What is a VPN and Why to use it?

by Devender

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VPNs are very popular and in-demand these days but do you know VPNs were originally not created for the purpose they are serving today. VPNs were originally created as a way to securely connect business networks together over the internet or allow access to the business network from home. In the current times, VPN has become the best tool for ensuring your privacy over the internet. So, let's learn more about it.

Table of Content

What is VPN?

The full form of VPN is Virtual Private Network. It is a service that helps you stay private online. It establishes a secure and encrypted connection between a device and the internet. VPN allows users to use the internet with enhanced security and privacy.

In simple words, VPN connects a user device to another computer somewhere on the internet and allows the user to browse the internet using that computer's connection. If somebody tries to locate you, it will appear that your signal is origination from that another computer and not your device. That is how VPN lets you access the content online that is not allowed in your country.

How VPN Works?

When a user connects their device to a VPN, their device acts as if it's on the same local network as the VPN. A VPN routes a user device's internet connection through a VPN rather than ISP (Internet Service Provider). By doing this, it changes the user's visible IP address and makes it look like the user is browsing from the VPN server location rather than their own device.

What does a VPN do?

When a user connects their device to VPN to browse the internet, their device connects the website through an encrypted connection provided by VPN. The VPN forwards the user's request to the website and forward the response of the website to the user, all through a secured connection.

Now, you know how VPN works but still, the questions that arise are:

What is VPN used for?
Why use a VPN?

So, let's get answers to both of these questions.

Why use a VPN?

There are many reasons why one should use a VPN but the prime two reasons are Privacy and Access. In the current time, most people use VPNs to download files via BitTorrent but there are many uses of VPN apart from that.

1 Privacy:

For starters, VPN reduces the risk associated with using public Wi-Fi networks found in coffee shops, airports and other public areas. When using a public network, any hacker connected with the same network as yours can easily spy on your activity. A VPN acts as a blockade from spies, hiding all activities you do on your device.

VPN also blocks your ISP, Government, hackers or anyone else from spying on you as you surf the internet and save you from censorship, price discrimination and geographical blocks.

2 Access:

VPN provides access to a business network and even a home network to all travellers. With help of a VPN, local resources can be used remotely from anywhere without exposing them to the web which increases security.

It also provides access to geo-blocked websites. There are numerous websites that have restricted access in various parts of the world. A VPN allows users to access all these websites without any restrictions bypassing all censorships.

How to use VPN?

Installing and using a VPN app is very easy. The VPN services are very affordable and typically cost nothing. However, there are free VPN services also available but finding a free VPN that provides good security, high speed and other essential features is not easy to find. Now, let's see how to use VPN

1 Get a VPN

The first and foremost step is to select a VPN service. There are a lot of VPN services available online which makes it quite difficult for anyone to choose the right one. However, if you are not sure about any VPN and looking for the best possible option then, we suggest PureVPN. It is complete and ticks all the checkboxes for the top VPN service.

If you have selected the VPN, just pay for it and download its app to use it.

2 Sign up

The next step is to sign up for the service you choose. It doesn’t matter which device you use, setting up a VPN service is pretty easy. Fill the required information and sign up. After signing up, you just need to log in with your credentials and click on the connect button.

3 Choose a VPN server

The next step is to select a VPN server from a list of servers. Some premium VPNs provide a long list of servers from different countries and allow you to choose any one of those while the free ones select the servers for you and don't give you much option.

It is better to change your server according to your needs. For example, a website is only available in a few countries while some other websites might be blocked on the same server and might be available in other countries.

4 Enable the kill Switch

Many VPN services have a kill switch nowadays. This kill switch is a very dynamic service that stops any data being sent over the internet connection if VPN drops unexpectedly. It ensures that your real location is never disclosed to anybody. So, it is always beneficial to keep it on. However, this service is not available in all VPNs.

Is VPN good or bad?

The one-word answer for the above-mentioned question is "Good". It protects users from hackers on public networks, from ISPs and allows them to change their location. VPN services are very easy to use and inexpensive as compared to their benefits.

Despite all this, VPNs are not allowed to use in all countries which makes it a bad thing. The governments of many countries don't want their people to use VPNs to gain access to sites that are blocked in those geographical regions for various reasons which bring the question "Why is VPN illegal".

Why is VPN illegal?

To a large extent, it might sound illegal to use a VPN service in any country because it hides your identity and gain access to block content but using a VPN isn't against law in most countries. However, there are some countries where VPNs are illegal or partly illegal.

While stating the above facts, it is also important to note that using a VPN for illegal activities is still subject to the laws of the country you are located in. In simple words, any illegal activity is still considered illegal even if you are using a VPN. VPNs are illegal to cover tracks to a committed online crime or to steal copyright data from websites.

Pros and Cons of VPN

It is true to say that everything that has some pros to it, will definitely have a few cons to it too and it is also true in the case of VPNs.

Pros of VPN:

Keeps you safe through anonymity
Access to blocked content
Access to a home network or business network remotely
Save money on region-based eCommerce
Avoids geo-restrictions
Protection from cyber attacks
Improved gaming experience

Cons of VPN:

VPN slows down your connection speed
Connection drop
Support for all devices is not available
Privacy issues with some VPNs
Legality issues

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