How to use a VPN. How to choose a VPN, and how to set up a VPN for true private browsing. Stay safe, secure and anonymous online with a VPN. We show you how set up a VPN to stop people snooping on you online.
VPN stands for virtual private network and there are several reasons why you migth want to use one. A VPN prevents people spying on you when you use the internet and this is useful if you travel with a laptop, smartphone or tablet and access Wi-Fi hotspots in public places. It does the same thing when you're using the internet at home, or in the office. Here's how to set up a VPN.
There are many VPNs and many require a subscription. In this separate article we explain why you should pay for a VPN service, and reveal the 6 best VPN services. And if you don't want to pay, see our roundup of the best free VPN services of 2015. Some of the best virtual private networks are free, it turns out.
A VPN can also be used to make it appear as if you are located in another country. This can unlock services that are blocked from your real location, for example, you can watch catch-up TV like BBC iPlayer while on holiday or a business trip abroad.
Below we're using the free Hotspot Shield to illustrate the process of installing and setting up a VPN. This process can be applied to all other VPN services: we're not saying you should use Hotspot Shield, nor that it's the best free option. In fact, CyberGhost is one of the better free options, but if you want true privacy, you'll want to pay for a service such as AirVPN.
How to use a VPN: How to set up a VPN
How to set up a VPN step 1: Go to www.hotspotshield.com in your web browser and on the home page there are two choices. You can use the free service if you don’t mind seeing a few adverts, or you can buy a subscription and go ad-free. Try the free version, you can upgrade later.
How to set up a VPN step 2: After downloading the software to your disk, open the Downloads folder (or wherever you saved the file) and run the Hotspot Shield setup program. At the end of the installation, you can choose how Hotspot Shield is activated. Our preference is for manual mode, so we can turn it on and off when we like.
How to set up a VPN step 3: HotSpot Shield starts and the control panel is displayed. You can see that your PC is protected and that your virtual location is the United States. The data uploaded and downloaded is displayed on the control panel if you need to keep an eye on it.
How to set up a VPN step 4: Close the Hotspot Shield control panel and any browser window that is open, and open Chrome, Firefox or whatever your favourite browser is. Hotspot Shield Free puts an advert at the top of the window, but clicking the cross in the top right corner closes it.
How to set up a VPN step 5: Is it working? This is easy to test and if you go to browserspy.dk in a web browser and then click the Geolocation link in the left-hand panel, it displays what it thinks is your location. In this case we are somewhere south of Los Angeles.
How to set up a VPN step 6: Your location can be discovered from the IP address the computer uses, so select IP address in the links list on the left and see what it is. Now the website thinks the country is the US, the region is Milpitas and we are somewhere near San Francisco.
How to set up a VPN step 7: No one knows who we are or where we are, which means our privacy is ensured. This is not an open invitation to access content you shouldn’t, like Hulu shown here, but appearing to be a local often results in different web content, such as news and services.
How to set up a VPN step 8: Go to the right side of the Taskbar, click the little triangle to show the notification icons and click Hotspot Shield. The control panel appears and you can select your location from the list. Note that only subscribers can do this and it’s not for free users.
How to set up a VPN step 9: You might want to turn off Hotspot Shield (the free version can be slow) and use the web normally. Click the red Pause Protection button in the control panel and choose from 15 minutes, one hour or ‘Until I ask to resume’, which puts it in manual mode.
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