Online privacy is a popular subject, and utilizing a VPN is the best method to reduce your digital imprint. What you may not understand is that this low-cost privacy gadget also functions as a life hack that instantly elevates you to online VIP status.
A VPN may let you circumvent hurdles you weren’t aware existed. We’ve compiled a list of our top VPN tips in this article to ensure that you get the most out of your VPN.
How to maximize the benefits of your VPN
To begin with, a VPN is a tool that assists you in avoiding internet monitoring and spying. It secures your internet traffic by encrypting it. This disables surveillance of the websites you visit by local networks and Internet Service Providers (ISPs). When used in conjunction with an incognito tab, it also disables a website’s ability to remember you on subsequent visits.
This privacy is critical since the typical individual spends 2 hours and 22 minutes every day on the internet — just for social media. Governments and companies can ascertain detailed data about our lives by monitoring what we do when connected. This is why data aggregation has become a lucrative industry.
Fortunately, a VPN may assist in putting a stop to all of this spying. The best part is that a VPN acts as a magical pill that grants you online superpowers.
We’ve compiled a list of our favorite things to do using a VPN below…
- Gain access to more streams
When you connect to a VPN server located in a foreign country, the websites you visit will believe you are physically present in that country. This life hack enables you to access internet services that are normally restricted to specific regions. People all across the globe have since discovered how to use this to their advantage.
When you leave on vacation, the television streaming sites that you normally use become inaccessible. Due to licensing constraints, many services are obligated to offer you an error message. This confines you to your hotel room, where you pine for home comforts.
With a VPN, you can quickly connect to a server in your own country, bypassing these restrictions and allowing you to watch. So whether you want to watch series that are only available on the US Netflix collection during a once-in-a-lifetime vacation to Paris or stream BBC iPlayer while riding a train across Australia, a VPN will give an immediate remedy.
Additionally, streaming systems often deliver libraries in many countries. A VPN is an excellent technique to get access to stuff that is not presently accessible in your location. As a result, a VPN is an ideal approach to maximize your investment.
- Download in an anonymous and safe manner
Since its inception in 2004, torrenting has been a popular internet hobby.
Regrettably, authorities in a number of countries have begun blacklisting popular torrent sites. They continue to do so despite the fact that file-sharing has a plethora of lawful uses. As a result of this regrettable restriction, torrent sites might be difficult to access in certain parts of the globe. Fortunately, you can circumvent these limitations by utilizing a VPN.
Even if you have no difficulty accessing torrent sites, it is prudent to utilize a VPN. A VPN for torrenting enables you to access download sites secretly and with increased protection. This is significant because when you torrent, you connect to other users Peer to Peer (P2P). This exposes your home IP address to other users, which renders you exposed to cyberattacks.
A VPN masks your home IP address, allowing you to download without worrying about connecting to someone with bad intent. Additionally, the encrypted tunnel offered by a VPN prohibits local network administrators and Internet service providers from tracking your download activities, providing a crucial layer of anonymity that prevents profiling.
Nothing on this page should be construed as legal advice; thus, before torrenting online, please verify your local regulations. Conducting illicit acts via the use of a VPN is still prohibited.
- Access online banking from a foreign country
When traveling internationally, it might be challenging to use internet banking and online payment services. These financial services prohibit consumers from accessing their portals from outside the United States in order to combat fraud, theft, and scams.
This might be inconvenient if you’re away from home and need to check your balance, make a transaction, or transfer money.
You may recover access to an IP address in your home country by using a VPN. This enables you to access online banking and other financial services (as well as government portals and other local services) that have been geo-blocked for your protection.
- Be cautious while using public wi-fi hotspots.
When you connect to a public WiFi hotspot, your WiFi router and internet provider will have access to all of your online activity.
Unfortunately, unscrupulous businesses are all too willing to collect your data for the purposes of profiling, marketing, and generating cash via the sale of it to other parties. This is why airports, hotels, coffee shops, restaurants, and shopping malls all provide complimentary wireless internet access.
Using public wifi also puts you in danger of being hacked. If a hotspot is not adequately encrypted (using WPA2, for example), eavesdroppers may target the network and everyone connected. This implies that your personal information may have been compromised.
Indeed, hackers sometimes establish “evil twin” hotspots in areas where users anticipate finding free wifi. They do this in order to dupe customers into connecting, allowing them to hijack their sessions and collect personal information.
VPNs safeguard you from both of these issues. VPNs protect you from intrusive hotspot providers and harm hackers by encrypting your data. This is why it is essential to utilize a VPN whenever you use the internet from a location other than your home.
- Save money on travel and internet purchases
A VPN is an excellent method to save money while shopping online. What you may not realize is that airlines, hotels, and other travel-related businesses often monitor your location in order to provide you a different pricing automatically. They do this because people make various wages in different parts of the world and cannot afford the same prices.
Even residents of dissimilar US states may have varied transportation and lodging costs. Additionally, if you visit the same travel website many times in search of tickets or accommodations, you risk unwittingly increasing the cost (because it indicates a higher level of interest).
By connecting to a VPN, you mask your IP address from the websites you visit, preventing them from tracking your activity on subsequent visits. Additionally, it enables you to feign being in a different area to take advantage of the best available deals.
Some individuals even use VPNs to save money on computer games – or to pay less for services like Spotify or Sports Streaming. Ultimately, it will need some trial and error, but there is little question that deals await those that attempt!
- Participate on international game servers
Along with purchasing games from another location to save money, many gamers utilize a VPN to reduce their ping or to play against other lobbies. Additionally, players may have access to other locations to play games that are not accessible while traveling overseas, such as Lost Ark (PUBG), which is prohibited in India, China, Jordan, Nepal, Israel, and Iraq.
Additionally, you may use a VPN to access multiplayer lobbies that are more crowded in the middle of the night. Additionally, you may find simpler lobbies in titles such as Call of Duty: Warzone.
Some gamers even utilize VPNs to connect to their home country’s gaming servers while on vacation or living abroad. This enables them to be paired with players who speak their original language more often.
- Securely connect to your home network
It is critical to access your PC, smart home, or NAS disk safely when away from home.
There is no question that remote access to your home network enables you to do a variety of valuable tasks. You may, for example, access work papers, films, images, and music, as well as other critical files and folders.
Additionally, you may host a website or a gaming server if you so choose. The critical point to remember is that when you connect to your home network, unless you use a fully encrypted VPN tunnel, your data may be in danger.
- Shop around geo-restrictions (and do other nifty things)
When you travel, you may not be able to shop at your usual online retailer’s website. This is because shopping sites provide a regionally tailored version. As a result, you will be unable to make purchases using your current account. Additionally, some organizations prohibit you from ordering while traveling to decrease the possibility of fraud.
The good news is that you may simply appear to be at home using a VPN. This means you may use your usual address and payment method to make purchases. Additionally, the advantage of feigning to be at home goes beyond shopping.
You may utilize a VPN connection to login to your online banking, government portals, geo-restricted work and school networks, and a variety of other critical services that are region-locked to prevent unauthorized access.
- Access VoIP applications in any country
Certain nations worldwide have blocked applications such as Skype, WhatsApp, Facetime, Viber, and Facebook Messenger. Governments impose restrictions on these messengers in order to prevent people from making free calls. This is true in nations such as Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia, where the government has a majority stake in the country’s principal telecommunications carrier.
Apart from financial concerns, governments often oppose individuals using VoIP applications since they enable encrypted conversations that cannot be monitored for monitoring reasons. As a result, VoIP applications are often banned in order to quell opposition and hinder the exercise of free expression.
The good news is that you can use a VPN to re-establish connections to VoIP-related applications from any location on Earth. This covers multiplayer games that require VoIP connectivity to function properly.
- Maximize your Kodi experience
If you like streaming content on your Kodi system, you may want to consider utilizing a Kodi VPN. While on vacation, a VPN for Kodi may enable you to access foreign streaming platforms and services in order to watch content that is only accessible in your country.
Additionally, a VPN masks your home IP address from Kodi add-ons and content repositories — some of which may be operated maliciously by internet users. More information on how to use a VPN with Kodi and how to install a VPN on Kodi can be found in the tutorial linked.
- Securely connect to a university’s campus network
When you leave the nation, many school networks become inaccessible. This creates turmoil for foreign students returning home between semesters or for students traveling abroad for the summer. A VPN enables you to create the illusion of being in your university’s home country in order to get access to school resources, download assignments, and submit work that is due.
Additionally, many Eduroam campuses have rigorous policies about the kinds of resources students may access when connected to the network. As a result, students living in residence halls (or elsewhere on campus) often lack access to gaming servers, video streaming platforms, online gambling sites, and social networking services—as well as other internet resources—that they desire to utilize for personal purposes. A VPN enables you to circumvent these restrictions and access the internet whenever and wherever you like.
Finally, a VPN adds an extra layer of protection while connecting to university portals in order to access information or turn in assignments. This safeguards critical research from eavesdroppers seeking to steal it.
This is critical because industry-funded university research projects have been discontinued as a result of private information being taken from students or faculty members.
These types of situations may be disastrous for postgraduate students, leaving them destitute and unable to graduate. VPN encryption gives an additional degree of security to data in transit, ensuring that it is as secure as possible while it travels to and from the university’s network.
- Prevent the structuring of traffic
Internet Service Providers use traffic shaping in a variety of locations throughout the globe to prevent their users from consuming excessive bandwidth during peak hours. They do it in order to avoid the network being overcrowded.
As a result of these efforts, internet customers who like gaming, streaming HD films, torrenting, or making video chats may have difficulty maintaining adequate speeds. This is infuriating since these people often pay their internet service provider for top speeds they are not receiving.
The practice of throttling people based on their internet activity is unjust. A VPN handles DNS queries and encrypts your data, removing the possibility of your ISP throttling your bandwidth when you use certain services.
- Defend yourself against internet hacking efforts
Your IP address serves as the gateway to your home’s network and any connected devices. Regrettably, when you browse online, you are continually broadcasting this private address to the whole world.
If a hostile internet user or website developer discovers your IP address, they may possibly launch a distributed denial of service assault against it or search the network for open ports. This increases the possibility of hackers exploiting your home network and gaining access to linked devices.
Once inside, astute hackers may devise new methods for attacking your devices, stealing your data, and exploiting linked devices such as security cameras. They could even add internet-connected gadgets (IoT devices) to a botnet used to launch secondary assaults, such as smart kettles, lightbulbs, or refrigerators.
A VPN masks your true IP address from the rest of the world, ensuring that you do not attract hackers.
- Prevent websites from recording your browsing activity
Each time you visit a website, it may monitor you using your IP address. This enables it to determine the frequency with which you visit, your geographic location, the sites you browse, and the items or services you are interested in. This information is then utilized to create a marketing profile for you.
By masking your IP address from websites using a VPN, you protect your online activity from being monitored. However, anybody who is serious about privacy should also utilize script blocking extensions to prevent trackers and incognito/private browsing mode to avoid cookies since they also allow intrusive levels of surveillance capitalism.
- Defy censorship and gain access to critical information
Governments impose severe web restrictions in a number of countries throughout the globe. Certain nations restrict access to content that is critical of the government, while others restrict access to content that is regarded as incompatible with the country’s moral, cultural, religious, or political standards.
As a result, it is fairly commonplace for ISPs to restrict dating websites, critical news articles and blogs, gambling websites, and even educational resources on reproductive health, LGBTQ issues, and other critical themes.