How to improve internet security with a free VPN from Opera

You may have heard that a VPN makes the internet more secure and private with public Wi-Fi and even at home. Do you really need to pay for and install a VPN? No, Opera is an alternative.

VPN stands for Virtual Private Network and it is a method of connecting two computers with a secure and encrypted communications that is very difficult and perhaps impossible for anyone to eavesdrop and discover what you are doing, who you are or where you are located in the world.

A VPN connects two computers over the internet using an encrypted connection. One use for this is to allow employees at home, public Wi-Fi hotspots and so on, to connect securely to a company network.

They connect to the VPN server at their workplace and it is like being in the office and having access to everything on the office network like you were sat at a desk.

Even though the connection is over the public internet, no-one can intercept it and see what information is being exchanged. It is private.

You computer becomes a VPN client and the remote computer you connect to is the VPN server.

This secure connection over the internet is useful in other ways and to other people, even home users. It can be used to increase your security and privacy when browsing the web.

When you connect to a website o the internet, that site receives a lot of information about your computer and your location. For example, it can tell where in the world you are located. Perhaps not the street, but usually the nearest town or city. It can see who your ISP is, whether you are using an Apple Mac, Windows PC, phone or tablet, which web browser you are using and so on.

To see some of the information you are revealing about yourself, go to My Browser Info website and then come back here for the rest of the article and see how you can stop this information from leaking from your computer.

You stop it by accessing websites through a third party.

There are VPN servers on the internet that you can connect to. Let’s say you want a web page from a website. Instead of connecting to it directly, you connect to a VPN server using a secure encrypted connection, and the VPN server goes and gets the web page. It sends it back to you over the secure and encrypted connection.

You did not connect with the website directly, so the site knows nothing about you. The VPN server connected to the site and so the site only sees the VPN server details.

As you browse the web using sites and services, all they see is a VPN server contacting them, not you. It is a bit like Mike asking Bob to ask Sue something. Sue answers Bob, but doesn’t know that it was actually you that wanted the information.

So what this all boils down to is privacy, anonymity and security. You browse the web via a VPN server and no-one knows who you are or where you live.

Use Opera's built-in VPN

The Opera web browser has a VPN built in and it is very easy to use and free. It is by no means the best VPN and generally free ones should be avoided. To see recommended VPNs, go to RAWinopages Offers. Let's take a look at what Opera browser has to offer.

Download Opera browser and run the setup program to install it. Click Options in the bottom left corner and clear the checkbox against Help improve Opera by sending feature usage information. If you want privacy, you don't want that. Now go ahead and install it.

Click Opera > Preferences, then expand the Advanced section on the left and click Privacy & security. VPN settings are on the right.

Turn on the master switch for the VPN. I use Safari for most browsing and just use Opera when I want to be more private and secure. So I also enable Connect to VPMNwhen starting browser. It starts up with it turned on and saves you having to dig into the settings each time.

When I installed Opera, Bypass VPN for default search engines was enabled by default. This means seach engines can easily identify you and gather information about you. Turn this switch off if you want more privacy when searching the web. You can, of course, use DuckDuckGo, which offers much more privacy than Google.

You can now browse the web using the VPN. Click VPN at the left side of the address box to see your data usage. It is unlimited, but as with all free VPNs, it can be slow at peak periods of the day. One of the reasons to pay for a VPN is to avoid this, paid services are much faster. However, Opera is usually OK, not brilliant, but OK for light web browsing and even a little streaming, like YouTube and other sites.

Unlike paid VPNs, which offer hundreds and somtimes thousands of servers, Opera offers just three. It uses Optimal location by default, but if that does not work, try each of the others. They affect where you appear to be located in the world when you access websites. A fake location if you like. Sometimes it can be useful to appear to be somewhere else.

If you want even more privacy when browsing the web with Opera, click the Quick Settings button in the top right corner, scroll down to Privacy & Security, and turn on the switches next to Block ads and Block trackers. When combined with the VPN, privacy is boosted. Those two blocks also speed up the web a little.

Enable macOS built in VPN client

The Mac has built-in VPN capabilities that can be configured to use company or free public VPNs on the internet. The rest of this article looks at how to use the built in VPN. It was written when macOS was called OS X and this guide will not work with the latest macOS. Manually setting up a VPN is very similar these days, but PPTP has been dropped. If you have an old version of OS X on your Mac, this works. If you have new macOS, you need to use a different protocol.

The built in VPN is a useful feature so OS X has it built in and all you have to do is to enable it.

Close all web browsers and other software that is using the internet. Go to System Preferences and click Network.

Below the list of connections on the left, click the plus button to add a new one.

Click the Interface list and select VPN.

It asks for the VPN type and there is more than one. You need to know which one is being used by the VPN service you want to use.

There are four free VPN servers at www.freevpnnetwork.com and in the Protocol column they all say PPTP, so select PPTP for the VPN Type. The name can be anything.

Now you will be asked for the configuration. In the Account Name box, enter the username from www.freevpnnetwork.com, which is freevpnnetwork.com for all four servers.

Click Authentication Settings, select Password and enter it from the www.freevpnnetwork.com page - each of the four servers has a different password (just a four-digit number).

Tick the box, Show VPN status in the menu bar.

We are not quite done yet because OS X is a bit weird about VPNs and might not use it. Click the Advanced button and on the Options tab, tick the box Send all traffic over VPN connection.

To test whether it is working, go to http://ipipip.net or a similar website and it will display your IP address and location. If the VPN is working, it will show the IP address of the VPN server you are connected to. If it is not working, it will show your real IP address and location.

Click the menu bar icon to connect to the VPN or disconnect from it when you don’t need it.

Free vs paid VPN

It is not difficult to set up a VPN server on the internet and anyone could do it. Because all of your internet traffic is going through the VPN server, you should only use one that you trust. They have the power to spy on your activities.

A VPN is designed to stop people spying on you, but they only work if the VPN provider is trustworthy. There are several excellent VPN providers that you can trust and they provide a great service. They protect you from the worst of the web, hackers, people spying on you, the prevent eavesdropping and intercepting of internet communications, and can even prevent malware.

You do need to pay for most of them. A few provide a free service with limitations and/or adverts, and a pro or premiere services with faster speeds, no ads and more features for paying customers.

A couple of companies worth considering are Hotspot Shield and Cyberghost. Instead of using the VPN client in OS X, they provide a small app to install on your Mac. It is easier to use and offers extra features and security. Both of these have free and subscription services and are worth trying.

For a few dollars a month, it is worth considering the extra security and privacy offered by a VPN service.