4 Tips for Using a VPN Effectively

The internet is a deep, dark, sometimes scary place, a digital jungle teeming with predators prowling for prey, hackers, scammers, and shady criminals of all kinds filtering through people they can take advantage of. By default, you are one of their potential victims, and your data and details are accessible to any professional who knows their way around the digital space. The good news is that you do not have to be, and just by using a VPN, or virtual private network, you significantly lower the chances of anyone getting to your sensitive data, and the better and more reputable the VPN, the more secure you will be. There are plenty of quality ones out there, but what about some tips when it comes to actually using a VPN? No problem, as this little article has you covered.

Save Locations and Public WI-FI

Quality VPNs will present you with a wide range of choices when it comes to all the different countries you can safely and securely connect to, and the selection can get almost overwhelming at the beginning. You do not want to scroll down the list for minutes at a time just to select Germany or the US again, so when you open up your VPN for Youtube to watch in peace without fear of malicious trackers, make sure you save or pin your most-used, favorite servers and locations. VPNs are also extremely effective when it comes to connecting to public Wi-Fi, which may not be an open vulnerability and leaking data hole like some people think, but definitely is not safe to just connect to without any additional precautions either. If the connection is not encrypted or has even been set up by a hacker, you might completely expose your data and browsing activity as soon as you connect to the Wi-Fi. A VPN will protect you by encrypting your connection to the internet, significantly limiting the risk of malware getting in while using public Wi-Fi.

Avoid Price Discrimination

This is less of a tip and more of a benefit you get while using a VPN, but just imagine getting off a plane after a tiring flight and heading to the nearest cafe for a much-needed coffee. Then imagine that while you are at the counter, you find out that they are charging you $6, all while the person before you paid $5 for the exact same coffee, just because he happens to be a local. Does that sound fair? Of course not, and yet it happens exactly like this online all the time. Many online services display different prices for the same product based on where the user, so you, is browsing from. This is done by tracking your IP address, and that is where the VPN once again proves so helpful, letting you choose your location, so you get the same prices as the locals.

https://www.pexels.com/photo/facebook-application-icon-147413/

Stop the Ads

Few things are more annoying than ads when browsing the internet, and they can go from annoying to downright malicious. They can contain malware that can easily damage your phone, laptop, or whatever device you are using. VPNs work just like ad blockers in this regard, blocking the annoying pop-ups and unskippable ads while you are browsing the web without getting constantly interrupted, and protecting your devices. As an added benefit, fewer advertisements mean your internet connection sees fewer interruptions, which in turn leads to faster loading times, a great bonus for anyone who is tired of always needing to wait for a video to finish buffering or a website to load properly.

Fight Back Against Censorship

Many countries and states across the globe practice censorship on the internet, restricting access to websites and content, social media, and so on. Using a VPN, you can fight back, accessing whatever parts of the internet you want by connecting to a different country that does not block the website or whatever you are trying to see, and use the internet freely as was intended. Whether censorship is good or bad, or to what extent it is reasonable, is subjective, but that is the point, giving you the option to decide for yourself, letting you choose what you can and cannot see, especially when it comes to political or historical information, or the lack thereof.

A quality VPN is perhaps one of the most important features you can have when it concerns the internet, letting you browse and use the internet as you like, without having to worry about censorship, malware, or other malicious attempts to get at your data.

Nanny to Mommy