Tools
Measure first. Then fix what's actually wrong.
Every tool shows real measurements and changes nothing unless you ask it to. Anything a tool changes is restored when you're done, or recorded in Restore Center.
Game Booster
A Gaming Session that cleans up after itself.
Pick your game, choose what a session should do, and play. When the session ends or the game exits, everything goes back.
- Detects running games from your own list, Windows' Game Bar list, known launcher folders, and sustained 3D GPU use as a last resort. The reason is always shown.
- Puts the background apps you choose into efficiency mode. Protected and system processes are refused.
- Can raise the game to Above normal priority, never High or Realtime, and switch to a power plan you choose.
- Never closes apps, stops services, or touches antivirus, firewall, audio or network components. If Nexus closes during a session, the Dashboard offers to restore what's left the next time you open it.
- A readiness checklist (Game Mode, recording, power plan, refresh rate, driver age, free memory, connection) and a compact always-on-top view.
Network & Ping
Bufferbloat: the lag a normal ping test misses.
When someone streams, downloads or uploads, a badly buffered router lets ping climb. Nexus measures ping while idle, downloading and uploading, and grades the difference.
- Bufferbloat graded A+ to F, with download and upload graded separately.
- Latency, jitter and packet loss, with your local link and the internet measured separately.
- DNS timing and DNS switching, Wi-Fi details, traceroute and an HTTPS download test.
- The bufferbloat test takes about 30 seconds and uses up to 100 MB of download and 25 MB of upload over HTTPS. The upload sends generated filler, never your files.
How the grade works
Nexus measures your idle ping, then the ping during a download and during an upload. The grade is based on how much the ping rises over idle. If ping stays flat, the connection handles load well. If it climbs, the queue in your router or modem is the cause. The real fix is enabling SQM or Smart Queue (fq_codel or CAKE) in the router, or capping speeds slightly below your plan. No Windows setting can fix queues inside your router, and Nexus says so.
| Grade | Ping increase under load |
|---|---|
| A+ | less than 5 ms |
| A | 5 to 30 ms |
| B | 30 to 60 ms |
| C | 60 to 200 ms |
| D | 200 to 400 ms |
| F | 400 ms or more |
Benchmark
Keep a change only if it measurably helped.
Run a baseline, apply changes, run again for the same duration. Nexus compares every metric and tells you whether the difference is bigger than the noise.
- Samples CPU use, available memory, disk activity, GPU use, process count and latency at a fixed interval.
- Each metric is marked Improved, Worse or No significant change using a statistical test (Welch's t-test) and a minimum real-world difference.
- Runs record your configuration and the Nexus changes that were active.
- Add average and 1% low FPS from a game's own benchmark to compare them alongside.
Limitation: Nexus doesn't measure in-game FPS or frame times. It has no hook into games, so FPS is entered manually and labelled as such.
Crosshair
8 styles, 12 presets, one hotkey.
Design a crosshair in a pixel-exact preview and show it in a click-through overlay over any windowed or borderless game.
- Styles: Cross, Cross + dot, Dot, T, X, Circle, Circle + dot, Box.
- Colour, length, gap, thickness, outline, dot size, opacity and offset. Save your own designs.
- Toggle it with a hotkey: Ctrl+Alt+X by default, or one of 7 others.
- A separate overlay window. It never reads from or injects into the game.
Limitation: It doesn't appear over exclusive-fullscreen games. Switch the game to borderless or windowed. Some games and tournaments don't allow crosshair overlays, so check the rules.
The 12 presets
Drawn from the app's own preset values, enlarged to show detail.
- ClassicCross
- Classic + dotCross + dot
- TightCross
- BoldCross
- DotDot
- Micro dotDot
- T-shapeT
- XX
- CircleCircle
- Circle + dotCircle + dot
- BoxBox
- SniperCross
Input
Mouse polling-rate tester
Is your 1000 Hz mouse actually reporting at 1000 Hz? Move it in circles and Nexus counts the reports Windows receives.
- Current, average and peak report rate, from raw input timestamps.
- Jitter: how evenly spaced the reports are.
- The nearest standard setting: 125, 250, 500, 1000, 2000, 4000 or 8000 Hz.
- It sits on the Input page next to the mouse and keyboard tweaks.
Results only count while the mouse moves
Windows delivers one report per mouse update, so pauses are excluded from the average.
Fixes & Repairs
15 repairs, one click each.
Windows' own tools with fixed arguments, live output, cancel, and a plain-language result. The elevated helper only accepts a repair from this list, never a command line.
- System files: SFC, DISM RestoreHealth and component store cleanup.
- Network: DNS flush, IP renew, Winsock, TCP/IP and full network stack reset, time sync.
- Explorer & Store: restart Explorer, rebuild icon and thumbnail cache, reset the Store cache.
- Disk and updates: chkdsk scan, SSD re-TRIM, Windows Update components reset.
Plus 10 app installs through winget, straight from the publisher: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Brave, Discord, Steam, Epic Games Launcher, 7-Zip, VLC media player, OBS Studio, Spotify.
Exactly what each repair runs
| Repair | What runs | Admin |
|---|---|---|
| Scan & repair system files (SFC)System files | Runs: sfc.exe /scannowTakes 5-20 minutes. Keep the PC on; you can keep using it. | Yes |
| Repair the Windows image (DISM)System files | Runs: DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealthNeeds an internet connection and can take 10-30 minutes. Run SFC again afterwards. | Yes |
| Clean up the component storeSystem files | Runs: DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanupSuperseded update files are removed immediately, so some older updates can no longer be uninstalled. | Yes |
| Flush DNS cacheNetwork | Runs: ipconfig.exe /flushdns | No |
| Renew IP addressNetwork | Runs: ipconfig.exe /release, then ipconfig.exe /renewYour connection drops for a few seconds. | Yes |
| Reset WinsockNetwork | Runs: netsh.exe winsock resetRequires a restart. Some VPN or network-filter software may need reinstalling afterwards. | Yes |
| Reset TCP/IP settingsNetwork | Runs: netsh.exe int ip resetRequires a restart. Static IP addresses you set manually are cleared. | Yes |
| Full network stack resetNetwork | Runs: ipconfig /flushdns, netsh winsock reset, netsh int ip resetRequires a restart. Static IPs are cleared and some VPN software may need reinstalling. | Yes |
| Sync the clock with time.windows.comNetwork | Starts the Windows Time service if needed, then runs w32tm.exe /resync | Yes |
| Restart ExplorerExplorer & Store | Stops explorer.exe; Windows starts it again automatically.Open File Explorer windows close. | No |
| Rebuild icon & thumbnail cacheExplorer & Store | Stops Explorer, deletes IconCache.db, iconcache_*.db and thumbcache_*.db in your profile, then restarts Explorer. Windows rebuilds them automatically.Open File Explorer windows close. Icons may look blank for a few seconds while Windows rebuilds them. | No |
| Reset the Microsoft Store cacheExplorer & Store | Runs: wsreset.exe (the Store opens when it finishes) | No |
| Check the system drive for errorsDisk | Runs: chkdsk.exe %SystemDrive% /scan | Yes |
| Re-TRIM the system SSDDisk | Runs: Optimize-Volume -DriveLetter <system drive> -ReTrimOnly meaningful on SSDs; on a hard drive Windows reports that the operation is not supported. | Yes |
| Reset Windows Update componentsWindows Update | Stops wuauserv, BITS and CryptSvc, renames SoftwareDistribution and catroot2 (kept as *.nexus-<date> backups), then starts the services again. Windows Update stays enabled.The next update check downloads its data again, which can take a while. | Yes |
Apps
App Removal, App Optimizer and Cleanup.
Remove preinstalled Store apps you don't use, set per-app priorities, and clear temp files without touching anything that matters.
- App Removal: 31 known preinstalled apps, removed for your account. Every removal keeps a Microsoft Store reinstall link.
- App Optimizer: default CPU priority per app (Above or Below normal only), GPU preference per game, and fullscreen optimizations per game.
- Cleanup: your temp files, Windows temp files, error reports and crash dumps. Never shader caches, Prefetch, browser data, personal folders or the Recycle Bin.
Limitation: App removal and cleanup can't be undone by Nexus. Both ask you to confirm, and removed apps can be reinstalled from the Store.
The 31 removable apps
News & info
- Weather
- News
- Bing Search
- Get Help
- Tips
Games & media
- Solitaire Collection
- Clipchamp
- Films & TV
- Media Player · removes a feature you may use
- Mixed Reality Portal
Productivity
- Maps
- Microsoft To Do
- Power Automate
- Microsoft 365 (Office)
- Sticky Notes · removes a feature you may use
- Sound Recorder
- Clock · removes a feature you may use
- People
Communication
- Mail and Calendar · removes a feature you may use
- Outlook (new) · removes a feature you may use
- Microsoft Teams (personal)
- Skype
- Phone Link · removes a feature you may use
System extras
- Feedback Hub
- Quick Assist · removes a feature you may use
- Cortana
- Copilot app
- Dev Home
- Widgets (Web Experience Pack) · removes a feature you may use
Gaming extras
- Xbox Game Bar · removes a feature you may use
- Xbox app · removes a feature you may use
Hardware
Drivers, displays and a refresh rate that can't strand you.
See what's installed and how it's configured, and fix the most common display mistake safely.
- Processor, graphics, memory, storage and displays, with driver dates.
- A refresh-rate switcher that reverts after 15 seconds unless you confirm, so a bad mode can't leave you with a black screen.
- BIOS Guide: XMP/EXPO, Resizable BAR, power limits, fan curves, virtualization, Secure Boot and BIOS updates, with what Nexus can detect (such as RAM running below its rating). It never changes firmware.
- System Analyzer and Resources: evidence-based checks, top CPU and memory users, startup apps and services.
