Private Internet Acces and Windows 7

[sam2iam]

I have been browsing the internet via Private Internet Access VPN for privacy, just on GP, for about three years, and it has worked pretty well for me. My current license expires in February, 2021. In November, I bit on a solicitation from them for a three year renewal offer. When I downloaded the current version of the client, I found that it refused to install, with a message that the requirement was Windows 8 and up. I really don't have any intention of going to Windows 10, and I'm pretty sure that I don't have any clean upgrade path to Windows 8. PIA has not responded to any of a half-dozen support requests on this issue. Anyone else using this product on Windows 7, and/or any advice?

 

[file3456]

I can't help fix this only to say PIA SUCKS!


Look into vpn.ac or protonvpn.

There's a lot to VPN security then you may know. Read my post here

Bottom line, if you can still use the older client version then use that, otherwise get a refund.

 

[RolandJS]

As F22Simpilot implies, not every upgrade needs to be acted upon. I have turned down numerous upgrades while accepting others.

 

[sam2iam]

I can't help fix this only to say PIA SUCKS!


Look into vpn.ac or protonvpn.

There's a lot to VPN security then you may know. Read my post here

Bottom line, if you can still use the older client version then use that, otherwise get a refund.

I'm fairly knowledgeable on the subject, thanks. Ironically, I cannot access that forum from a VPN IP. Can you summarize your factual basis for your statement on PIA for my benefit, and for others here who may be interested? I have found them "OK" re operations. They do have a very large pool of ISPs and IP addresses, which is kinda crucial to the concept. My research has also not uncovered any convincing evidence that their product is intentionally "back-doored" for certain agencies. That practice has always been a non-starter for me, and that stance has only been bolstered by recent infosec headlines. It's their business and support ops that I have some problems with. I may look at proton, I have multiple email accounts with them. I did try NordVPN last time my PIA account was expiring. The very first thing their installer did was to force the installation of some more recent Windows component than I was using (probably .Net, but don't really recall). No prompt, message, or option, just download and install. I had kept parts of my installation at a certain (non-current) level because there were specific "improvements" that I did not want. Now, I would have no problem with NordVPN telling me I need a specific Windows tool at version XYZ.abc to run their product, beforehand. I wouldn't even have a huge issue if, at the beginning of the install script, they gave me an option "This will install the most recent version of Windows .NET - continue {Y or N}". But what they did is imo totally unacceptable. Likewise, I wouldn't have had a major issue with the PIA Win 8 requirement had PIA included the minimum OS with their solicitation emails.

 

[sam2iam]

As F22Simpilot implies, not every upgrade needs to be acted upon. I have turned down numerous upgrades while accepting others.

Fully understood, and I agree. However, I must also evaluate the risk that the program will stop operating correctly on Win 7 over the length of the subscription. All it would take is a critical bug fix, or a major change in ISP provisioning, that only works in the current client to make that happen. With a 3-year license beginning in February, and a current minimum requirement for Win 8, the risk would appear to be pretty high...

 

[RolandJS]

Agreed, I pretty much do as you do with upgrades.

 

[file3456]

Ironically, I cannot access that forum from a VPN IP.

That forum is my forum and you can't access it from most VPNs or even Tor. Either turn off the VPN or I can throw the Info. on the Wayback Machine. I'd have to do it manually since not even the Wayback Machine can access the site unless I give it permission.

While there are several factors with PIA, the biggest would be the use of allowed port forwarding. This is a no, no for VPNs. Yes, there may be "mitigations" in place, but that's like a major sense of trust then and I have my doubts the mitigations work. They may also have DNS leaks. My VPN provider has their own DNS servers and on top of that sends numerous pseudo traffic to them to obfuscate DNS traffic.

I also saw a bogus video on YouTube that was with some kid talking about how he got "hacked" via Discord (shouldn't use Discord from the jump anyway) and was all describing his panic and crap and then started to advertise PIA. Right there and then I knew it was BS. YouTube video creators will get paid to promote crap so PIA probably handed that kid some money to put on that little show to get the younger moronic class to buy into their platform.

Nord has issues as well that I've read about. However, if your goal is for stream services due to geo blocking then there really are only a handful of VPNs that can do it and not get you blocked. Nord is one.

 

[file3456]

I also pay for my VPN with Monero, a so far untraceable cryptocurrency. I used a Proton email address that's only logged into with a VPN and signed up with a proxy route, that went through a Tor connection using a bridge. That was about five years ago now. When even I have to login to the VPN website I use their VPN. They say there are no logs and you do have to take a company's word for it. But since this company is a security focused company I feel like they are telling the truth.

I also pay for Protonmail's bridge for another email address, and on my site I share how to do that incognito.