If you’re still wondering why it’s a bad idea, this means that either you have nothing sensitive stored on your computer (can it be?), or you are not conscious about the “danger” hanging around. And, gosh, locking your screen will do no harm: depending on your operating system, it’s just a matter of simple combinations of the key pressed and then you can go away with peace in mind- so why don’t you do that?

Things you are leaving behind

Now, let’s consider that you think you have nothing sensitive on your computer and see what another user can see if he take the time to seat in front of your computer and “play” with it. Let’s see the usual things you’re leaving behind when letting access to your computer:

• the open documents: this is the most obvious one. You’ve left some documents open, it’s easy to have a look at them. But even if they aren’t open, you know that most software now comes with the “recently opened document”. So now, you know that you’re leaving some traces behind. Let’s just hope you didn’t watch some “forbidden” movies at work and that your media player “remembers” it, nor have you read some confidential documents,
• the files stored on your hard drive: you surely have photos, music or videos laying around that can be “interesting”.Do you know that some of the guys who repair your computer check for those “hidden treasures” while trying to remove that virus from your computer whenever you ask for their help? Have you ever been suggested something like “we need to bring your computer to our lab for repairing?”.Just think about it: how badly do you want some of the files you keep on your computer unfound? We all have something stored on our computer that we don’t want other to know: either it is the usual ones (adult photos and movies usually), or that photo of you drunk and trying to climb the police’s fences while you’re almost naked on a TGIF night that your best friend sent you (ok, this probably didn’t happen, but you get the idea),
• your browser’s hidden treasure: unless you’re following some of the tips I left for browsing incognito, your browser reveals a lot about your online history. Whether your browser keeps some credentials for accessing some online sites (have you noticed those “remember me” features on most websites?), or your browsing history (oops, you’ve been surfing on some “people news” website while your boss was expecting that important report for … yesterday?).In fact, if it’s only for checking what you did, you can still find a way to “minimize” it. But let’s say that your browser automatically connects you to Facebook (or whatever website), if someone really wants to harm you, it’s very simple to post something on your behalf while you are away. And remember, anything posted online is hard to remove.

Is anyone having access to your computer? Are you comfortable to let someone browsing your private data? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

When you need to change your IP address to a French one you have several alternatives. Let’s take a look at them and hopefully you will find something useful.

What is a French IP address?

A French IP address is an IP that is assigned to an ISP or hosting provider that provides Internet services in France. The most common French IPs have the following format:

• from 57.0.0.0 to 57.255.255.255
• France Telecom – from 90.0.0.0 to 90.127.255.255
• Free SAS – from 78.192.0.0 to 78.255.255.255
• France Telecom – from 92.128.0.0 to 92.191.255.255
• France Telecom – from 86.192.0.0 to 86.255.255.255

If you are interested in finding more info regarding the French IP blocks you should check this post.

4 Ways to get a French IP address

1. Use Web Proxies

Web proxies are very simple to use and you don’t have to install anything. Just visit the proxy, type in the desired URL and press the Go or Submit button. The site will be loaded from the IP of the proxy, not from your IP address. The major problem of web proxies is the speed that is quite low.

On Free-Proxy.cz you can find several proxies located on French servers.

Must read: Risks of using a proxy site.

2. Manually change your IP using paid or open proxies

Another solution to consider is to manually change your IP. Go to sites that list proxies (e.g. SamAir.ru), find a proxy from France and then change your browser’s settings to use that proxy. Take for example 188.165.223.173:8122 and configure your browser to use it when you connect to the internet.

If you don’t know how to manually change your IP you should check these posts:

• Firefox 3.0: How To Manually Hide Your IP
• Internet Explorer: How To Manually Hide Your IP Using Internet Explorer
• Google Chrome: How To Hide Your IP While Browsing Using Google Chrome
• Safari: How To Manually Mask Your IP Using Safari

3. Use an application that exposes French IP address

Update 2015: These software apps are no longer available. I recommend trying a VPN service.

As far as I know, there is no free hide IP that can change your IP address to a French one. But there are paid solutions like Invisible Browsing and IP Privacy. If you are interested in IP Privacy you can benefits from a 50% discount (only during March 2009) exclusively for my readers.

4. Use a VPN service

VPN services offer great browsing speed and a high level of anonymity. It is probably the best choice when it comes to hiding your real IP address, but they are not free. Here is a list of VPN services that offer access to French servers.

Are you not happy with the VPN speed? Learn about the things that may impact your VPN connection.

Conclusion

To sum up, there are several options when you need to change your IP address to one from France. The easiest one is by using web proxies, but due to performance problems (speed), you may also consider the other options listed above. I would personally recommend trying a VPN service.

When so many hide IP tools are available on the market, it is difficult to choose the one that suits your needs. This guide presents several alternatives and makes your choice easier. Learn how to choose your hide IP tool.

This post will answer the questions that I received from you, the readers of this blog. Thank you for being part of this community that helps people overcome the censorship and blockage on the Internet.

This first post answers the most common question asked: “Should I choose a free solution or a paid one?“

Free or paid hide IP tool? – How to choose a hide IP tool

The answer to this question may seem obvious: FREE is always a better choice. But, you should know this is not always true. Let’s see first, what free hide IP tools do best and also what are their disadvantages.

Free tools to hide your IP

Firstly, I would divide the tools you can use to freely hide your IP address into (1) web proxies and (2) hide IP software.

(1) Web proxies are websites that allow you to connect to the internet without logging your IP address. It acts as an intermediate between you and the site you want to visit. The sites you are connecting to will not see any requests or log entries from your IP address, but from the proxy server instead. Thus, you are able to surf in secrecy and change your IP address.

Advantages of using web proxies

• You don’t have to install anything.
• Easy to use: just type in the desired URL and press Go/Submit.
• There are plenty of proxies to choose from.
• You can use secure proxies (https) to increase your privacy.
• Best way to unblock sites (MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Twitch) from school, work or internet cafes.

Disadvantages of using web proxies

• The IP addresses of web proxies are most of the time well-known and often blacklisted.
• Streaming applications (like online radio or TV stations) are not supported. So you are not really able to watch YouTube videos.
• Your personal information can be intercepted by the proxy owner (except for the https proxies).
• You are not able to choose the country or the location of the IP to be used.
• Many proxies are full of ads, some of them being quite annoying (pop-ups, pop-unders, banners, etc).

(2) There are several free hide IP tools that have great success and that is used by a lot of people that try to overcome the censorship in their country (China, Iran, etc). Here are the most well known:

UltraSurf – The UltraSurf is a proxy server that beats the rest of the proxy servers on the net by offering features that others do not include login, flash files, javascript, Youtube, and file downloads, file uploads.

HotSpot Shield – This software creates a VPN – virtual private network between your computer and an Internet gateway.

Advantages of free hide IP tools

• They are FREE, so you don’t have to pay anything (no hidden costs).
• They hide your IP address most of the time.
• Simple and easy to use interface, suitable for beginners.
• The connection speed is acceptable.

Disadvantages of free hide IP tools

• You rarely get support. Most of the time you have to search for answers to your questions on forums, blogs, etc.
• The IP addresses provided are well known and get blocked by sites like Netflix or Hulu.

Paid tools to hide your IP

Providers of paid solutions have to sell their products so it is expected that they are more concerned about performance, speed, etc. This is not always true, but there are several hide IP tools that are better than the free alternatives. Let’s consider first the (1) private proxies and then talk about (2) several paid hide IP applications and (3) VPN services.

(1) Private proxies are proxies that have the access restricted only to paying subscribers.

Advantages of private proxies

• They hide your IP address.
• The speed is good.
• The IPs provided are usually clean (not banned by sites or forums).
• You get support and assistance from the service provider.

Disadvantages of private proxies

• You get a limited number of IPs (most of them from the US).
• They are usually more expensive than other hide IP tools.
• You have to manually configure your browsers.

Here are 2 sites that offer such services: LocaProxy and ProxyHub.

(2) There are probably tens of paid hide IP tools but most of them come, stay a little while and then go/die. Further, I will show what you have to look for when you decide to purchase such a tool. The hide IP apps that I recommend are: IdentityCloaker and Hide My IP.

(3) VPN services are probably the most reliable way to change your IP. They provide strong security, many server locations, and good speed. The VPN services that I recommend are HideMyAss, ibVPN, PureVPN, PrivateInternetAccess, ExpressVPN, NordVPN.

Advantages of paid hide IP tools

• They hide your IP address.
• The speed is great.
• You get support and assistance from the service provider.
• The IPs provided are usually clean (not banned by sites or forums) and they are refreshed all the time.

Disadvantages of paid hide IP tools

• They are not FREE

For the question “free or paid,” the conclusion is clear: you should try first the free solutions. If they suit your needs, you are lucky, and you got your problem solved. If not, you should consider buying a product or subscribing to a paid service. A third option is also available: get free accounts from premium providers.

Try before buy – How to choose a hide IP tool

If you start considering purchasing a hide IP tool you should: “Try before buy” (if possible)!

It’s all about marketing

Don’t be fooled by the marketing texts you find on the product presentation pages. The producer will always say his product works smoothly, gets the job done, and the support is excellent. It may be accurate, but you should check first.

Also, you should not consider the testimonials listed on the producer site as 100% true. Some of them are fake!

Money back guarantee

Many software producers offer a money back guarantee. This does not mean you should buy the product before trying it. Of course, you can ask anytime a refund, write emails to the support/sales and wait for days/weeks to get your case approved by the producer. Or you could save yourself a lot of trouble and try before you buy.

What if the tool has no trial period?

Some of the hide IP tools have trial periods (from 1 hour to 3-5 days). If the product has no trial, you should write the producer an email and ask for one, or you may purchase the subscription for the smallest period available (for example, one month).

To conclude, in order to stay on the safe side you should look for the services that offer a free trial and try them before subscribing.

See what others recommend – How to choose your hide IP tool

Another advice for you: when you are evaluating hide IP tools take a look at what others recommend and what others say about different hide IP tools.

Do not fully consider testimonials

Testimonials from the site of the producer are not 100% trustworthy. Some of them may be fake, written by sales and marketing teams.

Where to look?

You may take a look at Reddit. There are sub-Reddit dedicated to VPNs and proxies. Users with the same needs as yours share there experience with different providers.

Other good sources of information are forums. There you can read, first hand, what other users have experienced while using different hide IP tools. In order to easily find information on forums, I recommend using Omgili. It’s a search engine the returns results exclusively from forums.

The third place to look are blogs, such as this one. We are reviewing many of the hide IP tools available on the market. The best hide IP tools on the market are usually reviewed on many tech blogs. Read 2-3 of such reviews and you will find enough info about any tool.

Subscription or Lifetime license – How to choose a hide IP tool

Now … if the free tools do not work for you or you are not happy with their performance, you may consider paying for a hide IP service. Should you opt-in for a subscription-based service or a lifetime license when choosing your hide IP tool?

What does “permanent or lifetime license” mean?

Lifetime/permanent license means that you pay once and you can use the product as long as you want. Usually, the producer offers 6 months or 1-year support. After that, there is no guaranty. You are on your own. Also, there are no updates after the support period ends.

Pros:

• You pay once.
• Most of the time you pay less than for a subscription-based service.

Cons:

• Limited support and updates (in some cases).
• Variable product quality (the producers is not directly interested in improving the service for you as you’re already a client).

What is a subscription-based service?

Subscription means that you purchase a service for 1,3,6,12 months. During that period you benefit from support and updates. Also, the producer is interested to maintain the quality of the service in order to make you renew the subscription.

Pros:

• Higher service quality.
• Support and updates during the subscription.

Cons:

• Overall you’ll pay more.
• After the subscription is over you’ll not be able to use the service unless you subscribe again.

Hide IP solutions usually need a lot of maintenance in order to keep the services alive (due to proxies, VPNs, etc). Many such services go offline every day, leaving paying customers behind with no support and service updates. Taking these into account, I recommend choosing a subscription-based service when you choose to hide your IP address. You can go first for a 1 or 3-month subscription and afterward, if you are happy with the service, go for a longer subscription.

Conclusion

To sum up, the object of this post is to answer some common questions on how to choose a hide IP tool. You may start by testing free options, go for a free trial and then subscribe to a premium service. The best advice I can give you is to take your time and do your homework: see what others recommend. And the other one: go for subscription-based services. They may be more expensive but they are safer in the long run.

How do you choose your hide IP tool? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.

If you are not willing or you don’t have sufficient rights to install software on the computer you use for browsing there are only 3 options you can use to hide your IP address and browse anonymously. Learn how to hide your IP address without installing any software.

1. Web Proxies

A web proxy is basically a website that acts as an intermediate between you and the site you visit. You enter the address/URL of the site you want to visit in a text box, press the Submit/Go button and then the proxy asks for the site/page to the webserver where the site/page is located. This way the site you visit is not able to log your real IP address, but the IP of the proxy.

This method is very useful to unblock sites like MySpace, Facebook, Orkut, etc., in schools or at work where such sites are filtered.

There are plenty of proxies you can use. Just google “free web proxy“, “unblock myspace“,  “unblock facebook“, etc. and you’ll get what you need. 

2. Proxies

The second solution involves some manual configuration. You need to set up your browser to use a certain proxy. The configuration is not difficult. Here is how to do it for Firefox, IE, Chrome, and Safari:

• Firefox 3.0: How To Manually Hide Your IP
• How To Manually Hide Your IP Using Internet Explorer 8
• How To Hide Your IP While Browsing Using Google Chrome
• How To Manually Mask Your IP Using Safari 3.x

Now, you need a proxy. There are a lot of sites that list fresh proxies, but finding a good one is a difficult task. Here are several sites where you can start looking:

• SamAir.ru
• Proxy4free.com
• ProxyList.net

3. VPN Services with PPTP protocol

The third option is to look for VPN services that use PPTP protocol, such that they do not require any software installation, just some Windows configuration (you may not have sufficient administrative rights to be able to do this). Here is how to configure Windows XP and Windows Vista.

Some VPN services that use the PPTP protocol are:

• HideMyAss
• ibVPN
• PureVPN

But let’s see first the advantages of using a VPN

A Virtual Private Network (commonly known as VPN) is a layer that allows you to connect securely to a remote server (or network) through an encrypted tunnel. That encrypted tunnel is created on top of the usual internet connection that you are regularly using. Depending on the implementation, the encryption can have many forms (header only, packet, etc.), and different protocols can be used based on the agreement between your computer (or network) and the remote network.

Reasons for using a VPN

Here are few reasons for using a VPN connection:

– For accessing your online bank account: there are few options here. Most of the time, your bank’s IT system will already come with security in mind. But they can only protect what they can control from their end. So as to add some layer of security, you may want to use a VPN that encrypts your internet connection,

– For securing your public Wi-Fi connection: we are now living in a connected world, and most of the time, you’ll be located in places where public Wi-Fi is available. Some cities allow you to connect to a Wi-Fi that they are providing, most hotels make Wi-Fi connections available for their guests, and airports usually have that feature turned on –  I am not even counting cybercafe and other pubs and public places. But Wi-Fi is also a goldmine for information thieves and hackers. indeed, everybody can connect to the same network, and chances are that there’ll always be a “smart” guy who’ll try to sniff the traffic that goes through a Wi-Fi connection so as to reuse that information later on. Tools exist for that sniffing purposes, and they are easily accessible.

Recommended reading: 7 Tips To Keep Your Laptop Secure While Traveling

– For overcoming some geolocation-limited online resources: those online platforms are becoming more and more popular. Netflix, Hulu, Spotify, BBC iPlayer, .. and the list goes on. A VPN connection is a perfect solution for overcoming those limitations. But another use is also about overriding some censorship that some countries are putting on some public online resources. For example, there were times where sites like Youtube were blocked from China. Here again, VPN solutions come in handy.

Our guesses on the reasons why you do not want to adopt VPN solutions

So, what is refraining you from using a VPN? It is only an attempt, but we think that most people don’t consider using VPN connections for the following reasons:

– Because it’s too cheap: most people believe that an affordable service may not be “worth” it. But there are serious VPN players out there that will tell you the contrary; the list includes HideMyAss, ibVPN (read our complete ibVPN review), PureVPN, Private Internet Access (read our comprehensive PrivateInternetAccess review), NordVPN or IPVanish.

– It’s too complicated to setup: well, I fully understand that the protocols behind VPN aren’t sexy enough. However, most of them install like a charm since they come with installers. All you have to do is to launch the installer and enter the credentials.

– Because you don’t care about it: well, I do not argue against that.

As you have seen, those are only guesses, and we’re sure you have some other reasons (or you may want to rephrase it differently).

What is refraining you from using a VPN? Let us know in the comments below.

When I decided to write this article, I couldn’t help but wonder if an acronym such as DD-WRT would even trigger some interest in our blog readers. After all, there’s already a ton of abbreviations hanging on this blog, so there’s a high risk of “selective processing” from readers that would push them to ignore this article. So, first of all, congratulations. Congratulations if you’ve read this far in this article. I promise this is going to be an eye-opening reading since it may give a new life to your router. So hang on.

But first of all, what is a DD-WRT?

DD-WRT is kind of “universal” Linux-based firmware that can be used as a replacement to your current router’s “operating system.” Best of all, it can be downloaded for free from the internet – and don’t get me wrong, free doesn’t mean “low-grade” system. Indeed, most of the routers that are shipped nowadays are only limited to a certain set of features- then some great marketing guys would categorize them to segments like “entry,” “for home office,” “professional” use.  So, with DD-WRT, that same hardware that came with your router can be added a lot of new features. Indeed, if you decide to replace your router’s firmware with a DD-WRT version, you’ll be able to:

• transform that old-router into a Wi-Fi hotspot (even though your genuine router’s firmware wouldn’t allow that);
• add finer control over QoS options. For those who are wondering what QoS is, it stands for “Quality of Service.” IT’s a generic term for every finer control that can be applied at the router’s level for managing bandwidth and access. For example, one router administrator can define at the router level that machine A would be limited to a 100Kb download speed while his computer wouldn’t be limited at all. Almost every network manager out there are using some QoS at the router level to manage that small bandwidth to multiple users;
• accept IPv6 protocol even though your router only came shipped with IPv4 support.

Is DD-WRT only for popular routers? Should I then replace my router’s firmware?

Well, as with most popular software, there is a database of routers that support the DD-WRT on the official website. Now, back to the second question: it’s not mandatory that you replace your router’s firmware with DD-WRT – after all, you’ve been working with it for a specified period now without any problems. But if you are considering adding new features, or if you have decided to give a new life to an old router, then you probably need to consider installing DD-WRT software features.

So why consider opting for a DD-WRT firmware replacement?

Heck, that’s a good question. But don’t worry, we’ll bring some answers to this:

• a lot of VPN solution provider support it. You may have seen it popping up all the time whenever you are considering buying a VPN solution (BTW, the following are great options for VPN – Virtual Private Networks: HideMyAss, ibVPN, PureVPN, Private Internet Access, or NordVPN). Indeed, most serious VPN providers come with support for DD-WRT- some even have quite detailed installation process. Thus, you will be able to hide your public IP address, browse the Internet safely, unblock restricted websites (BBC iPlayer, Netflix).
• it adds more features to your current router: as I said earlier, with DD-WRT, you can turn your router into an excellent Wi-Fi hotspot.

Bonus 1: How to setup ibVPN on DD-WRT router

ibVPN provides a pretty clear tutorial for this installation: DD-WRT routers OpenVPN setup, except for a couple of tips that are useful for the not-tech users.

Installing ibVPN on a router

Step 1: Download the file ibVPN DD-WRT ovpn (OpenVPN configuration files) from the site.  Copy the entire file into your Command Shell (Administration => Commands) and replace “your@email.address VPNpassword” with the login info you received from ibVPN.

Next, click Save Startup.

Step 2. Change DNS settings. ibVPN recommends the Google DNS servers:

google-public-dns-a.google.com 8.8.8.8
google-public-dns-b.google.com 8.8.4.4

Go to Tab Setup => Basic Setup  and make the following changes:

Then click Save.  It only remains for you only to reboot your router.

Step 3: Configuring IPs. Each package has its own IP addresses.  For the package TorrentVPN here they are:

NL: 62.212.72.172 (Amsterdam2)
TO: 46.165.196.25 (Frankfurt2)
LU: 212.117.165.18 (Luxemburg)

Simply put this script in your Command Shell: /tmp/ibvpn/vpn start + IP resulting /tmp/ibvpn/vpn start 62.212.72.172 for NL address .  Click Run Commands.

The message launching OpenVPN process appears.  Wait a few minutes and the process is completed.  Use the following script to stop the IP VPN: /tmp/ibvpn/vpn stop.

Troubleshooting

In case of VPN connection problems:

• First: Remove “explicit-exit-notify 3″ of the startup script. Reboot and set the desired IP.
• Contact support.  To facilitate the help you can give the logs.  Just do three very easy command line (Make Run Commands between each line):
  * ps
  * ip ro l
  * cat / tmp / ibvpn / vpn.log

What gives with this command line: ps – Click on Run Commands to bring up the Log.  Repeat the operation for each line.

You have now finished the VPN setup on your DD-WRT router. ibVPN is a premium VPN service that provides access to servers from over 100 locations. It is well-known for the quality of the support and the flexibility of their packages.

Bonus 2: How to setup VpnTunnel with OpenVPN on DD-WRT

You may follow the next steps in order to setup VPNTunnel DD-WRT. From your 192.168.1.1 interface, you access your router and its configuration.

1 – In the Services tab => VPN

You enable OpenVPN Daemon and check Start OpenVPN Daemon and WAN Up.

In the case that you have CA Cert in the box, you copy your file ca.cert witch you will find in the VpnTunnel.Se user account.

Next, in the Private Client Key box, you put on two lines your Username and your Password.

In the box OpenVPN config file you copy your OpenVPN configuration.

This file OpenVPN gives this script:

float
client
dev tap
proto udp
nobind
; Cert
ca / etc / openvpn / keys / ca.crt
ns-cert-type server
cipher BF-CBC # Blowfish
; VPN Server
remote-random
remote melissa.vpntunnel.se 1194
remote melissa.vpntunnel.se 10010
remote melissa.vpntunnel.se 10020
; Auth
auth-user-pass # passwd
persist-key
persist-tun
; Logging
comp-lzo
verb 1

Two lines must change:
ca / etc / openvpn / keys / ca.crt by AC / tmp / openvpn / ca.crt

auth-user-pass # passwd auth-user-pass / tmp / openvpn / key.pem

Then click on Save settings and Apply.

2 – In the Administration tab => commands

Copy this script and confirm with Save Firewall

iptables-I FORWARD-i br0-o tap0-j ACCEPT
iptables-I FORWARD-i tap0-o br0-j ACCEPT
iptables-I INPUT-i tap0-j REJECT
iptables-t nat-A POSTROUTING-o tap0-j MASQUERADE

3 – Reboot the router

Administration tab => Management and Reboot button to validate this router config.

To check your new IP: xmyip.com.

Changing DNS

In case of connection problems: untimely cuts / slow speed/ no change of IP, the DNS change to stabilize your computer and solve these problems.

1 – In XP – Vista

Open the Windows Control Panel => Open “Local Area Connection” => Right-click on the icon of your network connection => select “Properties” => Select “Internet Protocol (TCP / IP)” => Click Properties => Check “Use the following DNS server addresses” and then in the Preferred DNS server and Alternate DNS server, type addresses 80.67.0.2 and 91.213.246.2

Click OK and restart your computer.

2 – In Windows 7

Windows Control Panel => “Network and Internet” => “Network and Sharing Center” => “Change adapter settings” => Right-click on “Local Area Connection” => Click Properties.  => “Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)” => “Properties” => First click on the button “Use the following DNS server addresses” and enter your preferred DNS server and auxiliary.  Type the address 80.67.0.2 and 91.213.246.2

Click OK and restart your computer.

To sum up, VpnTunnel.Se works excellent on DD-WRT, and it’s an excellent choice if you want to install in on your router.

Now, your turn – have you switched to using a DD-WRT router? What do you think of the DD-WRT software features? What’s your personal experience? Feel free to share in the comment section.

If you are seeking total online anonymity then VPN services are the right way to go. There are several free such services, but as anything free, they come with significant drawbacks (a lot of ads, slow connection speed, etc.).

What if you decide to pay for a premium VPN service? What are your options if you don’t have a credit card as most of the internet users from China, India, etc. don’t. Then, you should use PayPal. Here are the steps you could follow. This is not going to take you 5 minutes, maybe 1 week or 1 month, but it’s a working solution.

1. Create a PayPal account

Go to PayPal.com and create an account. Choose the Personal account and fill in the required info. My advice is to use an email address that you plan to use for a longer period of time. After your account is ready to proceed to the next step.

2. Fill your PayPal account with money

This is the most difficult step, but with a little bit of effort, you should be able to do it. The idea is that you need money to pay for the service and you have to work for them.

There are plenty of forums that offer simple online jobs that can be performed by (almost) anyone. Go, for example, on DigitalPoint forums, to the Services section, and browse for threads with the subjects containing WTH (Want To Hire) string. If you find something interesting that you think you could do, create an account, send a message to the job poster and … start working.

You should be able to easily do $10-20/month that would be enough to proceed to the next step.

3. Find a VPN service that accepts PayPal

There are VPN services that do not accept PayPal payments like Relakks, IPredator, BananaVPN, etc., but others do. Here are 6 such services:

• HideMyAss – from $11.32/month
• ibVPN – from $4.95/month
• NordVPN
• ExpressVPN
• PureVPN

That’s it! Good luck and keep me up to date on your progress!

To find the IP of an email sender is, most of the times, an easy task. This info is kept in the header of each email sent or received, so what you have to do is to find the header and know where to look for the IP. You can read in one of my previous posts exactly how to do this.

Back to the problem, if you need to make in such way that the emails you send look as coming from another country (hide IP email), you need to change your IP address.

Email Sent Using Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird

If you are using Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird or other desktop application to send you emails the best solution is to use a VPN service. The downsides of this approach are that you have to find a VPN service with IP addresses in the country you need and you have to pay for them.

You may use some free VPN services like Hotspot Shield or CyberGhost VPN. If you plan to send hide IP emails on regular basis you may consider subscribing to premium VPN services that offer a large variety of locations. Here are my recommendations: HideMyAss, ibVPN, PureVPN, NordVPN.

Email Sent From Webmail

If you want to send the email from Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail or webmail the solution is simple and effective. Next, here are the steps you need to perform:

1. Go to proxy4free.com and look for a proxy from the country you need (Australia for the one that asked this). You should choose a high anonymous or anonymous proxy.

2. Set up your browser to use the proxy. Here is how for to do it for different browsers:

• Firefox
• Internet Explorer
• Opera
• Safari

3. Go to XMyIP.com and check your IP address. If it shows the country you need then it is ok. If not, search for another proxy.

4. Load the webmail page (Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc), log in and send the email. It may run a little bit slow.

5. You are done!

If you want to make sure this works you could send a hide IP email to you and then check the headers of the email for the IP address.

You have surely been warned by Google that they are reviewing their privacy policy: in fact, they have decided to “simplify” the plethora of privacy policy they have set up into one single policy. Learn how to clear Google history.

Who can access that personal information?

According to the new policy,

We restrict access to personal information to Google employees, contractors and agents who need to know that information in order to process it on our behalf. These individuals are bound by confidentiality obligations …

Can you give me your two cents on who those contractors and agents are? No clue?

So this is my two cents on this. Do you remember my article stating “Google is putting a price on your privacy?”. This means that there’s an actual need for Google to know how you surf the web. But there are other things that Google is already storing on your behalf: the searches you made as well as the links you’ve clicked after performing a search, the videos you watched on youtube (I just browsed my youtube account, and gosh, I’ve seen a lot of massage videos

Who’s the winner of this new policy?

Google is definitely a winner since they can provide a better user experience. But there’s also a fine line when it comes to “third parties” (agents?) who can access that information. Can you imagine how valuable private information can be for advertisers? For once, imagine that you are a massage therapist who wants to have your ads displayed to people who are interested in massage. They would be interested in my profile since they would have known that I watched a lot of massage videos on youtube.

So here’s how to clear Google history

Remember, I’m not talking about the history that your browser is keeping. I’m talking about the history that Google keeps on its servers about whatever you did on the internet that is Google-related: searches, videos you watched and so on and so forth.

For Google search history:

1. Log into your Google account.
2. Head to the address of the Web History: https://www.google.com/history.
3. Click “delete all web history”.
4. Confirm with OK.

For Youtube history:

1. Connect with your account on Youtube.
2. Click on your top right profile picture, top right.
3. Click Manage videos.
4. Choose from the left column “History” and then click Clear Google History.
5. Do the same for historical research, the menu located just below the “History”.

To sum-up

As I once told in one of my articles, there’s nothing wrong with this new privacy Google has set up (from my point of view). They have taken different measures to warn Google users that they’re changing their policy well ahead of time. We all know that Google is storing some information at different levels (google account, Youtube, …) – they even invite you to have a Google Chrome account.

The goal is clearly mentioned: they want to give you a tailored user experience. The only thing that should matter is: as a user, are you aware of the things that are tracked about you? It’s really up to you. As for me, I’ve just removed my search and Youtube history.

Did you know that search engines track your every move while you are searching online? It was reported not long ago in the New York Times that big search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, and MSN were all collecting data from their users.

All of these search engines are monitoring and storing your searches along with other data such as your behavior while online. This information may in some cases, not only be seen by those involved with your favorite search engine but also in many cases, third parties. Learn about the TrackMeNot Firefox add-on.

What is TrackMeNot Firefox Add-on?

The idea of TrackMeNot came about when the creators realized that legislator would take a very long time in coming and we need something that will protect our Fourth Amendments now not in months and possibly years to come.

TrackMeNot is a solution that can be used right now to hide your searches in a “cloud of ghost queries”. The only problem is that you must have a Firefox browser installed or you are out of luck, on the other hand, Firefox is very easy to download and install just like TrackMeNot.

Using TrackMeNot will give you more privacy and protect your information from search engines that might sell your information to third parties.

TrackMeNot Installation

Installing the add-on is very simple. All you have to do is follow the instructions in plain English. After a few seconds of installing, you will be able to see that search queries begin to show up in your status bar.

These will be sent to search engines, faking them out as to where you are really going or what you are searching for while online. You can, if you desire, disable the display function.

The same options are available from the Tools menu of the browser:

From the available Options you can:

• Set the Serch Engines that TMN queries
• Next, set the queries to be performed (Current Queries)
• Set the Query Frequency
• Set the Logging Options and see the performed queries (ShowLog)

You can choose from TrackMeNot version 0.3.x, version 0.4.x, and the newest version 0.5.x with features such as burst-mode, cookie anonymization, real-time search tracking, a few minor bug fixes, and improved timing mechanism and improved logging.

The important question: Can TMN effectively hide my identity?

Here is what the creators of TrackMeNot have to say about this:

To the extent that a third-party tries to identify you through searches alone, TMN can potentially make this a lot more difficult. Much depends on the search query terms included in future versions of TMN. If third-parties are using other means to identify you, e.g. through IP addresses and information from your ISP, TMN will be of little use.

So, you should also look at other tools in order to fully protect your privacy. Don’t forget to check my other post that presents 3 Free Firefox VPN/Proxy Add-ons That Still Work on Firefox 57.

Happy surfing!