HideMe.ru - VPN in clear language in 5 minutes

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

It is easy and pleasant to write about VPN in Russia on Lifehacker. No need to think about the introduction and no need to explain anything. Only the most gifted do not notice the wonderful metamorphosis that occurs with our Internet. Suddenly, they begin to decide for you which sites you can visit and which not. And then they start a criminal case for posting on a social network or for a picture. We add here foreign sites that restrict accessibility from other countries. VPN solves all problems. This post is about how to get started using a VPN in five minutes.

This is not the first time the VPN topic has been raised on Lifehacker, and probably not even the tenth time. In the comments to such posts, sometimes questions like "what is this and why" appear, and therefore it will be useful to conduct an introduction.

VPN in plain language

A VPN for a user is, roughly speaking, a proxy + anonymizer + encryption, but not for any separate applications and browser, but in general for all data on any devices. VPN is when you don't care about all the restrictions, prohibitions, risks, threats, and everything else.

• It is safe to connect to the Internet through a router, from a computer, laptop, smartphone and tablet through any available wired and wireless network and not be afraid that someone will intercept your passwords, data or somehow harm.
• Go to any sites that are blacklisted by Roskomnadzor for no reason or through stupidity of negligence. This list has already been visited by Wikipedia, Lurkomorye, Facebook, and Twitter. Sometimes it seems that the next victim is chosen randomly. I don't want to play this incomprehensible game by the incomprehensible rules. A popular site is, of course, unblocked quickly, while lesser-known sites can sit locked for days or weeks.
• Go to foreign sites that are not available in your host country.
• Become a faceless anonym who will not be "calculated by IP".

VPN for those who do not raise servers

There is always a certain "geek aura" around VPNs. It seems like how to make such a useful thing for yourself only a hardened techie can do. Not really. VPNs are a business these days, and any service that targets a mass audience has to be simple.

In the comments to this post, a person will surely appear who will say that it is better to still raise your VPN server. Okay, let's say. But what if you need to use IP addresses from different countries? Are you going to rent many servers in different parts of the world for your personal use? It is financially impractical.

It can also be difficult for such a fan of their own VPN servers to explain that besides him there are millions of people who do not want and do not need to bother with this. Hundreds of simple, universal and much more flexible out-of-the-box solutions work for them, which do not need to be lifted and configured. And you don't need to think about them either. I chose, connected and forgot. By the way, about the choice.

The world's best VPN

There is no such VPN and cannot be. Different people have different needs. In general, all services are somewhat similar, each has some peculiarities and lures with something of its own.

At one time, our editor-in-chief was delighted, because there is an iOS application there. Personally, I do not quite understand the value of mobile applications for working through a VPN on iOS or Android, since both operating systems have built-in tools for working through a VPN. That is, setting up a VPN on your iPhone, iPad or Android is no more difficult than entering a username and password on some website.

I use - a very old service, which is about eight years old, and my acquaintance with it happened about four years ago. In the case of a VPN, age becomes an additional guarantor, since a beginner can throw anything out. Especially the free newbie.

About free VPNs

Call me paranoid, but my brain refuses to trust free services that cannot clearly and clearly explain their monetization model, and therefore the very possibility of their existence. Maintaining a VPN service that can serve a large audience is VERY expensive. If these people do not receive money from users, then they receive it in some other way. Selling user data can make money.

About Russian VPN

There are also such. I cannot understand the purpose of their existence. Why use a VPN, say, to hide yourself and your activities on the Internet, if the relevant services can come to the company and just take this data? All meaning is lost.

Foreign VPNs are always more attractive. You can't just stick around to them and demand something. They obey the laws of other countries and cheerfully send such jokers away. When I contacted HideMe.ru support and, for the sake of interest, asked how they were with people's privacy, they answered:

Despite our focus on Russian users, we are a foreign company, without employees and offices in the Russian Federation. Even if they want to come to us, there will simply be nowhere to come. The decision to provide user data can only be made by the court of Belize (South America), for which there have been no precedents for eight years of our work.

Belize is a state.

Formerly called "British Honduras".:)

126 rubles

HideMe.ru has a very nice tariff - 126 rubles per month. This is with an annual subscription. Of course, a beginner will not immediately buy an annual subscription, but this is almost three times cheaper. Usually you buy for a month, use it, delve into it, and only then take an annual subscription. With this calculation, HideMe.ru will cost 349 rubles for the first month and 126 rubles for the following months. If you look at other services included in Lifehacker's reviews, then prices are indicated, as a rule, in USD, the cost fluctuates somewhere between 5 and 10 dollars per month, and among the payment methods there are no WebMoney, Yandex. Money »And payment systems typical only for our country. You can pay completely anonymously through terminals, but this is beyond even my paranoia.

For 126 rubles, HideMe.ru gives you the opportunity to surf the Internet through 74 servers in 35 countries of the world without any restrictions. This is another plus of the old service - a well-developed infrastructure. Most of the young services cannot boast of such a thick network, offering mostly popular locations only in the US and Europe. The number of servers also reduces the average load on each of them. This directly affects the speed - it is much less likely to get on an overloaded server and tolerate "dial-up" reception and output rates.

Pipitipi and other interesting words

I will not write anything about security, encryption and other technical components. I think all these things are self-evident. A service will not survive for several years if it has open security holes and the proper level of security is not implemented.

Yes, there are interesting words in the description, the supported protocols are listed, and so on, but the service prudently does not load the user with unnecessary information and places it in a pop-up window marked "for a specialist". Does everything work as it should and is there a sufficient level of safety and security? Wonderful. The rest is really a topic for specialists solving some of their specific tasks. At the user level, it is enough for me that this service has been doing what I need for many years without any complaints, and asks for very little money.

Five minutes to VPN

At the beginning, it was said that five minutes are enough to get acquainted with the delights of the Internet through a VPN. This is true. You can check the time and do everything step by step.

Of course, there are no registrations. This is a basic rule of good form for any normal VPN. We go to the site, select "Try for free".

Yes, you don't have to pay at the very beginning. In the case of HideMe.ru, a free day is given for full testing. A letter with a code and setup instructions for computers, smartphones and tablets falls into the box.

The code is all that is required for further use of the service. No accounts, everything is impersonal. Enter the received code on the website in the corresponding field "Connect to VPN".

Along the way, the service will once again clarify for which device the VPN is being configured at the moment, and will provide everything you need.

In the case of a Windows computer, they will offer a choice of a simple application for ordinary users or settings for bearded admins.

For computers on other operating systems, settings options are offered: a particularly stable connection for everyday needs, or an especially fast and low-ping connection for games.

For mobile devices - easy-to-understand step-by-step settings.

With the app, five minutes of installation and settings are reduced to one minute. It is enough to specify the code, select the server, and everything works right away. In addition to simplicity, the Windows application has another significant plus - the ability to restrict Internet access when the VPN connection is lost. This option eliminates the possibility that any data in the absence of a VPN will suddenly go through a real IP address.

To dispel the myth about the complexity of setting up a VPN on mobile devices, I am attaching screenshots of the process from the first to the last step on Android.

Go to Settings → Wireless Networks → More → VPN. If you do not have a password on the smartphone lock screen, then you need to put it, otherwise it will not be allowed into the VPN. Click the plus sign and create a new VPN connection, filling in the fields in accordance with the instructions. We select the server address from the list in the instructions (I chose Munich, Germany).

We tap on the created connection. The name is a code received from HideMe.ru. Password - by default, the mailbox to which the code was received, you can change it.

That's all. A VPN is already running on my smartphone, and 2ip.ru says that I am really in Germany.

The free daily code is enough to test the VPN up and down on all devices. Start in the morning and use it all day, measure speeds, and so on. Well, then - 126 rubles a month. Try it. It's much easier than you might imagine.