AI Exposure Check
The free scanner

Free scanner for Windows

A small program that lists the AI tools, remote access tools and related settings on your PC. It only reads, never changes anything, and makes no internet connections.

I always think of it a bit like a friend who comes round, walks through every room of your house with their hands in their pockets, doesn't touch a single thing, and then sits down at the kitchen table and tells you what they noticed. "Did you know the back window's open? And there's a spare key under that plant pot, by the way." That's it. That's the whole job. It looks, it writes down what it saw, and it shows you.

And because I know downloading a program from a website you've only just met is a big ask (good instinct, honestly, keep it), I've tried to put every single thing you might want to know about it on this page. Grab a cuppa, it's a long one.

Download for Windows (most PCs) Download for ARM PCs

Not sure which? Most PCs need the first one. ARM PCs include some Surface and "Copilot+" laptops with Snapdragon processors. Works on Windows 10 and 11. No installation and no administrator password needed. All versions are on GitHub.

How it works

Four steps, and the second one takes less time than it takes to read this sentence twice.

  1. Download the file and double-click it. A window opens and explains what it will read.
  2. Press Y then Enter to start. It takes less than 30 seconds.
  3. Your results open in your browser straight away: which AI tools can see or control your PC, and how to switch each one off. Nothing is uploaded.
  4. Two files are saved in your Downloads folder: the results page (double-click it to see your results again) and the report data, which you can open in Notepad to see exactly what it contains.

What it reads

Here's the full shopping list. It's deliberately boring, because boring is exactly what you want from a program like this.

The full list of locations is public.

What it never does

And this is the list I'd read twice if I were you, because it's the one that really matters.

If Windows shows a warning

Windows may show a blue box saying "Windows protected your PC". This is Microsoft SmartScreen (a download safety check). It appears for new programs from small publishers until enough people have used them. It does not mean a problem was found.

  1. Check the file first (see below).
  2. Choose More info, then Run anyway.

Please never switch SmartScreen off. It protects you from harmful downloads.

I know, it's a slightly awkward thing for a safety tool to say "ignore the warning, just this once". That's exactly why the next bit exists: you don't have to take my word for it, you can check the file yourself.

Check your download

A checksum is a fingerprint of a file. If even one letter of the file changed, the checksum would be different. It sounds terribly technical, but honestly, it's three steps and a bit of squinting at a long string of letters.

  1. Press the Windows key, type PowerShell and press Enter.
  2. Type Get-FileHash $HOME\Downloads\ai-exposure-scanner-windows-x64.exe and press Enter.
  3. Compare the long code with the line for that file in checksums.txt. They must match exactly.

Each release also has a build attestation, which proves which source code and which automated build made the file. Developers can check it with: gh attestation verify ai-exposure-scanner-windows-x64.exe --repo victech-tech/AI_Risk_OpenSource

Open source

Anyone can read the scanner's source code. It is licensed under Apache-2.0 (a licence that lets anyone use, check and share it). Which means if you've got a techy niece, nephew or neighbour who likes that sort of thing, you can send them the link and say "is this alright?", and they can go through it with a fine-tooth comb. I'd honestly love it if they did.