Today’s tech-recipe is a bomb, but not the dangerous one though. I love sharing and today wouldn’t be different.
If you really care about your internet privacy and would like to tighten some loosed nuts and bolts, then this article was specially written for you.
Privacy is extremely important in this jet age where anything online seems unsafe, but you could change yours.
When I first installed a VPN, I did it because most of my friends had it on their smartphones and I felt like making my phone look updated. Could you imagine my reason?
Well, fast forward to this moment, I have learned a lot and now know the reason why you should install a VPN app and how to make the anonymity 100% complete.
A virtual private network (VPN) is a technology that creates a safe and encrypted connection over a less secure network, such as the internet.
I am sure you will allow me to do a quick break down of some important but overlooked terms.
What is VPN and how do you use it?
A VPN, or Virtual Private Network simply allows you to create a secure connection to another network over the Internet. VPNs can be used to access region-restricted websites, shield your browsing activity from prying eyes on public Wi-Fi, and a lot more.
Internet fraudsters love VPN with passion.
Is it safe to use a VPN?
Accessing the internet exposes a lot about you in seconds, from your location to the device you are using and other personal stuff. So if you want to shield your privacy, use a VPN app.
Now, let’s get straight to the topic for today since you already know what you want.
VPN Tips/Tricks You Didn’t Know Existed
Actually, it doesn’t just stop at installing a VPN app on your smartphone, to get a stable anonymity, a little more tweak is needed.
So let’s begin with the basics and naturally put the rest.
Important, Use a good VPN app or service provider
Using the right VPN app is just the first step to your internet security. VPN apps on Android have both paid and free. So what should you do?
It’s simply a simple choice. Some paid VPN apps are awesome and a good number of free VPN apps are exceptionally useful.
So if you got the money, it’s okay to go for a paid VPN app. Using a good free VPN app also does the same job but with a mustard seed of some missing features.
Here’s a concise list of paid VPN apps you can get and also a good number of awesome free VPN apps you can also use.
Paid VPN apps
Free VPN
Find/Check your IP Address
The next thing is to check or find out your IP(Internet Protocol) address. Well, your VPN might be automatically or manually set to a specific country which you know, the IP check is to confirm it.
The IP address is extremely important. An Internet Protocol (IP) Address is a number assigned to a network equipped piece of hardware by which other devices identify it.
It’s a unique string of numbers separated by periods that identifies each computer using the Internet Protocol to communicate over a network.
Your IP address tells the other device that you are visiting from the USA, using a Chrome browser on Windows 10 PC via ATT network. You might see your local or public IP address.
How to find & check my IP address
To check your IP address, there are several websites you can visit to see your IP address. Below are some of the popular IP address checking sites.
- Just type what’s my ip address on Google search and you will see it displayed boldly at the top.
- https://www.whatismyip.com
- whore.net
Once you check and it shows the IP address and country set in the VPN, you are almost ready to be hidden from those prying eyes.
The next step is to secure your internet access by making sure your anonymity is completely hidden and not traceable.
This is very important based on what you are doing with the VPN.
Most sites will still detect your original country or IP address alongside the fake which the VPN has chosen.
In cases like this, your efforts to conceal yourself would detected and your anonymity will be questioned.
Disable GPS/Location services
It’s hilarious in every sense that someone will be trying to hide his online identity by using a VPN app and still turn on the location services on his Android phone.
Funny enough, some people would even set the location to use the most accurate services.
Just give me a second to laugh. ?? ?
It’s a common mistake a lot of people make which makes your anonymity a child’s play.
You can’t use your VPN while your GPS/location services are turned on and expect to be so anonymous.
Okay, here’s how to turn off your Android’s GPS/location services.
Use Incognito Mode/Privacy browser
Incognito mode is available on most modern web browsers and it does a simple job. It makes your browsing becomes private, and other people who use your device or network won’t see your activity.
In an incognito mode, your browser won’t save the following information:
- Your browsing history
- Cookies and site data
- Information entered in forms
This information also helps sites to detect or track your online activities.
Apart from being in incognito mode, you should also consider browsers that are more concerned about your internet privacy.
A good privacy browser and a nice VPN appis a full fleshed combo.
Example of browsers that will be useful to a privacy-conscious user includes
Enable Do Not Track(DNT) on your browser
The Do Not Track service is available on almost every good browser. Once it’s turned off(by default), websites or advertisers can track your online activity easily.
That’s why you will visit a website to read about petroleum products and when you visit another different site with maybe Google Adsense ads displayed, Google ads will show you some petroleum products related ads.
This is because your activity is tracked.
The simple solution is to enable the Do Not Track feature.
Enabling “Do Not Track” means that a request will be included in your browsing traffic. Any effect depends on whether a website responds to the request, and how the request is interpreted.
For example, some websites may respond to this request by showing you ads that aren’t based on other websites you’ve visited.
Many websites will still collect and use your browsing data – for example, to improve security, to provide content, services, ads, and recommendations on their websites, and to generate reporting statistics.
Whether or not the websites obey your DNT settings, just enable DNT. Period!
Let’s quickly see how to enable Do not track on some popular web browsers.
How to enable Chrome Do Not Track for better mobile privacy
- Open Chrome on your Android device.
- Tap on Chrome’s menu button (three vertical dots in the upper right corner)
- Scroll down and tap Settings.
- Scroll down and tap Privacy (under Advanced)
- Tap Do Not Track.
- Tap the slider switch to its ON position
How to enable Firefox Do Not Track for better mobile privacy
- Open Firefox on your Android
- Click on the menu icon at the top
- Select Settings
- Tap Privacy
- Click on Do not track to turn it on
Enabling Do Not Track for iOS Safari
- Open “Settings” and go to “Safari”
- Under the “Privacy & Security” section, toggle the switch next to “Do Not Track” so that it’s in the ON position
Disable Flash Player In Your Browser
Although Flash player is necessary to view or play contents on most sites, disabling it can be useful if you want to increase the stability of your browser, decreasing resources and energy usage, and increase security.
Unless you just can’t live without it, disabling it adds more strength to your privacy.
Change Your Time To Match Your IP Address Time Zone
As simple as this may sound, it can help boost your anonymity. Setting your device’s time to the same time zone as your VPN designated IP address will extensively increase your privacy/anonymity.
Once you know and have confirmed the IP address, let your local time match the timezone of the IP address.
It looks fishy when the time zone on your IP address is USA and your wonderful device time is Congo. Hmm
With these simple tricks, your VPN plus internet anonymity will be very effective and fun.
If you find anything unclear or would like to contribute, please feel free to drop a comment below.
Also, we got more honey for your eyes to taste:
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