RenameCleanNames

A small Windows Explorer right-click tool that cleans up filenames and audio metadata that have been polluted with tracker/watermark text from download sources — things like Song (somesite.com).mp3 or an ID3 Title field that reads Song - somesite.com.

Right-click any folder → "Rename with Clean Names" → review a full preview of every change → confirm → done.

What it does

• Recursively walks a folder and strips any (...) or [...] tag from every file and subfolder name.
• Strips bare domain-like text too (e.g. www.example.com), even when it isn't wrapped in brackets — this is common in ID3 title tags.
• For supported audio files (.mp3, .m4a, .flac, .ogg, .wav, .wma), also cleans the Title, Artist, and Album metadata fields using the same rules, via TagLibSharp.
• Shows a full preview of every planned change — filenames and metadata — and asks for confirmation before touching anything on disk.
• Renames deepest items first, so a folder rename never breaks a path that was already computed for something inside it.

What it doesn't do

• It won't fix a watermark burned into embedded cover art — that's part of the image itself, not a text field, and needs different tooling (or replacement artwork) entirely.
• It only recognises the audio extensions listed above. Other file types get filename cleanup only, no metadata pass.

Build

Requires the .NET 8 SDK.

dotnet publish -c Release

Produces a single self-contained RenameCleanNames.exe at bin/Release/net8.0/win-x64/publish/.

Install (Explorer right-click integration)

1. Copy RenameCleanNames.exe to a permanent location, e.g. C:\Tools\RenameCleanNames\RenameCleanNames.exe.
2. If you used a different path, edit install.reg to match.
3. Right-click install.reg → Merge (or reg import install.reg from an elevated PowerShell).
4. Right-click any folder in Explorer → "Rename with Clean Names".

Uninstall

reg delete "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\RenameWithCleanNames" /f

Example

Before:  Song (www.example.com).mp3   [Title: "Song - www.example.com"]
After:   Song.mp3                      [Title: "Song"]

Design notes

• Registered as a plain .exe invoked via a registry command, not a COM IShellFolder shell extension — much simpler to build, register, and debug for a single context-menu action.
• The registry key lives under Directory\shell (not Folder\shell), which is what Explorer actually consults for a normal folder's right-click menu.
• Metadata is edited before the file is renamed, so file paths stay valid throughout the operation.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.