What's New

General

• Improved logging compatibility between the Widgets and the main app processes.

• Network Windows Widget now displays more virtual network adapter types available on the system, allowing you to monitor their activity.

• In the Secure Vault, after importing an existing vault, the focus is now on the password so you can start typing in your password without having to perform an extra action.

• Updated dependencies to the latest version.

• The app now features Trusted Launch, further increasing its security and integrity.

Secure, Offline, and Private QR Code Processing and Creation

• Added a new option to the Sidebar called QR Code Manager. It offers 2 main features: creating QR codes or reading them.

  • Creating: You can create QR codes for any text, URL, contact information and so on. The created QR code can be saved as an image in multiple formats or shared directly from the app by copying it to clipboard or using drag and drop. You can customize different aspects of the QR code and view advanced details about it that change in real time.

  • Reading: You can read QR codes from one or more image files in bulk, from other open windows, from parts of your screen but snipping or from your webcam's live feed. When using webcam, you will be asked for permission before the app can access it, your privacy is respected.

  • Safety and privacy: safety and privacy are 2 of the most important things and why I created these features in the first place from scratch. All features are completely offline and are processed on your device, that means you can decode or create QR codes from sensitive materials and they will never leave your device. The app does not store any data from the QR codes you create or read and no online service or 3rd party library is ever used (protected from prevalent supply-chain attacks).

Better than many alternatives and libraries

The following are just a few sample QR codes that many popular libraries and online services fail to decode/read (according to my benchmarks while developing the capability), while the Harden System Security app can decode them easily. This means if you have barely readable or damaged QR codes that contain valuable information, you can use this app to decode them.

MCP Server Support

The Harden System Security app now includes native built-in MCP server for agentic workflows. For now, it has the following features:

• Checking file reputation based on Microsoft Defender SmartScreen or Smart App Control.

• Creating QR code images from any texts

• Decoding QR images from files

You can use it in VS Code by simply adding a new MCP Server stdio: HSS.exe --mcp

After that, you can natively and seamlessly access and use the Harden System Security's features in your AI workloads.

Agentic on-device QR Code Creation

Agentic on-device QR Decoder

Microsoft Defender Cloud Verdicts Retrieval via Agentic Workflow

How to download