Why ClearKun needs Full Trust
ClearKun's Windows app declares one restricted capability: runFullTrust.
This page explains, in plain terms, exactly what that capability is used for, what it deliberately
does not allow, and the safeguards that keep every file operation tied to something you explicitly chose.
The trust boundary, visualized
Full trust widens reach — it does not remove the fence around protected dataLeft: a standard MSIX app is confined to its own package folder — it cannot see or touch the rest of your drive. Right: ClearKun requests full trust specifically to scan and act on files across your drive, which is its entire purpose. Even so, a fixed set of protected locations — installed applications, Windows system files, WSL, Docker, and local AI model storage — is excluded by the app's rule engine before anything is ever classified for cleanup, regardless of what the capability technically permits.
How ClearKun uses full trust
Five things that stay true regardless of what the capability technically permits.
1. No silent deletion
Every removal requires you to select the item and confirm. ClearKun never deletes, moves, or modifies anything in the background.
2. Protected zones stay protected
Installed apps, Windows system files, WSL, Docker, and local AI models are excluded before classification runs — full trust doesn't override this.
3. Read-only registry
Registry access is limited to KEY_READ. Two key categories are read; nothing is ever written.
4. Your choice at delete time
Every confirmed cleanup lets you choose Recycle Bin or Permanent Delete. Neither is silently assumed for you.
5. Nothing leaves your device
Scan results, file paths, and file contents are never transmitted. The only network call is one-time license activation.
What is runFullTrust?
Modern Windows apps distributed through the Microsoft Store are normally packaged as MSIX and run inside
an app container — a sandbox with restricted access to the filesystem, registry, and other system
resources. runFullTrust is a Microsoft-defined restricted capability that lets
a packaged app run at the same trust level as a traditional Win32 desktop application: full access to
resources the signed-in user could already reach, still bound by standard Windows permissions.
It is explicitly not an elevation mechanism. Declaring runFullTrust does
not grant administrator rights, does not bypass User Account Control, and does not let an app touch
anything the current Windows user account couldn't already touch through File Explorer.
Why ClearKun needs it
ClearKun's entire purpose is to scan a user-selected drive, classify what it finds, and delete only what the user confirms. Four specific operations depend on capabilities the standard app container does not provide:
ClearKun recursively enumerates directories across the selected drive — temp folders, browser caches, developer/IDE caches, Windows Update data, and user folders — reading file metadata (path, size, timestamps) to run each item through a rule-based classification engine.
At user confirmation, ClearKun deletes the selected files or folders, in the mode the user chose. See section 5 for how the two deletion modes work.
ClearKun reads (never writes) two categories of registry keys to correctly identify installed applications and resolve user folder paths, including OneDrive and other cloud-sync redirections. See section 6.
ClearKun uses a Windows API for publisher-scoped device identity to bind a license activation to a single device. This API requires a packaged app with a valid publisher identity, provided by the MSIX container under full trust.
What we access
Only what's needed to identify cleanup candidates. ClearKun reads file metadata — never file contents — across these categories:
ClearKun never opens, reads, or parses the contents of your personal documents, photos, or files. Classification runs on path, extension, size, and timestamps only.
What we never touch
A dedicated protected-rules tier runs before any cleanup classification and always takes precedence — full trust makes these locations reachable, but ClearKun's own rules keep them fenced off.
🚫 Always excluded from cleanup
- Installed applications (Program Files, Program Files (x86), Local\Programs)
- Windows system files (all of C:\Windows, except the separately-verified C:\Windows\Temp)
- WSL virtual disks and configuration
- Docker container and configuration storage
- Local AI model storage (Hugging Face, Ollama, LM Studio)
✅ What full trust does not mean
- No administrator elevation or UAC bypass
- No modification of installed applications
- No background or scheduled deletion without a scan the user initiated
- No code injection into other processes
- No network access beyond one-time license activation
Deletion modes — your choice, every time
When you confirm a cleanup, ClearKun asks how — never assumes. Both modes require the same explicit selection and confirmation step; only what happens to the files afterward differs.
Send to Recycle Bin
Uses send2trash, which calls the standard Win32 IFileOperation API. Files can be recovered from the Recycle Bin afterward, same as deleting through File Explorer.
Permanent delete
Uses os.remove() / shutil.rmtree() directly. Roughly 8× faster than the Recycle Bin path — a deliberate trade-off for users who have already reviewed what they're removing.
Registry access & device identity
Registry — read-only, two categories:
Every read uses winreg.KEY_READ exclusively. No key is ever written or modified.
Device identity — for licensing only:
ClearKun uses SystemIdentification.GetSystemIdForPublisher() to obtain a
publisher-scoped device identifier, used solely to bind a license activation to one device and to detect
device changes for license recovery. This identifier carries no personal information and is never used
for tracking or analytics.
Technical reference
Every Win32 / WinRT API ClearKun calls under full trust, and what it's used for.
| Function | Purpose | Access |
|---|---|---|
| os.walk() / os.listdir() | Filesystem enumeration for classification | Read-only |
| os.path.getsize() / getmtime() | File size & timestamp metadata | Read-only |
| send2trash.send2trash() | Recycle Bin deletion (recoverable) | User-confirmed write |
| os.remove() / shutil.rmtree() | Permanent deletion | User-confirmed write |
| winreg.OpenKey(..., KEY_READ) | Installed-app & folder-path lookups | Read-only |
| SystemIdentification.GetSystemIdForPublisher() | Device ID for license binding | Read-only |
| urllib.request.urlopen() | One-time HTTPS license activation | Network — user-initiated |
Alternatives we considered
broadFileSystemAccess — requires the user to manually enable it in Windows Settings, does not
reliably cover virtualized system paths like C:\Windows\Temp, and provides no
registry access. It's designed for individual file access, not comprehensive recursive scanning.
Standard AppContainer / UWP model — cannot perform arbitrary file deletion, cannot read the registry keys ClearKun needs, and cannot host the Win32-dependent libraries the app is built on. It would require rebuilding the classification and cleanup engine from scratch.
For Microsoft Store reviewers
Test access & certification notes
ClearKun requires a one-time license activation before the main window opens. Test access keys and step-by-step activation instructions for this submission are provided in the certification notes accompanying this listing, not on this page.