Introduction Hidemyass Alternative Chrome
Hide My Ass! (HMA!) Is a firm, with Its claim to fame being its massive number of subscribers — it’s more than 400 million now. This provider has witnessed its fair share of controversy with regards to consumer privacy. It made updates to it support in the hopes of redeeming itself and winning back the loyalty of its readers. Hidemyass Alternative Chrome
We took it To get a test run to find out whether it is well worth and how much it’s improved the cost.
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What Is a VPN?
When you activate a VPN, it creates an encrypted tunnel to Protect your data as it moves from your computer to a host. From there, your info releases onto the net that is open. It’s a simple idea, but one with tremendous impacts to your privacy and safety.
For starters, it prevents anyone lurking Network from intercepting or monitoring your activity. While the airport or coffee shop Wi-Fi system appears safe (it may even be password-protected) it is not reallysafe unless you are using a VPN. For another thing, a VPN may stop your Internet Service Provider (ISP) from gathering information about your online activities so that it could sell anonymized user data to the maximum bidder.
A VPN also makes it more difficult to correlate your Activities with your own identity. Because your visitors is exiting in the VPN firm’s server, you seem to have its IP address, effectively hiding your true location. It also forces even the most determined attacker to test to sort through all the visitors from different users on the exact same VPN server to find what they’re after. For these reasons, and more, you need a VPN on your life.
Be aware that a VPN only encrypts your visitors until it exits through the VPN server. Provided the site you are accessing uses HTTPS, your information should be protected all the way. Additionally, while VPNs can offer a modicum of anonymity, a tool like the Tor network is much better at concealing your identity.
VPNs have long been used by journalists and political activists To bypass censorship in countries with repressive net policies. They are also handy if you’re searching to circumvent geographical constraints on streaming content. A VPN can spoof your current location, giving you access to restricted content such as BBC streaming or MLB TV. Some VPNs don’t enjoy these actions (which may be in breach of terms of service or even local legislation ) and content providers such as Netflix are also cracking down on users who snore their location and the VPN providers they use to do it.
There is a good opportunity Which you may not have ever laid hands on a VPN before. Don’t worry if that’s the case! We’ve got an entire feature about how best to set up and use a VPN. Hidemyass Alternative Chrome
VPN Protocols
There are several techniques to create a VPN connection. My Preferred method employs the OpenVPN protocol, which is known for its speed and reliability. It’s also open-source, and therefore has been picked over for possible vulnerabilities by anyone with the interest to do so.
Hide My Ass utilizes OpenVPN on Windows, using an older version That supports L2TP, and PPTP, also. Additionally, there are two different versions of this macOS app that, taken collectively, support IPSec (IKEv1 and v2), L2TP, and PPTP. Note that these old versions of this app have been phased out from the developer. The iOS variant uses just IPSec, and the Android app uses just OpenVPN.
That is a Small hodgepodge, and I am disappointed that Hide My Ass doesn’t offer OpenVPN on all platforms. Nevertheless, a number of the issue is with the programs. Apple requires programmers to jump through extra hoops if they want to include OpenVPN within an app, but a lot of them are beginning to move in this direction. I would love to view Hide My Ass do exactly the same, across the board.
Your Privacy With Hide My Ass
With any safety product, you want to Be Certain that the Business behind it will be working in your best interests. This is particularly true for VPNs, which are intended to improve privacy and safety. If a VPN business is simply as nosey as your ISP, there is not much point in using it.
While I review VPNs, ” I browse the company’s privacy policy And speak with representatives in order to better understand how your data is stored and used. In the case of Hide My Ass, the corporation should be commended on its clear privacy policy. It says Hide My personal logs your own username, the timestamp of connection and disconnection, the number of information transmitted, your actual IP address, and the IP address of the server you connected to. This isn’t radically different from what’s provided by other services. In fact, it’s very similar to Golden Frog VyprVPN’s policy.
What is notable is that Hide My Ass Will store this information for two to three months, while VyprVPN stores it for just 30 days. Other providers hold less information, or else they eliminate it immediately. Hide My Ass states it retains this data for this period of time so as to improve performance, prevent fraud, and prevent bad guys from using the VPN to send spam. The organization, notably, also lists document sharing as one of the illicit activities it requires this information to stop, regardless of the company being fine with the use of BitTorrent on certain 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 will likely be very hard. In spite of this information, an audience would need to know which VPN host to watch and then compare this activity against Hide My Ass’s logs, and have the ability to parse out the target’s traffic from everybody else using the same server.
The Hide My Ass privacy policy also clearly states that it Does not monitor or store the real content of your online activity. So, the support is not looking at your websites or the documents that you’re downloading. That is great, and exactly what you wish to hear by a VPN company.
In the past, some VPN companies monetized users by Injecting ads into their web traffic. Hide My Ass states it doesn’t do this, and goes even further. A business representative explained to me the firm does not gain from consumer data at all.
The actual place of a VPN company also issues, as it Can notify what protections are afforded to customers. Hide My Ass has its company headquarters in London, and operates under the jurisdiction of England and Wales. The UK at large does have mandatory data retention legislation. That is not ideal. Many VPN services function in countries without mandatory data retention legislation, or in ones which have privacy protections for customers. Hidemyass Alternative Chrome
I do not believe It’s likely to make a determination Concerning the benefits of a business based solely on its own location. It is important to understand policies and the laws on the job in a company with this kind of access. I encourage readers choose a VPN service by which they may feel comfortable, and to think about this advice.
Servers and Server Places
A Vital differentiator between VPN providers is the amount of Servers that are Available and their distribution. A great deal of servers means you are more likely to find a server that is not bogged down with other users. For its part, Hide My Ass has a commendable 876 servers at its disposal. Nevertheless, Personal Internet accessibility, NordVPN, and TorGuard VPN have over 3,000 servers. These are my benchmarks for robustness from the VPN server category.
Geographic distribution of those servers can be quite important. A great deal of locations means more to pick from for functions that are spoofing, but also ensures that no matter will be a server for the best performance. Hide My Ass has a very impressive server locations across some 220 nations. It’s easily the list among the VPN providers I have reviewed.
The list of server locations that were accessible Provided by Hide My Ass is noteworthy since it covers regions ignored by other VPN businesses. It has, for example, numerous server locations . Additionally, it maintains servers in China, Russia, and Turkey, which have net policies that are particularly repressive.
Some customers might be concerned about a company’s Use of servers. All these are servers that produce a single server operate as servers that are several. Virtual servers can also be configured to act as though they are in one state when they are really in another, which is a problem if you are concerned about where your information is traveling.
I was told by A company representative this a 225 of the 286 server places are all servers. Only 61 of the server locations are hardware, and 450 of Hide My Ass’s 876 servers are all virtual. That’s far beyond services. NordVPN, Private Internet Access, TunnelBear, IPVanish, and TorGuard simply use infrastructure to get their host places.
A business representative explained that majority of the Firm’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 love to see future versions of Hide My Ass be clearer about when you are connected to a virtual server.
Setup and interface
Obtaining Started with Hide My Ass! Is super simple and the updated apps are extremely user-friendly. You’ll be given a license key As soon as you sign up for your own account. It is possible to use your own credentials (username and password) to log into almost any program. With the aim of this review, we have tested the Windows client as well as the iOS program. Hidemyass Alternative Chrome
Desktop
As Soon as You’ve Established the client and logged in, you will be greeted with the Success! screen. Click Got It! To access the app’s screen. Here you have three options for modes: Instant Mode and Freedom Mode.
In Immediate Mode, you can click the arrow And you’ll be linked to the fastest server for your location.
In Location manner, you can choose that Server you link to. Click on Change Location to see your options. There is. All will show you an state listing. Clicking the arrow will show you special locations within this country.
Quick Access shows you a list of servers you’ve Recently connected to, in addition to some recommended choices. Streaming will give you a choice of two servers suitable for unblocking popular streaming services such as Netflix, one in the US and one in the UK.
Peer to Peer shows You all servers that permit filesharing. Ultimately, there’s the Favorites option; to mark a server as a favorite, you can click on the heart to the right of the server name.
Going back To the main screen, the one other option here’s Freedom Mode, that is aimed at users who wish to bypass censorship. This mode will connect you to a host in the nearest state that is regarded as free of censorship.
You can Access the Settings by clicking on the menu icon in the top left corner of the main screen and choosing Preferences. Here, you will see three tabs: General, Network Security, and Kill Switch. From the Generalscreen, you may change your startup options, like beginning if the program starts or when you turn on your pc.
Additionally you Possess a Personal Privacy department home one alternative that relates to Quick Access in Location Mode. You can uncheck the box if you would like to conceal your recent history.
Next, We’ve got the Network Security screen in which you can choose settings for automatic wifi protection. You can also turn on the IP shuffle feature which makes it more difficult for somebody to detect your location by periodically changing your IP address. One more option in this screen lets you use TCP with OpenVPN. Nonetheless, this is only recommended if UDP is blocked or throttled. TCP is more stable, but UDP is generally faster.
The Tab is the Kill tab, so that it works for all programs where you can toggle on this attribute. You could add single applications and decide whether to apply it.
This Is a robust app and it’s definitely both visually.
Mobile
Many Suppliers will have a mobile program that is unrecognizable compared to the desktop version. But, HMA! Has streamlined its product, and the iOS app looks nearly like the Windows version.
As Soon as You’re Logged in, you’ll get to the display, which is basically exactly like the primary display in the program. Here you can Pick from Location Mode Instant Mode, or Freedom Mode.
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The Only real difference is that if you select Location Mode, your choices are presented in another method. You’ve got three tabs: Nations, Cities, and Favorites, but missing are Quick Access, and the options found in the desktop client, such as Streaming, Peer to Peer.
To Access the streaming servers in the program, you’ll need to visit the Cities list and find the Liberty Island server under US, New York. The UK, Donkey Town server may also be located on this listing for access to UK Netflix and BBC iPlayer.
Moving on, The settings for the app can be retrieved by clicking on the menu icon at the top corner of the display and selecting Settings. There you have two options: Private privacy and Link Rules.
In The Link Rules segment, you can adjust wifi security preferences and choose whether to auto reconnect when wifi or mobile connections are interrupted.
The solitude section has One option: Share usage data with third parties for analytics, which will be your consent to”allow app and apparatus use information to be shared with third parties for analytics.” Keep in mind that this is enabled by default so it might be one of the things that you wish to flip off.
Overall, This is a slick and intuitive app, but many users may be missing additional features like a kill button and also the choice to change protocols.
Servers and functionality
The Hide My Ass! Network includes more than 850 servers covering more than 190 countries. A number of them are virtual servers, but a customer support representative was unable to inform us how many. Hidemyass Alternative Chrome
As we Discussed previously, HMA presents several options for choosing the ideal server, such as distinct styles and the ability to indicate servers as favorites. Are indicated using a P2P emblem.
We tested Servers for functionality of surfing, surfing, and downloading. When surfing, there were no problems, besides there being an obvious lag in page loading times when connected to a UK server. This isn’t unusual for distant remote servers (the evaluations were completed in Toronto, Canada), but might be bothersome, especially for users who have already slow internet speeds.
We did not See any lag or buffering whilst streaming 1080p using any of the test servers and were able to play online games with no difficulties.
HideMyAss! and Netflix
Hide My Ass! unblocks Netflix! But don’t expect to link to some Server and go. When we tested random servers with US Netflix using the desktop client, we had no chance whatsoever. But if you select the Streaming choice in the dropdown inside Location Mode, you will see two options: a US server (USA, New York, Liberty Island) along with a UK server (UK, Donkey Town). Note that in the program that is mobile, you’ll have to obtain these.
Connecting With no issue server gave us access Into the US. Linking to the UK one allowed entry to UK Netflix as well as BBC iPlayer. Many providers only focus on providing US Netflix access, so it is refreshing to see one that strives to provide access to the UK library also. What’s more, BBC iPlayer is breaking down on VPN usage, so the capability to unblock this support is a wonderful perk.
If you are You might have to go elsewhere. HMA! Is having trouble unblocking this service at a customer support representative and this time informed us that there is no estimated time for when it might be functioning .
HideMyAss! in China?
Hide My Ass! Doesn’t operate reliably in China. It used to, but HMA! Answers in support forums have indicated that the service will work for some users. You can try your fortune, but if you want a trusted China VPN, you’d best look elsewhere.
HideMyAss! Speed test performance
For any VPN That can be used with our test procedures, we conduct ongoing speed tests which were designed to be as empirical as possible. We utilize a test server to connect to VPN servers in Australia, the United Kingdom, the Usa, Hong Kong, and Germany. For each and every place, we download an evaluation file (50MB in size) in the US server. This can be done four times every day. The average download rate for every test is recorded and the aggregate information is displayed.
You can view From the easy chart below how HMA! Compares to the VPN services we’ve been testing. While it does not have the fastest rates, it is close to the front of the package in regards to median speeds.
You can see that the spread in results is not as tight as some of the additional test VPNs, by clicking on the Detailed tab. This means that you might see some inconsistency when it comes to speeds.
It’s Important to note that these tests are not definitive and may only serve as a general indication of the performance you might see. The internet’s volatility adds a substantial variable of randomness. What is more, you see perhaps smaller or bigger disagreements, and more wait times using a slow link. Hidemyass Alternative Chrome
Customer Services
If you Want Any help whilst setting up or using the support, HMA! Includes a couple of alternatives for you to select from. Clicking the Help tab on the website, you’ll find a Knowledge Base and a Getting Started section. These each home posts related to setting up queries. There’s a crossover so before seeking other options, you may choose to explore both.
Additionally, You’ll locate. This can be segregated into various subjects; while some are active some appear to be out of date. Under that, there are some FAQs.
If you do not Find what you’re looking for, or you just want a fast response, you can click the live chat button in the bottom right-hand corner of this screen. The service is prompt and knowledgeable, and agents were able to solve. At one point, a representative advised he’d escalate the problem as an email request and was unable to answer some safety questions. This has been responded to in.
Security and privacy
Hide My Ass! Is based. The UK can be a Five Eyes (and Fourteen Eyes) country, which means it’s part of an alliance which enables monitoring by outside governments. Additionally, it is 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 with a real no-logs policy where no link or traffic logs are kept by them. They can’t be tied to a single user if they do keep link logs.
Regrettably, HMA! Isn’t one of these VPNs and contains a privacy policy that users will discover off-putting. For one, while you can expect that your IP address will be logged, together with timestamps and the number of data used. This is a for VPNs generally. Although an IP address is not universally considered to be information, the truth is that this information can and has been used to track the activity of people. IP addresses are used to help find and convict criminals. While we do not condone actions that are criminal, we’re pro-privacy, also this coverage does not cut it. Hidemyass Alternative Chrome
Additionally, Hide My Ass! Logs the VPN IP address Attached to a session. This is the IP address when you see it, that a site operator can see and record. Considering the real and VPN IP addresses are logged, involving the end and VPN website logs, it might technically be possible to piece together each of a user’s internet activity. You might have seen news of a 2011 FBI case involving HMA! Where it handed over logs that were utilized to track down a hacker that is LulzSec. Certainly, this can be a black mark for privacy.
1 way to Make this less of a problem and to confuse matters a little is to make the most of the IP address shuffle attribute. When enabled in the Network Security screen of the desktop program, this occasionally switches your IP address out. It would not cause you to squint but could add a layer of obfuscation.
Privacy Issues on the safety front, Hide My Ass! Fares pretty well. It uses. This is in conjunction with 4096-bit RSA keys and perfect forward secrecy. It employs exactly the protocol UDP by default, but you can switch to TCP within the desktop client. PPTP, L2TP, IPSec are also available, depending on which program you are using.
The versions boast To work for apps. A kill switch will kill the internet connection if the VPN link drop for a certain reason. This feature isn’t available in the mobile programs
A live chat Customer service representative informed us that there’s no DNS leak security. However, a different company representative assured us that there is in fact DNS and IPv6 leak security, but no WebRTC escape security. Really, when the service was tested by us we did not see any DNS leak problems other than leaks. HMA! Whereas personal ones will be preferable from a privacy standpoint, does use DNS servers that are public.
One handy Feature that Hide My Ass! Offers is wifi protection, which is customized in the in the Network Security section of their client or the Connection Rules tab of the app that is cell settings.
Characteristics and pricing
Hide My Ass! Provides one product with prices you register for. It is definitely not among the services available. A 12-month planwill put you back $6.99 per month, which is greater than the normal cost for a similar duration. What’s more, a great deal of VPN providers will offer a protracted plan; for instance, a two- or – term with steeper discounts. Hidemyass Alternative Chrome
If You’re not ready to sign up to get a term just yet, HMA! Does offer a six-month plan for $7.99 a month or you can pay on a monthly basis for $11.99 a month. These prices are a bit above average when you compare to competitors.
Payment Options include major credit cards, PayPal, and UnionPay. For more privacy-conscious users, other along with bitcoin cryptocurrencies are payment procedures. There’s a money-back guarantee, so you can have your payment refunded, if you’re not satisfied with the service.
So what do You get for the money? Hide My Ass! Has a network of more than 850 servers in over 180 nations. Some are devoted to accessing streaming websites and specific servers permit P2P filesharing (read: torrenting). All plans come with unlimited bandwidth and you may join up to five devices simultaneously. Apps are available for Windows, MacOS, iOS, and Android. The VPN can be configured using a few routers and Linux. Routers are available as an alternative.
From a Security standpoint, HMA! Provides perfect forward secrecy, strong encryption wifi protection, along with the desktop apps include a kill button. On the other hand, the logging coverage problems which plagued the service stay, so privacy is a problem.
Summary
For the most part, HMA! Provides a fantastic support. It has speeds, infinite bandwidth, and an adequate community of servers. It’s in a position to unblock streaming services like BBC iPlayer, Netflix UK, and Netflix US. Plus, it gives customer support , strong security, and apps.
On the Surface, it seems like HMA! Would be a good option for torrenters, without a data Caps and some servers. The issues with the privacy Coverage are any other, as well as a concern for those seeking to torrent privacy-conscious users. Indeed, this is the only for this Provider, but it is a large one. Other issues include the inability to work Reliably in China and also the price tag. Hidemyass Alternative Chrome
Click here to sign up for Hide My Ass! Today!