Last version hotspot shield for pc12/2/2023 The company’s privacy policies make it clear that you’re browsing habits are tracked-albeit in aggregate form. But if your concern is to encrypt your web browsing so you can surf safely from anywhere, HotSpot Shield does that. AnchorFreeīased on HotSpot Shield’s privacy policy it’s safe to say this is not the service for high-level anonymity online. That has nothing to do with HotSpot Shield Premium, but it’s a good reminder of why you don’t want to use an ad-supported service when trying to get online unnoticed. If you use the free, ad-supported version you may also leak personally identifying information to HotSpot Shield advertisers. Again this information is never associated with you and is used for analytics and troubleshooting. The company also gathers device information like your hardware model, OS version, browser type, language, wireless network, and mobile network information. The report states that AnchorFree does not and “cannot provide information to governments about what websites our users visit when using our services….To date, AnchorFree has never provided the identity or other personal information regarding our users to the government.” That said the company published its first transparency report in November 2017. That might not bother some users, but those who are very privacy conscious should look elsewhere. But that doesn’t negate the fact that your browsing data is still collected by AnchorFree. AnchorFree says it doesn’t store your IP address long term.īut it does “collect anonymous aggregate data about which websites you visit and which apps you use.” AnchorFree says it does this for analytics and troubleshooting, and this information is never connected to any of your identifying information such as an email address, home IP address, username, and so on. ![]() There is no ability for anonymous or semi-anonymous payment forms like Bitcoin or cash.Įven if you could pay anonymously with HotSpot Shield you probably wouldn’t want to once you looked at the service’s privacy policy-there’s a lot in there not to like if you’re privacy conscious. For payments, it only takes standard options of credit cards and PayPal. When you first sign up for the service, it asks for an email address and a password, which is pretty standard for mainstream VPN services. Its CEO is David Gorodyanksy and the CTO is Eugene Malobrodsky-they are also the company’s co-founders. headquarters are located at 1800 Seaport Blvd., Redwood City, CA 94063. Privacy, anonymity, and trust AnchorFreeĪnchorFree’s U.S. I asked AnchorFree about this and the company said it does use virtual server locations, where the physical machine may be in one location but looks like it’s in another.Īs always, take these speed tests with a grain of salt-as you should with any VPN speed test-because your experience may vary. The elapsed time was 13.612 milliseconds, which is impossible and strongly suggests that the server I was using was serving an American IP from central Europe. The day Netflix thought I was in Germany, I did manage to get one successful traceroute from a supposed connection in California to Vienna, Austria. Given this odd combination I tried running some ping and traceroute tests, but most of them timed out. ![]() HotSpot Shield did give me a few DNS servers in Germany that day, which likely contributed to Netflix’s confusion. servers, for example, I got an American IP but Google thought I was in the UK-thus it redirected my browser to .uk-and Netflix thought I was in Germany. It protects your privacy and does it with all of the speed you're used to.Įditors' note: This is a review of the trial version of Hotspot Shield Elite 2.90.The first time I connected to HotSpot Shield’s U.S. However, if you don't need these features, Hotspot Shield Elite is okay. Storage and file-sharing are usually the bread and butter of a VPN. There are no file-sharing capabilities that come with this VPN. The download will use all of the speed of your current connection to load pages, download, and upload. All other downloads will be encrypted, though. Though it encrypts your surfing, if you try to download a torrent it may throttle your connection. The program drops an icon into your browser's URL so you always know whether or not it's on. Once you've registered with Hotspot Shield, protecting your surfing only requires one click and no complicated setup. ![]() There is a wholly free version, but it's riddled with ads. Though Hotspot Shield Elite lets you download and surf without a bandwidth cap, you are limited to seven days before you have to pay. Its simplicity might win the day for you, though. It's nice in a pinch, but it's not nearly as powerful when compared to some other premium options available. ![]() As one of the easiest VPNs to set up and use, Hotspot Shield Elite safeguards your online identity and information without any glitches.
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