In a home environment, VPNs not only secure your connection from home to whatever online service you’re connecting to, but they also secure your connection from others on your Wi-Fi network. If you have confidential information you don’t want to share with roommates, or you’d prefer your teenager doesn’t have access to corporate, health, lifestyle, or financial information, a VPN will keep the connection from your computer, phone, or tablet secure from the prying eyes of the young digital natives in your midst. In this article, we’ll present a few general installation and configuration guidelines. Then we’ll walk you, step-by-step, through the installation of four popular VPNs, one for each platform. We’ll be demonstrating how to install and setup NordVPN on iOS, IPVanish on MacOS, ExpressVPN on Windows 10, and Surfshark on Android. Must read:
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Some quick tips
First and foremost, you must understand that your experience with a VPN will differ from others, especially those of us doing reviews. Every Internet connection performs differently, so even though we explored what VPNs are fastest, keep in mind that where you’re connecting from and what you’re connecting to will differ from the experience of other users. When choosing a VPN, make sure to take advantage of the trial time or the money-back guarantee. Definitely test before committing. Second, you’ll need to decide if you want your VPN to always be on or only turn on when you tell it. If you want your VPN to be active from the moment the device boots up, make that selection in the preferences for your VPN application. If you want your VPN to be active only on occasion, turn off the enable-on-startup option for the VPN you’ve chosen. Most modern VPN services have what’s called a Kill Switch. Some apps turn this on by default. Others have an option buried in preferences to enable it. What a kill switch does is disable your network connection if the VPN software fails. I generally recommend turning this on, because if you’re using a VPN, you want it to prevent others from seeing your data. You don’t want to take the chance that if it fails, your data will suddenly be unprotected. Must read:
NordVPN review: Revamping security practices, but still usefulMeet NordSec: The company behind NordVPN wants to be your one-stop privacy suiteInside a VPN service: How NordVPN conducts the business of Internet privacy
Now let’s look at the steps you’ll take installing a VPN on iOS: If you want to see this process with NordVPN, take a look at the gallery below. We show you screenshot-by-screenshot steps for setting up an iOS VPN. Also: IPVanish review: VPN delivers a wealth of options and browsing controls Now let’s look at the steps you’ll take installing a VPN on a Mac: If you want to see this process with IPVanish, take a look at the gallery below. We show you screenshot-by-screenshot steps for setting up a Mac VPN. Now let’s look at the steps you’ll take installing a VPN on Windows: If you want to see this process with ExpressVPN, take a look at the gallery below. We show you screenshot-by-screenshot steps for setting up a Windows VPN. Now let’s look at the steps you’ll take installing a VPN on Android: If you want to see this process with Surfshark, take a look at the gallery below. We show you screenshot-by-screenshot steps for setting up an Android VPN. And there you go. You’ve seen it’s pretty easy to set up a VPN for all four of the major platforms. Yes, I know I didn’t include Linux, but let’s face it: If you’re already running Linux, you don’t need me to tell you how to install a VPN (or anything else for that matter). Must read:
The best free VPNs: Why they don’t existHotspot Shield review: Here’s a VPN that actually lives up to its hypeReader question, answered: If I have https, do I need a VPN?
Are you running a VPN? What service are you using, on what platforms? Let us know in the comments below. You can follow my day-to-day project updates on social media. Be sure to follow me on Twitter at @DavidGewirtz, on Facebook at Facebook.com/DavidGewirtz, on Instagram at Instagram.com/DavidGewirtz, and on YouTube at YouTube.com/DavidGewirtzTV.
