The following is a list of (mostly) free security tools, software and apps available online. It is by no means exhaustive! I will add to it as I come across new things (or at least things that are new to me). And I’ll try to delete anything that gets out of date.
I want to see
Online Security Tools
How secure is my password?
Just that really. Allows you to get an idea of how secure your password is, by telling you how long it would take to crack it, so you can change your password if necessary. Then you can tweet your result…if you want.
Have I been Pawned?
Enter your email address to check if you have an account that has been compromised.
Bitwarden
Free, open-source password manager.
Breach Alarm
Use Breach alarm to find out if a password hack has exposed your password online. Breach Alarm scans the Internet for stolen password data posted by hackers, and lets you know if they spot your email address in a security breach.
Cybercrime Support Network
The Cybercrime support network, in partnership with Google’s help, are trying to help educate people so that they are less likely to become victims of cybercrime. The website describes the most common patterns used by scammers and offers practical advice.
Email Burner Service
Often websites ask you to enter your email address to access something (e.g. a PDF), and the file will then be emailed to you. However, instead of giving out your real email address, you can use a burner email address instead. When you visit Guerrilla Mail, it will generate a burner email address which you can then give to whichever website or service you want to access. Any emails sent to your Guerrilla Mail address will appear in the inbox, but will be automatically deleted after one hour (whether they’ve been read or not). You do need to be careful when using burner email accounts as they aren’t password protected, so technically someone else could access you inbox. Also burner emails should only be used when a website simply wants only your email address (i.e. not for sites that require you to set up an account using personal information).
Cybercrime Support Network
The Cybercrime support network, in partnership with Google’s help, are trying to help educate people so that they are less likely to become victims of cybercrime. The website describes the most common patterns used by scammers and offers practical advice.
Blacklight
Blacklight is a real-time website privacy inspector. Enter the address of any website, and Blacklight will scan it and reveal the third-party cookies, ad trackers, key-logging, recording, and let you know if the website is sending data to Google.
Downloadable Security Tools
KeePass
How many password do you have to remember on a daily basis??? If (like me) you sometimes lose the plot, Keepass is a great password management tool. Available for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android.
IObit Malware Fighter
An anti-malware tool from IObit. Offers protection from trojans, spyware and adware. The Pro version (paid for) also includes ransomware and webcam protection.
Password Generators
Password Generator Plus
Helps you create strong passwords. You can choose your options, such as password length, whether to include symbols, lowercase or uppercase letters, numbers or duplicate characters.
LastPass
Also has a password generator tool. You can customise the length, and choose whether to include uppercase and lowercase characters, numbers and symbols. You can also choose whether you want your password to be easy to say or easy to read.
Backup Tools
EaseUS Todo Backup
With EaseUS Todo Backup you can easily backup your files & folders. Click on Create Backup, choose files, folders, specific drives or your whole system. Choose where you want to save your backup to, then click Backup Now.
Macrium Reflect 8
Macrium Reflect helps protect your data against malware. You can create disk images of partitions and drives that can help you restore Windows. You can alos create a rescue disk.
Maintenance Tools
WinContig
Yes, Windows does have it’s own defragmenting tool, but it only allows you to defragment entire partitions. WinContig allows you to defragment specific files and folders (to consolidate their data and therefore making it less scattered).
Delete Empty Folders
You can end up with loads of empty folders on your device…some of them you will have created, others will have been created when installing software. Empty folders don’t take up much space, but it you wanted to delete them, there’s a handy tool called Remove Empty Directories.
Remove Empty Directories (RED)
Go to…
Note: please read the disclaimer before downloading / using any software.