. Both 64-bit Intel/AMD and ARM 64-bit (e.g., Snapdragon notebooks) are natively supported — the installer automatically detects your architecture. Approximately 200 MB of free hard drive space is required.

PC Washer runs on macOS [ENTER MINIMUM VERSION] and newer. There are two native versions: one for Apple Silicon (M1 and newer) and one for Macs with Intel processors. The Apple menu under "About This Mac" shows which chip is installed.

No. PC Washer deliberately runs as a normal application without administrator rights. Areas that are system-wide protected are displayed for information but not modified.

On Windows, this applies to system autostarts and system programs, for example. The only exception: activating TRIM in the disk module will momentarily prompt for Windows permissions.

On Mac, macOS will ask for your permission the first time protected folders are accessed — this is the normal system authorization dialog. Without this release, the affected areas simply remain empty instead of anything being forced.

PC Washer is signed with an EV code-signing certificate from Engelmann Software GmbH. During the first installations of a new program version, Microsoft SmartScreen may still display a caution warning because its reputation has yet to be established. Click "More info" in the warning, then "Run anyway." After several thousand installations, this warning will disappear on its own.

This is the normal behavior of Gatekeeper for programs outside the App Store. First, drag PC Washer into the Applications folder as usual. If a message appears on the first launch, open System Settings → Privacy & Security and confirm opening it there once. After that, PC Washer will launch like any other program.

By default to C:\Program Files\Engelmann Software\PC Washer\. User data (settings, license status, log) is located under %LocalAppData%\Engelmann\PC Washer\. When uninstalling, you can choose whether to keep the user data.

In the Applications folder, via drag-and-drop from the opened disk image. User data is located under [ENTER MAC PATH]. To remove it, simply drag PC Washer from the Applications folder to the Trash.

PC Washer speaks eleven languages: German, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Turkish, Czech, and Russian. By default, the program follows your system language; under Settings → Language, you can select a fixed language. The change takes effect immediately, no restart is necessary.

The free version on both systems already includes complete basic cleaning and diagnosis. Pro adds interventions and in-depth diagnosis.

Free on Windows: Overview with recommendations, disk space with deep cleanup, large files, autostart manager, disk health with hard drive warning, protection status, and Windows and driver update display.
Windows Pro adds: Program deactivation, bloatware removal, software updates, duplicate finder, Windows remnants, services behind svchost, file shredder, repair, RAM monitor, crash analysis, and watchdog.

Free on Mac: Overview, disk space, large files, system data, developer caches, disk, autostart, and browser traces.
Mac Pro adds: Duplicate finder, applications, RAM monitor, file shredder, watchdog, and crash analysis.

Yes. You don't have to choose a system — the key works on both. You can freely distribute the purchased number of devices: for example, two Windows PCs and one Mac, or three Macs.

After purchase, you will receive an email with your license key in the format PCW-PRO-XXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-CC. In PC Washer, open "Enter Key" in the upper right corner, copy the key from the email into the input field, and click Activate. Activation is done online via app.engelmann.com. The activate button only becomes active if the key format, including the checksum, is correct — the program therefore recognizes typing errors even before submission.

This depends on the purchased tier: PC Washer Pro is available for 1, 3, or 5 devices, in any mix of Windows PCs and Macs. If you switch devices, you can release old devices in your customer account at engelmann.com/account.

No. PC Washer Pro is a perpetual license — buy once, no term limit, no subscription. You receive all updates within the PC Washer 1 product generation. A later successor product would be a separate purchase with a preferential offer for existing customers.

Yes. After the one-time online activation, PC Washer occasionally checks the license in the background. If your device is offline for longer, the full version remains fully functional for 14 days without contact — more than enough for vacations or offline workplaces. After that, a brief internet connection is sufficient.

Common causes:

• Check Internet connection: Activation requires an active connection to app.engelmann.com.
• Check key format: Correct format is PCW-PRO-XXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-CC. Pay attention to the hyphens — it's easiest to copy the entire key from the email.
• Device limit reached: If the license is already active on all devices in your tier, deactivate an old device in your customer account.
• Firewall: Some corporate firewalls block app.engelmann.com. If necessary, your administrator can unblock this domain.

If this doesn't help, please send an excerpt from the log to our support. You can find it in the program under Settings → Log.

Three principles run through all modules, on both systems:

• Honest: We show real numbers from real findings. If nothing is pending, the overview says "Everything is fine" — instead of inventing problems. What can safely be removed and what contains your data is never added to a single tempting sum.
• Recoverable: Programs are deactivated instead of deleted, Registry changes are backed up beforehand, duplicates go to the Recycle Bin.
• Economical: No background services, no resource consumption when the program is not running.

When opened, the overview collects the most important key figures of your device and derives concrete recommendations from them — such as "2.3 GB of junk data found" or "TRIM is deactivated." Each recommendation jumps directly to the appropriate module with a click. You can mute a recommendation for 14 days with the ✕. Only real findings are displayed, never invented warnings — and there is deliberately no red in the rating circle: seven autostart entries are not an emergency.

Because the systems are different. Seven Windows modules simply have no counterpart on the Mac — omitting them is more honest than displaying something we don't know:

It answers the question that almost every Mac user eventually asks: Why does "System Data" take up 200 GB? The Finder display does not provide details for this. PC Washer breaks down what is actually behind it — especially Time Machine snapshots that are stored locally, and the portion that macOS can free up itself if needed. Where there is nothing to do, there is also no button.

Temporary storage from developer tools: Xcode (derived data, simulators, device support), npm, and Docker. On developer machines, this is often the largest single item of all — often several dozen gigabytes. On a Mac without developer tools, the area simply remains empty.

Only known, safe paths: Temp folders, Recycle Bin, preview caches, and deep cleaning with memory dumps from system crashes, Windows error reports, and empty folders. Personal files, documents, or program data are never touched. Before each cleanup, you see exactly what will be removed in each category.

Caches, logs, the Trash, and installation remnants — each listed and explained separately. Personal files and documents are never touched. Anything that might contain your data is specially marked and never added to a sum with the safely removable part.

The module shows the largest files in documents, pictures, videos, and downloads — with size, location, and last modification. It doesn't evaluate anything and doesn't pre-select anything: you decide. Deletion goes to the Recycle Bin, so every step remains reversible. A filter by type and age helps to specifically find old installation files and archives.

Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Brave, Opera, Opera GX, Vivaldi, and Chromium — each with all profiles (cache, cookies, history) — as well as Mozilla Firefox (cache and cookies). Only the cache is always pre-selected; it is generally safe to delete. You consciously select cookies and history yourself, with a clear warning.

Safari, Google Chrome, Brave, Firefox, and the other Chromium browsers, across all profiles. As on Windows, only the cache is pre-selected; you decide on cookies and history yourself.

Firefox stores the history in the same file as your bookmarks. Deleting this file would also destroy your bookmarks — we deliberately do not take this risk. If necessary, you can safely delete Firefox history using Firefox's built-in tools (Settings → Privacy).

No, never. Stored passwords and bookmarks are fundamentally not touched by PC Washer. Please note: deleting cookies logs you out of websites — you will have to log in again afterwards.

In three stages: First, files of the same size are grouped, then compared by partial checksum, and only genuine candidates receive a full SHA-256 check of the entire file. Only an identical full hash makes two files duplicates — never the file name alone. Deletion is exclusively to the Recycle Bin, and at least one file always remains per group — even if you accidentally select all of them.

After every major Windows update, temporary files and installation remnants are left behind — often several gigabytes. PC Washer finds them and cleans them up. Remnants of a previous Windows version are listed separately, with a clear warning and no pre-selection: removing them frees up a lot of space, but afterwards you cannot revert to the previous Windows version.

Some files cannot be deleted because a running program is holding them. PC Washer can mark them for the next Windows startup if desired. Windows then removes them before a program can open them again — without endangering running applications and without forcibly denying access to a program.

The program remains fully on the hard drive but is made invisible to the system — it no longer starts and no longer appears. The advantage over an uninstallation: you can reactivate it at any time with a click, without reinstallation, without loss of settings. The "last used" column helps in deciding what you really still need.

From a curated list of known pre-installed apps. Classification happens entirely on your PC — nothing is transmitted to us. Removed apps are moved to a quarantine for 30 days and can be restored from there.

The module uses the official Windows package manager. This requires the "App Installer" from the Microsoft Store (free, already present on most PCs). The notification in the module will lead you directly to the Store page; after installation, the update search will work immediately.

In Task Manager, you often see several processes named svchost.exe without it being clear what's behind them. PC Washer shows which Windows services are hidden behind which process, and where each service originates from – Windows itself or an installed program. Pure diagnosis: Nothing is changed and nothing is recommended for deactivation. Whether a service is expendable depends on whether you use the associated program – and we don't know that.

System-wide autostart entries (HKLM) are write-protected without administrator rights. PC Washer displays them for information but does not change them — this is part of the "no-admin" concept. You can fully manage your own autostart entries, and deactivation is always reversible.

Login Items and Background Services with information on their origin – i.e. which program created the entry. As with Windows: deactivate instead of delete, always reversible.

Model, health status, wear (for SSDs), temperature, and operating hours of your drives — directly from the SMART data provided by the system. Values that a drive does not report are shown as "not available" instead of guessing. On Windows, SSD-relevant system settings are also included for control.

PC Washer monitors the health of your drives. If a drive reports critical values – uncorrected read or write errors, SSD wear over 80 percent, or continuous temperatures above 60 °C – you will receive a clear indication of what needs to be done. Warnings are only issued if the drive itself reports corresponding values: no scaremongering, no assumptions, no estimated remaining lifespan.

TRIM tells an SSD which memory areas have been deleted — this maintains speed and lifespan. TRIM is active on practically all modern systems; if not, PC Washer displays a recommendation and can activate it with one click (one-time Windows permission required).

No — deliberately not. The operating system manages RAM itself; programs that "free up RAM" usually degrade performance. The RAM monitor is a measuring device: It observes how your programs' memory consumption develops over time, and makes visible which programs continue to grow (possible memory error) or occupy an unexpectedly large amount. Individual processes can be terminated upon explicit request — there is no button that generally "frees up memory". Observation only runs as long as the module is open.

From the operating system's log, which records program crashes and hangs from the last 30 days. PC Washer evaluates it and shows the frequency for each program and — if the system reports it — the problematic module. If the same module always appears for a program, an outdated driver is often the cause on Windows; a look at driver updates is then worthwhile.

The shredder overwrites files before deleting them, so they cannot be recovered — for sensitive documents. Important for SSDs: Due to internal wear-leveling, secure overwriting cannot be technically guaranteed there. Many programs conceal this — we tell you. For sensitive data on SSDs, also use drive encryption: BitLocker on Windows, FileVault on Mac.

No service. The Guardian handles the secure standard areas according to your schedule — daily or weekly — via the operating system's task scheduler. It starts at the set time, does its job, and then shuts down; it occupies no RAM when idle. If the scheduled time passes, it performs the planned maintenance at the next startup. No ads, no pop-up messages.

PC Washer checks on startup (at most once a day) if a newer version is available and then displays a notice with the new features. Before installation, PC Washer verifies the checksum and code signature of the download — a manipulated package is rejected. This security check is an integral part and cannot be disabled.

Yes. "Remind me later" postpones the notification; after three postponements, the same version will no longer be offered automatically. You can disable the automatic check on startup in the Settings and instead search manually at any time with "Check now". Only security updates marked as critical cannot be postponed.

We follow the scheme 1.YY.MMDD.HH. Example: 1.26.0731.09 corresponds to a release on July 31, 2026. This way, you can see directly from the version name how current your installation is.

In normal operation: none. The only data transfer occurs during license activation — it exclusively contains your activation key, a randomly generated device ID, and your operating system version. Scan results, file names, or file contents never leave your device.

Usage statistics are disabled by default. On first start, PC Washer will ask you once if you'd like to help with anonymous statistics — your answer will be respected and the question will never be repeated. Activated statistics only contain technical information (program version, features used, anonymized error messages) — never file names, content, or personal data, and it is deliberately separate from your license. Disable at any time under Settings → Usage Statistics.

Yes. Every action is logged in a protocol that you can view in the program and delete at any time. It contains no personal data and can be safely sent to our support.

At engelmann.com/policies/privacy-policy — also linked directly from the program (About window, "Privacy" link).

This is normal: files currently being used by running programs cannot be accessed by the system. PC Washer skips them cleanly instead of forcing anything, and shows you the affected folders. On the next run — for example, after a restart — they will be included. On Windows, you can also mark stubborn files for the next startup.

A running browser locks its files. In this case, PC Washer displays the message "Browser running - please close". Close the browser completely and analyze again. On Windows, also close background processes for Chrome, Edge, and Brave via the icon in the notification area; on Mac, Cmd + Q is sufficient instead of closing via the window.

The duration depends on the amount of data — the full SHA-256 check of large video files takes time. Tips: Increase the minimum size to 10 MB, or restrict the search areas. The scan can be canceled at any time; already found groups remain.

Not every drive reports all SMART values – especially external USB enclosures do not pass on many values. PC Washer only shows what the system directly provides, instead of guessing. The health status itself works for practically all internal drives.

The Finder display groups more under "System Data" than what can actually be freed up — including areas that macOS itself manages and automatically clears when space is low. PC Washer deliberately only shows the part that you can truly influence. The difference is not an error, but the difference between occupied and freeable.

Most conveniently directly in the program under Settings → Log. On Windows, the file is additionally located at %LocalAppData%\Engelmann\PC Washer\pcwasher.log. The log contains no personal data and can be safely sent to our support.

Since PC Washer accesses Windows Registry and program directories, some antivirus programs heuristically flag it. Our EV-signed setup is gradually learned by reputation filters. You can safely add PC Washer to your exclusion list. If you have a specific suspicion, please send us the antivirus vendor and the warning description.