When traveling during the holidays or any time, it is extremely important to stay safe when using public wifi (Internet) at airports, coffee shops, hotels, etc. I recently came across a tool called Hotspot Shield that allows you to create a secure and private connection for all your browsing and email. It’s the same type of security that companies use for their employees when out of the office. It’s called VPN (virtual private networking). Without getting overly technical, VPN gives you a private gateway onto the Internet that cannot be seen when on a public wifi system. So, if a hacker was trying to break into your connection as you did your banking or checked your email, they would not be able to see what you were doing.
- To use the tool, download the free installation file from their site here.
- Double-click and go through the installation…it takes just a few minutes, but make sure to uncheck the boxes that want to change your home page, add toolbars, and change you default search engine.
- Once finished with the installation, you will see a small icon by your computer clock that shows whether the Hotspot Shield is connected (active) or not. There is no configuration necessary, and you can turn the shield on or off using the icon by the clock.
Watch this short video describing this tool and seeing it in action.
Hi Rick, looks like a great tool! Will it work for Macs as well?
Does not work with Macs, sorry.
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