Features
Seventy-four controls, six surfaces and one execution pipeline. This page walks the whole thing — what each part reads, what it writes, what it records so a change can be walked back, and the things it deliberately refuses to do.
Selecting a control stages it. Nothing executes until you open the plan, see every operation written out with its target key, command or package, and confirm. The plan you see is the plan that runs — there is no second, quieter list.
Each operation captures its exact prior value at the moment it runs, into a revert journal keyed to that run. Undo replays the journal backwards from the History page, and takes its own restore point before it starts.
Review, confirm, restore point, registry export, changes, journal. If the restore point cannot be created, execution stops before the first write rather than continuing with a warning nobody reads.
Startup detection reads CPU class and core count, memory, GPU family across RTX 20/30/40/50 and GTX 16, system drive, laptop thermals and your Windows build. Controls your machine cannot support are filtered out before you ever see them.
Every control is a JSON manifest entry with its own detection, apply and revert steps, minimum Windows build, risk tier and a documentation link. Eleven manifests, all in the public repository, all readable without running anything.
No blanket TCP presets, no registry cleaning, no wholesale service disabling, no driver or firmware installs, no overclocking from the app. The category's staples are absent on purpose.
The app
Optimal is organised the way the work actually goes: see the machine, choose the changes, review them, apply them, and keep the receipts.
What your machine currently is, read-only.
The catalogue: 74 controls across nine categories.
Read the connection first, then the controls that apply to it.
Twelve curated installs through exact WinGet IDs.
Every run, what it did, and the button that undoes it.
One global switch over how much of the catalogue you see.
Safety model
These are not settings. They are the order the engine executes in, and there is no path around them.
Detection reads hardware and current state. No change is staged, let alone applied, by opening the app.
Optimal opens with zero controls selected. Onboarding can suggest a plan; accepting it is a click you make.
The confirmation step lists every operation with its exact target. Nothing is summarised into a count.
Applying or undoing requires a fresh System Restore point. If Windows cannot create one, nothing executes.
Affected keys are written out per run as readable .reg files, independent of the app's own journal.
Each operation stores the value it replaced, which is what makes an operation-level undo possible at all.
The catalogue
Counts come straight from the manifests. Each entry lists what falls under it; the app shows the exact key or command for every one.
14 controls
Telemetry, suggestions, and AI integrations
Advertising ID, tailored experiences, activity history, diagnostic data, consumer experiences, feedback prompts, local-only search, Copilot, Recall, Edge AI, Notepad AI, location, suggestions, and lock-screen tips.
12 controls
Curated installs through exact WinGet IDs
Brave, Firefox, LibreWolf, PowerToys, Everything, NanaZip, Windhawk, LatencyMon, GPU-Z, HWMonitor, CrystalDiskInfo, NVIDIA Profile Inspector. All start unchecked.
15 controls
Current-user AppX removal, nothing system-wide
Clipchamp, Solitaire, News, Weather, Feedback Hub, Get Help, Microsoft 365 hub, Power Automate, Dev Home, 3D Viewer, legacy Cortana, Messaging, Mixed Reality Portal, Sway, Wallet. Security, Store, Terminal, runtimes and frameworks stay protected.
3 controls
Local-network hardening, reversible
Disable LLMNR name resolution, block insecure SMB guest logons, and require SMB client signing. Advanced-mode controls with documented Microsoft sources, all reboot-gated and revertible.
10 controls
File Explorer, Start, and taskbar behaviour
Show file extensions and hidden files, compact spacing, align the taskbar left, End task on the taskbar, last-active click, open to This PC, and drop search highlights, Phone Link and Start recommendations.
8 controls
Input, capture, and NVIDIA driver profiles
Game Mode on, pointer acceleration off, background capture and Game DVR off, Sticky Keys shortcut and Memory Integrity off, plus the Balanced Latency and Competitive NVIDIA Profile Inspector profiles.
7 controls
Shell rendering and filesystem behaviour
Dark mode, transparency effects, Storage Sense, long path support, background Store apps, menu delay, and the Explorer startup delay.
2 controls
The OPTIMAL POWER PLAN and fast startup
Builds a dedicated powercfg scheme derived from Ultimate Performance, and switches off fast startup so a shutdown is a real shutdown.
3 controls
How and when Windows Update interrupts
Stops Delivery Optimization seeding updates to other machines, excludes drivers from quality updates, and blocks restarts while you are signed in.
How it compares
Every optimizer claims speed. The question worth asking is what each one shows you before it writes, and what it leaves you when you want it back. Drag the handle to compare the same moment in both.
Scan complete
247 issues found on your PC!
No operation list. No prior values. No way back.
Review plan
3 operations · restore point first
HKCU\Control Panel\Mouse\MouseSpeed → 0
HKCU\System\GameConfigStore\GameDVR_Enabled → 0
powercfg /duplicatescheme e9a42b02-d5df-448d-aa00-03f14749eb61
Prior values captured · undo available from History
Drag to compare
Optimal:The exact registry key, command or package for every operation
Typical optimizer:A progress bar and a count of “issues”
Optimal:Per-operation revert journal holding the exact prior value
Typical optimizer:One-way, or a vague “restore” with no record
Optimal:Enforced — no restore point, no run
Typical optimizer:Optional, if it is offered at all
Optimal:Every control tiered verified, situational or aggressive
Typical optimizer:One “Optimize” button over everything
Optimal:Checks Windows build, CPU class and GPU family before offering a control
Typical optimizer:The same list on every machine
Optimal:None. They do not survive measurement
Typical optimizer:Sold as the headline feature
Optimal:Not shipped, in any form
Typical optimizer:Standard, and the usual source of breakage
Optimal:No wholesale service kills
Typical optimizer:Batch-disabled by preset
Optimal:No endpoints — the app makes no analytics call
Typical optimizer:Analytics, and often ad SDKs
Optimal:Nothing gated; the download is the whole catalogue
Typical optimizer:The scan is the free part; the fix is the upsell
Optimal:Catalogue is JSON in a public repository
Typical optimizer:Closed binary, undocumented changes
Comparisons describe common behaviour across the category rather than any single product. Every claim in the Optimal column is verifiable in the manifests and source.
Limits
A tuning tool is defined as much by what it declines to touch. These are permanent positions, not a roadmap.
They are copied between tools without measurement, they are not one-size-fits-all, and they are the single most common reason a “network optimizer” makes a connection worse. Optimal measures the route and exposes the supported Windows controls instead.
There is no evidence that removing orphaned registry entries improves performance, and plenty that it breaks installs. Optimal ships nothing of the kind.
Batch-killing services by preset is how tweaking tools break Windows Update, printing and audio. Where a service matters, the specific policy control is offered on its own.
The app does not install drivers, touch GPU power and fan curves, or push clocks. That work is real, and it is done by a person in a booked session rather than by a button.
Debloat removes current-user AppX packages, which reinstall from the Store. Security, Store, Terminal, runtimes and frameworks are protected and cannot be selected.
Optimal claims no FPS figure and no “percent faster”. It reports what it changed and what the machine reads now, and leaves the benchmarking to a benchmark.
The documentation covers the execution pipeline, the manifest format and every control in the catalogue. The download is the same build described on this page.