VPN tips and tricks: how to get the best from your connection

Stuff.tv

25-05-2025

There's been a lot of talk about VPNs recently, and you may be thinking that it's the sort of thing you should invest in for your PC, Mac or even mobile device. They have their uses, it's true, but a VPN (or virtual private network) is largely redundant for the majority of common computing tasks.
For the times when you need one, however, it can be absolutely essential, and having an up to date subscription to one of the best VPNs can protect you from crime, allow you to access sites and services you otherwise might not be able to, and can help mask your location and increase your privacy.
A VPN is essentially a way of encrypting your internet traffic and making it look as if you're connected to a server other than the one you actually are connected to, and it works using a network of servers spread across the world that you can bounce your traffic to. If you've ever seen a TV cop show in which they struggle to trace a hacker who's bouncing his signal through various countries, you get the basic idea.
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So once you've got your VPN set up, you may be wondering what you can do with it. A common use is to connect you to the internal network of your workplace while you're somewhere else, perhaps working from home or the coffee shop. It does this by making an encrypted connection to your office server rather than to the usual one used by your ISP, and routing all your network traffic along it. When you're connected to a VPN server, your traffic is also encrypted, so it makes it harder for criminals, or anyone, to spy on your activities. This is handy if you have any qualms over the security of the website you're visiting, or if you're sending out information you won't want to fall into the wrong hands.
VPNs usually use very tough encryption, such as AES-256, the same used by banks and credit card companies. Your traffic can still be intercepted by a determined attacker, but what they get is meaningless gibberish. Your IP address – the numerical name your computer is assigned, and which could potentially be traced back to your location (again, if your attacker is very determined) – is also masked, and this is what makes it possible to use a VPN to get around geographical restrictions.
If you've ever taken your laptop to France, say, and tried to log into your account with a popular video streaming service over your hotel Wi-Fi, then you've probably seen the error message that tells you it's not going to work because you're in the wrong country. Even worse, some streaming services have different content available depending on which country you're in, so it should theoretically be possible to log in while on holiday and watch something you otherwise couldn't.
Enter the VPN. It can be used in two ways. Either you use it to make it look as if you're still at home, when in reality you're sunning yourself on a beach in the Canary Islands, and you want to catch up with the latest must-watch series. Alternatively, you can find out in which countries a movie you want to watch is available, then use a VPN to appear to be in that location so you can watch it from your sofa.
It doesn't always work. Streaming services are wise to the ways people try to get around their geographical restrictions, and have blacklisted common IP addresses used by the exit points of VPN connections, so they still won't work even if you set them up perfectly. There's currently a bit of an arms race between the two sides, and you never know if it will work until you try.
Another trick for VPN use that involves spoofing your geographic location like this is playing GPS-enabled games on your phone like Pokemon Go. You'll need the VPN app installed and configured on your phone, and be signed up for a provider that provides the service, but you may be able to change where your phone thinks it is, allowing you to collect Pokemon you might not otherwise run into.
Other gamers may also appreciate a VPN, as it can help them to get around ISPs' habit of throttling a connection's speed when they detect that someone is playing games online. If your traffic is encrypted, the ISP can't tell that it's game-related, and so is much less likely to try to slow it down. You'll need to choose a VPN with a fast enough connection to make this worthwhile, however.
Other ISP restrictions can involve the blocking of particular sites and services, so if you want to use these you can connect to a VPN and sail right in, having first chosen a location that isn't blocked. Torrenting, for example, is a common way to share Linux distributions and other free software, but has a bad reputation thanks to its criminal use for breaching copyright laws, and is likely to be blocked. With a VPN, you can download all the Ubuntu you want.
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