Background Hidemyass 2
Hide My Ass! (HMA!) Is a UK-based company, with Its claim to fame has been its huge number of readers — today it’s more than 400 million. This supplier has seen its fair share of controversy with respect. It made upgrades in the hopes of redeeming itself and winning back the loyalty of its subscribers service to it. Hidemyass 2
We took it For a test run to see whether it’s well worth and how much it’s improved the money.
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What’s a VPN?
When you activate a VPN, it generates an encrypted tunnel to Guard your data as it moves from your computer to a host controlled by the VPN. From that point, your info exits onto the internet that is open. It’s a very simple concept, but one with enormous consequences to your privacy and security.
For starters, it prevents anyone lurking Community from intercepting or monitoring your activity. Though the airport or coffee shop Wi-Fi network appears safe (it might even be password-protected) it is not actually safe unless you are using a VPN. For another thing, a VPN may prevent your Internet Service Provider (ISP) from collecting information about your online activities so that it can sell anonymized user information to the maximum bidder.
A VPN makes it more difficult to correlate your Online activities with your identity. Because your visitors is exiting in the VPN company’s server, you appear to have its IP address, effectively hiding your true location. Additionally, it forces even the most determined attacker to test to sort through all of the visitors from other users on the exact same VPN server to find what they are after. For these reasons, and much more, you need a VPN in your life.
Note that a VPN only encrypts your traffic until it exits via the VPN server. Provided the site you are accessing uses HTTPS, your data must be protected all the way. Also, while VPNs can provide a modicum of anonymity, a tool such as the Tor network is far better at hiding your identity.
VPNs have long been used by journalists and political activists To bypass censorship in countries with repressive internet policies. They are also useful if you’re searching to circumvent geographical constraints on streaming content. A VPN can spoof your current location, providing you with access to restricted content like BBC streaming or MLB TV. Some VPNs do not appreciate these activities (which might be in violation of terms of service or even local laws) and content providers like Netflix are also cracking down on users that spoof their place and the VPN services they utilize to do it.
There is a Fantastic opportunity Which you may have never laid hands on a VPN before. Do not worry, if that is true! We’ve got an entire feature about the best way best to set up and use a VPN. Hidemyass 2
VPN Protocols
There are many ways. My Preferred method uses the OpenVPN protocol, which is famous for its speed and reliability. Additionally, it is open-source, and consequently has been picked over for potential vulnerabilities by anyone with the interest to do so.
Hide My Ass utilizes OpenVPN on Windows, with an older version Of the app that supports L2TP, and PPTP, also. There are also two distinct versions of the macOS app which, taken collectively, support IPSec (IKEv1 and v2), L2TP, and PPTP. Note that these older versions of the app have been phased out by the programmer. The iOS variant uses just IPSec, and the Android app uses only OpenVPN.
That is a bit of a hodgepodge, and I am frustrated that Hide My Ass doesn’t provide OpenVPN on all platforms. That said, some of this matter is using the programs. Apple requires programmers to jump through additional hoops if they wish to include OpenVPN in a program, but many are starting to move in that way. I would like to view Hide My Ass do the same, across the board.
Your Privacy With Hide My Ass
With any safety item, you want to Be Certain that the Business behind it will be working in your best interests. This is especially true for VPNs, which are supposed to improve privacy and security. If a VPN company is just as nosey as your ISP, there is not much point in using it.
When I review VPNs, I browse the company’s privacy policy And speak with representatives to be able to better understand how your data is used and stored. In the instance of Hide My Ass, the corporation ought to be praised on its privacy policy. It says that Hide My Ass logs your own username, the timestamp of connection and disconnection, the number of data transmitted, your actual IP address, and the IP address of the server you linked to. This is not radically different from what is provided by other providers. In reality, it’s very similar to Golden Frog VyprVPN’s policy.
What is noteworthy is that Hide My Ass Will store this data for two to three weeks, while VyprVPN stores it for only 30 days. Other services hold even less info, or they dispose of it immediately. Hide My Ass states that it retains this data for this particular period of time so as to improve performance, prevent fraud, and stop bad guys from using the VPN to send spam. The company, notably, also lists file sharing as one of the illegal actions it requires this information to stop, despite the firm being fine with the use of BitTorrent on some servers.
It might be possible that this information could be used To correlate a user’s identity to specific activity on the internet, but it would probably be very difficult. In spite of this information, an audience would have to know which VPN server to watch and then compare that activity against Hide My Ass’s logs, and also have the ability to parse out the target’s traffic from everyone else using the same server.
The Hide My Ass privacy policy also clearly says that it Does not track or store the actual content of your internet activity. So, the support isn’t looking at your sites or the documents that you’re downloading. That’s great, and exactly what you wish to hear from a VPN company.
Before, some VPN companies monetized users by Injecting ads in their web traffic. Hide My Ass says it doesn’t do this, and goes even further. A company representative explained to me that the company doesn’t gain from user data in any way.
The actual place of a VPN company also issues, as it Can inform what protections are afforded to customers. Hide My Ass works under the legal jurisdiction of England and Wales, and has its own business headquarters in London. Especially, the UK at does have compulsory data retention laws. That’s not ideal. Many other VPN providers operate in countries without mandatory data retention legislation, or in ones which have favorable privacy protections for customers. Hidemyass 2
I do not think It’s likely to make a determination Concerning the benefits of a company based solely on its own location. But, it is very important to comprehend policies and the laws on the job in a business with such intimate access to some information. I encourage readers to think about this information, and pick a VPN service.
Programs and Server Locations
A Vital differentiator between VPN services is the number of Servers and their geographic distribution. Lots of servers means you’re more likely to find a server that’s not bogged down with other consumers. For its own part, Hide My Ass has an extremely respectable 876 servers in its disposal. Nevertheless, TorGuard VPN, Private Internet Access, and NordVPN have over 3,000 servers. These are my benchmarks for robustness in the VPN server category.
Geographic distribution of those servers is very important. A great deal of locations means more to choose from for purposes that are spoofing, but also ensures that no matter will likely be a local server for your best performance. Hide My Ass has a very impressive 286 server places across some 220 nations. It’s easily.
The list of server locations Provided by Hide My Ass is noteworthy because it covers regions ignored by VPN companies. It’s, for instance, server locations that are numerous across the continent of Africa–a rarity among VPN businesses. Additionally, it maintains servers in China, Russia, and Turkey, which have internet policies that are repressive.
Some consumers might be concerned about a VPN company’s Usage of virtual servers. All these are software-defined servers that produce servers are effectively operated as by a single server. Virtual servers may also be configured to behave as though they are in 1 state when they’re in a different, which is a problem if you are worried about where your data is traveling.
I was told by A company representative this a 225 of the 286 server places provided by Hide My Ass are all servers. Only 61 of the server places are hardware, and 450 of Hide My Ass’s 876 servers are all virtual. That’s far beyond services. NordVPN TunnelBear, IPVanish, and TorGuard simply use infrastructure to get their host places.
A company representative explained that majority of the Company’s physical server infrastructure is located in Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London, Miami, New York, Prague, Seattle, and Singapore. This doesn’t quite jibe with what Hide My Ass lists on its website. I’d like to see future versions of Hide My Ass be clearer about when you are connected to a virtual host.
Setup and interface
Obtaining Began with Hide My Ass! Is super simple and the upgraded programs are extremely user-friendly. You will be given a license key As soon as you register for your own account. It is possible to use this or your credentials (password and username ) to log into almost any program. With the aim of this review, we’ve tested the Windows client as well as the iOS program. Hidemyass 2
Desktop
As Soon as You’ve Established the and logged in, you will be greeted with the Success! screen. Click Got It! To access the screen of the app. Here you have Freedom Mode: Location Mode, Instant Mode, and three choices for modes.
In Immediate Mode, you can click on the arrow And you’re going to be connected to the server for your location.
In Location mode, which can be chosen by you Server you link to. Click Change Location to view your options. There is. All will show you an alphabetized state list. Clicking on the arrow to the left of every nation name will show you locations within that nation.
Quick Access shows you a list of servers you’ve Recently linked to, in addition to some recommended choices. Streaming will give you a selection of two servers suitable for unblocking popular streaming services like Netflix, one in the US and one in the united kingdom.
Peer to Peer shows You permit P2P filesharing. Finally, there’s the Favorites choice; to mark a server as a popular, you can click on the center .
Going back To the main screen, the one alternative here’s Freedom Mode, which is targeted at users that want to bypass censorship. This mode will link you to a server in the nearest country that’s regarded as free of censorship.
You can Get into the Settings by clicking the menu icon at the top left corner of the main screen and selecting Preferences. Here, you’ll find three tabs: General, Network Security, and Kill Switch. From the Generalscreen, you can change your startup options, like starting when you turn your computer on or when the app launches.
You also Possess a Private Privacy section housing one alternative that relates to Quick Access in Location Mode. Then you can uncheck the box, if you would like to hide your recent history.
Next, We’ve got the Network Security screen in which you can choose settings for wifi protection that is automatic. You can also turn on the IP shuffle feature which makes it more difficult for someone to find where you are by periodically changing your IP address. One option in this screen lets you use TCP using OpenVPN. This is only recommended if UDP is blocked or throttled. TCP is more stable, but UDP is typically faster.
The Tab is the Kill Switch tab, where you are able to toggle on this attribute so that it works for many programs. You choose whether or not to apply it to people and could add single software.
This Is a app that is robust and it is definitely both aesthetically pleasing and searchable.
Mobile
Many Providers will have a mobile program that is unrecognizable compared to the desktop version. However, HMA! Has streamlined its product, and also the iOS app looks nearly identical to the Windows version.
As Soon as You’re Logged in, you’ll get to the screen, which is exactly like the main display in the background app. Here you can choose from Location Mode, Instant Mode, or Freedom Mode.
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The Only real difference is that if you select Location Mode, your options are presented in another manner. You’ve got three tabs: Nations, Cities, and Favorites, but missing are the options found from the desktop client, such as Streaming, Peer to Peer, and speedy Access.
To Access the streaming servers from the program, you will need to visit the Cities listing and find the Liberty Island server under US, New York. The UK, Donkey Town server can be located to UK Netflix and BBC iPlayer.
Moving on, The settings for the program can be retrieved by clicking the menu icon in the top left-hand corner of the display and select Settings. There you have two choices: Link Rules and solitude.
In The Link Rules segment, it is possible to adjust wifi security preferences and decide whether to auto reconnect when wifi or cellular connections are interrupted.
The Personal privacy department has 1 option: Share utilization data with third parties for analytics, which is your consent to”allow app and apparatus usage information to be shared with third parties for analytics.” Bear in mind this is permitted by default so that it may be among the first things that you wish to flip off.
Overall, This is a sleek and intuitive app, but some users may be missing additional features like a kill button and also the option to switch protocols.
Servers and performance
The Hide My Ass! Network includes over 850 servers covering more than 190 countries. A number of these are virtual servers, but a consumer support representative was not able to inform us just how many. Hidemyass 2
As we Discussed previously, HMA offers many choices for selecting the right server, including distinct styles and the ability to mark servers as favorites. Are indicated with a emblem.
We tested Various servers in the UK and the usa for functionality in terms of downloading, surfing, and surfing. Aside from there being a noticeable lag in page load times when connected to a UK server In general, when surfing, there were no issues. This isn’t unusual for distant remote servers (the evaluations were completed in Toronto, Canada), but might be bothersome, particularly for users with already slow internet speeds.
We didn’t See any lag or streaming while streaming 1080p using any of the test servers and were able to play online games with no issues.
HideMyAss! and Netflix
Hide My Ass! unblocks Netflix! But do not expect to simply link to any Server and go. We had no luck whatsoever, when we tested servers using US Netflix using the client. But if you select the Streaming option from the dropdown inside Location Mode, you will see two choices: a US host (USA, New York, Liberty Island) along with a UK server (UK, Donkey Town). Be aware that in the mobile app, you’ll need to obtain these.
Connecting Server gave us access to Netflix without issue. Linking to the UK one allowed access to UK Netflix as well as BBC iPlayer. Many providers only concentrate on supplying US Netflix accessibility, so it is refreshing to see one that strives to give access to the UK library too. What is more, BBC iPlayer is seriously cracking down on VPN use, so the ability to unblock this support is a nice perk.
If you are On the lookout for Amazon Prime Video, you may have to go everywhere. HMA! Is having trouble unblocking this support at this time and a customer care representative advised us that there isn’t any estimated time for when it may be functioning again.
HideMyAss! in China?
Hide My Ass! Doesn’t work in China. It used to, but HMA! Responses in support forums have suggested that the support will no longer work for a few users. You can try your fortune, but you’d best look elsewhere if you need a China VPN.
HideMyAss! Speed test performance
For any VPN That can be used with our test methods, we conduct speed tests that were designed to be as empirical as you can. We utilize a evaluation server to connect to VPN servers in Germany, the United Kingdom, Australia, Hong Kong, and the Usa. For each and every location, we download an evaluation file (50MB in size) in the US server. This is done four times per day. The average rate for every test is recorded along with the aggregate data is displayed.
You can view From the easy chart below how HMA! Compares to the VPN services we have been testing. In regards to median speeds, while it doesn’t have the fastest rates, it is near the front of the package.
By clicking on the comprehensive tab, you can see that the spread in outcomes isn’t as tight as a number of the test VPNs. This means that you may see some inconsistency in regards to speeds.
It’s Important to note that these tests aren’t definitive and can only serve as a general indication of the performance you might see. The inherent volatility of the internet adds a factor of randomness. What is more, you’ll likely see smaller or bigger disagreements, and wait times with a slow link. Hidemyass 2
Customer service
If you need Any help while establishing or using the support, HMA! Has a few options for you to select from. Clicking the Help tab you’ll find a Getting Started section along with a Knowledge Base. These each house articles related to setting up queries. There’s a crossover so before seeking other options you might choose to explore both.
In addition, You’ll find a Community button which contributes to a discussion section. This is segregated into various topics; while others are active some appear to be out of date. Below that, there are a number of general FAQs.
If you don’t Find what you’re looking for, or you simply want a quick reply, you can click the live chat button at the base right-hand corner of the display. The service is educated and prompt, and agents were able to quickly resolve most problems we encountered. At one point, a representative was not able to answer some security questions and advised he would escalate the issue. This has been responded to in.
Safety and privacy
Hide My Ass! Is based in the UK, so it is subject to data retention laws. The UK can be a Five Eyes (and Fourteen Eyes) country, so it’s part of an alliance that enables monitoring by external governments. Additionally, it’s home to the Charter which imposes regulations of the Snooper.
For many Data retention laws in their home country aren’t really an issue. This is because they operate using a real policy that is no-logs where no link or visitors logs are kept by them. They can’t be tied to a single user when connection logs are kept by them.
Unfortunately, HMA! Is not among these VPNs and has a privacy policy that many users will discover off-putting. For one, when you can expect your IP address will be logged, along with timestamps and the amount of data used. This is a big no-no for VPNs in general. The fact is that information can and has been used to trace the activity of individuals, although an IP address is considered to be information. IP addresses are used to help find and convict criminals. While we certainly do not condone actions that are criminal, we are pro-privacy, and this coverage simply doesn’t cut it. Hidemyass 2
Additionally, Hide My Ass! Telephones the VPN IP address Connected to a session. This is the IP address when you visit it that a website operator can see and record. Since the actual and VPN IP addresses are logged, between the finish and VPN site logs, it might be possible to piece together all of a user’s internet activity. You may have seen news of a 2011 FBI situation involving HMA! In which it handed over logs which were used to track down a hacker that is LulzSec. Clearly, this is a black mark for privacy.
One way to Make this less of a problem and to confuse matters a bit is to take advantage of the IP address shuffle feature. When enabled in the Network Security screen of the desktop app, your IP address is occasionally switched by this outside for a different one. It wouldn’t make you untraceable but could put in a layer of obfuscation.
Privacy Issues aside, on the safety front, Hide My Ass! Fares pretty well. It utilizes 256-bit AES encryption, which is deemed military-grade. This is in combination with 4096-bit RSA keys and perfect forward secrecy. It uses exactly the OpenVPN protocol over UDP by default, but you can change to TCP within the client. PPTP, L2TP, IPSec are also available, depending on what program you’re using.
The versions boast To work for apps. The internet connection will be killed by A kill switch should the VPN connection drop for some reason. This feature is not available from the mobile programs
A live chat Customer service representative advised us that there is no DNS leak security. But a different firm representative promised us that there is actually DNS and IPv6 leak protection, but no WebRTC leak protection. Really, when we analyzed the service for escapes, we didn’t observe any DNS leak issues aside from WebRTC leaks. HMA! Whereas private ones will be preferable from a privacy perspective, does use DNS servers.
One handy Attribute that Hide My Ass! Offers is wifi protection, which can be customized in the in the Network Security section of their or the Connection Rules tab of the cell app settings.
Characteristics and pricing
Hide My Ass! Offers one product with prices you sign up for. It is definitely not among the services available. A 12-month planwill set you back $6.99 per month, which is greater than the average cost for a similar duration. What’s more, a lot of VPN suppliers that are top will supply an plan; for instance, a two- or – term with steeper discounts. Hidemyass 2
If You are not prepared to sign up to get a one-year term yet, HMA! Does provide a turn-key program for $7.99 a month or you could pay on a monthly basis for $11.99 per month. These prices are a little above average if you compare to competitors.
Payment Options include credit cards, PayPal, and UnionPay. Unfortunately other and bitcoin cryptocurrencies are payment methods. There is a money-back guarantee, so you can have your payment refunded, if you’re not fully satisfied with the service.
So what do You get for your money? Hide My Ass! Has a community of more than 850 servers in over 180 countries. Some are dedicated to accessing streaming websites and specific servers allow P2P filesharing (read: torrenting). All plans have unlimited bandwidth and you can join up to five devices simultaneously. Apps are available for Windows, MacOS, iOS, and Android. The VPN can be manually configured using Linux and a few routers. Pre-configured routers can be found as an alternative.
From a Security perspective, HMA! Provides perfect forward secrecy, encryption , automatic wifi protection, along with the programs come with a kill button. However, the logging coverage problems that plagued the ceremony stay, so privacy is still an issue.
Conclusion
For the most part, HMA! Offers a support. It has unlimited bandwidth, fast speeds, and a network of servers. It is in a position to unblock popular services such as Netflix UK, Netflix US, and BBC iPlayer. Plus, it offers apps , powerful security, and excellent customer care.
On the Surface, it feels like HMA! Would be a fantastic alternative for torrenters, without a information Caps and a few servers. However, the issues with the privacy Policy are any other, in addition to a concern for those seeking to torrent privacy-conscious users. Indeed, this is the only for this Provider, but it’s a big one. Other concerns include the inability to operate Reliably in the somewhat hefty price tag and China. Hidemyass 2
Click here to sign up for Hide My Ass! Today!