Software

Is Using VPN Legal or Illegal?

Is using a VPN legal or illegal? This particular question is not easily answered with a simple yes or no. In most instances, it’s actually legal for you to utilize a virtual private network to access the internet. On the other hand, there are some instances where the activities you engage in a particular country where you connect could make using a virtual private network illegal.

For the most part, it seems crazy to consider that over the previous years, a number of nations have actually started passing laws that ban the use of VPNs or virtual private networks. In particular, China has begun fining its people that uses virtual private network.

With such rules, it just makes sense why a lot of individuals ask whether a virtual private network is legal or not. Not to mention that the concept behind VPNs is to mask your internet activity adds to the doubt.

So with that said, make sure to stay tuned in this article because we will tell you whether using a VPN is legal or not.

Read on!

How Does VPN Work?

For a normal VPN user, what is actually happening when you link to a VPN can be quite confusing, and sometimes suspicious. You may be utilizing a virtual private network service to avoid stalking eyes away from your browsing activities, but what’s actually going on under the hood? How do you exactly know that VPN services are reliable?

Well, for the most part, virtual private networks have been around for many decades. Long the mainstay for large companies especially banks to aid link employees spread out across the nation; VPNs are basically private tunnels between a server placed in a particular place and your computer.

Are VPNs Safe to Use?

Except for Iran, virtual private network use is actually legal everywhere all over the globe. Moreover, there are no limitations in place on how you can utilize your private network service. See, most virtual private network services will give you different approaches to secure your identity while you are linked as a way to ensure that you will stay anonymous and secured.

Even though the use of virtual private network is completely legal, any illegal activities performed online will remain illegal. It doesn’t matter whether you utilize a virtual private network or not. For instance, while a virtual private network may cover your tracks and keep your activities hidden from your internet service provider, torrenting unsanctioned copyrighted material while utilizing a virtual private network is illegal.

With but a few exceptions (such as Iran), VPN use is legal everywhere in the world. Furthermore, there are no restrictions in place on how you can use your VPN service. Most VPN services will provide various methods to secure your identity while you’re connected as a way to guarantee you’ll stay safe and anonymous.

Connecting to the internet with a VPN

When you link to a VPN, you are routing your PC’s connection through ha server placed in a particular place. You will then access the internet from that particular server. If you do this, then that particular remote server you have linked to will assign you a new IP address.

Throughout this process, you are still linked to your main internet service provider, and the data transmissions will then be heavily encrypted, which are normally AES or SSL encryption. Nonetheless, when you are linked to a virtual private network server, then the said layers of security mean that your internet service provider won’t be able to see your activates, beyond determining how much data is being downloaded and uploaded.

Understanding Remote Servers

It is also crucial to comprehend that remote servers you are linked to may be accessing the internet through a varied internet service provider than just your own. For instance, if you are located in Washington D.C., then using Comcast, and you link to a virtual private network placed in New York, then you might begin observing ads for Giant tickets on sites you visit, rather than advertisements for Redskins games.

Of course, this is not really a problem. The virtual private network service you are utilizing is paying the internet service provider for internet connectivity to that particular server. And for the most part, any traffic passing through there, which include your own is just part of their great deal.

Connecting to the Internet without a VPN

If you link your computer to the internet, you’re essentially gaining access directly through an ISP or Internet Service Provider’s network access point. This is the technology that all internet service providers own and maintain that gives you the privilege to access to the internet.

If you connect to the internet, your internet service provider assigns an IP address to any device you utilize to link to the modem it gives to you. In certain instances, the IP address you are given with by your internet service provider belongs to that modem alone.

Linking a Router to a Modem

Now, when you link a router to your modem, that particular router can then assign a local IP addresses for you, all of which fall under the primary modem. That’s why, even though difference devices may have various local IP addresses, your internet service providers actually see all of this traffic coming through the IP address given to you.

Essentially, your internet service provider can see all of your web browser activities when you are linked to its network. Even though most internet service providers come with particular defences in place to guarantee that its network protection professionals don’t snoop on your web browser activities and steal your sensitivity information, it is certainly not impossible for them to do so.

Additional Security Measures

That’s why; additional security measures which include SSL authentication and encryption are very handy. SSL also exist on most secured sites out there to guarantee that even your internet service provider won’t be able to see everything you do. Such secure sites are denoted with the letters “https” at the beginning of the URL that usually comes along with a padlock sign.

In such instances, you don’t need to get anxious about some wayward internet service provider stealing your crucial and sensitive information. All in all, your activities and what websites you visit are all easily tracked by your internet service provider.

Moreover, certain activities may trip certain protocols your internet service provider has in place and trigger some alerts. This can include engaging in heavy download and upload activities and accessing websites that are illegal in your nation

Final Thoughts

All in all, using VPN is not only legal but using one is actually suggested in order to improve security and maintain internet privacy.

By utilizing your virtual private network for activities that are certainly illegal is you will run the risk of getting into trouble especially by the law. If you want a recommendation, then we highly recommend EXPRESSVPN because it is a great VPN service provider that is trusted even in those nations where VPN usage is normally hard.

The only factor you must consider is whether you are utilizing a virtual private network in nation that literally bans the use of VPNs. Now, if you’re a foreigner in that particular nation, then you can normally utilize a virtual private network without worrying. On the other hand, local citizens must think twice whether their local laws will scold them.

Overall, the answer to whether using a VPN is legal or not, is that it is absolutely legal except for countries that practically bans them.

Slow VPN Connection: Factors Affecting VPN Speed

Virtual Private Network or a.k.a. VPN is not perfect just like many types of services or software out there. When utilizing a VPN connection, there could be some occasional issues that you can experience. And the one of the most frustrating problems for VPN is most likely the issue related to the slow connection.

There are some instances where your VPN can become super slow. And sometimes, you might not be able to connect to a particular server within the VPN. Not to mention that even if you’re connected to a VPN, your real IP address might still be revealed due to poor connection.

Well, for the most part, these issues happen in most virtual private network services. And depending on the service quality, it might be fixed fast by the service provider or you might just get left hanging. If you are a user of VPN services, you must be conscious that there are some factors that might cause your virtual private network performance issues.

Now, in this article we will share you why you have a slow VPN connection. In addition, we will also tell you the factors that are affecting your VPN speed. So without further ado, let’s dive in!

Limitations on Your VPN Usage

Even though prominent virtual private network services out there can provide you with no restrictions on your VPN usage, which include bandwidth limitations and speed limitations, certain VPN service providers can still give you such restrictions.

This is particularly true for virtual private network providers that offer free plans for their users. When you utilize the free version of their VPN, your private connection speed is normally restricted. And the amount of data that you are allowed to transfer is also normally restricted.

That’s why you shouldn’t be surprised if you experience a number of slowdown connection when using such free VPN service. The best way to solve this issue is to utilize on VPN services that doesn’t provide you with any kind of restrictions in maximum data transmission and speed on your virtual private network usage.

Conflict with Other Software or Applications

Your antimalware might interfere with the work of your virtual private network software if both need to utilize the same thing from your device.

For example, if your antimalware requires performing daily scanning as well as maintenance that needs constant internet connection and quite a large system resource, then for sure it would cause the virtual private network to temporarily slowdown in performance.

Now, if you’re looking for a smooth experience with your virtual private network connection, then it is a smart move to temporarily disable the antimalware you are using.

Low Quality Servers

This factor means the servers don’t have decent hardware specs. Also, low quality servers are not really made to operate well with high requests from VPN users. You see most free virtual private network services possess low-quality servers to significantly reduce their cost of operation.

In addition, free VPNs are normally rented from overseas. Furthermore, certain cheap virtual private network services also utilize low-quality servers in order to keep their price cheap so they can sell their services for cheap price as well.

Now, if your service provider is resorting to low quality servers, then the smartest way to solve the slow performance issue is to switch to another virtual private network to service provider that offers better server performance and reliability.

Interference with Internet Connection

Your internet connection can also produce some issues in your VPN performance. For example, if your internet signal got disrupted by nearby devices that are also transmitting similar wireless signal, then it could cause some issues with your network.

Now, if you keep it this way, then your virtual private network connection will also get disrupted. So, to solve this use, it’s crucial to check your internet connection speed without turning on the VPN, and check if there’s any slow performance in speed.

After that, you can restart your wireless device or router if you find any slow performance in your normal internet connection.

Server Overload

Server overload is the most typical reason for the slow performance of your VPN. When there are a whole bunch of users using the same VPN at the same time, there’s a huge probability that the server will get overloaded with too many requests from many users, which ultimately causes bad performance of the private network.

For the most part, such issue normally happens in free virtual private services, where there are a lot of people utilizing a restricted number of VPN at the same time. This is also the reason why we don’t suggest using a free virtual private network service if you’re looking for a reliable performance for your private network.

In addition, one good approach to solve server overload is normally switching to different servers and utilize one server that has less users.

Slow VPN Server Hosts and Limitations

Did you ever wonder how virtual private networks spread their network all over the globe? Well, they don’t really spread their network in a practical sense. What they do is they rent servers in certain countries and operate their virtual private network services on those particular servers.

Even though renting a server is incredibly time and cost-effective, it’s also actually restricting to a particular extent since the virtual private service network need to rely on the server infrastructure of the 3rd party host. You see, these servers usually come with their own respective processing and bandwidth limits, and this ultimately affects the server throughput.

In simpler terms, the more the number of users linking to a virtual private network, the slower it will become. In addition, certain servers are not designed to handle a lot of users while some are equipped for this very application. Also, keep in mind that the cloud host where your virtual private network lives also plays a vital role in deciding your virtual private network connection performance.

Speed Test Result and VPN

Speed tests results display the internet connection performance that we must receive on our device from the host servers of the speed test. It’s not crucial for this reported speed to be similar as the connection speed provided by your internet service provider.

It’s not really needed for this peed test to reflect a constant performance either. Your internet service provider is only a small organization on the web, and the sites you visit don’t actually lie inside your internet service provider’s network. On the flips side, these speed tests pick a server nearest to your internet service provider and provide a download speed results.

Even though this is pretty reliable for most parts in terms of internet service provider, it’s actually always not reliable when it comes to virtual private networks. Nonetheless, keep in mind that virtual private network, it is crucial to take a short overview of how your internet service provider works and how this factor can affect your speed tests results, and ultimately for your VPN.

Final Thoughts

So, those are the factors that are normally affecting your virtual private network performance. It is crucial to comprehend these factors, so that you can easily search for the best solution for your virtual private network issues whenever there is a slow performance.

Keep in mind that it is always advisable for you to utilize only a reliable and high-quality virtual private network service, and avoid those free VPN, that is if you want to get the best performance for your VPN.

And now you should understand the factors that contribute to slow virtual private network connections. Obviously, we can’t correct many of these issues since it is how the internet operates for everyone else all over the globe.

Of course, aside from the global aspects, a poor virtual private network client configuration and slow Wi-Fi network setup can also result in slow performance. These two factors are under your control, for the most part. And you can speed things like these in order to enhance the performance of your virtual private network to a particular extend.

How to Secure Windows PC

For all we know, Microsoft no longer supports Windows 7 with security updates. This only implies that Windows 7 is now pretty much the same as Windows XP – an older Windows OS. With such news, this unsupported operating system will eventually build up unpatched security holes.

Now, obviously we highly suggest updating to Windows 10 Actually, you can still upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10 without any cost or hidden charges. However, if you are still rooting to Windows 7, then this article is for you.

To keep your windows PC secure in 2020, make sure to stay tuned because we will share some valuable information and tips for you on how to secure Windows PC in 2020.

Read on!

Remove and Update Installed Applications

Windows 7 was released back in 2009, so you have probably some programs that you don’t need installed, especially if these programs are out-dated.

For instance, old versions of browser plug-ins such as QuickTime, Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash, and Java are all easily vulnerable to attack. What you want to do is simply go through this list by going to Windows 7’s Control Panel and get rid of any programs that you don’t need anymore.

Make sure that all programs you use are always updated to the newest versions. For instance, if you still have the older version of WinRAR in your computer, you must manually update it or your computer can be an easy target for malicious treats.

Securing Your OS Settings

If you are utilizing Windows 7, you must absolutely visit Windows Update and make sure that you are up to date with all the updates that Microsoft for the operating system. We also highly suggest having Windows Update automatically check for possible updates.

For all we know, Microsoft might still release some crucial updates for Windows 7 even after Microsoft is not supporting it anymore similar to what Windows XP experience.

Again, make sure to be conscious for update news because Microsoft has actually released a crucial security update for Windows XP back in 2019.

For the most part, the tips for securing your Windows PC are actually the same as they were. Just make sure to leave crucial security functionalities such as Windows Firewall and Account Control turned on.

Don’t click on strange links in your spam mails because it will become easier to exploit Windows 7 in the near future. Also, don’t download and run strange files for your own security.

Using a Secure Browser

If you are still utilizing Windows 7, then you must absolutely avoid running Internet Explorer. In fact, the brand itself – Microsoft has advised moving on to a more modern and secure browser. (Source)

Mozilla Firefox still operates on Windows 7. Mozilla has not said yet how long the brand will support Firefox on Windows 7.

Microsoft’s latest Edge browser also supports Windows 7 and will last until July 15, 2021.

On the other hand, Google Chrome still operates on Windows 7 and will support it with security updates until July 2021.

With Windows 7 no longer receiving updates, your web browser and security software must do their best in protecting you from malicious threats online.

Use Supported Security Program

We suggest operating good antivirus software that still supports Windows 7. However, make sure that it is still actively receiving regular updates. You see, Microsoft says that the company no longer provide updates to its very own Microsoft Security Essentials tool.

However, Microsoft Security Essentials tool still available for download on the company’s website. We don’t really know but Microsoft probably plans to pull these download sooner or later. Nonetheless, if you still have Microsoft Security Essentials on your PC, it will still continue acquiring malware signature updates until 2023 comes.

Of course, some security software brands still offer antimalware that still supports Windows 7 such as BITDEFENDER Free. MALWAREBYTES is also a good option. In fact, MALWAREBYTES’ free version will allow you to perform manual scans to get rid of junk files and apps as well as malware from your system.

Disconnecting Your Windows PC

Regardless if you need Windows 7 for certain purposes, you don’t really need to utilize it for everything. If you require Windows 7 to interface with a certain hardware device or operate an application that doesn’t operate on Window 10, then if possible, we highly suggest keeping the Windows 7 computer off your network.

You see, network-based and malicious sites attacks out there won’t be a problem at all. For the most part, your Windows 7 system can’t be turned against and compromised other devices on your network. You don’t need to get anxious about security problems if the Windows 7 system is cut off from the potentially harmful internet.

Now, if you want to operate an older application that doesn’t operate on Windows 10, then it may also be worth levelling up to Windows 10 and operating that older software program in a Windows 7 virtual machine on your Windows 10 desktop. Remember that older software program will operate just fine on Windows 10, that’s why this should not be really required for various applications.

For all we know, many users out there will still stick with Windows 7, and connecting it to the internet is pretty obvious.

Paying for Security Updates

If you’re a business or a part of an organization, then we highly suggest to pay for extended security updates if you are still using Windows 7. Of course, this particular option is not available to home users out there.

In addition, the exact price range for the updates will most likely depend on whether you have Windows 7 Professional or Windows 7 Enterprise.

What to Remember

Out-dated software as a security risk

The risk of utilizing any unsupported applications especially unsupported OS is the following:

At a certain point, vulnerability will be found that won’t be fixed
Malware can easily exploit this particular weakness unsupported OS

Of course, you will then be relying on your general knowledge and some security tools in order to safeguard you. Depending on who you discuss to, this is either pretty much good as complete non-issue.

You should always keep in mind that continuing to use Windows 7 will gradually become more irritating than being worthy.

Diminishing support

Eventually, more and more program developers will stop supporting Windows 7.

Now, if that includes your security program, then you must find a replacement immediately.

Of course, our general suggestion – Microsoft Security Essentials will always be a good choice. This utility will keep operating for quite some time regardless of Windows 7 cut-off date. But remember that Microsoft won’t support this utility forever.

As long as the brand keeps supporting Windows 7, you can always use it. Of course, it’s actually the same rule for any program you are currently using. But then again, finding some alternative is still a smart decision.

The best move is to upgrade to the latest version of Windows, which is Windows 10.

Final Thoughts

Truth be told, there’s nothing special you must do in order to utilize Windows 7 beyond its support time frame. Just perform things like keeping your security software updated.

Of course, you can also use your common sense and general knowledge and you’re always secured. Of course, that includes not downloading certain things and not opening emails.

Keep in mind that Windows 7 will get more potentially harmful eventually as flaws are exploited. Nonetheless, the exact damage that Windows 7 is vulnerable to will most likely depend on what security flaws are discovered and how serious they are.

Of course, you can still keep using Windows 7. However, you might consider it once again especially if you have some personal and sensitive data and information stored in your computer.