All our internet traffic passes through our ISPs. This data isn’t always encrypted which makes it vulnerable to hackers, advertisers, surveillance agencies or even your ISP, snooping on it. This can mean several things, higher probability of being snooped on, browsing habits being monitored, spam and ads being bombarded on you, and more.
A VPN service provides a secure private network to its users. Think of a VPN service as a tunnel between your device and the designated server. Any data transmission between the two is encrypted, and unreadable to others. VPN services have gained popularity recently and some of them offer free services. Let’s look at how VPN services work and how they can help.
A VPN server hides your IP address and encrypts your online traffic. It protects your data from cybercriminals, making it difficult to steal your credit card details, bank accounts information, and login credentials. It can prevent snooping on browsing habits, injection of ads and worse. VPN can also help you to keep your data safe from advertisers. We often see ads of products we browser show up on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. Connecting to a VPN server can reduce your online footprint and it prevent advertisers from tracking your search history. Using add-ons that isolate social media and search engines, or using Private web browsing modes are recommended too.
A VPN service also helps access geo-restricted websites when you travel internationally. Most local services put have subscription prices that vary from region to region. Users connecting to an Indian VPN service can grant them access to these service as if they were local. A VPN service can also help you to bypass network firewalls which prevent access websites typically blocked in most institutions.
Using a VPN service can also improve your gaming experience. Connecting to an international service can result in higher pings and latency, since your data is transmitted through several nodes before reaching its destination. Poor routing is to blame since the shortest route isn’t always used. You might face higher pings, regardless of the internet speed.
A VPN client masks IP address and lets users select servers from different regions. Users can select servers of the region they want to play, which can significantly reduce the ping while playing multiplayer games. VPNs also allow friends in remote locations to play multiplayer games meant for the LAN. This same feature is useful for smaller organizations to allow its employees remotely connect to each other as if they were working on the same physical network. It allows remote resources to be access, which should be network drives, printers, file shares, etc.
Setting up a VPN service on Windows 10
There are plenty of VPN service providers to choose from, some free while others are paid. Most VPN services have their own pre-configured software. Depending on the technology being used, you could download the client from the technology provider’s web site and if it uses Windows’ VPN solution, you can configure it directly like this.
Click on Start, then select Settings > Network and Internet> VPN > Add a VPN connection
Select Windows (built-in) as VPN provider
Add the VPN service provider’s name in the Connection name box
In the Server name or address box, enter the address provided by the VPN service
Enter your VPN service credentials
Select Save to add the VPN profile
Once the VPN profile is installed on your computer, click Network and selecting the VPN network to enable it.
Using a VPN service is a great way to access the internet without leaving a digital footprint. If you want to have the best VPN experience, you might have to subscribe to paid VPN services for a monthly fee. To keep yourself updated on the latest technology, keep following us on www.reliancedigital.in.
