Software to Avoid & Security Tips : PC Edition

Avoid installing any modified Operating System. It is very easy to slip a backdoor to the operating system.

Create your windows installation media using Microsoft Media Creation Tool. As for Linux, use the official ISO.

Software:

System & Registery Cleaners

First of all, the default windows cleaning tool is enough in the modern version of windows.

Register cleaners are just snake oil and should be completely avoided. The Registery Cleaners are ineffective and can actually cause harm most of the time.

I am giving special mention to CCleaner as it has been popular once. After being acquired by Avast , CCleaner had security breaches, had been hacked and is a privacy nightmare.

It also bundles additional software which again is bad practice. In addition it also installs background tasks.

RAM/Game/App Boosters

Modern Operating Systems (even mobile os) are designed to efficiently manage the memory. These operating systems use RAM to cache frequently used applications and data.

Ram boosters or Game Boosters work by clearing this data. These in turn:

1) Makes the system slower as the system has to reload data from the hard drive or solid state drive.

2) Ironically booster apps consume system resources as it runs which in turn nullified any miniscule impact it had on the system

3) Ram booster may also close background processes which affects stability of system and may cause crashes

4) These boosters can also lead to data loss.

Driver Updaters

Driver Updaters generally fetch, download and install updates for installed  drivers automatically. Now these software are risky and may cause harm.

1. These software can install incorrect drivers which can cause system instability and crashes.

2. Not all the updates proved by updates are catered for your system. Some generic drivers may conflict with existing drivers.

3. Although it is a bit controversial point. In my opinion Not every driver needs to be updated. Instead of getting cutting edge updates it is better to focus on stable drivers.

4. Many Updaters fetch drivers from non official sources which increases the likelihood of getting tampered or infected files.

Windows itself handles updates of common drivers.

If you want newer drivers, just grab them from the Manufacturers website. There is no need of a third party software to accomplish this

Free VPNs

1. Most free VPNs make money by logging and selling of user data. This goes in opposition to the reason for using a vpn(which is privacy and anonymity).

2. Some of the free VPNs even display ads.

3. Most of the free VPNs have security vulnerabilities. They also don't use good encryption

4. VPNs like Hola actually operate as peer to peer network. So your connection is routed through other users pc (and vice versa)when you connect through it

There are two exceptions for this which are the free version of Windscribe & Proton VPN.

Proton is the better of the two as it offers unlimited (in paper at least)bandwidth and more privacy oriented than Windscribe.

uTorrent

uTorrent is a torrent client which has been popular ages ago but I will recommend avoiding this client as:

1. The company behind it has become untrustworthy. They actually had the audacity to sneak in a crypto miner a few years ago.

2. The free version has ads (some of them were even malicious ones)

3. The installer comes with bundled software which will install problematic software on your pc if you didn't pay attention and unselect them.

qBitorrent is a much better alternative to uTorrent as it is ad-free and open source.

Avoid installing unnecessary Browser extensions like Toolbars. Most of the toolbars are just adware, hard to remove and just pain in the posterior in general.

Real Player - Free version is bundled with ads and paid version is not worth the money. Use a better and free alternative like VLC or MPC (HC/BE)

YTD video downloader: It comes bundled with adware and pup.

yt-dlp is a much better alternative and is currently the best YouTube downloader. It however has a command line interface.If you want a graphical user interface, search for gui for yt-dlp and download it.

There are many bad Antivirus (like McAfee Antivirus)  But there are some antivirus which are privacy nightmare Main examples of these are Avast/AVG. Both are owned by Avast.

LastPass

Despite being a popular password manager I would recommend avoiding LastPass as:

1. Corporate greed had handicapped free tier of lastpass to a great extent.

2. There has been multiple security breaches over last few years. For a password manager security is the foremost concern and these breaches proves that lastpass failed in that regard.

There are multiple alternatives to LastPass, out of those i recommend Bitwarden.

3. Lastpass is closed source. There are few privacy concerns about the software

4. Lastpass was slow to react to breaches occurred and they were clearly lacking transparency in their response to these breaches

Security Tips

1. Avoid using outdated software or operating systems as most are vulnerable to security threats as they are no longer receiving security updates.

2. Only download and install software that are from trustworthy sources.

3. A good security habit is to verify the hash of software(if you download from unofficial sites)you install with official ones to make sure they haven't been tampered with.

4. Don't install multiple antiviruses that have real time protection. They will just interfere with each other.

5. Read through every step when installing programs to make sure you don't unknowingly install bundled programs. (If you think it is too much effort, download a small program called unchecky that automatically unchecks the offers)

6. Don't pause your antivirus at all. If you are sure that a file is falsely positive. Make sure you upload it to virustotal. Virustotal is a website that checks files against a multitude of antiviruses.

7. Always use an Adblocker while surfing the web.

8. Regularly update your operating system and software.

9. Use strong and unique passwords or passphrases. Don't use the same password everywhere. If you are using a password manager avoid using lastpass.

10. Use 2fa wherever you can.

11. Use admin accounts only when necessary.For general purpose tasks a standard account is more than enough.

12. Regularly back up your system.