A virtual private network, better known as a VPN, gives you online privacy and anonymity by creating a private network from a public internet connection. VPNs mask your internet protocol (IP) address so your online actions are virtually untraceable.
Most important, VPN services establish secure and encrypted connections to provide greater privacy than even a secured Wi-Fi hotspot. A virtual private network is a key privacy tool that you should use when you’re logging onto the internet from a public place such as a coffee shop, hotel lobby, or any other spot that offers access to free public Wi-Fi.
A VPN for Windows creates a type of tunnel that hides your online activity, including the links you click or the files you download, so that cybercriminals, businesses, government agencies, or other snoops can’t see it.
What are the VPN basics?
A VPN enables you to connect to the internet in an encrypted fashion, which adds security and privacy to your online browsing. This is especially important when using public Wi-Fi. That’s because it’s easier for identity thieves and other cybercriminals to eavesdrop on your online activity and steal the personal information you send and receive when you are using public Wi-Fi.
It gets worse. You may think you’re using the free public Wi-Fi provided at an airport, hotel, or coffee shop. But you may have logged onto a Wi-Fi network created by a cybercriminal. Once you’re on this network, the hacker can easily spy on your browsing and steal any personal information that you include in email messages or forum chats. If you log onto your online bank or credit card accounts, the cybercriminal might snag your log-in information.
A VPN allows you to use inherently non-private public Wi-Fi by creating an encrypted tunnel through which your data is sent to a remote server operated by your VPN service provider. The VPN server then sends the data to the site you’re seeking to connect with, encrypted and safe from the prying eyes of identity thieves and other cybercriminals.
How to Choose a VPN
A smart way to stay secure when using public Wi-Fi is to use a free VPN for PC. But what’s the best way to choose a virtual private network? Here are some questions to ask when you’re choosing a VPN provider. Do they respect your privacy? The point of using a VPN is to protect your privacy, so it’s crucial that your VPN provider respects your privacy, too.
They should have a no-log policy, which means that they never track or log your online activities. Do they run the most current protocol? Nice VPN providers like iTop VPN provides stronger security than other protocols, such as PPTP.
iTop VPN is open-source software that supports all the major operating systems. Do they set data limits? Depending on your internet usage, bandwidth may be a large deciding factor for you. Make sure their services match your needs by checking to see if you’ll get full, unmetered bandwidth without data limits. Where are the servers located? Decide which server locations are important to you. If you want to appear as if you’re accessing the Web from a certain locale, make sure there’s a server in that country.
Will you be able to set up VPN access on multiple devices? If you are like the average consumer, you typically use between three and five devices. Ideally, you’d be able to use the VPN on all of them at the same time. How much will it cost? If price is important to you, then you may think that a free VPN is the best option.
Remember, however, that some VPN services may not cost you money, but you might “pay” in other ways, such as being served frequent advertisements or having your personal information collected and sold to third parties.
If you compare paid vs. free options, you may find that a free VPN for PC doesn’t offer the most current or secure protocols don’t offer the highest bandwidth, and connection speeds to free users do have a higher disconnection rate don’t have as many servers in as many countries globally don’t offer support