I’m pretty much the average computer user, but with a very small amount of programming knowledge.
I was about to sign up for one until I saw this video:
I don’t know what he’s talking about when it comes to boxing in your LAN or whatever he said. I also see some of you toggling your router and firewall settings, as well as talking about ports. And I really don’t understand any of that stuff. It seems really far out of my comfort zone. But I see a lot of ppl recommending them to people, and I’m pretty sure these ppl don’t know all that setting stuff either, so I’m confused. Can I just plug and play, while being safe, if I don’t go to sketchy sites?
Here’s the thing:
Unless you have a very specific reason to use a vpn, don’t use it.
Fuck advertisements about details being stolen. Unless you have a very shitty bank or something that still communicates over something like http, or without encryption, anyone should not be able to see what you are doing.
Typical cases includes evading censorship/firewalls, getting different Netflix libraries/ downloading BitTorrent safely in a country where you might get dmca’ed, or something along the grey lines of legality. If not, you don’t need a vpn.
Safe? Depends. Using a vpn is just transferring your trust from one company to another( or a state owned isp to a company). You will be safe anyways without a vpn (normally). Go with reputable companies, for anything.
It’s not clear to me from your post - why do you want to use a VPN?
In general you don’t absolutely need one. What is it you’re wanting to do?
Most corporates/companies have their own private VPN to connect to. I always follow a simple rule: don’t mess with your company provided systems/company infrastructure. Do what you want on your personal system and be extremely mindful especially when dwelling into the unknown.
As long as you choose a reputable provider, it’s as ‘safe’ as the rest of the internet…A VPN is a part of a security/privacy strategy, not an entire solution. You will still be exposed to many of the same risks and problems using a VPN or not. VPN’s do what they do well, encrypt data from point a to point b. Between you and then VPN provider. Whether your traffic between the VPN provider and the internet is still the same as it is without the VPN. If you use sketchy unsecured Wi-Fi, or don’t trust your ISP being able to track your use, than a VPN is a good option and should be part of your strategy. It’s not a magic privacy or security bullet.
Don’t really understand what you are trying to say but vpn can come in handy when going through sketchy site
Can I just plug and play, while being safe, if I don’t go to sketchy sites?
Yes. That’s basically what VPN companies want users to feel. You just have to click a button and … voila ! Your VPN is on and you can now feel safe browsing online.
What you read in this sub is some “advanced” VPN features, something that’s not out of the box and that you have to configure yourself in you want to go further.
But no worries, you’ll be able to use the VPN of your choice with just a click.
thx for the clarification!
But there’s no way it would be (more) dangerous to have a vpn with default settings, with popular reviews, than not having one, right?
Thanks for the clarification. My main questions was I should be good leaving keeping default settings on one of these vpns, right? I know a vpn isn’t antimalware or never track me down software. But you’ve pretty much answered that!
What if I just want one so I can feel cool/smart?
bad idea?
I really want to use one but don’t want to get into malware trouble or lose important personal information.
Default settings are usually fine. You generally don’t need to play with ports unless you’re on a network that blocks the ports typically used by a VPN. The server location you may need to change if the closest server is slower than the next closest, or you want or need a particular country.
so you’re saying it’s better for noobs like me to stay away?
>:(
Should I be good if I only use it for one month?
