If your company has many offices in different locations, or allows employees to telecommute (work from home), it is highly likely that your company has VPN installed. VPN stands for virtual private network and has many business applications, but primarily a way to extend the office network over various locations.
For ordinary users, however, they would know VPN as a means to hide their email address so that they can surf the Internet anonymously or bypass web site access restrictions such as firewalls. An example would be a user on VPN being able to avail of Internet television when this would be normally blocked on his computer.
You can find many VPN service providers by doing a search on the Internet. Depending on what you want to use it for, you can get a service for as low as $5 per month, or even for free (browsing only, no downloads or streaming).
But to be able to do more than browsing Internet content and be anonymous at the same time, you will need a premium VPN account. This is easily available, since most providers try to make the set up process as painless as possible for you – easy to follow instructions, no software to install, no IP numbers to configure into web applications, etc. Depending on the provider, the subscription may include a choice of server locations (to be able to visit sites that would normally block your IP address), strong encryption (the data you entered will be encrypted when transmitted over the Internet and make it difficult for hackers to get) and dedicated IP address (you have your own IP address, instead of having a different one every time you log on to the VPN).
There are many VPN service providers out there, but which one should you choose? Consider first what you would be using VPN for (browsing, downloading, streaming or all of the above?). Another way to narrow the field is to read the terms and conditions of service of the provider you are assessing. Some have restrictions against “illegal” activity, which is usually aimed at downloading copyrighted material such as music and literature.
Another tip is to look for providers who offer a trial period for prospective subscribers. This indicates that the provider has confidence in their product, and you will be able to judge if the service works for you.
Here are a couple of things to check: Internet speed and quality of technical support. You will want to know how reliable the Internet speed is, and how fast or slow it is (depends on what you want to do). You will also want a technical support team that doesn’t take weeks to respond to your questions or help requests, and who actually know what to do when problems or issues arise.
Read the customer testimonials on the website, but do go to online forums as well. There are many discussions on VPN service providers and you may find that the provider you are considering isn’t a good deal after all.
Anonymous surfing and web conferencing tools can be a great way to improve your resistance against threats online. Stuart Fisk is an experienced publisher who helps individuals lessen the risk by using mobile VPN services at work or at home. To learn more about this and other related topics search the internet and you can find a large amount at connectinprivate.com.
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Wed, Feb 17, 2010
PC Security