What
When Claude Code starts on Windows, it cleans up old copies of its program file left behind by updates. It now matches those copies (<exe>.old.<ts>[.<pid>] and <exe>.new.*) against the real program name, ignoring upper and lower case. If backups exist and the launcher file is missing or empty, it keeps:
- the newest intact backup for 30 days
- other backups for 14 days
In every other case, the old one-hour cleanup still applies.
Why
If the launcher has gone missing, a working copy of Claude Code stays on disk instead of being deleted within the hour.