megathread

If you have any suggestions and recommendations or find any errors, feel free to open a request .

Items in this page that have a 🌟 icon next to them represent my top/favourite pick(s) from that category.

Table of Contents

• Table of Contents
• Internet
  • Web Browsers
  • Browser Hardening
  • Password Manager
  • Browser Extensions
  • Search Engines
  • Email
  • Torrenting client
  • Useful Sites
• Operating Systems
  • PC
    • Windows
    • Linux
  • Mobile
    • Refer Custom Rom
• Piracy
  • Software
  • Entertainment
• Mobile
  • Custom Rom
  • Video/Music Streaming
  • App Stores
  • Two Factor Authenticator
  • Anime/Manga
  • Social Media
  • Password Manager
  • Web Browsers
  • VPN and Proxy
  • Email
  • Other Apps

Internet

Web Browsers

• Firefox 🌟 - A fast, lightweight, privacy-focused browser that works across all your devices.
• Tor Browser 🌟 - Defend yourself against tracking and surveillance. Circumvent censorship.
• Zen Browser - Firefox fork that is beautifully designed, privacy-focused, and packed with features.
• Librewolf - Privacy focused Firefox fork.
• Brave - Privacy focused chromium browser.

Browser Hardening

⚠️ This is more advanced, it would break some sites, so I don’t recommend hardening anymore. Just use the recommended browser extensions

• Arkenfox user.js - Firefox privacy, security and anti-fingerprinting: a comprehensive user.js template for configuration and hardening.
• BetterFox - user.js file to harden Firefox and optimize privacy, security, and speed.

Password Manager

• Bitwarden 🌟 - A secure and free password manager for all of your devices.
• KeypassXC - Free, open source, light-weight, and easy-to-use password manager.

Browser Extensions

ℹ️ The lesser number of extensions you have the better it is for privacy and security. It is easier to fingerprint users with many extensions.

• Bitwarden 🌟 - A secure and free password manager for all of your devices.
• Ublock Origin 🌟 - Free, open-source ad content blocker. It will not work in manifest v3, use Ublock Origin Lite instead.
• Dark Reader - Dark Mode in all sites.

Search Engines

• SearXNG 🌟 - A Privacy-respecting metasearch engine.
• Duckduckgo - Due to recent controversies regarding Russian Censorship, I no longer use ddg however it is still a better choice than Google or Bing.

Email

• Protonmail 🌟 - Secure Email based in Switzerland.
• Tutanota - Encrypted email & calendar service - easy to use, secure by design.

Torrenting client

• qBittorrent 🌟 - An open-source software alternative to µTorrent.
• Transmission - Simple and lightweight open-source torrent client.

Useful Sites

• lingva-translate - a Free and Open Source Alternative front-end for Google Translate.
• VirusTotal.com - Analyze suspicious files and URLs to detect types of malware, automatically share them with the security community.
• kutt.it - An open source modern URL shortener.

Operating Systems

PC

Windows

⚠️ Avoid using Windows for privacy and security, it has been proven time and time again that Microsoft does not care about it’s users. Use Linux instead. If you have no choice, then use the LTSC version.

• Windows LTSC 🌟 - The best version of Windows. Use Microsoft Activation Scripts to activate.
• Chris Titus Tech WinUtil 🌟 - Chris Titus Windows utility, use it to debloat and tweak Windows. It’s almost always a good idea to run it during each update/install of Windows.
• Simplewall 🌟 - Simple to use Open-Source Firewall for Windows.
• Microsoft Activation Scripts - A Windows and Office activator using HWID / Ohook / KMS38 / Online KMS activation methods, with a focus on open-source code and fewer antivirus detections.

Linux

• Arch linux - A lightweight and flexible Linux distribution that tries to keep it simple.
• Debian 🌟 - A free and open source distribution that is the base for other major distros like Ubuntu, MX Linux, Linux Mint, etc. It is the second oldest actively maintained GNU/Linux distribution.
• Linux Mint 🌟 - Linux Mint is a community-driven Linux distribution based on Ubuntu, bundled with a variety of free and open-source applications.
• Tails (Live operating system for using the Tor/Onion network) - Tails is a portable operating system that protects against surveillance and censorship.
• Qubes OS - A reasonably secure operating system.

Mobile

Refer Custom Rom

Piracy

⚠️ I do not condone piracy. These links are only for educational purposes.

Software

• r/Piracy Megathread 🌟 - A very carefully curated list of sites for anything Piracy related. Probably the only site you will need to bookmark.

• SpotX - Patched version of Spotify to give an ad-free experience.

Entertainment

• FMHY 🌟 - A collection of media piracy sites, tools and guides.

Anime

• The Index 🌟 - A curated list of websites for Japanese media like Anime and other weeb stuff.

Mobile

Custom Rom

• Graphene OS 🌟 - An open source privacy and security focused mobile OS.
• Calyx OS - An open source Android mobile operating system that puts privacy and security into the hands of everyday users.
• Lineage OS - A free and open-source operating system for various devices, based on the Android mobile platform

Video/Music Streaming

• Newpipe 🌟 - Open Source YouTube client.
• xManager - Modded Spotify Client.

App Stores

• Fdroid 🌟 - Find open source apps.
• Aurora Store - Alternative to Google Play Store.
• Obtainium - Get Android App Updates Directly From the Source.

Two Factor Authenticator

• Aegis - a free, secure and open source app to manage your 2-step verification tokens for your online services.
• Ente Auth 🌟 - End to end, open source and cross-platform 2FA authenticator.

Anime/Manga

• Mihon - Free and open source manga reader for Android.

Social Media

• Signal 🌟 - An open source secure messenger, alternative to whatsapp.

Password Manager

• Bitwarden 🌟 - A secure and free password manager for all of your devices.
• KeePassDX - Secure and open source password manager compatible with KeePass files.

To install apps from The Gaurdian Project (Tor browser and Orbot) you need to add their Fdroid repo

Web Browsers

• Mull Browser 🌟 - A privacy oriented and deblobbed web browser based on Mozilla firefox.
• Tor Browser - Defend yourself against tracking and surveillance. Circumvent censorship.
• Bromite - Bromite is a Chromium fork with ad blocking and enhanced privacy.

VPN and Proxy

ℹ️ I would recommend self-hosting your own VPN on a VPS or a home server to avoid trusting a third-party VPN provider.

• Wireguard 🌟 - Extremely simple yet fast and modern VPN. Easy to self host, also check out PiVPN for an installation script.

• Tailscale 🌟 - Zero config VPN, I use this to remotely access my home server despite being under a ISP CGNAT.

• Mullvad - Probably the only third-party VPN provider I would recommend.

Email

• Protonmail 🌟 - Secure Email based in Switzerland.
• Tutanota - Encrypted email & calendar service - easy to use, secure by design.
• K9 mail - Open source email client.

Other Apps

Add the IzzyOnDroid F-Droid Repository

• TrackerControl - TrackerControl allows to monitor and control hidden data collection in apps.
• Openboard 🌟 - A 100% foss keyboard based on AOSP, with no dependency on Google binaries, that respects your privacy.
• OsmAnd~ - A map and navigation application with access to the free, worldwide, and high-quality OpenStreetMap data.
• Simple Mobile Tools 🌟 - A group of simple, open source Android apps without ads and unnecessary permissions, with customizable widgets.

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