What's new
The latest releases. Vantry updates itself — you'll be offered each new version inside the app.
Vantry 3.3.0
File Vault - encrypt your files. A new Protect page. Pick files (or a whole folder), set a password, and Vantry locks them with AES-256 - the encryption banks use. A stolen laptop, another account on the PC, or ransomware that grabs your documents finds only unreadable ".vault" files. Open them again here with the same password. Nothing is uploaded and Vantry keeps no copy of the key, so there is no back door - and no recovery if you forget the password (store it in a password manager). Optional "shred the original after encrypting". Tamper is detected on unlock.
Fewer Defender false alarms. Vantry is a self-built, unsigned exe, so Defender's heuristics can flag it on first run. The installer now offers (and Settings -> Install has a button for) "Trust Vantry in Defender", which adds the install folder to Defender's exclusions with your permission. Builds also skip UPX compression, which trips antivirus most. (A code-signing certificate is the only thing that removes the SmartScreen prompt entirely - that needs a paid cert.)
Logo throughout. The Vantry mark now appears on the install and uninstall wizards, the assistant page and its setup dialog, the File Vault, the tray and the window - one consistent identity everywhere.
Polish. Tidier headers and spacing, clearer empty states, snappier feel.
Vantry 3.2.0
Faster. The window appears as soon as the dashboard is ready; the other pages stream in behind it instead of blocking startup (on a slower PC that was 10+ seconds of blank). Ring gauges and icons are cached, and charts on pages you are not looking at are no longer redrawn every second.
Dashboard: PC health + Internet health. One health score from your security grade, live CPU/memory/disk pressure and connectivity. Next to it, a live internet check - router, DNS and HTTPS latency with a graph - that tells you where the connection is broken (LAN only / DNS only / degraded / offline) and raises a toast when it drops or comes back.
Diagnostics: Repair network. One button runs the classic fix sequence elevated - flush DNS, release/renew, Winsock reset, TCP/IP reset, restart adapters - and reports each step.
Scheduled scans. Daily or weekly Defender quick scan at a time you pick (Settings -> Scheduled scans), with a scan history.
Reports and settings. HTML report export in the Vantry look; back up and restore settings as one JSON file. Security grade D/F now raises an alert and is recorded over time. Toolkit errors are logged and toasted instead of killing the app.
Fixed. UI scale of 125/140% crashed the app on Windows (a CustomTkinter GDI bug) - Windows now uses whole-number sizes. The uninstall / update helper scripts no longer pop an endless stream of cmd windows.
Vantry 3.1.0
Security Center. The Security page now opens with a live security score and letter grade, worked out from your real protection state - real-time protection, firewall, ransomware protection (Controlled Folder Access), tamper protection, Secure Boot, BitLocker, SMBv1, UAC, SmartScreen and more. Under it, a Recommendations list shows what's weak worst-first, and the fixable ones get a one-click Fix button (Windows asks for permission, then Vantry turns the setting on). New checks added: real-time protection, ransomware protection, tamper protection, SmartScreen, per-profile firewall state, network location.
Remote support (opt-in). A new Remote support page lets someone you trust connect to help you:
- You start the session and read out a short code - nothing happens until you do.
- The connection is cryptographically verified against a built-in owner key, so a stranger who learns the code still cannot get in.
- You approve the connection, and (by default) every change is confirmed on your screen before it runs. There is no screen takeover and no hidden access - a banner shows the whole time and you can End instantly.
- The helper sees the same live stats and can run the same fixes the local assistant can.
Connections go direct on your LAN, or through a small relay you can host (relay.py) for helping people over the internet.
Owner edition. A private build (build-owner.bat) unlocks a Support console for connecting to users who start a session. Only your build has the owner signing key, so only you can be verified. Set it up with release.bat owner-keygen.
Fixed. Uninstalling (and installing, and the widget) could crash with "...\_MEI......\base_library.zip not found". A child copy of the app was inheriting the parent's PyInstaller temp folder and losing it when the parent exited. Every self-launch now starts its own clean copy.
All release notes →