I didn't find any extensions installed for Google's Chrome Web browser. I don't like having my browsing space reduced with toolbars (which is especially important when working on smaller screens), so the fact that AnchorFree didn't try to push it on me was a big plus, especially since it meant the company was giving up ad real estate.ĭuring installation, Hotspot Shield installs a plugin for Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox, Hotspot Shield Class and Hotspot Shield Helper 1.0, to handle the VPN activity for those two browsers. I was very pleased to see that AnchorFree has turned the toolbar option off by default. Getting Started The first thing I saw after launching the installation executable was the option to install the Hotspot Shield toolbar. The ads were shown only when Hotspot Shield was active. The software also comes with an optional browser toolbar to display a 720 pixel x 98 pixel ad. I was annoyed enough that paying $29.95 a year for Elite sounded appealing. While it makes sense to support the free version of the tool with ads, the method used felt overly intrusive and irritating. On the free version, every single time I activated Hotspot Shield to begin my VPN session, the tool would open a new browser window to open a start page with ads and a video automatically playing. I didn't notice any differences between the free and Elite versions except for the advertisements. This review looks at both versions, but the rating is based on Hotspot Shield Elite. Users can pay via credit card and PayPal. AnchorFree has two plans available for Elite, an annual plan for $29.95 a year, a 6-month plan for $19.99. The free version displays ads to the user while it is turned on, while Elite is ad-free. Hotspot Shield is available in two flavors, free and Elite. I was able to configure the tool to skip the notifications altogether and automatically activate Hotspot Shield on unknown networks. Users are also prompted whenever they connect to an unknown wireless network to turn on Hotspot Shield. Hotspot Shield can also warn users whenever they land on a known or suspected malicious website (as determined by AnchorFree's database of more than 3.5 million malicious sites). It's pretty easy to tell by looking at the connection icon in the system tray or on the top of the browser whether the VPN protection is active or not. When it's on, all traffic goes through AnchorFree servers and everything is encrypted. Turning on Hotspot Shield allows users to surf vanilla-HTTP Websites as if they are actually HTTPS-secured sites.įeatures For both paid and unpaid versions, Hotspot Shield has two states-on and off. All network data sent and received is encrypted, making it difficult for anyone trying to ferret out information about your online activity. When a website tries to look up the user's IP address or geographic location, it receives information about AnchorFree's servers, instead. When Hotspot Shield is turned on, AnchorFree assigns the computer an IP address belonging to its network. The Hotspot Shield software encrypts all Internet activity from the PC and routes the packets through AnchorFree's servers. Businesses with employees who travel may want to equip their road warriors' laptops with either version of Hotspot Shield for connecting their work computers on open hotspot in a coffeeshops, airports, and so on, where convenient connectivity does not equal safe connectivity. That's not to say that Hotspot Shield and Hotspot Shield Elite are only for privacy-conscious individuals. Whether you are using the free Hotspot Shield software or the paid Hotspot Shield Elite, you can count on getting secure connectivity from a very user-friendly interface. Hotspot Shield Elite £2.69 Per Month for 3 Year Plan at Hotspot Shieldis easy to use, and like several other VPN services on the market, may actually speed up customer connections based on which servers you are connecting it to. Like our Editors' Choice NordVPN, Golden Frog's VyprVPN, and PureVPN, AnchorFree offers VPN-as-a-service to users who are interested in protecting some of their activities online. While there are plenty of VPN options available for small and mid-sized businesses to protect their employees on-the-go, Hotspot Shield is geared towards providing similar security for non-work purposes. Best Hosted Endpoint Protection and Security SoftwareĪnchorFree's Hotspot Shield Elite is one of the easiest virtual private network ( VPN) services available for the general user.
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