WINDOWS
Ken Harris - A video guide on hardening Windows; Ken Harris another video guide on hardening tools (a bit old).
Privacy.sexy- it's more like a objective lists on what to do and is also a good read.
- Privacy Guides
- Antivirus
- Sandbox Environments (Useful if you don't know if a file is malicious or not and wants a safe place to run it)
- File Scanners
- Site Legitimacy Check
- File Encryption
- Drive Formatting/File Deletion
- Privacy
- Network Security
- VPN
- VPN Tools
- Essential Components To Have (gaming and non-gaming)
- Download Managers
- Browser
- Search Engine
- Browser Extensions
- Optimization Tools
- System Tools
- USB / Bootloaders (Tools used to flash windows for repairing it or installing linux)
- Redirect Bypass
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)
File Scanners
- The Second Opinion - Portable Malware Scanners / Removal Tools
- Hybrid Analysis - Online File Scanner
- VirusTotal - Online File Scanner
Site Legitimacy Check
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)
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
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)
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 - 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
- Fedora Media Writer - 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