Real IP Hider for Windows

Real IP Hider aims to protect your privacy by rerouting your traffic through a proxy server in another country, but is plagued by malware warnings from Google Safe Browsing and Windows Defender alike, thus making it difficult for you to trust it with your data.

Pros

Straightforward interface: Real IP Hider comes with a very basic interface that is intuitive, because the most vital buttons are large and grab your attention.

Per-app settings: A really handy feature is the ability to pick and choose which applications on your PC should have their traffic rerouted. This way you can enjoy a fast connection to iTunes, for example, while the traffic from your Web browsers gets anonymized. Additionally, you can view a per-app statistics screen, where the amount of rerouted traffic that has been sent and received is displayed.

Automatic server rotation: You can opt to have the product change the server to which it is connected on a regular basis. The time intervals range from one minute to 12 hours.

Cons

Possible malware: When we attempted to view the Purchase page on the developer's website, both the Google Safe Browsing Advisory service and Windows Defender warned us that unwanted malicious software might be installed on our PC without our knowledge and consent. Therefore we recommend caution if you intend to purchase this software, especially if you're greeted by the same Google warning once you type in the URL or click the in-app purchase link.

Limited number of servers: While testing Real IP Hider, we were able to find just two dozen servers located across 13 countries. On the plus side, you can choose which server you'd like to connect to, and all servers are generally speedy. We downloaded an 8MB file in under 20 seconds.

Intermittent connection: Even though all servers had over 95 percent signal strength, sometimes we got a message from our Web browser that informed us we were not connected to the Internet. This issue was fixed by reloading the Web page. Additionally, we discovered that you sometimes have to close your Web browser for the change in servers to go into effect.

Bottom Line

Since using proxy and VPN software is all about protecting your privacy, a malware warning is one of the worst things that can happen after installing such a service. We currently do not recommend Real IP Hider, since we cannot attain a reasonable certainty that our traffic is indeed secure and our computer malware-free.

Editors' note: This is a review of the trial version of Real IP Hider 5.1.0.1.