VPN or not VPN

Packerjohn

Packerjohn

Packerjohn
Location
Canada
Greetings fellow Computer people. Something has come up. I was reading a travel site and it advised me to get a VPN when traveling. VPN stands for "Virtual Private Network." It is suppose to protect my private information.

I have been on the www since 1989 (33 years) and never had a VPN. All the VPN companies, ExpressVPN, PrivateVPN, ProtonVPN and PureVPN charge money each month.

Will someone explain to me if I should get this. I will be traveling but I might just log in once or twice each week to check my email and I do not intend to do any banking while on the road. Thanks for all and any advice. John
 

Thanks I will check whether I can get it for just a couple of months. I don't think I will take the laptop this trip; just my phone. I don't spend too much time on www while traveling; prefering to see the places that I know I will never see again.
 
Packerjohn said:
Thanks I will check whether I can get it for just a couple of months. I don't think I will take the laptop this trip; just my phone. I don't spend too much time on www while traveling; prefering to see the places that I know I will never see again.
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We use ExpressVPN, (which is the one the military lady suggested), year round, (we were doing a lot of traveling, but that could wind down like Hemingway's bankruptcy remark). My supervisor, an IT veteran, doesn't like to use 'public' systems because of the potentially invasive problems.
 
I don’t know where you are traveling, but some countries do not allow VPN. However, like others here, I strongly suggest using a VPN. Here is the one that I used to use and is considered one of the best.
VPN

I use Norton now, but when my contract is over, I am changing. Keep in mind, that when you have VPN turned on, some websites will not allow you entry, but they are few and far behind.
 
I would avoid free VPN's because if you aren't paying, then the VPN company is selling you, one way or the other. You might find a "freemium" model that just makes in a PITA to keep free, so shuffles people into a plan that requires you to pay a fee. But those outfits can be questionable too. So if you're set on using a VPN, just pay for a reputable one. That being said, I agree with Nathan that TOR Browser is ok, even though it's free.

I gave up bringing a computer when I travel, so for me, it's just the phone. I'm not at all worried about using my phone apps or brwoser over a cell connection. And just slightly worried about using those things over public wifi. Why? Because everything is encrypted. As long as you don't get fooled into clicking on something like https:// abc123 . com / fidelityLogin.html, you're going to be fine. Using the app that you downloaded and routinely use while at home, you're going to be fine...it's all encrypted end-to-end. The VPN is a nice added layer, but I don't bother.
 
The internet isn't a safe place. I took a couple of internet security courses and an ethical hacking course - some of it was over my head, but I still learned a few things.

Governments and businesses spend a lot of money on security - they still get hacked. One thing mentioned in the course was how many companies didn't bother to install critical updates and how many didn't have protocols in place for secure passwords.

My son-in-law works for a big international company and they warn their employees NEVER log into work over public wifi, even if you are using a VPN.

We can't avoid the internet - so we just have to try to keep ahead of the crooks.
 
Packerjohn said:
Greetings fellow Computer people. Something has come up. I was reading a travel site and it advised me to get a VPN when traveling. VPN stands for "Virtual Private Network." It is suppose to protect my private information.

I have been on the www since 1989 (33 years) and never had a VPN. All the VPN companies, ExpressVPN, PrivateVPN, ProtonVPN and PureVPN charge money each month.

Will someone explain to me if I should get this. I will be traveling but I might just log in once or twice each week to check my email and I do not intend to do any banking while on the road. Thanks for all and any advice. John
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There's tons of stuff on VPNs. This article might be more reliable seeing how its coming from Consumer Reports.

Be warned. Many VPNs lie about their encryption and other items. They're businesses. Businesses do lie - all the time.

https://www.consumerreports.org/vpn-services/should-you-use-a-vpn-a5562069524/
 
Packerjohn said:
Greetings fellow Computer people. Something has come up. I was reading a travel site and it advised me to get a VPN when traveling. VPN stands for "Virtual Private Network." It is suppose to protect my private information.

I have been on the www since 1989 (33 years) and never had a VPN. All the VPN companies, ExpressVPN, PrivateVPN, ProtonVPN and PureVPN charge money each month.

Will someone explain to me if I should get this. I will be traveling but I might just log in once or twice each week to check my email and I do not intend to do any banking while on the road. Thanks for all and any advice. John
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A bit more about VPNs plus the bad side of them.

https://gist.github.com/joepie91/5a9909939e6ce7d09e29
 
Bonjour à tous

Infosec tips from an old retired engineer (68')

Try Nord VPN, we have Switzerland Proton secure email, Proton has VPN ( paid)
Very important for travelers on hotel, aircraft,public wifi or in captive countries that restrict internet acess and monitor your every action...

Brave and other "privacy" browsers are slow, and often fail to load. Get off Gmail, and use Duck Duck Go as search engine not Google.

Best défense is never open any attachments even images or pdf, save and scan first
Use your email clients (outlook, Thunderbird etc) to " view source" to see the headers as to the real senders,

Apparant messages from large firms like telco,cable, insurance,health care are spoofed, invariably the mail originally is sent from scammers in East Europe, Asia or Africa.
Run antivirus and anti malware, full scan, root scan periodically.

Avoid free SW utilities that install " bundleware", extra un authorized programme or process.
Especially VPN, AV, program installation monitoring "free" SW.

At any sign of hack or penetration (ransomware...WARNING YOUR COMPUTER FILES HAVE BEEN ENCRYPTED " immediately turn off the machine, even unplug it.

Finally never dépend on one device.....backup files, images, documents, settings periodically to SSD ext drive or via cloud, especially easy for ijunk afficiaidos with icloud.

J'espère vous souhaite une bonne fête d'hiver
( I wish (to you) a happy Winter Holidays)

Bon Soirée
Jon
 
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Maybe I'm too late with this reply but some VPN companies offer a free trial, which can be started just before you plan to travel. I have a VPN. The first one I chose was Private Internet Access. Theirs was too complicated (at that time) to disable when needed. That's another thing...some sites won't connect when a VPN is activated. Senior Forum is one of them, Facebook is another. My credit union won't either but my banks and brokerages do. I've had NordVPN for a couple of years. I got that because they advertised that they could be used with Netflix. That has now changed. Hulu sometimes won't connect either. But I've found that even though I always choose a United States connection, sometimes sites will connect and sometimes they won't...according to what IP is used; it's not always the same one. Nord does offer other protections. https://nordvpn.com/features/nord-site/
 
OneEyedDiva said:
Maybe I'm too late with this reply but some VPN companies offer a free trial, which can be started just before you plan to travel. I have a VPN. The first one I chose was Private Internet Access. Theirs was too complicated (at that time) to disable when needed. That's another thing...some sites won't connect when a VPN is activated. Senior Forum is one of them, Facebook is another. My credit union won't either but my banks and brokerages do. I've had NordVPN for a couple of years. I got that because they advertised that they could be used with Netflix. That has now changed. Hulu sometimes won't connect either. But I've found that even though I always choose a United States connection, sometimes sites will connect and sometimes they won't...according to what IP is used; it's not always the same one. Nord does offer other protections. https://nordvpn.com/features/nord-site/
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ppffftt!

Didn't think to check the date :oops:
 
Packerjohn said:
Greetings fellow Computer people. Something has come up. I was reading a travel site and it advised me to get a VPN when traveling. VPN stands for "Virtual Private Network." It is suppose to protect my private information.

I have been on the www since 1989 (33 years) and never had a VPN. All the VPN companies, ExpressVPN, PrivateVPN, ProtonVPN and PureVPN charge money each month.

Will someone explain to me if I should get this. I will be traveling but I might just log in once or twice each week to check my email and I do not intend to do any banking while on the road. Thanks for all and any advice. John
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I have VPN on my laptop courtesy of McAfee total protection. I could probably get it on my mobile phone as well. It is part of the McAfee security package. which protects up to three devices. So far I have it installed on the desktop and the laptop. Never thought about the phone before this.
 
Tried several but none work well with my chosen OS. Just got somewhat adept with my smartphone, kept it simple for calls only. No data or texting for this senior techie.
 
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Roadwarrior said:
Tried several but none work well with my chosen OS. Just got somewhat adept with my smartphone, kept it simple for calls only. No data or texting for this senior techie.
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Does your system recommend one, or tell you what VPNs are compatible?

A VPN isn't necessary or even really important if you have decent security on your devices, but you can make your OS accept a VPN, you just click YES when it asks "Do you want to make changes.." or something to that effect. But, again, it's not really important. And VPNs that operate smoothly and effectively charge a monthly fee. Personally, I don't think they're worth it, but I don't keep super important data on my devices...nothing that would ruin me if it got stolen or corrupted or whatever.
 
Murrmurr said:
Does your system recommend one, or tell you what VPNs are compatible?

A VPN isn't necessary or even really important if you have decent security on your devices, but you can make your OS accept a VPN, you just click YES when it asks "Do you want to make changes.." or something to that effect. But, again, it's not really important. And VPNs that operate smoothly and effectively charge a monthly fee. Personally, I don't think they're worth it, but I don't keep super important data on my devices...nothing that would ruin me if it got stolen or corrupted or whatever.
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Use Linux (pretty much locked down) when tried it would never link up with whatever VPN I tried, the arrow kept circling the wagons. Maybe it was the distro I was using but the effort to get another bill was not that important. I do have my firewall enabled & browser blocking with uBlock so maybe? Don't know just didn't seem that necessary to me. I've never had a problem but my FOMO was on high alert.
 
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Been There said:
I don’t know where you are traveling, but some countries do not allow VPN. However, like others here, I strongly suggest using a VPN. Here is the one that I used to use and is considered one of the best.
VPN
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If I click on the VPN link above it takes me to the vendor's site and at the top of the page, my IP address is displayed. Sites can track you using your IP address.

This is displayed without a VPN(it displays me full IPAddress and my service provider):
VPN 2.jpg

When I sign onto that website using VPN it shows this (not my IP address and not my service provider):
VPN 1.jpg
This makes me anonymous online and will prevent a lot of spam, unwanted advertising, and tracking.

I use Private Internet Access, it's inexpensive and doesn't slow things down too much.
 

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