VPNs

PureVPN was crashing my computer and would like to switch to something else.

Any recommendations?

 

I've been using NordVPN for a while now with no issues

I use it on my computer, laptop, tablet, and phone (they have an app for it)

 

I've been using ExpressVPN- one of the pricier options but they seem to be high quality. Nice interface (PC and Android). Annual audits by a third party. They had a Cyber Monday deal going on yesterday, not sure if it's still around.

Nord has caught a fair bit of flak in tech news in the past couple months- they had a couple of user info leaks iirc, and they tried to hush up a configuration vulnerability that exposed user data out in Finland(?). Nothing catastrophic, but they way they handled it wasn't what I'd expect from a security-oriented provider.

 

Mullvad has been my go to for a few years now. Reasonable prices, good speed, fantastic privacy policies and IIRC not based in a five eyes country.

 

Settled on Express VPN lately. But due to us being based in China, we have quite different demands for VPN.

 

IPVanish works great for me. Plenty of servers in whatever location I need them in.

 

Yeah, I would avoid Nord at this point.

I used to use PIA (Private Internet Access). They allow more advanced configurations than most of their competitors, but their Android app is only mid-tier feature wise. Unfortunately, they were just purchased by Kape, based out of London, so logging of personal activity is mandated by UK law, as I understand it.

Thus, I switched to Express VPN as well. It seems quite nice and feature rich. They don't have a server in Denver, unfortunately, but the connection to Dallas is fast and the latency is low.

There are many who may not know that where your VPN company is located is critical in ensuring your privacy. I suggest those who are interested review this article on the topic.

Express VPN (British Virgin Islands) and Perfect Privacy (Switzerland) would be my top two picks.

PP for those outside the US, Express for those in the US.

Edit: See also, https://vpnpro.com/blog/hidden-vpn-owners-unveiled-97-vpns-23-companies/

 

Oh, that reminds me:

https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252466203/Top-VPNs-secretly-owned-by-Chinese-firms

Yeah, I think it's worth not going bottom of the barrel to save a couple of dollars if you're going to the minor extra trouble and expense of VPN in the first place. Unless the drive is just geo spoofing to get around Netflix location limits or some such.

 

Surfshark user here. I've been using their services for over a year now, and I have to say, they're quite decent. I'm able to stream from all the libraries on Netflix, and I'm able to access Disney+. They're speeds improved quite a lot, so they're suitable for gaming as well. No logs, P2P traffic support, low price, unlimited device logins, not sure what else to mention? To be honest, I don't know what specific features interest you, so I don't want to talk about features that might be irrelevant, but I would recommend checking them out.

 

I've used Express, Pure, and PIA. They're all pretty solid, but I settled on Express as the best combo of price, security, and speed.

 

I use ProtonVPN which has a free version available. It’s made by some folks who used to work at CERN and is headquartered in Switzerland.

Privacy is their focus and they have Tor servers with a paid subscription.

I used it when I was in Hong Kong a few months ago and worked well enough for me to subscribe. It didn’t work when I tried to access the Hong Kong Netflix catalog from the US though.

They still have a Black Friday deal through Dec 9th for significant savings. I took advantage to add their ProtonMail.

 

That One Privacy Site by That One Privacy Guy is a good resource to help you choose a VPN. Most VPN reviews are biased because of affiliate links and there are none at That One Privacy Site. I would look for a VPN which has no affiliate program and a strong, no logging privacy policy verified by independent audit. It should also not be on the list from the link @Elnrik posted of VPNs incorporated in any of the 14 Eyes countries.

 

His site is where I found Mullvad.

 

Thanks for everybody's recommendations!

I went with Mullvad because they had good ratings at the VPN Comparison page, and took bitcoin for payment. So far I have no complaints after two days of use.

 

Was gonna come here to recommend Mullvad and now seeing you chose it I'd like to say I highly recommend using their wireguard servers if you aren't already.

 

Wireguard is still a work in progress and even though the attack surface is much smaller than OpenVPN there are some precautions users should take. Mullvad talks about them here.

There are several top shelf VPNs. Which you use often comes down to speed for your location. You should always make sure there are no leaks (use the extended test at https://dnsleaktest.com/) and the kill switch is bulletproof so your IP is never accidentally exposed.

 

After a few different Cyberghost has been my choice every Black Friday. Works wonderfully on my PC and Androids.

 

I was on HideMyAss for a couple years, but after seeing the way British laws regarding privacy were going, I switched to ExpressVPN.

 

torguard is great.

 

To choose a provider, it is better to consider those companies that everyone has known for a long time. This is an indicator of reliability: if the provider is still used for a long time, then, most likely, he did not insult customers, did not steal data, and so on. There are also many VPN protocols, the most popular ones we described in this post on our blog. Some of them are better protected, some are faster, but if you try to discuss all this in this post, it will turn into a thick volume of an encyclopedia about networks. The only thing that should be considered is that there are malicious programs among VPN programs. Therefore, when choosing, it is best to pay attention to the *spam removed*.