How can we help?

That is Windows SmartScreen. It shows this warning for new programs that don't have a digital signature yet, and CSBoost doesn't have one yet (we are working on getting a free one).

1. Click More info.
2. Click Run anyway.

If you want to check first, the website shows the installer's SHA256 and the VirusTotal scan link, and the code is open on GitHub.

Optimizers change the registry and power plan, and unsigned programs are often flagged by some antivirus products. CSBoost does not send your data and the code is public.

• Check the VirusTotal scan (linked on the website for every version).
• In Windows Defender: Windows Security › Virus & threat protection › Protection history, open the CSBoost item and choose Restore or Allow on device.
• If this happened to you, open a ticket with the antivirus name and the threat name it showed. That helps us ask the vendor for a fix.

Error 5 is Windows saying that setting is protected on this PC: by a Windows feature, by a policy (common on work or school PCs) or by your antivirus. Only that tweak is skipped; the others are applied normally.

• Make sure CSBoost opened as administrator. If you see the warning that it has no administrator permission, close it and open it again, clicking Yes.
• If it keeps happening, you can leave that tweak out. No single tweak makes a big difference.
• If you want us to look into it, open a ticket and paste the diagnostics.

On laptops and PCs with two GPUs, CS2 sometimes runs on the processor's graphics and loses a lot of FPS. Open CS2 and, on the app's Counter-Strike 2 page, click Check on the CS2 graphics card card.

• Desktop PC: the monitor cable must be plugged into the graphics card (the lower, horizontal ports at the back of the case), not the motherboard ports.
• Laptop: use the CS2 always on the dedicated graphics card tweak (in the PC Scan or in Optimizations). If the laptop has a MUX switch, the app shows the guide for your brand (Acer, ASUS, Lenovo and others) to turn on dedicated-GPU-only mode.

Without the XMP (Intel) or EXPO (AMD) profile enabled in the BIOS, memory runs slower than it was made to, and CS2 feels it in the 1% low.

1. Check the current speed: Task Manager › Performance › Memory › Speed.
2. In the BIOS (Del or F2 at power-on), look for XMP, EXPO, DOCP or A-XMP and choose Profile 1. Save with F10.
3. If Profile 1 already shows the same speed as Windows, or your motherboard limits memory speed (many Intel H- and B-series boards), you're fine: click Already checked, ignore on the warning.

A 144 Hz+ monitor running at 60 Hz is one of the most common problems. In the PC Scan, click Fix on the monitor warning.

If the maximum rate doesn't show up, check the cable: use DisplayPort or an HDMI cable that supports the monitor's rate, plugged into the graphics card.

Big Windows updates sometimes reset settings to default. When it opens, CSBoost checks everything it applied and, if something changed, shows a warning with a Reapply button. The value from before CSBoost is still saved so you can undo later.

• Close CS2 first: the game rewrites its video settings when it exits and would undo the change.
• If it says there are no saved settings, open CS2 once, close it and try again. The video file only exists after the first run.
• The preset applies to every Steam account that has played CS2 on this PC. Resolution and monitor are not changed.

Session Mode checks every 5 seconds whether CS2 is open. Keep CSBoost open (it can be minimized). If your plan was already a performance plan, there is nothing to switch and the card says so.

It only shows up on PCs with an NVIDIA card and the NVIDIA driver installed. The two settings (maximum performance power mode and high-performance texture filtering) take effect the next time you open CS2 and can be undone in History. You can check them in the NVIDIA Control Panel under Program Settings › Counter-Strike 2.

Open CS2 and load into a map (practice or deathmatch give easier-to-compare results). Click Measure now, go back to the game and play normally, keeping CS2 focused until the end. If your antivirus blocks PresentMon, which ships with CSBoost, the measurement won't start.

That's normal. Windows tweaks make the system cleaner and more stable, but on their own they rarely change FPS much. What weighs most is usually in the PC Scan: monitor at the wrong Hz, memory without XMP, CS2 on the integrated GPU, laptop on battery. Compare the 1% low in the Benchmark, on the same map: that's where stability shows. If your PC should perform much better, open a ticket with the diagnostics.

Never using anything that risks VAC is the project's rule number 1. CSBoost only changes Windows (registry, power plan, monitor) and your user's CS2 config files. It never opens, reads or modifies the game process, never draws anything inside the game and never asks for the -allow_third_party_software option. That rule is checked at build time: the code won't compile if any function that touches another process shows up. The code is open for anyone to check.

• Undo one tweak: History, Undo button on the item.
• Undo everything: Optimizations › Revert all.
• Uninstall: Windows Settings › Apps › CSBoost › Uninstall. The uninstaller asks whether you want to undo the tweaks before removing the app. Click Yes to put Windows back the way it was.
• If needed, the restore point created on the first optimization is still in Windows.