Starting with this release, BCU will need Windows 7 or newer to run (if you get an error on startup in 7 / 2018R2 then try running Windows Update). If you want to use BCUninstaller on Vista or older, download the latest available 4.x release. This is because BCUninstaller is now fully in .NET 5.
The move was long overdue and finally got forced by GitHub switching to a new SSL encryption standard that is not supported by .NET 3.5, making it impossible to check for updates.
Because of being in .NET 5, BCUninstaller no longer is restricted to using only old and outdated libraries and APIs (it was stuck on .NET 3.5 before for backwards compatibility). This introduces some major improvements but also some drawbacks, most notably:
- Since it's a very new framework it's not installed on many systems, but thankfully it's now possible to compile the application as "stand-alone", which means it includes everything needed to run, even if your system doesn't have .NET installed at all (no more prompts to install .NET Framework).
- This stand-alone compilation is why the file size increased drastically - a good chunk of the framework is now bundled with BCU.
- Thanks to the stand-alone compilation and the new runtime BCU now starts and runs faster (might be hard to notice without a fast SSD).
- The stand-alone compilation forced me to include separate x64 and x86 builds. This can be fixed in the future by having only a x86 build, but a lot of code handling registy will have to be updated for that to work properly. Only the correct build for your system will be installed.
- The portable version will have both builds and a launcher that will automatically start the correct version of BCU. You can remove the x86 build if you only service x64 systems and vice-versa to save some space.
Changelog
- Converted to .NET 5, set up a new build pipeline
- Added "Put PC to sleep when done" checkbox to the uninstallation progress window
- Added "Tools > Create restore point" menu item
- Added experimental DPI-aware mode (turn on in Settings > Misc, expect interface to look weird in some places) #226
- Added option to never show post-update news popup (new check box in the said window)
- Added switch to directly open Startup Manger #284
- Changed file structure to make the root BCUninstaller directory cleaner
- Changed system restore into a setting, if enabled then automatically run at start of uninstall #265
- Cleaned up localized resources from unnecessary data
- Clear caches after updating to a new version
- Improved scoop output parsing to be more resilient #252
- Fixed BCU shortcuts being detected as junk #262
- Fixed checking for updates not working
- Fixed GetChildProcesses not working on some systems
- Fixed ManagementObjectSearcher exception if installed .NET is an ancient version
- Fixed first start wizard being shown on top of additional settings window
- Fixed marking config as corrupted too aggressively
- Fixed normalizing filesystem paths improperly
- Fixed not resetting config properly
- Fixed some settings not using the right provider or not being roaming (settings got lost when updating)
- Fixed sorting by size showing groups in wrong order #281
- Fixed window title typo #269
- Removed donate button from the status bar
- Show open/save .bcul text in advanced filters toolbar
- Updated manual with a better explanation of .bcul files #273
- Updated uninstallation manual #211
- Include all necessary projects in this repository, can now compile BCU easily from VS 2019
- Use a new automation library