Free reliable VPN? Or just a waste of time and money?
OK so VPNs come in two packages. Paid for and Free. Free often has extreme limitations. Not only on Bandwidth but also locations or (Exit Nodes). In other words where your VPN comes out and appears to the world where you are. In many cases paid for VPNs allow you to exit in numerous locations and have better bandwidth. Thus allowing you to access say Netflix on your travels for example in better quality? However, many people simply cannot afford a VPN and/or do not trust them.
Below is a very good video that fleshes out what a VPN is and why you maybe better off not bothering. However, later I will suggest a solution for a free VPN and its not bad. It has exit nodes around the world allowing you to bypass geofencing video delivery services. It is not perfect as it is flagged as a VPN but for free it is worth giving it a go!
Where can I get a Free VPN? (Solved)
Opera is a browser, and a pretty good lightweight browser too! It is often outshined by its other big brothers like Mozilla Firefox but wait just a minute Opera has a VPN hidden in its settings that is really handy if you are struggling to access sites or want to hide you location for hut hummmm certain adult activities… 😉
Download Opera here https://www.opera.com/ it has pretty good security (popup blockers and anti tracking already built in). I am not being paid by Opera (honestly!!!).
Then once you have installed it go to SETTINGS at the very bottom is a hidden menu under ADVANCED… (I get the feeling that whilst Opera offer this they dont want everybody to use it by default..). Then select VPN, Enable VPN, Now you will see a VPN appear in your search bar at the top (where search bars usually are :)) on the left. Click that and select the country you want to appear to be from. DONE! It will change colour to show it is active and say you are protected when you click it. Go check your IP on a ‘What is my IP server’ to see if it has worked… TBF to Opera they do offer a paid option but to test or just have a free one for occasional use try this first. 🙂 This is on a PC in my case.
Browse with VPN to prevent third parties from tracking you.
Now whilst this is true to some extent if you watch the video above you will know that you will leave breadcrumbs all over the place unless you are really careful. So do not use this as a James Bond style ‘hide my location’ and do evil things as they can find you. But for an average Joe or Josephine on their travels or just want that extra layer of invisibility this free VPN from Opera is good enough. Beyond that there are many many options! Leo Laport (the tech guru at Twit.tv and he should know as he broadcasts to thousands who are very advanced techies who would immediately decry his recommendations and suggestions) recommends https://www.expressvpn.com/ Express VPN has a log wiper (No Jokes) that clears the cache every day. So even if there was a court order its long gone by the time they got access to the servers. But again thats not what a VPN should be used for. For criminals I am sure they will run their own cloud based VPNs with associates around the world offering exit nodes etc… No Again VPNs are usually used to protect Journalists in despotic regimes to bypass their countries firewalls (I think we can guess who I mean here as in certain Extreme Asian states) or to simply watch Netflix on your account in another country which is perfectly innocent and understandable. And what I am learning towards.
A VPN is a nice addition to your laptop at the airport or in your campus. And its free?! So whats stopping you?!
I hope this helps
Have Fun and Happy Days Surfing from another country! 😉
Surfwidow