Windows 7: Best way to utilze VPN???

OK, so for a while now I've been considering doing the VPN thing to help protect my computer and it's connection to the net.

What's the best way, and the most economical way, of utilizing VPN ?

Just trying to get some ideas on what options I should consider from the resident experts here on the board since you guys have more experience in stuff like this.

I think you are missing the point of a VPN. It really has nothing to do with protecting a network. It involves a secure connection to put an outside computer into another network. For example, when I work from home, I use a VPN to let me laptop connect into my corporate network and access servers.

Isn't a VPN a more secure way to connect a computer to the internet?

If so, I'd like to explore this way of connecting since it is more secure.

Not exactly really. A VPN is just a way of using a secure way of communication between two networks though an unsecure network. The prime example is working on your home network from your work, by using a VPN all traffic is encrypted.

There are, however, certain VPN servers that you can connect to, and use internet from there, so ALL your traffic is encrypted. All of them I know are paid (monthly) and can't assure how reliable or reputable they are. Also you'll be going always though a proxy, something that some website explicitly disallow. Not something really I can recommend.

But one question, what kind of "protection" are seeking? Any particular problem or menace you are afraid of?

The world is a dangerous place man... they be hackin major banks, the Pentegon, etc, etc, so I think it's a good idea to use a VPN like most major corporations do not only for their intranet, but also for general internet traffic as well.

I don't care if a website does not allow me using a proxy... how are they going to know my IP is not actually mine? If it's a site I really need to get on, then I'll just have to turn off the VPN if that site blocks my access.

Just wanted to see about options... not talk about whether I should use VPN or not.
If it causes alot of problems, I can always ditch it.

the only situation when VPN are worth using is when you are connected to an unprotected wifi. Pretty much all hotspots (free or payed) are unprotected.
For "unprotected" I mean that data from users to hotspot is easy to intercept, of course all have good security to keep people from accessing the internet without paying.

Usernames, passwords, whatever, all can be detected and stolen by anyone in range (and given that some diectional antennas have 3 km or so of range, that's pretty long).

A VPN works by encrypting data travelling between you and a server that is somewhere in the internet.

Most VPN services around offer free use with capped bandwith. A very common (if mildly annoying) is Hotspot Shield.

THis page offers good introductory info, and how to make your own VPN to avoid paying or having capped bandwith.

I long since moved to 3G (mobile internet), so the issue does not apply. Yet.

OK, so nobody round here is a VPN user at all?

this page offers good general info and also teaches you how to set up your own VPN.

VPN is not the only way to encrypt data too. ALL websites server though HTTPS are encrypted and it's not possible to sniff passwords. There are hackers around, granted, and it's true that they managed to crack sites like the pentagon and such, but that doesn't immediately means you're at risk.

There is a balance you must make in what's important and what's critical. For example, does it matters is anyone is able what you search on Google? And what you read on Sevenforums? I guess not, it's public anyway. Is it important is anyone is able to intercept your password on GMail? YES, and precisely because that, that page is server over HTTPS, always encrypted.

Corporations do use VPNs, but not the ones you're after, but just ones used to join two distant branches, maybe worldwide, to an unique network, and that's important to be encrypted, because of the private data. General internet traffic is often NOT encrypted at all, since it's often particular to the employees, but in some cases it's directly blocked.

Uhm, no it's possible, just harder. You can find friggin tutorials for that and free tools to do it (usually on linux, and usually console commands only, no GUI), if even script kiddies are a threat, go figure what an actual pro can do.

Finally found an article about it I can post here without risking insta-ban.

That's a bit like punks that spray paint on walls. Pentagon's website doesn't contain any classified info and isn't connected to anything critical, so its security is medium just for PR reasons, cracking the internal network to get classified stuff is another matter alltogether, so far none made it. (all successful plans involved some kind of memory device smuggled past guards, that's how Wikileaks got filled of things)

But anyway, the real money is done by stealing accounts (possibly home banking), not by hacking the pentagon, so you get much more competent computer-using thieves than actual hackers.