Install it, put the stats where you want them, and get past the Windows warning that scares people off. The questions below are the ones we actually get asked in Discord.
Last updated 2 September 2026 · covers Cleanmeter 2.2.16
You need Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit. There is no macOS build and there won't be one. Linux is planned.
Nothing on the overlay is fixed. Open settings and you can change all of it:
Anything static on an OLED panel will eventually burn in, and an overlay that sits in the same corner for six hours a day is exactly the kind of thing that does it. Pixel Shift moves the overlay by a few pixels at intervals so no single pixel holds the same content for long. Turn it on and you can leave the overlay up.
Because we haven't paid for a code-signing certificate. SmartScreen is a reputation check, not a virus scan — it flags any installer from a publisher Windows hasn't seen enough of yet, and an unsigned one never builds that reputation.
That is not the same as saying the warning is meaningless. It means Windows cannot vouch for the file, so the checking is left to you. Download only from this site or the GitHub releases page, and if you want certainty, compare the file's SHA-256 against the hash on the release page before you run it:
Get-FileHash Cleanmeter_<version>_x64-setup.exe -Algorithm SHA256
If it matches, the installer you have is byte-for-byte what GitHub built from the tagged source. Certificates run to several hundred dollars a year, which is money a free project with no revenue doesn't have, so the warning stays for now. The whole source is at github.com/SupaStellar/Cleanmeter.
Cleanmeter can't draw over exclusive fullscreen yet. Switch the game to borderless windowed and it appears.
On most modern games borderless windowed costs you nothing measurable, and it makes alt-tabbing faster. This is the one limitation people hit most, and we'd rather say so plainly than let you find out after installing.
Windows 10 and 11 only, 64-bit. Linux is planned. macOS isn't, and we'd rather tell you that than leave you waiting.
All of it. Every metric toggles on and off on its own, and you pick which hardware sensor feeds each one. Setting up the overlay above covers the rest.
Yes, and so does every other tool that reads hardware sensors on Windows. Sensor access needs kernel-level permission; Afterburner and HWiNFO both load a driver too.
Cleanmeter switched from WinRing0 to PawnIO in v2.2.13. WinRing0 is a known-vulnerable driver that Defender flags by name, and it cannot load with Memory Integrity or Secure Boot turned on. PawnIO is signed, sandboxed, and built to run alongside both. It installs itself quietly on first launch, and if it is blocked — some kernel-level anti-cheat will block it — Cleanmeter keeps running without the readings that need it.
Cleanmeter checks GitHub for a newer release in the background. When one exists it offers it in the settings window — you choose when to download it, and then when to install. Nothing is applied behind your back, and there is no reinstalling.
It uninstalls the usual way, through Windows Settings. If you want to be thorough, the developer suggests Revo Uninstaller, which clears out anything a standard uninstall leaves behind.
Discord gets you an answer fastest. GitHub issues work too if you'd rather write it up properly.
Free, with no paid tier, no trial and nothing held back. It's licensed AGPL-3.0, so the source is public and has to stay public.
