SceneShift v2.1.1 - Clarity & Safety Improvements 🛡️

Release Date: January 16, 2026
Type: Patch Release
Migration: Automatic (v2.1.0 configs auto-upgrade)

📋 What's New

This patch release addresses community feedback about confusing terminology and adds curated safe-to-terminate process lists with visual safety indicators.

🏷️ Clearer Terminology

The confusing "Safelist" has been renamed to "Exclusion List" to better communicate its purpose: these are processes that SceneShift will NOT touch, no matter what.

Before (v2.1.0):

❌ "Safelist" - Could mean "safe to kill" OR "safe to keep."
Ambiguous and confusing for users

After (v2.1.1):

✅ "Exclusion List" - Crystal clear: these processes are excluded from all operations
No more confusion!

🛡️ Visual Safety Indicators

Every app in your list now shows a clear safety indicator:

> [x] 🛡️ explorer.exe        ← Protected (cannot be killed/suspended)
> [ ] ✓ Discord.exe          ← Safe to kill (confirmed by community)
> [ ] ⚠ nvcontainer.exe      ← Use caution (might affect functionality)

🛡️ Protected - Critical Windows processes in the exclusion list
✓ Safe to Kill - Community-curated safe-to-terminate processes
⚠ Use Caution - Unknown or potentially system-critical processes

📋 Curated Safe-to-Kill Lists

SceneShift now includes pre-configured lists of processes that are safe to terminate:

Bloatware (12 processes)

OneDrive, Microsoft Edge, Cortana, Widget Service, and more

Chat Apps (8 processes)

Discord, Slack, Teams, Zoom, Skype, Telegram, WhatsApp

Game Launchers (8 processes)

Steam, Epic Games, Battle.net, Origin, GOG Galaxy, and more

Utilities (13 processes)

Spotify, iTunes, Adobe Creative Cloud, RGB software (iCUE, Razer, etc.)

These lists are automatically used to detect safety levels for your configured apps!

🔄 Automatic Migration

Your existing v2.1.0 config is automatically upgraded when you run v2.1.1:

Old safelist → New protection.exclusion_list
Empty safe-to-kill lists populated with defaults
All existing apps get auto-detected safety levels
Your apps and presets remain unchanged

No manual intervention required!

🎯 Key Features Recap

Process Management

⚡ Kill: Terminate processes to free maximum resources
❄️ Suspend: Freeze processes (keep Chrome tabs alive!)
▶️ Resume: Unfreeze suspended processes
🔄 Restore: Relaunch apps when done

Safety System

🛡️ Protected Processes: 20+ critical Windows processes in exclusion list
✓ Safe-to-Kill Lists: 41+ curated safe processes across 4 categories
⚠ Smart Detection: Auto-categorizes unknown processes
📊 Visual Indicators: See safety status at a glance

Other Features

⌨️ Keyboard-First: Vim-style navigation (j/k keys)
🎨 5 Built-in Themes: Rose Pine, Dracula, Nord, Gruvbox, Cyberpunk
🔖 Preset System: One-key activation of app groups
🔍 Process Search: Ctrl+F to find running processes

📦 Installation

Via Scoop (Recommended)

scoop bucket add tandukuda https://github.com/tandukuda/scoop-bucket
scoop install sceneshift

Manual Download

Download SceneShift.exe from the Assets below
Run as Administrator
Your v2.1.0 config will auto-migrate!

Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/tandukuda/SceneShift.git
cd SceneShift
build-release.bat

🔧 What Changed Under the Hood

Breaking Changes (with Auto-Migration)

Config structure updated:

# Old (v2.1.0)
safelist:
  - explorer.exe
  - dwm.exe

# New (v2.1.1)
protection:
  exclusion_list:
    - explorer.exe
    - dwm.exe
safe_to_kill:
  bloatware: [...]
  chat_apps: [...]
  game_launchers: [...]
  utilities: [...]

New Fields

AppEntry.SafetyLevel - Auto-detected on app creation/edit
Config.Protection - Replaces old Safelist.
Config.SafeToKill - New curated process lists

UI Changes

Safelist Manager → Exclusion List Manager (W key)
Added legend: 🛡️=Protected ✓=Safe ⚠=Caution
Protection violation messages now show 🛡️ icon
Updated all help text and labels

🐛 Bug Fixes

Fixed terminology inconsistency across UI elements
Improved error messages for protection violations
Better config validation to prevent empty exclusion lists
Enhanced backward compatibility handling

🙏 Community Contributions

Huge thanks to [@vasudev-gm](https://github.com/vasudev-gm) for:

🎯 Identifying the confusing "Safelist" terminology ([Discussion #1](#1))
📋 Providing detailed process lists from [Registry-Tweaks-Scripts](https://github.com/vasudev-gm/Registry-Tweaks-Scripts)
💡 Suggesting the "Exclusion List" naming improvement
🧪 Testing and feedback on categorization

This release wouldn't exist without community feedback. Thank you!

📚 Documentation

📖 [Full Documentation](https://tandukuda.github.io/SceneShift/)
📝 [Changelog](https://github.com/tandukuda/SceneShift/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md)
💬 [Discussions](https://github.com/tandukuda/SceneShift/discussions)
🐛 [Report Issues](https://github.com/tandukuda/SceneShift/issues)

🗺️ What's Next?

v2.2 (Coming Soon)

Visual suspension status indicators in the menu
PID-specific resume tracking
Session history / Undo feature
Process CPU/RAM stats
Export/Import config profiles

v3.0 (Future)

Linux support (SIGSTOP/SIGCONT)
macOS support
Auto-trigger on game launch
Cloud config sync

⚠️ Upgrading from v2.1.0

Download v2.1.1
Replace your SceneShift.exe.
Run it - your config auto-migrates!
Check the legend to understand the new safety icons

Your apps, presets, and theme are preserved.

💬 Feedback

Using SceneShift? We'd love to hear from you!

⭐ Star the repo if you find it useful
💡 Share your use cases in [Discussions](https://github.com/tandukuda/SceneShift/discussions)
🐛 Report bugs or request features in [Issues](https://github.com/tandukuda/SceneShift/issues)
📹 Share your setup or tutorial (tag us!)

📊 Project Stats

49 Stars ⭐ (and growing!)
Featured on: MajorGeeks (5/5), Neowin, Deskmodder
Downloads: 500+ (v2.1.0)
Community: Growing open-source project

🔐 Security & Safety

SceneShift v2.1.1 includes multiple safety layers:

✅ Protected critical Windows processes by default
✅ Visual indicators for process safety
✅ 5-second confirmation countdown
✅ Suspend option to preserve work

Always save your work before using process management tools.

📄 License

MIT License - see [LICENSE](https://github.com/[tandukuda](https://github.com/tandukuda)/SceneShift/blob/main/LICENSE)

Built with ❤️ by tandukuda

Special thanks to the community for making SceneShift better with every release!

🔗 Quick Links

🏠 [Homepage](https://tandukuda.github.io/SceneShift/)
📦 [All Releases](https://github.com/tandukuda/SceneShift/releases)
💻 [Source Code](https://github.com/tandukuda/SceneShift)
🛠️ [Scoop Bucket](https://github.com/tandukuda/scoop-bucket)

⬇️ Download Assets

See the Assets section below to download:

SceneShift.exe - Standalone executable (Windows 10/11)
SceneShift_v2.1.1_source.zip - Source code archive
checksums.txt - SHA256 checksums for verification

SHA256 Checksums:

[Generated during release build]

Full Changelog: [v2.1.0...v2.1.1](https://github.com/tandukuda/SceneShift/compare/v2.1.0...v2.1.1)

tandukuda/SceneShift v2.1.1 SceneShift v2.1.1 - Clarity & Safety Improvements on GitHub