ShokWaveRider
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Thanks, how does one select a specific server?
Who Uses a VPN
- Thread starter Golden sunsets
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Thanks, how does one select a specific server?
RonBoyd
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Oh! The list was given to me by the NordVPN Help Desk in a private e-mail.
I started NordVPN on my Laptop and had to update the program -- I hadn't used it since last football season. Anyway, things are a little different now.
On the right side of the Main Window (in the Server Menu), highlight "United States," the 3-dot settings menu will appear with two options -- "Region" and "Server." The Down Arrow on the "Region" option lists all the available cities and the "Server" options lists the Servers at the selected city.
IIRC, you may have to keep selecting a server until you find one that works. This may have changed with this new Version, however.
pb4uski
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Includes Buffalo, NY, Richmond, VA, Louisville, KY.... but NOT Boston, MA? WTH?
RonBoyd
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
And, I notice, Boston is still not a choice. My only guess is they are still building out their Network. Setting up a Server big enough for (what I suppose is) a large user base (existing or future) must be fairly costly. There may even be local ordinances involved. Who knows? The world works in mysterious ways.
+ 1000 - I live in Germany and when I want access to US based website for streaming or even first search results in English, NordVPN gives me that US presence....it was cheap and it is worth it to me.
Oh, it also gave me a British presence when I was wanting to stream the Wimbledone tennis tournament.....that was worth it, too.
I thought that HTTPS protects against man-in-the-middle attacks by having signed certificates. Is that the kind of attack you're referring to and am I mistaken, or is there something else that I'm not aware of?
The Cosmic Avenger
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It's a little over my head, as cybersecurity is not my specialty, but from the white papers I've read, HTTPS can still be vulnerable to honeypots and spoofing if you're on public, untrusted wifi. A VPN prevents any attacks from anyone controlling the local network.
ItDontMeanAThing
Full time employment: Posting here.
I'd be surprised if companies interested in geographic blocking didn't specifically look for VPN use. That's easy if the VPN is free, has few servers, and doesn't change them. Also read there are 2 things that giveaway you're using a VPN. First is your server's IP address is not in the same time zone your computer is set to. The other is cookie examination. One of the reasons I run dual boot Win and Linux is I expect to delete all the history of both browsers in Linux before connecting to a site I suspect has geo blocking.
OP
OP
Golden sunsets
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I learned yesterday that HULU will not allow access to the site, while using a VPM. I am in the US presently, had my new VPN on and a message popped up that I was using a VPN and would have to turn it off to access the site.
So does Netflix. People outside the US were using VPNs to watch their programming and they're trying to stop that.
Sojourner
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Another vote for NordVPN, along with Opera's free, built-in VPN.
The free VPN built into Opera is probably good enough for 95% of what most people would use VPN for, but if your needs extend beyond what you can do simply through web browsing, then something like Nord is your friend. For example, Nord has specialized servers you can connect to for gaming and P2P file sharing, for example.
Also, Nord has over 5,000 servers around the world, which makes it a better choice for getting around the geo-location content blockers used by Netflix, Hulu, etc. The free Opera VPN servers are probably always going to be blacklisted by the streaming providers.
I have a VPN setup on my home router. I use that when traveling or on public wifi, especially if I’m doing anything finance related.
I also occasionally use a pay as you go VPN provider for streaming media. It’s a lesser known provider whose service is good. No logging, easy config, and pay per month.
I also occasionally use a pay as you go VPN provider for streaming media. It’s a lesser known provider whose service is good. No logging, easy config, and pay per month.
I'm curious if you have a pointer to more info about that. Some Googling found several HTTPS implementations vulnerabilities (as you get with any common protocol), but nothing that indicates there's a problem with the protocol itself.
Given that no software is perfect, you probably are more secure using HTTPS over VPN than just HTTPS by itself. So I guess if it's easy for you, using the VPN might help. All our cars have air bags, after all.
The Cosmic Avenger
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
I can't remember if it was Brian Krebs or Rob Pegoraro, but I feel like it was one of those two who wrote the article or blog post I remember from a while ago. But I found a more recent one that sums it up pretty well:
https://www.howtogeek.com/178696/wh...erous-even-when-accessing-encrypted-websites/
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T-Minus
Recycles dryer sheets
I also use PIA VPN. I’ve found a couple problems though:
- Schwab will not let you log in when using this VPN (may effect others, I don’t know). When queried, they told me that many attacks originate from people using VPN’s.
- Some hotels and businesses actually block you from using VPN’s. Evidently, they need the income that comes from monetizing their customer’s private information.
I’ve not been attacked yet, so it’s hard to say whether or not it’s been worth it. That said, I believe it to be a part of good computing hygiene.
+1. I haven't desired or required VPN for a while..l I am either on the Cell tower, or at a friends house that likely could be trusted. Speed vs security becomes the point of no return sometimes. It's all about balance. Lock the ports down, and use VPN when it makes sense. Especially when doing all that bad stuff lol.
RonBoyd
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Here is a somewhat detailed article on VPNs:
https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/b...rce=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=RSS Feed
https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/b...rce=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=RSS Feed
I suspect that some VPN services are better at obfuscating their servers from detection than others. We haven't had any issues streaming U.S. content from Hulu, Netflix or Amazon while outside the country using Nord's VPN service. Same with needing a U.K. IP address when streaming BBC content.
OP
OP
Golden sunsets
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I'm the OP and appreciate the responses thus far. I've learned a lot. This is an update on my own purchase of the Norton VPN purchase last week. I also subscribe to Norton 360 Plus for normal anti virus. This morning I got a pop up offering a free up grade to 360 including free VPN plus other upgrades. I called Norton and they rebated my cost for the service I purchased last week. So at least I have not paid anything extra for this service.
That's very insightful, thanks. It sounds like I was technically correct in that HTTPS is fine, but there are other things to worry about that might subvert the use of HTTPS in the first place. So definitely it's safer to use a VPN when using untrusted WiFi.
I've managed the Cisco system at work for over 15 years and use it often along with many other staff to access work systems from home.
I also use Torguard VPN / Proxy for misc. internet access some of the time.
I also use Torguard VPN / Proxy for misc. internet access some of the time.
Kroeran
Full time employment: Posting here.
I am no expert but ExpressVPN will enable access to US stuff from Canada.
Where my Amazon Firestick detects the VPN and refuses, it will work on a laptop.
Every service has a different library in US, Canada and UK, so sometimes I have to go fishing for which country allows the latest season, for example.
You can also tap into condo bundled xfinity streaming up in Canada with a VPN virtually located in Florida.
There is also this analysis which recommends
ExpressVPN
NordVPN
Surfshark
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.vpnranks.com/vpn-logging-policies/amp/
Where my Amazon Firestick detects the VPN and refuses, it will work on a laptop.
Every service has a different library in US, Canada and UK, so sometimes I have to go fishing for which country allows the latest season, for example.
You can also tap into condo bundled xfinity streaming up in Canada with a VPN virtually located in Florida.
There is also this analysis which recommends
ExpressVPN
NordVPN
Surfshark
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.vpnranks.com/vpn-logging-policies/amp/
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boatfishandnature
Recycles dryer sheets
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I have used Tunnel Bear VPN for over a year, primarily when I am using public wi-fi at an airport lounge or hotel. It works well and does not slow access speed too much. None of my three bank sites work if you try to access it through either TunneBear or the Norton VPN, though.
