8.29.2017

VPN App and VPN Plugin




Why a VPN app is always better than a VPN plugin

Image result for VPN



If you want to use the internet privately and securely, then you need a VPN. But with all the different types of VPNs available, how do you decide between using a VPN app and a VPN plugin (or VPN browser)?

On the surface, it seems that using a VPN plugin is the better choice. After all, they’re almost always free and comparatively easy to install. And in the case of VPN browsers, the VPN already comes pre-installed in your web browser. What’s not to like with a VPN service that requires no payment, no subscription account, and only a few clicks to install?

Before you decide to entrust your online privacy and security to VPN plugins and browsers, here are a few things you should consider.
A VPN plugin or browser only protects your browser traffic, not the rest of your network traffic

Installing a VPN plugin onto your web browser or using a VPN browser protects all of your browser traffic and nothing else. So if you have a VPN Plugin on Chrome, all of your Chrome traffic is encrypted and protected from prying eyes. However, if you use Outlook, Skype, or any other tool that exchanges information online, that traffic will not be protected by a VPN plugin or browser (which can leak your IP address anyway).

In essence, there is not much technical difference between a VPN plugin and an encrypted HTTP proxy. Although you’ll see your IP address change when checking a “what is my IP” website, your other applications will still use your home IP, effectively de-anonymizing you and leaving your traffic vulnerable to snooping by internet service providers.

To completely protect all of your network traffic, you need a VPN app.
Using a free plugin or browser means you’re likely paying with your privacy

Virtually all VPN plugins and browsers on the market are free, which should be cause for caution instead of celebration. This is because maintaining the servers required to power a VPN service is expensive. So, if providers are not receiving revenue from customers, they are almost certainly making it from other means.

For example, some providers may choose to use cheap infrastructure to save money, resulting in slow and unstable connections. Others may decide to limit their technology upgrades and customer support in order to cut costs. Worse still, some providers may sell user logs and IP addresses to third parties, which defeats the purpose of a VPN in the first place.
A VPN app is the best choice for internet privacy and security

Given these concerns, a VPN app remains the most professional option for safeguarding your online life. Not only does it encrypt and protect all of your device’s network traffic, but paying a small subscription fee also ensures that your provider can continually invest in upgrading its technology and maintaining its hardware. The result is increased privacy, comprehensive security, and unlimited online freedom. And that’s something worth paying for.



Here are some of the best Chrome VPNs for you to check out.



Hola Better Internet

hola unblocker

Hola Unblocker is a free extension for Chrome that uses a slightly different system than others. The free version of it uses bandwidth of users connected to it to power its service. This works similar to how torrent downloads work.
This cannot be disabled but users can sign up to become Premium users so that their devices are not used as a peer to power the service.
A premium account is available for $5 per month or $3.75 per month if paid yearly in advanced.
Free users don't need to create an account to use Hola Unblocker. It works automatically right after installation in Google Chrome.
A click on the icon in the address displays custom information. If you are on a specific site, you can select a remote server location that you want used for the connection.
Other options include opening the options, or configuring specific site and country links so that these connections are established automatically by the application when a connection to the site is made.
Performance: While connections to US-based and German-based websites worked fine and without any performance issues -- buffering for instance -- issues were noticed during connections to sites based in the UK. While contents loaded fine, buffering was an issue as the stream paused frequently.


DotVPN

DotVPN has been around since 2014 and is now starting to gain serious traction. It has more than 500,000 users according to the Chrome Web Store, and has an average review score of 4 stars (from almost 5,000 reviews).
Some of its best features include:
  • Unlimited bandwidth
  • 12 virtual locations (Canada, Germany, France, Japan, Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Russia, the United States, and the United Kingdom)
  • Unlimited switches between locations
dotvpn

The developers are also keen to underline the security benefits; it uses 4096-bit key encryption – that’s two times greater than 
modern banking standards

ZenMate VPN
ZenMate VPN brands itself as a “cyber security solution”. They have a worldwide network of highly secure proxy servers which encrypt your information and protect you from malicious websites.
The ZenMate VPN service can be broken down into three parts – Internet privacy, Wi-Fi security, and unrestricted Internet access.thing about it.

W
ith regards to privacy, this will prevent trackers from banner ads, website analytics, and social media following you around the web. From a Wi-Fi perspective it will add an extra line of defense when you’re on unsecured public networks, and from an unrestricted Internet standpoint it will help you overcome geo-blocking.
zenmate

ZenMate VPN also offers a premium service which improves the speed, adds extra locations, and offers 24/7 support. It’s available from $7.99 per month.


Hotspot Shield

Hotspot Shield is one of the new kids on the block.
Before we discuss its features, it is important to note that the service is operated by Anchor Free. Anchor is widely considered to be one of the most reliable companies in the industry; it’s more than 10 years old, has seen in excess of 400 million downloads across its different apps, and currently has 20 million active users in 190 countries.
hotspotshield

In terms of the service, it’s both free and unlimited and has versions available for iOS, Android, Windows Phone, OS X, and Windows.
Like ZenMate, there is also a premium version of Hotspot Shield. It starts at $2.08 per month, depending on your subscription length.

Tunnello


tunnello browser vpn chrome

Tunnello is a browser VPN for the Google Chrome web browser that is offered for free currently as it is in beta. Speed and bandwidth are not limited during the beta.
The service offers connections to servers in 12 different regions currently including the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, France and Spain.
Please note that you need to register an account before you can start using the service.
The interface lets you pick one of the servers and either connect to it or disconnect from it. The only other option is WebRTC leak protection that is enabled by default.
Performance: The performance of the VPN is good but not best in class. I got about 25 Mbps download and 7-8 Mbps upload on all servers on a 50/10 Mbit line. Testing streaming services worked fine for the most part but some commercial services did not.


CyberGhost VPN

CyberGhost VPN is another provider that makes privacy and security its main selling points, rather than geo-blocking. According to its website, the service is responsible for blocking nearly 150 million adverts, 210,000 malicious websites, and 260 million tracking attempts.
CyberGhost VPN list nine key features of its service:
  • Ease of Use: One click on/off button
  • Protection from hackers, cyber scams, bank-account thefts, and phishing e-mail fraud
  • Anonymous browsing
  • Ad-free browsing
  • An ISO-certified supplier which releases an annual “Transparency Report”
  • Worldwide geo-unblocking
  • Protection against malicious sites
  • Data compress for mobile hotspots
  • And finally, forced HTTPS connections where available
The premium version is $3.79 per month.

cyberghost



Browsec VPN
Browsec VPN claims to be “an advanced analog of ZenMate, Stealthy, Hola, and frigate”.
Its main benefits are letting its users access any sites from anywhere, enhancing user privacy online, and protecting user data from sniffers and trackers.
It makes a big push on the geo-blocking, but rather than focus on opening up content from different countries’ stores on Netflix or BBC, Browsec VPN instead mention services like Spotify, Pandora, and SoundCloud – some of which are completely blocked in certain regions.

Browsec VPN also advertises its service as a way to access sites that are blocked on office or school computers, such as Facebook, Reddit, and YouTube.
browsec


TunnelBear VPN
Of all the services we’ve discussed in this list, TunnelBear has the best reviews – an unprecedented 5 stars from almost 10,500 individual ratings at the time of writing. Rather than being a true VPN, this service is actually an encrypted proxy.
Readers who’ve been working with VPNs for a long time will be well-aware of the brand name; TunnelBear VPN has been around for many years and has made very successful desktop-based products for both Windows and Mac.
tunnelbear

There is one key difference between this Chrome extension and the desktop offerings, and it’s an important one to understand — TunnelBear for Chrome only encrypts your browser traffic, whereas TunnelBear VPN for desktop encrypts 100 percent of your data.
TunnelBear boasts some of the fastest speeds of all the VPNs on this list and has servers available in 20 countries worldwide.







8.28.2017

What Google knows about you



Google tracks everything you do...


It's no secret that Google knows a lot about you. A large part of the search giant's business model is based around advertising – and for this to be successful it needs to know who you are.But with the right know-how it's possible to track down what Google knows about you and control what it uses for advertising purposes.




Want to find out all the things Google knows about you? Here will show you some of the data Google has about you.


1. Find out what Google thinks about you
In order to serve relevant ads, Google collects data about you and creates a profile. You can control and review the information Google has on you here:

http://www.google.com/settings/ads/

Google also has a tool called Google Analytics, that helps publishers see what pages you have viewed on their website, how many times you have visited it, how long did you stay etc. You can opt out if you don’t want this type of data to be collected:

http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout 


2. Find out your location history
If you use Android, your mobile device may be sending your location to Google. You can see your entire location history here:

https://maps.google.com/locationhistory 


3. Find out your entire Google Search history
Google saves every single search you have ever done. On top of that, they record every Google ad you have clicked on. This log is available in Google web history controls:

https://www.google.com/history/ 


4. Get a monthly security and privacy report from Google
Google offers an Account activity page that tells you about all the Google services you are using. You can even enable a monthly report that will be sent to your email:

https://www.google.com/settings/dashboard


5. Find out all the apps and extensions that are accessing your Google data
The Account activity page also offers a list of all the apps that have any type of access to your data. You can see the exact type of permissions granted to the app and revoke access to your data here:

https://security.google.com/settings/security/permissions 


6. Export all of your data out of Google
Google lets you export all your data: bookmarks, emails, contacts, drive files, profile info, your YouTube videos, photos and more here:

https://www.google.com/takeout 



7. Google keeps a history of your YouTube searches. You can find it here:
https://www.youtube.com/feed/history/search_history


Now by following these steps you can see just how much Google knows about you, your interests, the places you have visited, and your search habits.

1. Go to history.google.com/history

Google search web and app activity
Credit: Google




2. Make sure you're logged into a Google account
Google only saves the searches you have made while logged into an unrestricted Google account. While it might not have every search you've ever made, it can give you a pretty accurate picture of your browsing habits. 




3. Select the down arrow next to "last week" and change it to "all time"
Google web and app activity

Credit: Google



4. Browse your more recent search history by selecting "last month" and "last year"
Google web and app activity

Credit: Google




5. Delete your browsing data
You can delete the search data Google has stored for you by clicking the three dots on the top right hand side of the window and selecting "Delete options". It gives you the immediate option to delete data from "Today" and "Yesterday". If you click "Advanced" it then lets you delete information from the last four weeks or "All time". 

Google web apps and browsing
Credit: Google


6. Google knows where you've been
Google timeline search history 
Credit: Google


If you click the three dots in the top right hand corner of the window and select "Settings" then "Show more controls" you can "Manage Activity" under the "Places you Go" tab. If you don't have location services turned off this will show you a map of all of the places where you have used your mobile device.

 
7. See how old Google thinks you are
Google search history
Credit: Google


If you scroll to the bottom of the "Activity controls" page and select "Ads" you can see the profile Google has for you, including a rough age range, your gender, and your interests. If you don't agree with the profile Google has created for you, then you can change it to make it more (or less) accurate. This affects the adverts you'll see across Alphabet products.

VPN App and VPN Plugin

Why a VPN app is always better than a VPN plugin If you want to use the internet privately and securely, then you need a VPN. But with a...