👻 Ghosty Tools

Official Website: ghostyware.com

🚀 Download Latest Release

The Professional All-in-One Cross-Platform Optimization & Security Suite

Ghosty Tools is a high-performance, modular utility designed to secure and optimize your Windows, Linux, and macOS environments. Built with a focus on Security First, it combines system maintenance, security auditing, and professional-grade password management into a single, sleek interface.

🆕 What's New in v7.3.6

• 📦 Winget package published: Ghosty Tools is now available via winget install ghostytools — no manual download required.
• 🎵 GhostTune Converter via winget: GhostTune Converter in the App Essentials installer now installs via winget install Ghostshadowplays.GhostTuneConverter instead of a direct download link — faster, cleaner, and auto-detects if already installed.

🆕 What's New in v7.3.5

• 🎮 Gaming Mode fixed: @staticmethod decorator added to toggle_gaming_mode — previously the enable parameter defaulted to True when called as a class method, meaning "Revert to Defaults" was silently enabling instead of reverting. Both Enable and Revert now work correctly.
• 🧵 Gaming Mode no longer hangs: QTimer.singleShot callbacks from background threads now use the 3-argument form (singleShot(0, context, callback)) to ensure they run on the main thread — eliminating the UI freeze.
• 🗂️ Log Viewer upgraded: File selector dropdown to switch between all available log files, Refresh button, line count indicator, and a cleaner styled layout.
• 🧹 Tidy Desktop enhanced: Un-recognised files now appear in an "Other / Unrecognised" section (collapsed, unchecked by default). Every category has a tick-box — un-tick to skip the whole category or individual files. Parent-to-child check propagation for one-click category control.
• 🎮 Steam game detection: Dropping a game .exe now first looks up the Steam appmanifest_*.acf file to get the official game title — works for any installed Steam game, not just those in the built-in database.
• 🎨 Appearance slider fixed: Background intensity slider no longer chops/stutters on drag — valueChanged now only updates the internal value while dragging; the theme rebuild and save happen only once on sliderReleased.
• 🔧 DLL error on update fixed: Batch updater now cleans all _MEI* folders in %TEMP% (not just one specific path) before relaunching — eliminates "Failed to load Python DLL" errors after self-updates. Wait time before relaunch increased from 3 s to 5 s.

🆕 What's New in v7.3.4 (Hotfix)

• 🐧 Linux sudo fix: is_admin() now uses os.geteuid() instead of os.getuid() — sudo correctly grants admin mode on Linux (real UID vs effective UID).
• 🎮 Dedicated Gaming page: Gaming Mode and Game Compatibility Analyzer moved to their own Gaming sidebar page — enable/disable/revert controls and the full inline analyzer all in one place.
• 🖱️ Drag & drop fixed: Game .exe files now drop correctly onto the Game Analyzer — QLineEdit and QTextEdit no longer silently intercept drag events; a proper _DropZoneFrame with visual hover feedback is used instead.
• 🌐 All games supported: When a game is not in the built-in database (50+ titles), a manual requirements form appears — enter RAM, CPU cores, VRAM, and storage yourself, then compare against your detected hardware.
• ↩️ Revert Gaming Mode: New "Revert to Defaults" button restores Balanced power plan, re-enables SysMain, Windows Update, and other gaming tweaks back to their original state.

🆕 What's New in v7.3.3

• 🗂️ Tidy Desktop: New one-click desktop organiser — scans for loose files (images, videos, music, documents, archives, installers) and moves them to the correct library folder. Shortcuts and folders are never touched.
• 🎮 Game Compatibility Analyzer: Type a game name or drag & drop its .exe to get an instant compatibility score (0–100) against your hardware. Checks RAM, CPU cores, GPU VRAM, and free disk space. Built-in database of 30+ popular titles. Suggests Gaming Mode if your system is below recommended specs.
• 🚀 Expanded Game Mode: Gaming Mode now applies 9 comprehensive tweaks — Ultimate Performance power plan, Xbox Game DVR off, Nagle's algorithm disable per interface, GPU high-performance preference, fullscreen optimisations off, SysMain/Superfetch disable, MMCSS priority boost, and Windows Update pause — with a full restore path.
• 🛡️ Expanded Security Scanner: Windows checks expanded from 5 to 11 (adds RDP exposure, Windows Update status, autorun entries, BitLocker, Guest account, and open ports). Linux checks expanded from 3 to 5 (adds sudoers NOPASSWD and world-writable files).
• 🔗 Auto-Update Shortcut: The updater now automatically recreates the desktop shortcut pointing to the new exe after a successful update, so your shortcut is never left pointing at the old path.
• 🖥️ Compact Page Startup: Cleanup, Hardware, Services, and Automation pages now start minimal — data containers are hidden until a scan/refresh is triggered, making the UI feel faster and less cluttered.
• 📺 Taller Terminal Feed: Live terminal feed height increased from 150 to 220 px for more visible output.
• 🐧 Tweaks Page Platform Guard: System Tweaks page now correctly shows a "not available" notice on Linux and macOS instead of rendering Windows-only registry controls.

🆕 What's New in v7.3.2

• 🔧 Settings Page: New dedicated Settings page with minimize-to-tray toggle, alert refresh interval, startup page selector, and full Windows/Linux startup manager.
• 🖥️ Startup Manager: Register or remove Ghosty Tools from Windows startup (registry) or Linux autostart (.desktop file) — one click, no manual steps.
• 📊 Live Sensor Data: Hardware tab now integrates with LibreHardwareMonitor — one-click install via winget, automatic web server configuration, and minimized background launch.
• 🔔 Live System Alerts: Dashboard alerts are now fully dynamic — real-time checks for high memory, low disk space, pending reboots, and available updates.
• 🏆 Real Health Score: Multi-factor scoring accounts for CPU, RAM, disk usage, pending reboots, and update availability with colour-coded feedback.
• 📈 Speed Test History: Last 3 speed test results are now persisted and shown in the Network page.
• 📋 Recent Activity Log: App actions are saved across sessions and shown in the Dashboard activity card.
• 📄 Export System Report: Generate a full system snapshot (OS, CPU, RAM, disk, network, speed history, activity) saved to your Desktop.
• 📝 Built-in Log Viewer: View today's log file in-app without leaving the window.
• ↔️ Resizable Sidebar: Drag the divider between the sidebar and content area to any width you prefer.
• 🎨 Appearance & Theme Buttons: Clearly labelled sidebar buttons — 🎨 Appearance and 🌙 Toggle Theme — no more mystery icons.
• 🔢 Version Badge: Current version shown at the bottom of the sidebar.
• 🃏 Card Hover Effects: Dashboard cards highlight their border on hover using the active theme colour.
• 🐧 Linux Transparency Fix: Background no longer bleeds through on Linux desktop environments.
• ⚡ Speed Test Fix: Speed test now works correctly in the Windows .exe (noconsole) build.
• 🖼️ Sidebar Icons Fix: Nav icons now render correctly on all Windows systems (font loaded via inline stylesheet).
• 💾 Config File Locations: All config files (theme.json, activity log, speed history, backup) now stored safely in %APPDATA%\GhostyTools\ — nothing lands next to the exe.
• 🔄 Update Reliability: Batch updater now cleans up the old PyInstaller temp folder before launching the new exe, preventing DLL load errors on restart.
• 🍎 macOS Branding Fixed: macOS now shows the correct 🍎 icon instead of the Linux 🐧.
• 🖼️ PNG Icon on Linux: App icon uses .png on Linux for better desktop environment integration.

✨ Features

📊 Dashboard & System Overview

• Live System Usage: Real-time monitoring of CPU, RAM, and GPU utilisation with colour-coded health indicators.
• System Health Score: Multi-factor score (0–100) accounting for CPU, RAM, disk, pending reboots, and available updates.
• Live System Alerts: Dynamic alerts for high memory, low disk, pending reboots, and update availability — auto-refreshed every 60 seconds.
• Recent Activity: Persistent log of recent app actions shown on the Dashboard.
• System Specifications: Detailed hardware information (CPU, GPU, RAM, Motherboard) — cross-platform.
• Battery & Disk Health: Real-time health status monitoring for battery and system drives.
• Quick Actions: One-click shortcuts for common tasks, platform-aware (Windows Update / macOS Update / APT).

🌐 Network Hub

• Network Speed Test: Integrated speed test with persistent history of the last 3 results.
• IP Intelligence: Display local/public IP, ISP details, and geographic location.
• DNS Benchmarker: Compare response times of major DNS providers to find the fastest one.
• Port Scanner: Check for open ports to identify potential security exposure.

🔧 System Maintenance & Advanced Tools

• Full Maintenance: One-click execution of SFC, DISM, GPUpdate, and CHKDSK.
• Hosts File Editor: Safe GUI for managing system-level domain mapping and telemetry blocking.
• DNS Flush & Network Repair: Quickly clear DNS cache or run a full network repair sequence.
• Windows Updates: Check for and initiate Windows Update installations.
• Restore Points: Create system restore points before making major changes.

🛡️ Privacy & Security

• Privacy Audit: Scans for privacy-invasive settings and helps disable them.
• Browser Privacy Cleaner: Clear cookies, cache, and history across Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari.
• Secure File Shredder: Permanently delete sensitive files by overwriting them multiple times.
• Vulnerability Scanner: Checks Windows Defender, Firewall, UAC, SMBv1, RDP exposure, Windows Update status, autorun entries, BitLocker, Guest account, and open ports (11 checks on Windows, 5 on Linux).

🖥️ Hardware & Sensors

• Live Sensor Data: Real-time CPU/GPU temperatures, fan speeds, and voltages via LibreHardwareMonitor.
• One-click LHM Setup: Install LibreHardwareMonitor via winget, auto-configure its web server, and launch it minimised — sensors appear automatically.
• S.M.A.R.T. Diagnostics: Disk health checks and battery info.

🚀 Task & Process Management

• Resource Hog Detector: Lists top processes by CPU/RAM with a one-click "Optimize" button.
• Process Manager: Real-time process monitoring and management.

🗑️ Windows Debloat & Tool Manager

• System Scan: Detect installed bloatware across multiple categories (Xbox, Cortana, Bing, etc.).
• Smart Uninstaller: Sequences from Winget ID → Name → Specialised PowerShell removal for stubborn apps.
• App Essentials: One-click installation for 7-Zip, VLC, Brave, Discord, HWiNFO, and more via Winget.
• Tidy Desktop: Automatically organise desktop files into library folders (Pictures, Videos, Music, Documents, Downloads) — shortcuts and folders untouched.
• Game Compatibility Analyzer: Check if your system meets the minimum/recommended requirements for 30+ popular games. Drag & drop an exe or type a game name for an instant scored report.

🔐 Password Management

• Password Generator: Generate cryptographically secure passwords.
• ShadowKeys Vault: AES-256 encrypted local password storage with PBKDF2-HMAC key derivation.
• Clipboard Security: Copied passwords are automatically cleared after 30 seconds.

⚙️ Settings & Startup

• Settings Page: Control minimize-to-tray, alert refresh interval, and startup page from within the app.
• Startup Manager (Windows): Add/remove Ghosty Tools from the Windows registry Run key.
• Startup Manager (Linux): Add/remove a .desktop autostart entry for your desktop environment.

🔔 Tray & Notifications

• System Tray Icon: Always-available tray icon with quick-access menu for common actions.
• Tray Notifications: Desktop notifications for completed scans, updates, speed tests, and more.
• Minimize Behaviour: By default, minimising keeps the window in the taskbar and Task View. Tray-on-minimize is optional in Settings.

🌍 Cross-Platform Support

Ghosty Tools v7.3.6 is fully optimised for Windows, Linux, and macOS.

• Windows: Deep system tweaks, Winget integration, registry startup manager, and PowerShell-based maintenance.
• Linux: UFW firewall management, package manager detection (apt/dnf/pacman/zypper), autostart .desktop management, and native log viewing.
• macOS: Homebrew integration, app residue cleaning, and native maintenance scripts.

Note for Linux & macOS users: Core features (Dashboard, Network Hub, Security Scanner, Task Manager, Privacy Audit, Password Vault) are fully functional on all platforms. Some Windows-specific features (Debloat, Registry Tweaks, Tidy Desktop, Game Compatibility Analyzer, Event Viewer) are automatically hidden or replaced with a platform notice on non-Windows systems. macOS support continues to expand — see LINUX_SUPPORT.md for build instructions and a full feature matrix.

See LINUX_SUPPORT.md for Linux build instructions.

📦 Install via Winget

You can install Ghosty Tools directly from the Windows Package Manager:

winget install ghostytools

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Python 3.10+ (Fully compatible with Python 3.14)
• Windows 10/11, Linux, or macOS
• Administrator Privileges (optional for launch, required for system modifications)

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/Ghostshadowplays/Ghosty-Tools.git
   cd Ghosty-Tools

2. Create and activate a virtual environment (recommended):

   # Windows
   python -m venv venv
   .\venv\Scripts\activate
   
   # Linux/macOS
   python3 -m venv venv
   source venv/bin/activate

3. Install dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt

Running the App

python main.py

📁 Project Structure

• src/core/ — Logic engines for scanning, cleaning, updates, and security.
• src/gui/ — User interface components built with PyQt6.
• src/utils/ — Helper functions, theme manager, and logging configuration.
• config/ — JSON configuration files for bloatware definitions and version info.
• images/ — Brand assets and icons.

🔒 Security Policy

• No Data Collection: Ghosty Tools operates entirely locally. No passwords or system data are ever transmitted externally.
• Secure Commands: All system operations use secure subprocess calls without shell execution (where possible) to prevent command injection.
• Encryption: ShadowKeys uses industry-standard Fernet (AES) encryption with secure key derivation (PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256).
• Key Verification: The vault includes a verification block to ensure the master password is correct before attempting to decrypt your data.
• Local Storage: All config, vault, and log files are stored in platform-specific directories with restricted permissions:
  • Windows: %APPDATA%\GhostyTools\
  • Linux/macOS: ~/.config/GhostyTools/
• Clipboard Security: Copied passwords are automatically cleared from the clipboard after 30 seconds.
• Least Privilege: The application launches with standard user privileges. Admin elevation is only requested when performing system-level operations.

📝 License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0. See the LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Special Thanks

A big thank you to haywardgg — systems admin, vibe coder from Manchester, and founder of a chill coding community where devs share projects, help each other out, and keep it low-pressure. This project would not be as great as it is without him.

Join the communities:

• GhostyWare Discord: discord.gg/YKsAJYx
• haywardgg's Coding Server: discord.gg/UUuafBYMdG

---

Disclaimer: Ghosty Tools provides advanced system modification capabilities. While safety checks are included, use these tools at your own risk. Always back up important data before making system changes.