So I got a message from my browser (Firefox) about a deal on their VPN, and when checking other places it does seem to be a good deal (less than $50 US for a year) but I've never really understood how they work, and whether the added privacy is worth it. I mean, I understand the basic concept ONLY, in that it "hides" your physical location when browsing on web sites.

1)Does it give a fake location or just doesn't include one?
2)If it gives a fake one, does it pick one at random or do you pick it? (say I wanted it to look like I was from... I dunno, France or something).
3)Along the line of 2, does it fake the same location every time, pick a new one randomly every time, or you choose one every time, or it picks/you pick once?

Thanks for any help.

While using a VPN (virtual private network), your requests (and remote server responses) are routed through the server(s) of the VPN. In essence, your traffic is routed through a middle-man. From the perspective of remote web sites, your 'location' will be that of the registered VPN server location. VPNs with servers based in a foreign territory are useful for bypassing country-restricted content on certain online services (such as some video streaming services).

Your normal (non-VPN) IP address (which would suggest a rough, imprecise location such as your town/city, or a nearby town/city) is supplied by your ISP (internet service provider). As is obvious, your ISP knows your exact location, but, while not using a VPN, a web site would be unable to pinpoint this without using GPS or Wi-Fi positioning system. While using a VPN, the VPN provider would know your real IP address, but, the sites in which you visit with it would only see the IP address of the VPN. So, while using a VPN, from the perspective of web sites, you reside in a different area (unless you are unlucky enough to be using a VPN that is hosted from your town/city -- this is not usually the case).

As for privacy, prior to using a VPN, you might wish to ask yourself: "do I feel that I can trust this VPN more than my ISP?"

I should add: while VPNs are similar to proxies, the former encrypts your traffic within a tunnel of sorts, and should not be able to view your traffic (except, of course, they would know which sites you are seeking). Entered credentials would be reasonably-secure (nothing is truly protected, as we know), unlike, for example, using wi-fi without wireless security at a public location to log into an insecure web site (http/80).

Okay, thank you.

Hey, thank you. When I looked around earlier I didn't see any free ones. Yeah, that's the ticket, I can try it for one month and at a minimum I'll learn more about it.

Makes one wonder how cookies work though, as it seems a big function of many sites' cookies is to know your general location. Boy won't they be fooled, lol (or, I'm misunderstanding cookies too lol).

I think I will try it just to see what ads and how various web sites react differently. It's interesting if nothing else, and free, even if only for a month, is a good way to see that. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. The site did read like it would remain free as long as you only use one device, and that's all I have, this MSI laptop. I have never had a cell/smart phone in my life (and won't ever have one even if I somehow lived another 30 years), I hated the very concept before I even learned that it's also basically like having a GPS implanted under the skin. Funny how most humans would vehemently object if the government came and said we're going to implant GPS trackers in your skin and it will be illegal for you to tamper with it or use it.... then willingly pay a private corporation for the same thing, I guess falsely believing that it's not the same thing, I dunno. Trust me when I tell you, big brother can get any and all tracking information from your phone from a private corporation just easily as if they had in fact implanted a tracker under your skin.

I'll brace for all the hate now, but at it's core...it's the truth.

Although you can turn your phone off/remove the card thingy or whatever, so that is one thing.

You are safe. You are in a DRM-free zone. (^_~)

On a serious note: taking practical steps to limit your data output (and digital 'footprint') is not necessarily similar to the behavior of a person that might be widely-believed to exhibit signs of hyper-paranoia.

I guess this isn't going to work. Another thing I don't own is a television. What TV I do watch I stream, and so far every time I've hit the "Switch Server" button, it's taken me to sites across one of the two big ponds (Japan and Belgium seem to be the most popular) and this has resulted in a very noticeable lag in sites loading and especially streaming.

Oh well, I learned the basics at least.

Thanks everyone. Hey I got a USA one. Netherlands before that.

Hey, this is really fascinating. I do get totally different looks when I go to sites without the VPN and with it.

My streaming service (XFinity) "remembers" all my favorite and most recent selections when VPN is off, and when on it has nothing but the basic choices. And at sites with ads I noticed are very different too. lol Apparently they know I'm old and I get lots of Medicare and Viagra ads. When on, I got ads for other stuff, (Lume seems a popular one, it's a brand of deodorant here in the US). This really does have noticeable differences. It's all very fascinating to me.

The Proton free account is permanently free but the free account has a few limitations. Only one device, no file sharing (torrents, etc.) through the VPN and you can only choose servers in three countries: USA, Netherlands and Japan.

P.S.: It's not paranoia if they are really after you. ;-)

And yes, you are misunderstanding cookies as well. ;-)

I could've sworn I saw Belgium once, oh well me getting confused again since they are close lol. This is still very interesting to me. I tried switching while streaming the 11:00 news and it immediately borked, lol.

EDIT: And it must have something to do with cookies or something, because I did see different ads, and I thought "informed" ads were based on cookies.
The Weather Channel dot com was funny. Off, it had my very home town weather come up, even though it's a small town. On, it came up with Los Angeles for some damned reason. lol. Oops, now it's On and it came up with my home town this time. Weird,

Now I'm seeing the same old Medicare Advantage and Viagra (well, technically not Viagra it's some site calls Him or something and that's what they sell) even when On. I'm going to play with this on and off for awhile to see if I do notice any more difference. I DID notice a difference streaming when at Netherlands or Japan. It dropped out of HD several times, something which almost never happens unless I'm having a WiFi issue.

Try deleting cookie and/or site data for whichever particular site that you are testing.

Note: if applicable, you would need to log back in, as your authenticated user information is stored in such a manner. Also, deleting said data for sites that possess location information (through your voluntary input) will not be of significant help.

Or use a privacy/incognito mode, or a clean portable browser or something.

Depends if the group or person a guy is scared of is the same that's hunting him ;o)

Cookies are small bits of text that the server sends to the browser, which are then saved on your machine and then sent back whenever you visit the site with that browser.

For example, a web site might see you connecting from a US-based IP address, and give your browser the cookie "lang=en-us". Then, if you go to Japan and connect using the same browser on the same device, your browser will send back the string "lang=en-us", and the site will then know to send you the English version of the site. Such a site could very well have a button/link that, when followed, sets the "lang=ja-jp" cookie in its place, and then everything will be in Japanese. This happens at the HTTP level, before the page is displayed, though JavaScript can access any cookies not marked http-only.

Cookies can also store login information, so that you don't have to log into the site every time you visit.

Web sites have other ways of storing information on your computer; those methods allow for significantly more storage, but are not automatically sent with every HTTP request. For example, many web games will save your progress that way.

Be aware that, if you are using a private/incognito window, all data saved from the current session will be erased when you close the window. This means that you will no longer be logged in, and that your progress in that web game will not be saved. (Sometimes this is what you want, but it's good to be aware that this will happen.) It's probably something like this:
* If the site has been given permission to access your location (and your device is equipped with GPS or similar), it sends you weather data for where you are. (Note that this permission request can be denied or not even answered.)
* If your browser sends back a cookie, the server knows where to send you the weather information.
* Otherwise, the site might then use your IP to choose a default location. Note that, if you're using a VPN, you'll get weather from the provider's location, not your own, if this happens.

By the way, there are 2 other use cases for a VPN:
* Sometimes, if you go to school or work (especially if you work remotely), your school or job might provide you with a VPN. Using this will cause you to appear to be on your school or work network, allowing access to things like journals that your school has subscribed to, or servers with confidential data that you need to work with for your job. Generally, it's best to only use this VPN for school or work related things.
* You can also host your own private VPN with some sort of dynamic DNS. This is one way to gain access to your home network from elsewhere. (There's some potential to use this for LAN gaming, as the VPN could, in some cases, appear as a LAN.)

Not VPN related but . . .

Another thing you could do to increase security for free is use a DNS server that is more secure than your ISP (which can monitor your activity). In Firefox, go to Settings, Privacy & Setting and scroll down to "Enable Secure DNS". You can select either "Increased Protection" or "Max Protection" and then select "Choose Provider" and then "Custom" from the drop down.

I recommend Quad9 myself which means you would insert 9.9.9.9 or 149.112.112.112 (IPv4 which works for most users) in the custom field. Check the Quad9 site header for IPv6 if you prefer that.

https://www.quad9.net/

Or just select the default Cloudflare for 1.1.1.1

There are several other good DNS servers available but I prefer anything but Google. Setting the above ONLY increases your security when using your browser. You can set it in your OS (never tried that so not sure of security increase) and also on your router (depends on firmware/model which helps secure all connected devices).

I have my vpn on my router using 9.9.9.9 as the primary and 149.112.112.112 and 1.1.1.1 as fallbacks. If you want your vpn on your router I suggest using DD-WRT firmware but setup can be difficult if you are not familiar with router setup. DNS server selection may be available in your stock router firmware. This eliminates the need for setting you DNS Server in Firefox or your OS. No router then set the DNS server in your Firefox browser.

More info on DNS server providers - https://www.howtogeek.com/874773/the-best-dns-servers-for-secure-browsing/

Concerning VPN's do your own research. Free is nice but do a search for "Best VPN's" and read carefully. Than select one that you feel comfortable with.

Edit: I also set 9.9.9.9 as my DNS server on my android phone system =) (system not my android browser)

Using VPN is like making love to a beautiful woman: you do it with total privacy in mind, you don't want others to know what and where and with whom you are doing "it".

You can think of the VPN provider as a pimp. He knows what and where you are doing and how much you are paying for it, but you just don't care enough, you trust he will not tell anyone as that could hurt his business and you wouldn't use his (VPN) services anymore.