In case if you somehow don't know, VPNs stand for Virtual Private Network. They route your internet traffic through a specific proxy server, although doing so may slow down internet speed, it is completely worth it.
Imagine a world where your exact fingerprint is taped on your forehead, and anyone that sees it can track you. This is basically what can happen to you if you go online and surf the web. Look at this:
Your Computer ---> ISP (Internet Service Provider) ---> Whatever Site You are Visiting
Look at this diagram. As you can see, your ISP is always the Man in the Middle (MitM). This means that, theoretically speaking, that your ISP can see and monitor everything you search for (keeping it even if you delete your local browsing data), and sometimes even do something as evil as blocking your internet connection, blocking torrents, and even injecting ads on a webpage.
However, with a VPN, you don't need to fear your ISP spying on you! With a proxy connection, the diagram is changed:
Your Computer ---> ISP (Internet Service Provider) ---> Proxy Server ---> Whatever Site You are Visiting
See? With a VPN connection, all your stupid ISP can do now is see your connection with a proxy server, which means that you can finally download free movies online without your ISP sending a letter to you! Adding a cherry on top, if you can connect to a server in a totally different country, then you can access content that might be blocked in your current location. Millions of Chinese people have to use a VPN to bypass Great Uncle Mao's Great Firewall of China.
Of course, if you are relying on said VPN, you must also rely on them not collecting and selling your data too, since they now also become the MitM. But even in the worst case of a honeypot VPN that snitches on you and reports all your internet activity to your ISP, at least you will be able to get the geographical benefits I mentioned above.
As I said above, you have to put your trust into a VPN and pray that it doesn't store any data. Now, what I will be covering here is a single VPN, and I will tell you how to set it up and run it.
I've seen a lot of these on the Chrome Web Store, and all I can say about them is that they are pretty much all a load of horse radish and you should not trust them. I even decided to test them out, and they didn't even work half the time! Anyways, I wasn't even planning on making this section because I thought people could still see through the scam, but apperently there are still losers out there that still fall for them for some crazy reason.
Back to the VPN I was talking about (RiseUp VPN), it is basically the only free VPN out there that was actually GOOD.
If you are using Windows, download the exe file and go through the instructions on the new window once opened. the VPN will start automatically after it finishes installing.
Download the latest dmg file. When done, double-click it and it will install.
Since there are several Linux distros out there, this Linux/GNU section is split into multiple mini-sections.
You should be able to install by copying this into your terminal:
sudo apt install riseup-vpn
Install the latest LTS versions by entering this into your terminal:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:leapcodes/riseup-vpn
sudo apt update
sudo apt install riseup-vpn
There are AUR (Arch User Repo) packages out there. The version with a "git" suffix builds the latest developer version. Install by running:
yay riseup-vpn
yay riseup-vpn-git
Anyways, I just wanted to educate people about VPNs, and I totally didn't steal the installation instructions from the official site. Alright, folks! Today's blog is done for now! Make sure to tune in next month for the next blog!