Journal
What we found, and what we decided.
Notes from building an instrument for other people's machines: what a measurement can honestly claim, what a cleaner should never touch, and the findings a normal computer turns out to be full of.
- 7 min read
Windows storage full: where the space actually goes
Settings says 40 GB is "Other" and Explorer shows nothing that size. The fourteen places the space really sits on Windows 10 and 11, how large each one typically gets — and which of them you can get back without breaking anything.
StorageWindowsDisk space - 5 min read
Where does my PC send data? How to find out on Windows
An idle Windows machine opens dozens of connections in ten minutes. How to find out which program is talking where — with netstat, Resource Monitor and PowerShell, and why looking the destinations up online defeats the point.
NetworkPrivacyWindows - 5 min read
What your PC is really doing: the complete Windows guide
Six questions answer almost every complaint about a Windows machine — where the space went, what is running, where the data goes, why the memory is full, what uninstalled programs left behind, what starts on its own. The order to ask them in, and where each one leads.
WindowsStorageProcesses - 5 min read
What your Mac is really doing: the complete guide
Six questions answer almost every complaint about a Mac — where the space went, what is running, where the data goes, why the memory is full, what dead apps left behind, what starts on its own. The order to ask them in, and where each one leads.
macOSStorageProcesses - 5 min read
A Little Snitch alternative that watches without blocking
Little Snitch is a firewall: it asks, and it blocks. If what you want is to see where your machine sends data — with the company and country resolved on your own machine, on macOS and Windows — that is a different tool with a different trade-off.
NetworkPrivacymacOSWindows - 4 min read
A DaisyDisk alternative that tells you what the folder is
DaisyDisk draws the best disk map on macOS. What it deliberately does not do is explain the folder it just found — or run on Windows. Where the two tools differ, and which question each one actually answers.
StoragemacOSWindows - 5 min read
A CleanMyMac alternative that doesn't clean anything
Most alternatives to CleanMyMac are other cleaners. This is the other direction: a tool that measures the same machine, explains every finding, and leaves the deleting to you — on macOS and Windows, with everything it finds free.
StoragemacOSWindows - 5 min read
Antimalware Service Executable: why MsMpEng.exe eats your CPU
Task Manager shows 40 % CPU on a process nobody chose to run. What Microsoft Defender is actually doing, the three patterns behind a permanently loud MsMpEng.exe — and the exclusions that fix it without turning protection off.
ProcessesWindowsCPU - 6 min read
Mac storage full: where the gigabytes actually hide
"Your disk is almost full" — and Finder shows you nothing. The twelve places the space really sits, how large each one typically gets, and how much of it comes back for free.
StoragemacOSDisk space - 5 min read
Docker is eating your Mac's disk: what prune really deletes
Docker.raw is 60 GB, docker system prune -a frees 40 of them — and takes things with it that nobody can get back. The four accounts behind the number, and which command empties which.
DockerStoragemacOS - 4 min read
Memory pressure, not free RAM: the only number that counts
A full memory bar is healthy — and a whole industry sells software that calls it a problem. What pressure measures, why "free up RAM" makes a machine slower, and how a real shortage actually looks.
MemorymacOSWindows - 4 min read
Where does my Mac send data? How to find out
A computer nobody is sitting at opens dozens of connections in ten minutes. How to find out which program is talking where — with the built-in tools, and with one that resolves the destination offline.
NetworkPrivacymacOS - 4 min read
WindowServer, mds_stores, kernel_task: what these processes actually do
The fan spins up, Activity Monitor shows a name nobody explains. What the twelve most common macOS processes do, when their CPU load is normal — and when it is not.
ProcessesmacOSCPU - 4 min read
Why BalaneDisk never deletes anything
A cleaner that empties folders unasked is asking for trust with data it does not understand. We took the opposite route — measure, explain, and hand the lever over.
PrinciplesStoragemacOSWindows