CNET Editors' review
Hotspot Shield - Maintain and protect your privacy - Download Video Previews
The bottom line: The Internet connection protector Hotspot Shield encrypts your traffic to protect you from all kinds of spying while your computer communicates with the rest of the world. It's a must-have utility for anybody who uses public Wi-Fi networks.
Review:
The Internet connection protector Hotspot Shield encrypts your traffic to protect you from all kinds of spying while your computer communicates with the rest of the world. It's a must-have utility for anybody who uses public Wi-Fi networks, but it's also an excellent tool for ensuring on any network connection that you can access sites and data according to your tastes, and nobody else's. Hotspot Shield's Virtual Private Network services are used by more than 10 million people at the time this review was written, according to the software publisher AnchorFree, making it the largest VPN in the world.
The browser-independent Hotspot Shield establishes an encrypted connection to the Hotspot Shield servers, and turns all HTTP traffic to the safer HTTPS. By rerouting Web traffic and providing you with a new IP address hosted by AnchorFree, the company is able to ensure that your data isn't plucked out of the open by man-in-the-middle attacks or wireless network spoofing.
Recent changes include automatic detection of Wi-Fi connections nearby, the ability to work on corporate networks, and no longer requiring administrative privileges to install.
In our tests, we noticed that sometimes the program would actually resolve pages faster than when connected without it. This occurs, most likely, because of the geographic location of the company's servers. During a day of hands-on testing on the notoriously pokey CNET public Wi-Fi network, we noticed that Hotspot Shield Elite was remarkably fast. There were no connection lags despite the rerouting, and the program admirably handled high-definition streaming videos from sites such as Vimeo, YouTube, and CNET TV. We'd recommend the program for improving the Wi-Fi speeds alone, nevermind the additional security benefits.
The free version of Hotspot Shield does come at a cost. The installation opts you into a toolbar, which redirects your default search and home page, and a desktop icon. Also, whenever you activate Hotspot Shield, it will open a new tab to AnchorFree.com and begin autoplaying a video. That's seriously annoying, even in a free product that offers such a valuable service. Still, the toolbars and redirects are optional.
Once installed, it appears as a red icon that turns to green when activated in both your system tray and in your browser. Clicking will toggle it on or off. Choosing the Properties option opens a window that tells you that you're connected. Hit the Details link to learn more about your connection, including the VPN IP address, amount of data sent in and out, and how long you've been connected. The data transfer rate makes for a useful, quick-and-dirty gauge for people with data caps.
Hotspot Shield's paid upgrade is called Elite, which runs ad-free and on faster servers. Elite costs $0.50 per 24-hour session, with a minimum $10 deposit, or $5 per month, or $29.99 per year. Payment options include credit card, PayPal, prepaid cash cards or mobile phone payments via premium SMS. Along with built-in site malware protection, Hotspot Shield Elite comes with tech support, preferential bandwidth priority (read: faster Internet speeds) and serves you no additional ads from AnchorFree.
The company has created multiple ways to circumvent download blockers in countries with strict censorship, too. If you can't access a Web page with the download, you can send an e-mail to win@anchorfree.com for the Windows version or mac@anchorfree.com for the Mac version, and the small installer file will be sent directly to you.
Note that although the Windows version number and the Mac version number don't match, AnchorFree says the features are the same.
Even with the installation shenanigans, we highly recommend Hotspot Shield for anybody concerned with privacy. In today's world, that ought to be anybody connecting a computer to the Internet.
Hotspot Shield - Maintain and protect your privacy - Download Video Previews:Publisher's Description
From AnchorFree:
With over 100 million downloads, Hotspot Shield is the world's most popular Virtual Private Network (VPN) that secures your browsing session, detects and blocks malicious websites, makes you private and anonymous online, and allows you to access any blocked content.
Hotspot Shield allows you to: Secure your Web session, data, online shopping, and personal information online with HTTPS encryption. Browse the Web anonymously and privately, without being tracked. Access any blocked content from school or office networks.
What's new in this version: Version 3.19 is a bug-fixing release.
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All versions:
3.0 starsout of 581 votes
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Current version:
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"The most intrusive VPN a friend of NSA"
Version: Hotspot Shield 3.17
Pros
- Very good if you love Obama and NSA
Cons
- No torrent
- NothingSummary
If you want privacy, don't use this. Use Private Internet Access.
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"Not Really Free"
Version: Hotspot Shield 3.17
Pros
Works for a while.
Cons
After using for a few months, it bombards you with upgrade messages. This program will disconnect itself if you don't upgrade. So in the middle of a download, "poof" it's gone and you lose your download.The latest message I'm getting is "bandwith limit ix exceeded". There was no mention of any bandwirth limit when I installed the program. My advise is look for another vpn program and skip this one.
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"free Expat shield brilliant paid Hotspot shield horrid!"
Version: Hotspot Shield 3.17
Pros
now zero pros!
Cons
Customer service horrible, mbps (megabytes per second) now down to 0.46 .... my local ISP is over 40.0 !!! How can their free service run better than the paid??? I don't get it!
Summary
Expat shield was brilliant!! Used it for free for a few years... then forced to "upgrade" in order to access sites I use daily in UK... so $30 for a year not bad...haaaa. AFTER I paid the mbps (speed) is down to 0.46 ... when the free version was well over 5.0 (my local ISP gives me over 40.0) ... so pay and you get worse service... AND a refusal to acknowledge complaints ...when they finally DO respond... pffft they answer a question I did not ask. FAIL! I LOVED this company and am happy to pay for service,,, but now neither free, nor functional... now they ignore paying customers... what a waste!!!! Anyone have any suggestions of better providers??
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"Not compatible with Windows 8.1"
Version: Hotspot Shield 3.17
Pros
It appears to provide the privacy promised, but I have no way of verifying this.
Cons
On Windows 8.1, it caused some of the apps not to work. The mail apps would not update while Hotspot was present. I deleted Hotspot and my mail app started to work normally again.
Summary
Try another VPN if you use Windows 8.1.
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"To be honest, hotspot shield simply"
Version: Hotspot Shield 3.17
Pros
Now I can download and browse whatever I want. My privacy over the internet is 100% safe and I am enjoying it.
Cons
I was sick of how I couldn't access a few websites blocked from my ISP. I tried hotspot shield and it is working fine for me.
Summary
Though I am satisfied with the free version, but just to avoid those ads I am going to purchase Hotspot Shield Elite. 100% recommend this to everyone
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"Seems to be working..."
Version: Hotspot Shield 3.17
Pros
I'm glad it seems to be working...
Cons
The cons...
(1) If PRIVACY is ON, my emails will just sit there and not go anywhere. But, when I'm done sending emails and just want to surf the net, I put it back on PRIVACY. I guess that means it really is working. :-)
(2) whenever I reset it to on or off, the free version accesses the Hotspot Shield website. And, since I cannot afford to pay for the service right now, I guess I just have to live with it. :-PSummary
Over all, it seems to be working. :-)
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"You can do better than this"
Version: Hotspot Shield 3.17
Pros
There are no pros for this product I saw.
Cons
1. Non-existent customer service - they don't respond to support emails, can't be reached by phone, they can't be contacted at all. If you pay for their service, count that money GONE!
2. Their free service with ads will drive you nuts with flashing ads - truly awful!
3. I also want to point out the Lifehacker.com has been pushing these paid services probably for a fee without disclosing it; in other words it's UNETHICAL.Summary
I bought the HSS Elite package (just means no ads) and for 5 months I had no complaints. It did what it was supposed to do. Then one day, they bumped me to the free service with ads. I sent them the paid invoice and haven't heard back since. Try to contact by phone and they tell you to send them an email.
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"Its free to use"
Version: Hotspot Shield 3.17
Pros
Ad free version is quite cheap
And I don't need to configure software to use hotspot shield.it does everything automaticallyCons
Amazingly quick when it comes to browsing
Its free to useSummary
Unlimited downloading and browsing
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"exceptionally useful software [privacy and access]"
Version: Hotspot Shield 3.17
Pros
Able to access the whole world's information without censorship
Cons
occasionally blocked in China [but keep trying as I often get through after being blocked once or twice]
Summary
Very useful, makes me feel safe and private when surfing the web [especially with wifi]
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"garbage dont donload it"
Version: Hotspot Shield 2.76
Pros
none dont donload it
Cons
dont download it it is garbage
Summary
i have tried this program not worth downloading
