Privacy & Security: what to install, and why
Four habits beat any paid product: a password manager, two-factor authentication, disk encryption for anything portable, and keeping the operating system…
What this category is for
Four habits beat any paid product: a password manager, two-factor authentication, disk encryption for anything portable, and keeping the operating system updated. The tools here implement those habits. Notice what is missing: no antivirus suite comparison, no firewall replacement, no cleaner.
What we filter on
- Open source or independently audited, with the audit results public.
- Solves a real threat rather than a fear. We exclude anything whose main claim is speeding up or cleaning a PC.
- No telemetry required for the core function to work.
- A recovery story. A password vault or encrypted volume with no recovery path is a data-loss tool.
The 10 programs, compared
The table below is generated from the same directory data as the main list. Licence wording matters here: free for personal use is not the same as free for a work machine, and source-available is not the same as open source. Every link opens the publisher's own site.
| Program | Licence / price | Platforms | Why it is on the list |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bitwarden Publisher's site ↗ | Free + paid tiers | Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS | If you install one thing from this entire page, install this. The free tier covers unlimited passwords on unlimited devices with sync, and everything is end-to-end encrypted. Start here rather than with a paid competitor. |
| KeePassXC Publisher's site ↗ | Free · Open source | Windows, macOS, Linux | A password database that is just an encrypted file on your own disk. No company, no account, no server to breach. You are responsible for your own backups, which is the trade you are making. |
| VeraCrypt Publisher's site ↗ | Free · Open source | Windows, macOS, Linux | Creates encrypted containers and can encrypt a whole drive, including hidden volumes. The successor to TrueCrypt. Keep the password and the rescue disk somewhere you will still find them in two years. |
| Cryptomator Publisher's site ↗ | Free + paid tiers | Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS | Encrypts files before they reach Dropbox, OneDrive or Google Drive, so the cloud provider stores scrambled data. The right tool if you must use a mainstream cloud but do not want to trust it. |
| Proton VPN Publisher's site ↗ | Free + paid tiers | Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS | The only reputable VPN with a genuinely usable free tier (unlimited data, no ads, no logs). Pay for it only if you need speed, more countries or streaming. A VPN hides your traffic from the local network, not from the sites you log into. |
| Mullvad VPN Publisher's site ↗ | Paid · €5/month flat | Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS | One flat price, no account email required, accepts cash, and has been raided by police without anything being found. The privacy purist's choice. No streaming unblocking, no affiliate programme, no marketing. |
| WireGuard Publisher's site ↗ | Free · Open source | Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS | A modern VPN protocol in a few thousand lines of code, now built into the Linux kernel. Use it to reach your own home network or office securely. It is a tunnel, not a privacy service. |
| Malwarebytes Publisher's site ↗ | Free + paid tiers | Windows, macOS, Android, iOS | Keep the free version as a second opinion when something feels wrong. Windows Defender already handles real-time protection well enough that paying for a second always-on scanner is mostly redundant. |
| O&O ShutUp10++ Publisher's site ↗ | Free · Closed source | Windows | A single portable screen of switches for Windows telemetry, ads, Cortana and background reporting, with a restore point button. Read each description before flipping it and you will not break anything. |
| BleachBit Publisher's site ↗ | Free · Open source | Windows, Linux | Clears caches, logs and traces from dozens of applications, and shreds files properly. Only useful if you understand what you are deleting. Windows' own Disk Cleanup covers the safe basics. |
If you only install one
Bitwarden. A password manager is the single highest-return install on this page, and Bitwarden is the one that works across every platform here with a free tier that is actually usable. Its source is public and it has been externally audited, so the trust claim is checkable rather than a marketing line.
Its Free + paid tiers licence and Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS support are listed in the table above. The rest of this category exists because the right answer changes with the job, not because the other entries are filler.
The trade-offs
| Instead | What changes |
|---|---|
| KeePassXC | A purely local vault with no service at all. Stronger isolation, but you own synchronisation and backups yourself. |
| VeraCrypt | Full-disk or container encryption for a machine that travels. The recovery consequence is real: lose the passphrase and the data is gone. |
| Cryptomator | Encrypts files before they reach cloud storage, which is a narrower and more everyday problem than full-disk encryption. |
Mistakes we see
- Installing a second real-time antivirus on top of Windows Defender. Two scanners contend, slow the machine and produce confusing prompts without adding meaningful coverage.
- Turning on every hardening switch in a tool like O&O ShutUp10++ at once. Change a few, use the machine for a day, then continue; a restore point is worth taking first.
- Encrypting a volume and never writing down the recovery information. Encryption is not a backup, and neither is a password manager vault you cannot get back into.
Questions people ask
Do I need a VPN on a home machine?
Usually not for ordinary browsing. A VPN moves trust from your ISP to the VPN provider; it is most useful on untrusted networks, not as a general privacy switch.
Is Windows Defender enough?
For most home users, yes, combined with updates and cautious installing. That is why we do not list a replacement suite.
Where to go next
These guides use tools from this category:
- Setting up a new Windows PC: the order that actually works
- Before and after a clean reinstall: the checklist
- A privacy-first setup that does not break your computer
- A backup you can actually restore
Or continue through the other categories:
- Browsers — 4 programs
- Files & Organisation — 6 programs
- Media, Recording & Capture — 10 programs
- Graphics & Design — 7 programs
- Documents & Notes — 8 programs
- Communication — 6 programs
- Developer Tools — 12 programs
- System & Hardware — 8 programs
- Backup & Sync — 5 programs
- Network & Remote — 6 programs
How to read this page. How to read this page. Platform, licence and publisher details come from our directory data. Where an independent review, audit or survey is mentioned, it is summarised in our own words with the source named and linked; our /sources page sets out that policy. The recommendation, the trade-offs and every 'skip it if' line are our editorial judgement. We do not run benchmarks, publish measured performance figures or host installers, and every download link goes to the publisher's own site. If a detail is out of date, our About page explains how to tell us.