MIA PE members from the past...

[aith01]

Juup, he ain't good at hiding his nature, a single post and you know who he is...

Wow, was he even away for a whole 24 hours?

[Trane]

I just welcomed him.... yet again!!

[JJ88]

Christ almighty. Has to be a record.

[moecurlythanu]

Middle Europe. He isn't even trying to hide.

[Hal...]

Why do they always come back??

I've never understood that. I mean, if it was me, I wouldn't go where I wasn't wanted.

[Sean]

They love it here, can't get enough. Obviously.

[progeezer]

The analogy can be made that Svet is doing what has become de rigueur for Eastern Europeans, which is negatively interfering with life in the US.

Ambiguous enough?

[JJ88]

I may be right, I may be wrong...but I think they are back again!

[moecurlythanu]

I may be right, I may be wrong...but I think they are back again!

Svetty has a VPN and knows how to use it.

[Trane]

Svetty has a VPN and knows how to use it.

A few I've been meaning to ask...

Howafe are these thingies?

Does Firefox own one (preferrably free)?

Is there any use for someone that doesn't do anything illegal (or trolling)?

Does the presence of a VPN on your computer provoke rejection from commercial sites, like an addblock can??

Do you have to retype your username & password every time you come back on your fave site??

thx

[Gruno]

Research “basics of using a VPN”. You’ll get all your answers there.

In short, it’s generally safer to run around online with a VPN to any website.

[Duncan Glenday]

A few I've been meaning to ask...

Howafe are these thingies?

Does Firefox own one (preferrably free)?

Is there any use for someone that doesn't do anything illegal (or trolling)?

Does the presence of a VPN on your computer provoke rejection from commercial sites, like an addblock can??

Do you have to retype your username & password every time you come back on your fave site??

thx

I use one - from time to time. I'll try to answer your Qs at a very high level:


General comments: Not all VPNs are alike. Some provide more options, some are safer, and so on.



How safe are these thingies?

Very - if you use a reputable service. I pay $25 (I think) per year, and use one that's been among the highest-rated for several years.



Does Firefox own one (preferrably free)?

No idea



Is there any use for someone that doesn't do anything illegal (or trolling)?

Yes.
- Many people use them when doing their online banking
- If you're at (say) an airport, coffee shop, etc. which provides free wifi - hackers can easily watch what you're doing. A VPN blocks that
- Some (probably most) ISPs secretly track where you go. They can't usually see what you're doing on each site, but they know you went there. VPNs block that
- Some people are concerned about gov't agencies watching what they do. A good VPN can make it very difficult for them to track tou.
- Some sites (E.g. the BBC's sports broadcasts) block you from accessing their content if you're not in their preferred country. A good VPN can trick those sites into believing you're ... wherever you want to be.
- Some sites (e.g. airlines) model their prices based on where you are, and what your likely appetite is for high prices. A good VPN can mask your true location
- Some sites track your site usage from your ISP. VPNs change your ISP all the time.
- And many more uses...


Does the presence of a VPN on your computer provoke rejection from commercial sites, like an addblock can??

There are a few sites that block people from coming in via a VPN. But a they can't detect a good VPN


Do you have to retype your username & password every time you come back on your fave site??
No - it's usually your PC that remembers your user-ID and password.

[Jerjo]

I may be right, I may be wrong...but I think they are back again!

Is it that poster that goes as Deo?

[TheH]

Is it that poster that goes as Deo?

Yes he was Deo, banned again..

[Trane]

I use one - from time to time. I'll try to answer your Qs at a very high level:

thanks a zillion... I'll definitely look into that ASAP (when I can)....

I suppose this isn't feasible from your work computer, working inside a network.

BTW, is this the kind of stuff (VPN) that hackers and darkwen users use as a basis tool??
And does that make youan immediate suspect in the eyes of the web-watching CIA-NSA if you use one? (I suspect not)

[Hal...]

I use one - from time to time.

I pay $25 (I think) per year, and use one that's been among the highest-rated for several years.

Which one? I pay over twice that a year.

- Many people use them when doing their online banking

That's probably the best reason to use a VPN if you're paranoid about someone watching you or mining your data.

But that leads me to a question I've often wondered about: if you happen to have a keystroke logger on your PC (which I don't) and you're using a VPN, can it still upload your info?

- Some sites (E.g. the BBC's sports broadcasts) block you from accessing their content if you're not in their preferred country. A good VPN can trick those sites into believing you're ... wherever you want to be.

That's one reason I use one. Altho, I've only done it a couple of times, to date, I was able to watching something during the Olympics that wasn't shown here in the US but was available on the BBC.

- Some sites track your site usage from your ISP. VPNs change your ISP all the time.

Wait a minute, does using a VPN change your ISP or your IP location, masking your real ISP?

I typically use the same few IP locations all the time. Which leads me to a couple questions and a comment:
1. Which is more important, latency or distance? (and, yes, I know there's usually a correlation)
2. Does using a location half-way across the globe affect speed much?
Comment: there's an IP location I've used in the past and when I've come to PE, I get the message that it's banned and to contact PE's site administrator. lol

[Hal...]

I suppose this isn't feasible from your work computer, working inside a network.

I really don't know. A VPN creates a kind of "tunnel" from your PC to the VPNs website. Wherever you go on the internet after that is hidden. Now whether a work network can block a VPN running I don't know. More importantly, you're probably going to be unable to download the VPN software since you won't have administrative rights. So, in that regard, it's moot.

BTW, is this the kind of stuff (VPN) that hackers and darkweb users use as a basis tool??

Duncan probably has a better answer but I'd say I'm sure sure they do because they need to hide what they're doing online.

Incidentally, you asked earlier if a site can block you if you're using a VPN. Not in the sense you're thinking of. However, some sites will make things difficult if you're not using a VPN. But that's all I'm going to say on that subject.

And does that make you an immediate suspect in the eyes of the web-watching CIA-NSA if you use one? (I suspect not)

Not that I'm aware of. However, from what I've read - and I don't know if this is true - some VPNs have records of your usage that the NSA and other intelligence agencies can subpoena if they need/want to.

But to put VPNs into perspective, a (former?) member here who's from England and now works in China uses a VPN to access websites that the Chinese gov't blocks, notably Facebook.

[markwoll]

thanks a zillion... I'll definitely look into that ASAP (when I can)....

I suppose this isn't feasible from your work computer, working inside a network.

BTW, is this the kind of stuff (VPN) that hackers and darkwen users use as a basis tool??
And does that make youan immediate suspect in the eyes of the web-watching CIA-NSA if you use one? (I suspect not)

Most telecommuting corporate users ( and govt users ) are required to use some form of VPN.
It is a security best practice. We tell our users to use the VPN whenever they use their assigned work laptop outside of the office.
Most 'free' wifi ( or wired ), Coffee shop, hotel, airport is not secure.
If you have to use a password to access it, that is a good thing, but https connections are the minimum even in that case.
The darkweb thing, Tor uses special protocols to obfuscate your browsing sessions. There is a version of Firefox that comes with Tor ( or the other way around ).
VPN is good, but your browsing session "comes out" of their servers to the desired site ( google, porn, etc ).
You ( the VPN user ) is dependent on the VPN provider to be acting in your ( the VPN customer ) best interests.
The Tor system can be subverted by bad actors ( criminals, National agencies, a-holes ).
In general the more people that use secure systems like VPN or Tor, the more background noise to 'hide' a specific session. It is harder to 'connect the dots'.
Normal browsing is very easy for ISP's and web sites to keep track of.

[Duncan Glenday]

Which one? I pay over twice that a year.

I use PureVPN. Maybe it does cost double that - I don't remember



Wait a minute, does using a VPN change your ISP or your IP location, masking your real ISP?

Your VPN changes the ISP that is visible to the site you're visiting. I.e. if you tell your VPN to route through the UK, then go to the BBC, the BBC will read your "IP address" and conclude that you are in the UK. It has no way of knowing where you really are.


I typically use the same few IP locations all the time. Which leads me to a couple questions and a comment:
1. Which is more important, latency or distance? (and, yes, I know there's usually a correlation)

Latency can definitely be a problem!!


2. Does using a location half-way across the globe affect speed much?

Not in my experience. It's really a matter of the speed of the server that they route you through. E.g. the Hong Kong server might be very fast, but the Cambodian one might be slow...


Comment: there's an IP location I've used in the past and when I've come to PE, I get the message that it's banned and to contact PE's site administrator. lol

The PE administrator is WATCHING YOU!!!



Most telecommuting corporate users ( and govt users ) are required to use some form of VPN.
It is a security best practice. We tell our users to use the VPN whenever they use their assigned work laptop outside of the office.
Most 'free' wifi ( or wired ), Coffee shop, hotel, airport is not secure.

That's one of the key reasons I use a VPN. I fly every other week, and connect at airports, coffee shops, and hotels.



CAVEAT:

Your own PC still knows where you've been and what you're doing. Use a VPN to visit a site that uses cookies - and that cookie will be kept on your PC. So a VPN will not hide your browning history from people who can access your laptop (wives, business colleagues, your IT department, etc.) To get that kind of privacy - go "incognito" when you're browsing. (In Chrome - hit control-shift-N.) Then, you'll be close to really shielding your web activities.

[Trane]

The PE administrator is WATCHING YOU!!!

Thanks to you, Hal & Mark for answering my near-noobie questions (as you can deduct, I'm a fairly basic web-user), you've been immensely helpful.

I'm sometimes curious to see what's on the darkweb, but am wayayay too chicken to do so, figuring that I'd either get robbed/hacked blind, or get coined as some kind of paedopheliac terrorist by the NS. I'm not sureacquiring a VPN would make me cross that line (I wouldn't know how to get in there, anyways) .

[moecurlythanu]

What happened to Jed? Did his fingers finally give out?

[Gruno]

What happened to Jed? Did his fingers finally give out?

It was reported that he finally found Google...

[NogbadTheBad]

It was reported that he finally found Google...

He hasn't stopped asking it questions for the last 2 weeks.

[moecurlythanu]

It was reported that he finally found Google...

Was it in Adele's purse?

[Gruno]

He hasn't stopped asking it questions for the last 2 weeks.

Google stock is now down 8% as a result.