Is it safe, logless, and overall anonymous? If it isn’t, know of any better VPNs that are free/torrentable?
Thanks!
Edit: OpenVPN**, not Open VP
OpenVPN is a protocol, not a VPN provider.
Lol, you’re a bit off here, dude.
As the others pointed out, OpenVPN isn’t a VPN provider, it’s a VPN protocol. For now it’s probably the best, most trusted and tested. WireGuard might replace it, it’s much lighter, faster and less resource intensive (read battery life), but it’s still in beta kind of. Some VPN providers support it, but most are still testing it out.
So you need a VPN protocol to connect to a VPN provider. The VPN provider is the one that shouldnt keep any logs of what you do. The VPN provider is basically your access point to the internet. If they log your traffic, they see everything you do (you’d replace your ISPn with someone else who can see everything you can do in that case).
Never go with one that is free, you know the saying, “If you’re not paying for it, you’re the product”.
There are plenty of good VPN providers, and some have been proven (in court) to not log their users. But I’m not sure if you’re allowed to recommend providers in this sub.
Is it safe
OpenVPN the protocol itself is safe. Data gets encrypted between you and the OpenVPN server.
, logless, and overall anonymous?
These things depend on who you’re paying/using for VPN services. This is like saying “Is LTE safe, logless, anonymous?” Well, it can be, but that’s dependent on AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile (so generally, no).
NOT ANYMORE! Heard of VORACLE?
Pretty much all providers still enforce the use of compress and comp-lzo, so to your answer your question, NO!
I don’t know the difference, but doesn’t it do its job by creating a secure connection over an insecure network?
Why do I not want a protocol, and why are they allowed to call it a VPN if you say it isn’t?
It is confusing when you’re just learning about it! The terms don’t make sense unless you know how a VPN works, which can take a while.
A “protocol”, very basically, is a set of instructions computers use to communicate with each other. You could think of it as traffic laws and Google Maps directions, which guide how a car gets from one place to another in the midst of all the other traffic.
OpenVPN is one of many different protocols, a particular way that information can be encrypted and sent to the right place, and forward the right site traffic back and forth.
A “provider” is a business that has servers that your computer connects to. A server is just a computer. Those computers then connect to the rest of the internet, retrieve and send the traffic (browsing, torrents, etc.) you’re doing, re-encrypt them, and then send it back to your computer, which unencrypts it and shows it to you. The way this works depends on the protocol. OpenVPN is one kind of protocol, a set of instructions that tell your computer and the VPN provider’s computers how to talk to each other so they can communicate in an efficient and secure way.
One confusing thing is that OpenVPN is an organization as well as a protocol, and it makes software available to anyone who wants it. So people can run their own personal VPN provider if they want to set up a server to do that. You can also download their software and use it to connect to your provider instead of the provider’s custom software, but that’s not super important for getting set up.
But for your purposes, that’s not important. What you need to know is that you need a VPN provider that is secure. The protocol OpenVPN itself is already secure, but can’t do anything without a provider. A very good and thorough list of providers and comparison of what they offer can be found at “That One Privacy Site”. What will be important to you depends on what you’re using a VPN for.
Most people recommend something that has lots of servers outside the main western countries (5 eyes/14 eyes), doesn’t keep logs (at a minimum traffic logs), and has a good reputation. And DO NOT USE a free VPN. If you’re not the customer, you’re the product and your traffic/browsing data will be sold to pay for the VPN’s expenses and make them money. Once you find a provider on this list that looks good, do some research to see how reputable they are. Then you’ll subscribe to the service and follow directions on their site to download software and get up and running.
We’re supposed to not recommend any specific providers here. If you want to know what I use, DM me.
Hope this helps!
no.
OpenVPN is a software you need to connect to an VPN Server.
OpenVPN isn’t a VPN provider. OpenVPN is the software you use to connect to a VPN provider.
I use OpenVPN to connect to my home network from my laptop or phone when I’m away from home.
I also use OpenVPN to connect to a paid VPN provider.
Wow, thanks for actually helping instead of just saying “no!”
Unfortunately, I’ve already used this “VPN” to browse some borderline-legal content on the Tor-powered Onion Browser. I thought this would work fine, and I downloaded the OpenVPN GUI. On the website it stated that it:
”Uses the public internet to create an economical, isolated, and secure private network.”
And that:
”Encryption ensures privacy on untrusted Wi-Fi and other public access networks.”
So I do indeed need more security than this? According to the site, unless I’m reading this wrong, it seems like it would be secure enough right out of the box.
When I open the VPN software, what exactly is it doing when it is “connecting?” It takes some 2 minutes or so to connect, assigns me a random IP address, and even logs me out of Steam due to a ‘location change.’
If I just casually look up my location on Google, it shows I am in Haarlem, The Netherlands. I am not in Haarlem, and I am definitely not in North Holland or the European continent.
Shouldn’t this be enough security? 
I’m glad to help.
I’m not an expert, but TOR is great and is generally considered super secure and private. It’s very much like a VPN but instead of using a company’s servers, it routes your encrypted data to, for all intents and purposes, a random person’s computer who’s helping the community by turning it into a server for TOR. It actually routes it through several of these different servers all at once to make any traffic very hard to track. It shows you’re in the Netherlands in your case because that’s where the server that connects to a site for you is located.
So in short, TOR is similar to, but not actually a VPN, but it provides basically the same service. And because no government has no VPN provider to supoena for traffic logs, it’s considered quite private. TOR and it’s onion browser are usually recommended for people in dictatorships and journalists and people like that because it so difficult to trace. There have been cases of TOR users being identified but they’ve been for MAJOR black market stores and pedophile rings where the government can throw and ton of resources into finding a way in. For the average person it’s quite safe, so long as you are careful not to enter personal data into the sites you’re visiting.
It’s not recommended usually for torrents mostly because of speed and to keep the limited resources of the volunteer network of servers running well. So if it’s that kind of thing you’re after, a VPN might be better. But TOR is considered great for general browsing.