A second set of eyes alongside Windows Defender.

Barbwire Guard blocks trackers and ads across your whole PC, cleans out junk without ever deleting your logins, watches your Downloads, and warns you early when something starts messing with your files. Plain language. No telemetry. No account. Works offline.

Download Barbwire Guard — Free See Pro & Total

Free tier included in every download. Paid tiers are a one-time lifetime license — no subscription, ever — and unlock with a license file. All 1.x updates included.

Version 1.0.0 — release details

File: BarbwireGuard-Setup-1.0.0.exe
Size: 2.55 MB (2,674,078 bytes)
SHA-256: f64397cd68fbd8133f5f413970ee25449e7ad2af3a45488e19c47cdf75e3ad36
Multi-scanner report: Independent scan: pending — no multi-scanner report exists for this file yet. Verify the download by its SHA-256 fingerprint above before running it.
Requires: Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit), an administrator account for installation, and the free Microsoft .NET 8 Desktop Runtime. The agent starts when you sign in and runs under your own account — there is no system service.

Only download Barbwire Guard from this page at barbwireguard.com. Check the SHA-256 above against your download before installing; any other source is not us.

⚠ Version 1.0 launches unsigned — read this first

When you run the installer, Windows will show a blue “Windows protected your PC” screen saying the publisher is unknown. We are telling you here, before you download, so it is not a surprise:

Why: code signing requires an identity-verification enrollment, and ours — under publisher Joni Marie Flanary — is still in progress. We chose to launch openly instead of quietly waiting, and to put this disclosure on the front page.
What the warning means: Microsoft has not verified the publisher identity behind this file, so Windows warns you. That is all it means.
What it does not mean: it is not a malware finding. Windows Defender and other scanners still scan the file normally. An independent multi-scanner report for this exact installer is pending — see the release details above — and until it exists, the SHA-256 fingerprint above is your verification.
How to check your download: compare its SHA-256 with the value published above. If they match, the file is bit-for-bit the one we released.
How to proceed: on the Windows warning, choose More info → Run anyway.
The signed edition follows: a signed build under Joni Marie Flanary is coming, and it is a free update for everyone — all 1.x updates are included in every license, including the free tier's.

What it does

Blocks trackers and ads system-wide. Known tracker and ad domains are blocked using your hosts file — in every app, not just the browser.
Cleans junk — and never deletes your logins. Temp and cache cleaning with Identity Keep standing guard, so a clean never signs you out of your bank, email, or streaming. A Windows restore point is created before every clean.
Finds duplicates by content, not by name. Files are matched by their actual contents (SHA-256), and you see everything before anything is touched. Paid tiers can remove duplicates — with undo and an audit log.
Watches your Downloads. Files that trip plain, published rules — double extensions like invoice.pdf.exe, small unsigned executables, known-bad patterns — are encrypted into quarantine, with one-click restore when a file turns out to be innocent.
Ransomware tripwire. Canary files and sudden-change alarms (mass renames, extension surges, folder collapse) that warn you early. It is a tripwire, honestly named — see “What Barbwire Guard is not” below.
Repair, in plain language. Runs Windows’ own repair tools (SFC, DISM, CHKDSK) and explains what they found — no proprietary repair magic, just Windows’ tools with a translator. Pro
Update Center. App updates you approve one by one. Driver updates are matched to your hardware by hardware ID, come only from the Windows Update catalog and official vendor packages, are installed one at a time — restore point first, device health check after each — and unsigned or non-WHQL drivers are refused outright. Apps: Pro · Drivers: Total
No tracking cookies. Third-party and tracking cookies are blocked and expired early — while Identity Keep protects the cookies that keep you signed in. (Any tool promising “no cookies at all” would sign you out of everything; we don’t promise that.)
Safe browsing. Malicious and phishing addresses are blocked by the same feed engine that carries the ad, tracker, and cookie rules — four feeds, one engine. Feeds update automatically in Pro
Breach check that keeps your address home. Looks up your email against known breaches using Have I Been Pwned’s k-anonymity API — your full address never leaves your machine. Pro
Secure shredder. For the files you want gone for good. Pro
Bring-your-own-server VPN wizard. Sets up WireGuard on a server you control, kill switch included. We never see your traffic, because it never touches us — there is no Barbwire server. Total

What Barbwire Guard is not

Not an antivirus, and not a Defender replacement. Its scanner is a plain-rules tripwire, not a detection engine. Keep Windows Defender on — Barbwire Guard is the second set of eyes next to it.
Not a VPN service. No server fleet, no subscriptions, no traffic through us — a setup wizard for your own server.
Not a private browser. The launcher opens your installed Chrome or Edge in a hardened, separate profile. The browser engine is Google’s or Microsoft’s.
It does not “prevent” ransomware. It detects the early signs and warns you. Any product that promises prevention is selling you a story.

Three tiers. Lifetime pricing. No rent.

Every tier shows the same scan findings — the free report and the paid report find the same things. Upgrading buys more features, never scarier numbers.

Free

Tracker & ad blocking (built-in list)
Cleaner basics with Identity Keep — logins never deleted
Duplicate finder report (by content hash)
Download Guard + encrypted quarantine
On-demand scan of any folder
Windows Defender status panel
Hardened browser launcher

Download free

Pro — Lifetime

$49 launch price · then $69

Everything in Free
Blocklist auto-updates — all four feeds (ads, trackers, cookie rules, malicious/phishing)
Deep + scheduled cleaning, restore point before every clean
Duplicate removal with undo and audit log
Restore Center + quarantine history
Full ransomware guard: canaries + extension-surge alarms
Extra watched folders beyond Downloads
Repair module (SFC / DISM / CHKDSK, plain-language report)
Update Center — app updates
Secure shredder · breach check

Buy Pro — $49

Sold via PayPal — your license file is issued by email after purchase (see “How buying works”).

Total — Lifetime

$79 first 1,000 copies · then $99

Everything in Pro
VPN wizard: your own WireGuard server, kill switch, DNS pinning
Update Center — driver updates with the one-at-a-time safety sequence
Household coverage — install on up to 5 PCs in your home
First access to new modules

Buy Total — $79

Sold via PayPal — your license file is issued by email after purchase (see “How buying works”).

How buying works

Download and install Barbwire Guard from this page. It runs as the full Free tier right away.
Buy Pro or Total via PayPal (one-time payment — no subscription, no account with us).
We email your license file (a small .lic file), issued manually after purchase.
Load it in the app — Dashboard → “Load license file…” — and your tier unlocks immediately. The license works offline and never phones home.

No telemetry in any tier: Barbwire Guard does not collect usage data, and there is no Barbwire server for it to phone home to. Your encryption key never leaves your machine.