OpenPGP Documentation Orca Previous page: OpenPGP Index page: Documentation Next page: Orca Software Recommendations

This wiki page outlines software recommendations by Kicksecure for various tasks, such as encryption, email, IRC, media player, image viewer, screenshot creator, calculator, office suite, and more. It includes a list of pre-installed applications on Kicksecure, recommended software for different user activities, installation instructions, and security advice.

Warning[edit]

It is estimated that within 10 to 15 years, Quantum Computers will break today's common asymmetric public-key cryptography algorithms used for web encryption (https), e-mail encryption (GnuPG...), SSH and other purposes. See Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQCrypto).

Accessibility[edit]

On-Screen Keyboard[edit]

onboard homepage (Debian package) is an extensible, scalable, virtual (on-screen) keyboard.

To install it: Start menu → System → Xfce Terminal

Install package(s) onboard following these instructions

Platform specific notice.

Kicksecure: No special notice.
Kicksecure-Qubes: In Template.

Update the package lists and upgrade the system.

sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade

Install the onboard package(s).

Using apt command line --no-install-recommends option is in most cases optional.

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends onboard

Platform specific notice.

Kicksecure: No special notice.
Kicksecure-Qubes: Shut down Template and restart App Qubes based on it as per Qubes Template Modification.

Done.

The procedure of installing package(s) onboard is complete.

Figure: Onboard Software in Kicksecure

Audio, Image and Video[edit]

Audio Recorder and Editor[edit]

Audacity homepage (Debian package).

To install it: Start menu → System → Xfce Terminal

Install package(s) audacity following these instructions

Platform specific notice.

Kicksecure: No special notice.
Kicksecure-Qubes: In Template.

Update the package lists and upgrade the system.

sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade

Install the audacity package(s).

Using apt command line --no-install-recommends option is in most cases optional.

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends audacity

Platform specific notice.

Kicksecure: No special notice.
Kicksecure-Qubes: Shut down Template and restart App Qubes based on it as per Qubes Template Modification.

Done.

The procedure of installing package(s) audacity is complete.

Figure: Audacity Software in Kicksecure

Image and PDF Viewer[edit]

Ristretto[edit]

Ristretto (Debian package) and xpdf (Debian package) come pre-installed in Kicksecure.

Start menu → Graphics → Image Viewer

Figure: Ristretto Software in Kicksecure

Figure: xpdf Software in Kicksecure

eog - Eye of GNOME graphics viewer[edit]

Install package(s) eog following these instructions

Platform specific notice.

Kicksecure: No special notice.
Kicksecure-Qubes: In Template.

Update the package lists and upgrade the system.

sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade

Install the eog package(s).

Using apt command line --no-install-recommends option is in most cases optional.

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends eog

Platform specific notice.

Kicksecure: No special notice.
Kicksecure-Qubes: Shut down Template and restart App Qubes based on it as per Qubes Template Modification.

Done.

The procedure of installing package(s) eog is complete.

Screenshot Creator and Image Editor[edit]

Kicksecure only! ^[1]
In Qubes, screenshots only work in dom0 (System Tools → Screenshot) and this applies to the entire platform, including Kicksecure for Qubes.

Flameshot homepage (Debian package).

To install it: Start menu → System → Xfce Terminal

Install package(s) flameshot following these instructions

Platform specific notice.

Kicksecure: No special notice.
Kicksecure-Qubes: In Template.

Update the package lists and upgrade the system.

sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade

Install the flameshot package(s).

Using apt command line --no-install-recommends option is in most cases optional.

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends flameshot

Platform specific notice.

Kicksecure: No special notice.
Kicksecure-Qubes: Shut down Template and restart App Qubes based on it as per Qubes Template Modification.

Done.

The procedure of installing package(s) flameshot is complete.

Figure: Flameshot Software in Kicksecure

Video Editor[edit]

Flowblade homepage (Debian package).

To install it: Start menu → System → Xfce Terminal

Install package(s) flowblade following these instructions

Platform specific notice.

Kicksecure: No special notice.
Kicksecure-Qubes: In Template.

Update the package lists and upgrade the system.

sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade

Install the flowblade package(s).

Using apt command line --no-install-recommends option is in most cases optional.

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends flowblade

Platform specific notice.

Kicksecure: No special notice.
Kicksecure-Qubes: Shut down Template and restart App Qubes based on it as per Qubes Template Modification.

Done.

The procedure of installing package(s) flowblade is complete.

Figure: Flowblade Software in Kicksecure

Video Recorder[edit]

vokoscreenNG homepage (Debian package).

To install it: Start menu → System → Xfce Terminal

Install package(s) vokoscreen-ng following these instructions

Platform specific notice.

Kicksecure: No special notice.
Kicksecure-Qubes: In Template.

Update the package lists and upgrade the system.

sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade

Install the vokoscreen-ng package(s).

Using apt command line --no-install-recommends option is in most cases optional.

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends vokoscreen-ng

Platform specific notice.

Kicksecure: No special notice.
Kicksecure-Qubes: Shut down Template and restart App Qubes based on it as per Qubes Template Modification.

Done.

The procedure of installing package(s) vokoscreen-ng is complete.

Figure: vokoscreenNG Software in Kicksecure

Communications[edit]

E-Mail[edit]

See E-Mail.

Instant Messengers[edit]

Documentation for this is incomplete. Contributions are happily considered! See this for potential alternatives.

Maybe contents from Chat could be ported here.

Other resources:

IRC Client[edit]

Undocumented

XMPP/Jabber Client[edit]

Documentation for this is incomplete. Contributions are happily considered! See this for potential alternatives.

Maybe contents from Chat could be ported here.

Encryption[edit]

OpenPGP (GnuPG Frontend)[edit]

OpenPGP can be used to encrypt, decrypt, sign, and verify text.

GPA and GnuPG come pre-installed in Kicksecure (Debian packages).

Starting.

gpg command line interface (CLI): gpg
gpa graphical user interface (GUI): gpa

Alternative: KGpg

To install KGpg:

Install package(s) kgpg following these instructions

Platform specific notice.

Kicksecure: No special notice.
Kicksecure-Qubes: In Template.

Update the package lists and upgrade the system.

sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade

Install the kgpg package(s).

Using apt command line --no-install-recommends option is in most cases optional.

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends kgpg

Platform specific notice.

Kicksecure: No special notice.
Kicksecure-Qubes: Shut down Template and restart App Qubes based on it as per Qubes Template Modification.

Done.

The procedure of installing package(s) kgpg is complete.

To start KGpg:

KGpg

Documentation:

Figure: GnuPG Software in Kicksecure

Entertainment[edit]

Media Player[edit]

The VLC Media Player (Debian package) is pre-installed in Kicksecure. There are no increased fingerprinting risks because VLC does not run Javascript. ^[3]

Start menu → Multimedia → VLC Media Player

Figure: VLC Software in Kicksecure

Miscellaneous[edit]

Calculator[edit]

galculator homepage (Debian package).

To install it: Start menu → System → Xfce Terminal

Install package(s) galculator following these instructions

Platform specific notice.

Kicksecure: No special notice.
Kicksecure-Qubes: In Template.

Update the package lists and upgrade the system.

sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade

Install the galculator package(s).

Using apt command line --no-install-recommends option is in most cases optional.

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends galculator

Platform specific notice.

Kicksecure: No special notice.
Kicksecure-Qubes: Shut down Template and restart App Qubes based on it as per Qubes Template Modification.

Done.

The procedure of installing package(s) galculator is complete.

Figure: galculator Software in Kicksecure

Disk Space Analyzer[edit]

df[edit]

df -h

baobab[edit]

Install package(s) baobab following these instructions

Platform specific notice.

Kicksecure: No special notice.
Kicksecure-Qubes: In Template.

Update the package lists and upgrade the system.

sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade

Install the baobab package(s).

Using apt command line --no-install-recommends option is in most cases optional.

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends baobab

Platform specific notice.

Kicksecure: No special notice.
Kicksecure-Qubes: Shut down Template and restart App Qubes based on it as per Qubes Template Modification.

Done.

The procedure of installing package(s) baobab is complete.

As user:
- baobab
With administrative ("root") rights:
- lxsudo baobab

File Comparison Tools[edit]

A file comparison tool is also often called a diff viewer.

meld[edit]

Install package(s) meld following these instructions

Platform specific notice.

Kicksecure: No special notice.
Kicksecure-Qubes: In Template.

Update the package lists and upgrade the system.

sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade

Install the meld package(s).

Using apt command line --no-install-recommends option is in most cases optional.

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends meld

Platform specific notice.

Kicksecure: No special notice.
Kicksecure-Qubes: Shut down Template and restart App Qubes based on it as per Qubes Template Modification.

Done.

The procedure of installing package(s) meld is complete.

Usage example:

meld file1 file2

kdiff3[edit]

Install package(s) kdiff3 following these instructions

Platform specific notice.

Kicksecure: No special notice.
Kicksecure-Qubes: In Template.

Update the package lists and upgrade the system.

sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade

Install the kdiff3 package(s).

Using apt command line --no-install-recommends option is in most cases optional.

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends kdiff3

Platform specific notice.

Kicksecure: No special notice.
Kicksecure-Qubes: Shut down Template and restart App Qubes based on it as per Qubes Template Modification.

Done.

The procedure of installing package(s) kdiff3 is complete.

Usage example:

kdiff3 file1 file2

diff[edit]

diff is a pre-installed command line interface (CLI) diff viewer.

Usage example:

diff file1 file2

File Manager[edit]

Thunar is pre-installed. To launch it:

Thunar as User[edit]

A) From start menu: Start menu → System → Thunar
B) From command line: thunar

Figure: Thunar Software in Kicksecure

Thunar with Administrator Rights[edit]

From command line:

lxsudo thunar

Task Manager[edit]

There many choices. Task managers are unspecific to Kicksecure. These should be researched as per Self Support First Policy.

xfce4-taskmanager[edit]

Here is a taskmanager graphical user interface (GUI) example.

Install package(s) xfce4-taskmanager following these instructions

Platform specific notice.

Kicksecure: No special notice.
Kicksecure-Qubes: In Template.

Update the package lists and upgrade the system.

sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade

Install the xfce4-taskmanager package(s).

Using apt command line --no-install-recommends option is in most cases optional.

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends xfce4-taskmanager

Platform specific notice.

Kicksecure: No special notice.
Kicksecure-Qubes: Shut down Template and restart App Qubes based on it as per Qubes Template Modification.

Done.

The procedure of installing package(s) xfce4-taskmanager is complete.

Run.

xfce4-taskmanager

taskmanager command line utilities[edit]

Popular taskmanager command line utilities include:

top
htop
ps
pstree
pgrep

task killing command line utilities[edit]

Task killing can also be done on the command line.

kill
killall

plasma-systemmonitor[edit]

Install package(s) plasma-systemmonitor following these instructions

Platform specific notice.

Kicksecure: No special notice.
Kicksecure-Qubes: In Template.

Update the package lists and upgrade the system.

sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade

Install the plasma-systemmonitor package(s).

Using apt command line --no-install-recommends option is in most cases optional.

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends plasma-systemmonitor

Platform specific notice.

Kicksecure: No special notice.
Kicksecure-Qubes: Shut down Template and restart App Qubes based on it as per Qubes Template Modification.

Done.

The procedure of installing package(s) plasma-systemmonitor is complete.

Run.

plasma-systemmonitor

iotop - simple top-like I/O monitor[edit]

iotop does for I/O usage what top(1) does for CPU usage. It watches I/O usage information output by the Linux kernel and displays a table of current I/O usage by processes on the system. It is handy for answering the question "Why is the disk churning so much?".Debian iotop package

Install package(s) iotop following these instructions

Platform specific notice.

Kicksecure: No special notice.
Kicksecure-Qubes: In Template.

Update the package lists and upgrade the system.

sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade

Install the iotop package(s).

Using apt command line --no-install-recommends option is in most cases optional.

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends iotop

Platform specific notice.

Kicksecure: No special notice.
Kicksecure-Qubes: Shut down Template and restart App Qubes based on it as per Qubes Template Modification.

Done.

The procedure of installing package(s) iotop is complete.

Run.

sudo iotop -a

Terminal[edit]

Xfce-Terminal homepage (Debian package). Xfce-Terminal is pre-installed in Kicksecure.

To start it: Start menu → System → Xfce Terminal

Figure: Xfce Terminal in Kicksecure

Unsafe Paste Warning Popup[edit]

This is a demonstration of the Warning: Unsafe Paste feature of the Xfce Terminal Emulator. Other graphical terminal emulators might have similar features.

Figure: Warning: Unsafe Paste feature

First a text editor is opened, then several arbitrary lines of text written, copied to clipboard and pasted into the terminal emulator.

1. Open a text editor.

Open file some-file-name in a text editor of your choice as a regular, non-root user.

If you are using a graphical environment, run. mousepad some-file-name

If you are using a terminal, run. nano some-file-name

2. Write several lines of text.

Should be long lines. Should be multiple lines. The text is not important. Can be anything.

For example:

111111111111111111111111 222222222222222222222222

3. Copy to clipboard.

Select all of the lines of text and right click, copy to clipboard.

4. Open a terminal.

Open a terminal.

Select your platform.

Kicksecure

If you are using a graphical Kicksecure with Xfce, run.

Start menu → Applications → System → Terminal

Kicksecure-Qubes

If you are using Kicksecure-Qubes, complete the following steps.

Qubes App Launcher (blue/grey "Q") → Kicksecure App Qube (commonly named kicksecure) → Xfce Terminal

5. Paste the text into the terminal.

6. The warning popup will appear.

Warning: Unsafe Paste

7. Done.

The demonstration of the Warning: Unsafe Paste feature has been completed.

If the user does not understand the contents of the pasted text, the user should abort. Otherwise, the user might be compromised by running commands not understood by the user.

Related security risk: Invisible Malicious Unicode

Text Editor[edit]

Open File as Regular User[edit]

mousepad is installed by default.

Replace /path/to/file with the actual file name.

mousepad /path/to/file

Open File with Root Rights[edit]

Prefer sudoedit for better security. ^[4]

When using sudoedit:

If the file does not exist, it will be created.
If the file does exist, it will be edited.
Mousepad (or the chosen text editor) must be closed before running the sudoedit command.

1. Open /path/to/file with root rights.

Note: Replace /path/to/file with the actual file name.

sudoedit /path/to/file

To use a different editor, replace mousepad with the name of the editor you wish to use.

SUDO_EDITOR=mousepad sudoedit /path/to/file

2. Edit the file.

3. Save.

Notes:

Simply close the editor and press save.
Do not use "save as" -- this is unnecessary and will not work.

4. Done.

Work on Sensitive Documents[edit]

Office Suite[edit]

LibreOffice homepage (Debian package) ^[5] is recommended. It is a fully-featured office productivity suite that provides a near drop-in replacement for Microsoft ^(R) Office. A word processor is included, along with spreadsheet and presentation applications.

To install it: Start menu → System → Xfce Terminal

Install package(s) libreoffice following these instructions

Platform specific notice.

Kicksecure: No special notice.
Kicksecure-Qubes: In Template.

Update the package lists and upgrade the system.

sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade

Install the libreoffice package(s).

Using apt command line --no-install-recommends option is in most cases optional.

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends libreoffice

Platform specific notice.

Kicksecure: No special notice.
Kicksecure-Qubes: Shut down Template and restart App Qubes based on it as per Qubes Template Modification.

Done.

The procedure of installing package(s) libreoffice is complete.

To launch these applications: Start menu → Office

Figure: LibreOffice Software in Kicksecure

Printing and Scanning[edit]

See Printing and Scanning.

Publishing[edit]

Scribus homepage (Debian package) is an open source desktop page layout accessible from the desktop menu (Applications → Graphics). It can be used for many tasks; from booklets design to newspapers, magazines, newsletters and posters to technical documentation.

Scribus has sophisticated page layout features like precision placing and rotating of text and/or images on a page, manual kerning of type, bezier curves polygons, precision placement of objects, layering with RGB and CMYK custom colors. The Scribus document file format is XML-based. Unlike proprietary binary file formats, even damaged documents can be recovered with a simple text editor.

To install it: Start menu → System → Xfce Terminal

Install package(s) scribus following these instructions

Platform specific notice.

Kicksecure: No special notice.
Kicksecure-Qubes: In Template.

Update the package lists and upgrade the system.

sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade

Install the scribus package(s).

Using apt command line --no-install-recommends option is in most cases optional.

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends scribus

Platform specific notice.

Kicksecure: No special notice.
Kicksecure-Qubes: Shut down Template and restart App Qubes based on it as per Qubes Template Modification.

Done.

The procedure of installing package(s) scribus is complete.

Figure: Scribus Software in Kicksecure

scurl: SSL Command Line Downloader[edit]

To securely download files or webpages from the Internet on the command line, scurl is pre-installed in Kicksecure. scurl should be preferred over wget, since the former enforces strong encryption and is less buggy. See also Secure Downloads.

To invoke scurl to download a file, use the following syntax and replace the example URL with the file's location.

scurl https://dist.torproject.org/torbrowser/9.5/tor-browser-linux64-9.5_en-US.tar.xz

This will download tor-browser-linux64-9.5_en-US.tar.xz to the current working directory.

Refer to the scurl entry for further examples and a complete description of this tool.

Figure: scurl Command in Kicksecure

Java[edit]

Install package(s) default-jre following these instructions

Platform specific notice.

Kicksecure: No special notice.
Kicksecure-Qubes: In Template.

Update the package lists and upgrade the system.

sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade

Install the default-jre package(s).

Using apt command line --no-install-recommends option is in most cases optional.

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends default-jre

Platform specific notice.

Kicksecure: No special notice.
Kicksecure-Qubes: Shut down Template and restart App Qubes based on it as per Qubes Template Modification.

Done.

The procedure of installing package(s) default-jre is complete.

Additional Software[edit]

If the recommendations in this section are unsatisfactory, additional applications can be easily installed in a few steps; see Install Software.

Footnotes[edit]

↑ Kicksecure means all Kicksecure platforms except Kicksecure inside Qubes. This includes Kicksecure on hardware, Kicksecure in VMs such as VirtualBox, Kicksecure KVM.
↑
Original and web archived behind paywall:
- https://www.heise.de/select/ct/2025/9/2505715264990543311
- https://web.archive.org/web/20250418145817/https://www.heise.de/select/ct/2025/9/2505715264990543311
↑ However, unrestricted access to the large number of codecs, along with the gstreamer and ffmpeg frameworks can expose the system to remote attacks. The risk is greater than with Tor Browser because the latter attempts to restrict codecs to a particular subset. No cookies are stored by VLC and no information is collected and sent to third parties; see the Original Whonix forum thread.
↑ https://forums.whonix.org/t/use-sudoedit-in-whonix-documentation-and-whonix-software/7599
↑ See also: LibreOffice in Wikipedia.

License[edit]

Kicksecure Software wiki page Copyright (C) Amnesia <amnesia at boum dot org>
Kicksecure Software wiki page Copyright (C) 2012 - 2025 ENCRYPTED SUPPORT LLC <adrelanos(at)kicksecure.com (Replace (at) with @.)Please DO NOT use e-mail for one of the following reasons: Private Contact: Please avoid e-mail whenever possible. (Private Communications Policy) User Support Questions: No. (See Support.) Leaks Submissions: No. (No Leaks Policy) Sponsored posts: No. Paid links: No. SEO reviews: No. Advertisement deals: No. Default application installation: No. (Default Application Policy) >
This program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details see the wiki source code.
This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it under certain conditions; see the wiki source code for details.

OpenPGP Documentation Orca Previous page: OpenPGP Index page: Documentation Next page: Orca

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We believe security software like Kicksecure needs to remain Open Source and independent. Would you help sustain and grow the project? Learn more about our 13 year success story and maybe DONATE!

[1] Kicksecure means all Kicksecure platforms except Kicksecure inside Qubes. This includes Kicksecure on hardware, Kicksecure in VMs such as VirtualBox, Kicksecure KVM.

[2] Original and web archived behind paywall:
https://www.heise.de/select/ct/2025/9/2505715264990543311

https://web.archive.org/web/20250418145817/https://www.heise.de/select/ct/2025/9/2505715264990543311

[3] ttps://www.heise.de/select/ct/2025/9/2505715264990543311

[4] ttps://web.archive.org/web/20250418145817/https://www.heise.de/select/ct/2025/9/2505715264990543311

[3] However, unrestricted access to the large number of codecs, along with the gstreamer and ffmpeg frameworks can expose the system to remote attacks. The risk is greater than with Tor Browser because the latter attempts to restrict codecs to a particular subset. No cookies are stored by VLC and no information is collected and sent to third parties; see the Original Whonix forum thread.

[4] ttps://forums.whonix.org/t/use-sudoedit-in-whonix-documentation-and-whonix-software/7599

[5] See also: LibreOffice in Wikipedia.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

Software Recommendations

Warning[edit]

Accessibility[edit]

On-Screen Keyboard[edit]

Audio, Image and Video[edit]

Audio Recorder and Editor[edit]

Image and PDF Viewer[edit]

Ristretto[edit]

eog - Eye of GNOME graphics viewer[edit]

Screenshot Creator and Image Editor[edit]

Video Editor[edit]

Video Recorder[edit]

Communications[edit]

E-Mail[edit]

Instant Messengers[edit]

IRC Client[edit]

XMPP/Jabber Client[edit]

Encryption[edit]

OpenPGP (GnuPG Frontend)[edit]

Entertainment[edit]

Media Player[edit]

Miscellaneous[edit]

Calculator[edit]

Disk Space Analyzer[edit]

df[edit]

baobab[edit]

File Comparison Tools[edit]

meld[edit]

kdiff3[edit]

diff[edit]

File Manager[edit]

Thunar as User[edit]

Thunar with Administrator Rights[edit]

Task Manager[edit]

xfce4-taskmanager[edit]

taskmanager command line utilities[edit]

task killing command line utilities[edit]

plasma-systemmonitor[edit]

iotop - simple top-like I/O monitor[edit]

Terminal[edit]

Unsafe Paste Warning Popup[edit]

Kicksecure

Kicksecure-Qubes

Text Editor[edit]

Open File as Regular User[edit]

Open File with Root Rights[edit]

Work on Sensitive Documents[edit]

Office Suite[edit]

Printing and Scanning[edit]

Publishing[edit]

scurl: SSL Command Line Downloader[edit]

Java[edit]

Additional Software[edit]

Footnotes[edit]

License[edit]

Navigation menu

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