Companies to Use and People to Trust

COMPANIES TO USE AND PEOPLE TO TRUST

Many companies have behaved badly and there is a page on this website that lists some companies to avoid. But this page is for the few companies that I think people should use and a few people that I consider trustworthy. Good news? Who knew it existed :-) This list is in no particular sequence.

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When it comes to VPNs, Mullvad is the class of the lot. There are dozens of ways to judge a VPN provider and they are tops on just about everything. This is not just my opinion, it is shared by many.

For off-site file storage, I have used rsync.net for many years and the company is very well run.

If buying a mechanical hard drive, buy from Seagate rather than Western Digital or Toshiba. Bad guys buy used hard drives and resell them as new. As part of the scam, they wipe the SMART data on the hard drive so it appears to be new to many utilities. Only Seagate offers a utility that shows that the SMART data is invalid. Their hard drives have some data that can not be over-written. More: Seagate Uncovers Global Scheme That Sold 1 Million Used Drives as New by Amar Ćemanović for CyberInsider (August 18, 2025) and 2.5 Admins 263: Seagate RAID podcast episode from September 4, 2025.

WINDOWS

For Windows software, I am a big fan of nirsoft.net. The software is free and portable and the selection is huge. Thanks to Nir Sofer.

Another great source of free and portable Windows softare is PortableApps.com. They take donations and I have donated more than once.

For techies that use Windows, I recommend Steve Gibson, both for the software he creates (mostly free, some paid) and his Security Now! podcast.

For non-techies that use Windows, I recommend Leo Notenboom and his Ask Leo website.