WINDOWS

Harden-Windows-Security - This is the meat and potatoes of this post, follow this like a bible! The rest is just a desert!!

Ken Harris - A video guide on hardening Windows; Ken Harris another video guide on hardening tools (a bit old).

Privacy.sexy - The name looks sus but it's more like a objective lists on what to do and is also a good read. (This will be used throughout other OS's as well)


Privacy Guides

Antivirus

For most usecases, windows defender is enough.

r/Antivirus Wiki - Wiki of the antivirus subreddit
Malwarebytes
AdwCleaner - Anti-Adware
Antivirus Multireddit Reddit Communities

Sandbox Environments (Useful if you don't know if a file is malicious or not and wants a safe place to run it)

Triage - Online Sandboxes
Cuckoo - Online Sandboxes
SquareX - Online Sandboxes

File Scanners

The Second Opinion - Portable Malware Scanners / Removal Tools

Hybrid Analysis - Online File Scanner

VirusTotal - Online File Scanner

Site Legitimacy Check

URL Void

URLScan

Trend Micro

ScamAdviser

File Encryption

Cryptomator (paid)

Tahoe-LAFS - Cloud File Encryption

VeraCrypt - Disk Encrypter

age - File Encrypter

gocryptfs - File Encrypter

Kryptor - File Encrypter

Drive Formatting/File Deletion

SDelete - File Deletion CLI

Eraser, File Shredder, Alternate File Shredder, Permadelete, Delapp - File Shredding

SSuite File Shredder and Burner - File Shredder with Disk Burning

Low Level Format, nwipe, ShredOS - Complete Hard Drive Erasers

RED - Remove Empty Directories

Privacy

Tails- Privacy Based Operating Systems

Whonix - Privacy Based Operating Systems

Qubes - Privacy Based Operating Systems

Telemetry.md - Disable Windows 10/11 Telemetry (requires windows enterprise edition)

Bitwarden - password manager

Network Security

Safing Portmaster - Network Monitor, DNS Resolver, Firewall

DNSveil - DNS Client

I2P - Encrypted Private Network Layer

XrayUIGroup - DIY Privacy Network

Simplewall - Firewall

Fort - Firewall

WFC - Firewall

WireShark - Network Protocol Analyzer Profiles

Trippy - Network Diagnostic Tool

MxToolbox - Network Tools

NETworkManager, WLan10 - Network Manager

mRemoteNG - Remote Connections Manager

Netbalancer - Internet Traffic Control

VPN

Proton VPN

Mullvad VPN - Paid

IVPN - Paid

NYM - Paid

VPN Tools

WireGuard - VPN Tunnel Guide, Web UI

Tailscale, ⁠NetBird, ZeroTier - Used to connect to home network from anywhere. (Useful for self hosting, game streaming etc)

Essential Components To Have (gaming and non-gaming)

DirectX

VisualCppRedist AIO

XNA Framework

.NET

7-Zip

WinRAR

Download Managers

Internet Download Manager

JDownloader2

FreeDownloadManager

qBittorrent - Torrent Downloader (Do not use BitTorrent or uTorrent)

Deluge - Torrent Downloader (Do not use BitTorrent or uTorrent)

Transmission - Torrent Downloader (Do not use BitTorrent or uTorrent)

Browser

Brave Does have some contraversies in the past

librewolf

The best secure browser is actually Microsoft Edge with Hardened configuration and updated group policies, refer to the guides mentioned at the top of the page for hardening guides. Privacy is questionable, but could use firewall to block out connections.

Search Engine - Browser and search engine are 2 different things, browser is the app you use to search. Search engine is the place where you enter your query. If you use the most hardened Web browser but still uses google, then it's not making much change.

Mullvad Leta (Has brave search and google search and uses cached pages to show result, essentially privacy friendly), currently the best option IMO. Currently there is no tab to look for images, shopping, map etc.

Brave Search (the most closest result to google, at-least for me)

SearXNG (the link provides various instances which you can configure, but if you wish to get one that just works then you can find it here SearXNG )

StartPage Currently owned by an advertising company, I think the ad company is based in China

duckduckgo (Its's basically Bing but more privacy focused. It's the most recommended but people have hard time adapting to it. Have been in some controversies lately)

mojeek ,has its own crawler and index, that is it is not dependent on google or bing results. The results however is pretty bad imo. It could be improved in the future if enough feedback is given ig?

Browser Extensions

uBlock Origin - Ad content blocker (For chromium based browsers = uBlock Origin Lite)

Bypass All Shortlinks Debloated (Requires either ViolentMonkey, Tampermonkey, or FireMonkey) (Greasy Fork, OpenUserJS or Userscripts Find new scripts from these sites)

Translate Web Pages

Firefox Multi-Account Containers - Color-coded tabs in this tool keep your online life separated, preserving your privacy. Cookies are containerized, allowing simultaneous use of multiple identities or accounts.

Optimization Tools

Talon - Debloat Freshly Installed Windows (currently the best one iv'e used so far) It's basically combining a lot of already well established debloaters with their own spin of flavor (removed Microsoft components stays removed); CON:- It's a preset, you can't choose what not to have and what to have (other than browser choice).

Talon Lite - Debloating a already in-use windows system, haven't personally used it but seems good enough to recommend.

ChrisTitusTech winutil - Debloating Windows, can choose what to do and what not to. CON:- Removing Microsoft edge doesn't completely remove edge and comes back in next update (same for other Microsoft slops too) unlike Talon Debloat.

Nvidia Overclocking - Nvidia Overclocking Resources

SpecialK - Game Optimization Tool

MSI Afterburner, GPU Tweak III , EVGA Precision X1 - GPU Overclocking / Guide

MSI Kombustor - GPU Benchmark Test

ProSettings, Share Gaming Tweaks, r/OptimizedGaming, SweetFX, ENBSeries - Settings Optimization Guides

DisplayMagician, AutoActions - Per-Game Display Profiles

Lossless Scaling, Magpie, OptiScaler - Game Upscaling

Ryzen Master Utility - Overclocking Control for Ryzen Desktop CPU

AMD-APU-Tuning-Utility - AMD APU Tuning

DLSS Swapper - Download, Manage \& Swap DLSS

DLSSG to FSR3 - AMD FSR3 Frame Generation for NVIDIA

WindowedBorderlessGaming, Borderless Gaming, FullScreenizer - Borderless Windows for All Games

DxWnd - Play Fullscreen Only Games in Window

WSGF - Widescreen Gaming Community / Solutions

Widescreen Fixes Pack / , Widescreen Fixer v3.4, Flawless Widescreen - Widescreen Fixes

4GB Patch - Patch x86 executables to use 4GB

System Tools

PowerToys - System Tools Search Plugins

Sysinternals](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/) - Advanced System Tools

CPU-Z, winfetch, CPU Fetch, Glow , GPU-Z - System Info Tools

SuperF4, FKill - Process Killers

Bulk Crap Uninstaller, Revo Uninstaller, GeekUninstaller - Bulk Uninstallation Tools

CoreTemp, System Informer - Process Monitors

OpenRecall, Windrecorder - Memory Search App / System Recorders

G-Helper - Amoury Crate Replacement for ASUS Laptops

LenovoLegionToolkit - Lenovo Vantage Replacement

Traffic Monitor - Network \& Hardware Monitor

USB / Bootloaders (Tools used to flash windows for repairing it or installing linux)

Ventoy - Create Bootable USB Drive for multiple OS(s), you can have windows, arch linux, fedora, debian all in one usb rather than flashing each time.

Rufus - Create Bootable USB Drives

balenaEtcher - Create Bootable USB Drives

Redirect Bypass

Bypass All Shortlinks - Bypass Link Shorteners

Bypass.vip - Ad Links Bypasser Userscript

WhereGoes, Redirect Detective - Check Paths of Redirects / Short Links

Edit

Pub: 15 Aug 2025 09:41 UTC

Edit: 18 Sep 2025 02:59 UTC

Views: 406