Chad's Tech Tips

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Do You Need a VPN?

Chad Ryan

Chad has worked in IT for the past 17 years and enjoys sharing tech knowledge with you.

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Some of the most common questions I find in my inbox are, “Do I need a VPN?” or “What is a VPN?” or “What VPN do you recommend?”

For those who are not familiar, a VPN keeps you safe online by protecting your identity. It essentially creates a secure tunnel between you and the website or service you are using. With a VPN enabled on your computer, your location is disguised as is your IP address.

Think of your IP address like your house address. Without a VPN everyone on the internet can see what your house address is. With a VPN you are essentially providing a fake address so that nobody online can see where you really live.

A VPN can also keep you safe on public Wi-Fi. Because VPNs use encryption this shields your internet activities from others on the network.

VPNs can be used to virtually change your location. I live in Canada and occasionally I’ll come across a website that can only be accessed from the US. I’ll just switch my VPN to a US IP address and boom, I’m in!

Now that you know what a VPN is, let’s get on to which one I recommend. There are hundreds of them out there and I’ve tried a bunch of them.

After all of my testing, I can confidently recommend Surfshark. Here are a few reasons why:

  • Surfshark does not limit the number of devices you can install it on
  • It is the fastest VPN I have tested
  • Surfshark’s “Bypasser” mode allows me to specify websites where I do not want the VPN active
  • It is available for all major platforms including Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS

Check out Surfshark now

Have a question about VPNs? Drop a comment below!

7 responses to “Do You Need a VPN?”

  1. Does a VPN sheild your IP address from your internet provider knowing what websites you visit? My guess is “yes”, however I want to make sure. Tired of potential “Big Brother!” Thank you!

  2. Hi Chad,

    I have found that using a VPN does have some drawbacks; with Google I get a lot checks like “Our systems have detected unusual traffic from your computer network. This page checks to see if it’s really you sending the requests, and not a robot.” and then Captcha picture quizzes, and some websites would let you in.

    But these are minor annoyances!

    • It would depend on which Norton product you’re talking about. If you’re talking about Norton’s VPN product they are similar.

  4. Hey Chad, thanks for what you do for us… I went to whatismyipaddress.com just to see what shows up. It showed me in another state 1,000 miles away. I am using Verizon5k (router belongs to them) for my provider. I’m wanting to get a VPN but that different location has me asking you where I stand.

  5. Hey Chad, thanks for what you do for us… I went to whatismyipaddress.com just to see what shows up. It showed me in another state 1,000 miles away. I am using Verizon5k (router belongs to them) for my provider. I’m wanting to get a VPN but that different location has me asking you where I stand.