Scour

A high-performance disk cleanup utility for Windows. Scour uses Win32 native filesystem APIs and NTFS MFT direct reading to scan millions of files fast, then helps you identify and remove wasted space across 19 different scanner types.

Built with C# .NET 9 + WPF. Catppuccin Mocha dark theme. Zero dependencies to install.

Features

19 Built-in Scanners

Scanner	Description
Empty Folders	Bottom-up detection of truly empty directories (handles nested empties)
Duplicate Files	3-phase detection: size grouping -> partial SHA256 (4KB) -> configurable SHA256 or BLAKE3 full hash
Media Duplicates	Near-duplicate photos and videos using dimensions plus bounded dHash/perceptual buckets
WinSxS Analysis	Audit stale servicing workspaces and DISM reclaimable data without deleting component-store files
Browser Cache	Find disposable Chrome, Edge, Brave, and Firefox cache data with profile-level breakdowns
System Space	Surface hibernation, pagefile, swapfile, and crash-dump storage with protected system actions
Game Orphans	Compare Steam, Epic, and GOG install records with on-disk game directories
VHDX Bloat	Inspect Docker Desktop and WSL virtual disks before an explicit compact action
Recycle Bin	Inspect deleted items by volume, original path, deletion time, and user SID
Big Files	Top 100 largest files via min-heap (O(n log N)) plus proportional folder sizes in the Treemap tab
Temp Files	Pattern-based detection (.tmp, .bak, .log, Office lock files, macOS metadata, etc.)
Zero-Length Files	Find 0-byte empty files cluttering your filesystem
Old Files	Files not modified in 365+ days
Broken Links	Broken symbolic links and junctions
Broken Shortcuts	Windows .lnk shortcuts pointing to deleted targets (COM IShellLink)
Long Paths	Files/folders with paths exceeding 260 chars (MAX_PATH)
Locked Files	Files that can't be opened (locked by processes, permission denied)
Duplicate Archives	.zip/.7z/.rar files sitting next to their already-extracted contents
Orphaned App Data	Leftover AppData/ProgramData/Program Files from uninstalled programs

Performance

• Win32 P/Invoke (FindFirstFileW/FindNextFileW) bypasses .NET System.IO overhead
• NTFS MFT reader - direct Master File Table enumeration via USN journal for instant volume-wide indexing (admin required)
• Persistent MFT cache - %LOCALAPPDATA%\Scour\mft-cache.bin stores journal checkpoints and applies USN deltas atomically between full rebuilds
• Parallel directory walking at shallow depths with Parallel.ForEachAsync
• Partial hash optimization - only full-hashes files that collide on 4KB prefix hash
• Optional BLAKE3 backend - portable managed implementation with no package dependency; SHA256 remains the default compatibility option
• DataGrid virtualization for smooth scrolling through large result sets
• Folder-size treemap - Big Files builds a proportional folder tree and renders it in an alternate tab with bounded layout depth
• Long path support via \\?\ prefix (handles paths > 260 chars)

UI/UX

• Catppuccin Mocha dark theme with custom borderless window chrome
• Theme toggle - persisted Catppuccin Mocha, Latte, and OLED palettes
• Keyboard shortcuts: F5 (scan), Escape (cancel), Ctrl+A/D/I (select all/none/invert), Ctrl+E (export), Delete
• Filter bar - real-time search results by name, path, or detail
• Right-click context menu - open file location, copy path, remove from list
• Drag-and-drop - drop a folder onto the window to set scan path
• Export to CSV or JSON
• Sortable columns with proper numeric/date sorting
• Duplicate group coloring - subtle tinted row backgrounds per duplicate group
• Scan All - run all 19 scanners in parallel with one click
• Scan presets - choose Quick, Deep, or Forensic bundles before using Scan All; the default Forensic preset preserves the full scan behavior
• Selected size summary - status bar shows count and total size of selected items
• Scan duration and error count in status bar
• Per-scanner telemetry - the progress pane reports files/s and MB/s while scanning
• Result pinning - pin important findings from the context menu and keep them marked across rescans
• Finding explanations - select a result to see the scanner rule, reason, safety state, suggested action, and path
• Result exclusions - add a finding's containing folder to the persisted exclusion list directly from its context menu
• Scan since last run - use the NTFS USN journal delta to scope rescans to changed paths, with a full-scan fallback when the journal is unavailable
• Settings persistence - all options, window position, and excluded directories saved to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Scour\settings.json (or the portable data folder beside the executable)
• Portable mode - place portable.flag beside the executable, or run from a removable drive, to keep state local and disable Explorer registry integration
• Windows Explorer context menu - right-click any folder and select "Scan with Scour"

Delete Modes

• Recycle Bin (default) - uses SHFileOperation with FOF_ALLOWUNDO
• Permanent - bypasses recycle bin
• Simulate - dry run, no files touched

CLI Automation

The self-contained scour.exe publish supports JSON/CSV reporting and safe unattended quarantine:

scour.exe --path C:\Data --preset Deep --json --export-csv C:\Reports\scour.csv
scour.exe --path C:\Data --scanner "Temp Files" --dry-run --quarantine-to D:\Scour-Quarantine
scour.exe --path C:\Data --preset Deep --since-last-run --json
scour.exe --tui --path C:\Data --preset Deep
scour.exe --scheduled-task C:\Reports\ScourWeekly.xml --path C:\Data --report-dir C:\Reports

--tui opens the built-in Windows Terminal interface. Use scan, path <directory>, preset <Quick|Deep|Forensic>, scanner <name[,name...]>, json, and quit at its prompt. The ready-to-import profile fragment is tools/scour-terminal-profile.json. Exit codes are 0 for no selected findings, 1 when findings are returned, and 2 for argument, scan, export, or quarantine errors. --quarantine-to moves selected findings outside the scan tree; add --dry-run to preview those moves. --since-last-run refreshes the persistent MFT checkpoint and uses the USN delta when valid, otherwise safely falling back to a full scan. --scheduled-task writes a weekly Task Scheduler XML template that drops a JSON report in the chosen report directory.

Plugin Manifests

Drop a plugin assembly and scour-plugin.json into %LOCALAPPDATA%\Scour\Plugins (or the portable data\Plugins folder):

{
  "manifestVersion": 1,
  "id": "example.large-files",
  "name": "Example Large Files",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "assembly": "Example.LargeFiles.dll",
  "type": "Example.LargeFilesScanner"
}

The loader accepts only relative DLL paths that remain inside the plugin directory, and plugin scanners must implement IScannerModule with a public parameterless constructor. Explicit CLI --scanner selection and the WPF scanner list include successfully loaded modules; malformed manifests are reported as scan errors.

Download

Grab the latest release from the Releases page.

Self-contained - no .NET runtime installation required. Single Scour.App.exe file (~130 MB).

Build from Source

# Clone
git clone https://github.com/SysAdminDoc/Scour.git
cd Scour

# Build
dotnet build -c Release

# Run
dotnet run --project src/Scour.App

# Publish self-contained single-file exe
dotnet publish src/Scour.App/Scour.App.csproj -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained true -p:PublishSingleFile=true -p:IncludeNativeLibrariesForSelfExtract=true --source https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json -o ./publish

# Publish the CLI
dotnet publish src/Scour.Cli/Scour.Cli.csproj -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained true -p:PublishSingleFile=true -p:IncludeNativeLibrariesForSelfExtract=true -o ./publish/cli

Requires .NET 9 SDK to build.

Project Structure

Scour/
  src/
    Scour.Core/           # Core library - models, interfaces, services
      Interfaces/         # IScannerModule contract
      Models/             # ScanConfig, ScanResultItem, FolderSizeNode, ScanPreset, DeleteMode
      Native/             # Win32 P/Invoke, NTFS MFT reader
      Services/           # FileSystemWalker, FileHasher, Blake3Hasher, TreemapLayout, DeletionService, AppSettings, AppRuntime, PluginCatalog
    Scour.Scanners/       # Scanner implementations (19 modules)
      ScannerBase.cs      # Shared base class (deletion, reset)
      EmptyDirectoryScanner.cs
      DuplicateFileScanner.cs
      BigFileScanner.cs
      TempFileScanner.cs
      ZeroLengthFileScanner.cs
      OldFileScanner.cs
      BrokenSymlinkScanner.cs
      BrokenShortcutScanner.cs
      LongPathScanner.cs
      LockedFileScanner.cs
      DuplicateArchiveScanner.cs
      OrphanedAppDataScanner.cs
    Scour.App/            # WPF desktop application
      Views/              # MainWindow XAML + code-behind
      ViewModels/         # MainViewModel, ScannerViewModel, ViewModelBase
      Converters/         # Value converters (bool, enum, group color)
      Theme/              # Catppuccin Mocha XAML ResourceDictionary
    Scour.Cli/            # Dependency-free JSON/CSV automation executable

Architecture

• MVVM with ViewModelBase, RelayCommand, AsyncRelayCommand
• Plugin pattern via IScannerModule interface - add scanners by implementing one interface
• ScannerBase abstract class handles shared deletion logic
• Channel<T> for streaming file entries from background walker to consumers
• IProgress<ScanProgress> for real-time UI updates during scans
• CancellationToken throughout for responsive cancellation
• ListCollectionView for real-time filtering without re-scanning
• NTFS MFT direct reading via FSCTL_ENUM_USN_DATA for volume-wide file indexing
• COM IShellLink interop for parsing Windows shortcut (.lnk) targets
• Registry-based orphaned app detection cross-referencing installed programs

Excluded Directories (Default)

System Volume Information, RECYCLER, $RECYCLE.BIN, winsxs, System32, GAC_MSIL, GAC_32, node_modules, .git, .svn, .hg

Configurable via the UI sidebar.

License

MIT