topic Re: DOES ANYONE USE A VPN in Community Chat

DOES ANYONE USE A VPN

Teddixat — Sat, 17 Jan 2026 14:03:16 GMT

I am thinking of getting VPN protection on all my devices. I've been doing some research but wanted to know if the community has any comments. I am concerned with my information appearing on the dark web. There also have been so many security breaches of our information.

thank you

Re: DOES ANYONE USE A VPN

kaydee50 — Sat, 17 Jan 2026 14:08:11 GMT

Yes, we have it on our computers. I find it somewhat annoying in that I have to "disconnect" in order to reach some websites. But DH insists that it is necessary at least when doing financial stuff or ordering online.

Re: DOES ANYONE USE A VPN

Teddixat — Sat, 17 Jan 2026 14:22:55 GMT

@kaydee50 . Thank you, If you don't mind sharing, for instance what type of websites do you need to disconnect It is easy to disconnect?

Re: DOES ANYONE USE A VPN

Puzzle Piece — Sat, 17 Jan 2026 15:16:17 GMT

What is a VPN?

Re: DOES ANYONE USE A VPN

Eileen in Virginia — Sat, 17 Jan 2026 15:32:43 GMT

Yes, we have it loaded on our iPads and cell phones. I'm not a techie, but a VPN (virtual private network) is used to provide added security when you're using a system that's not secure. With our VPN (Norton), it's loaded all the time, but activates when we try to access a questionable website. Last weekend we stayed at a major hotel while visiting family for an event. Right after we signed onto the hotel website, we received a message that it was not a secure website, so we activated our VPN and were able to surf the web securely. VPN coverage was included with our Norton subscription. Hope this helps!

Re: DOES ANYONE USE A VPN

Stray — Sat, 17 Jan 2026 15:49:36 GMT

I used VPN on my iPad but I couldn’t do updates or security patches from Apple. We had a problem with my husband’s PC & went to the Genius Bar & I asked the tech if VPN would block upgrades from Apple & he confirmed that it does. I also couldn’t shut VPN off no matter how hard I tried. I went to the Norton website, my devices & it kept reverting to VPN. I don’t know if it was just my iPad that was faulty but eventually it did turn off.

Re: DOES ANYONE USE A VPN

Tori3569 — Sat, 17 Jan 2026 16:16:49 GMT

In general a VPN is not needed by any home or personal devices unless you frequent non https websites or are looking to mask your location to use an app that allows use by location (like NFL Sunday ticket)

If you're using https for all of your web sessions and ssl/tls for email, then nobody can access your data anyway. You don't need a VPN for that, but if it makes you feel more secure, then go for it.

The information your ISP can collect about you is the addresses you visit, not the information sent.

For an imperfect analogy, think of it as -- your service provider has a list of every phone number you called, but they can't listen to the conversation.

Re: DOES ANYONE USE A VPN

Imaoldhippie — Sat, 17 Jan 2026 16:26:15 GMT

Yes we have bitdefender and they have VPN. I use it all the time. Some websites you can access unless you disable your VPN. I have to access one of those sites I disable it and as soon as I am finished I enable it again.

Re: DOES ANYONE USE A VPN

kaydee50 — Sat, 17 Jan 2026 17:25:33 GMT

@Teddixat wrote:
@kaydee50 . Thank you, If you don't mind sharing, for instance what type of websites do you need to disconnect It is easy to disconnect?

It is easy to connect/disconnect from VPN. I sometimes have to disconnect to access the QVC webdsite or Macy's. On the other hand, there are some websites that I have to be connected in order to access them. Don't know why. I just do whatever works--LOL!!

Re: DOES ANYONE USE A VPN

theresa — Sat, 17 Jan 2026 18:02:58 GMT

@Eileen in Virginia yes I use it on my iPhone but I can't seem to connect on my IPAD. Don't know why

Re: DOES ANYONE USE A VPN

SilleeMee — Sat, 17 Jan 2026 18:23:08 GMT

I have used a VPN before but it was annoying. It interfered with my surfing. In the end I stopped using it b/c I'm at home all of the time and I really don't see the need to use one here. If I was travelling or using a remote for a business then that would be different.

Surfshark is the VPN company I used. It's top-rated and very reasonably priced.

Re: DOES ANYONE USE A VPN

Teddixat — Sat, 17 Jan 2026 20:32:09 GMT

@Eileen in Virginia Thank you

Re: DOES ANYONE USE A VPN

KLm — Sat, 17 Jan 2026 20:56:33 GMT

I have Nord VPN on my iPhone, iPad, and laptop. Basically it masks my location. I have to pause it to access banking sites, anything really secure, and sometimes shopping sites, but most of the time I don't pause it.

I think you can use it to access tv shows and the like in other countries by selecting a VPN from that country, but I've never done it.

Re: DOES ANYONE USE A VPN

JeanLouiseFinch — Sat, 17 Jan 2026 21:19:53 GMT

Yes!

Re: DOES ANYONE USE A VPN

Eileen in Virginia — Sun, 18 Jan 2026 00:22:40 GMT

@theresa wrote:
@Eileen in Virginia yes I use it on my iPhone but I can't seem to connect on my IPAD. Don't know why

@theresa As I said, I'm not a techie, but how many devices do you have for it? Our Norton "license" covers installing it on 5 devices. When I got my new laptop, I had to uninstall it from the old laptop to install it on the new one. Or, I could have purchased another license for the new laptop. If your license only covers one device, you'd need another license for the second one. Maybe someone else knows more about this.

Re: DOES ANYONE USE A VPN

Kalli — Sun, 18 Jan 2026 01:20:57 GMT

My brother recommended VPN. He's helping me with my retirement account and said it makes these transactions safer. I've never had any problems before but installed it anyway.

Re: DOES ANYONE USE A VPN

theresa — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 21:21:02 GMT

@Eileen in Virginia mine is with ATT Active Armour and it's per device. That's unfortunate because I really use my iPad as well. I think I'm going to look into getting something else that covers multiple devices. Thank you

Re: DOES ANYONE USE A VPN

theresa — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 13:10:29 GMT

@Kalli may I ask you which vendor did you select?

Re: DOES ANYONE USE A VPN

CalminHeart — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 13:16:30 GMT

@Teddixat wrote:
I am thinking of getting VPN protection on all my devices. I've been doing some research but wanted to know if the community has any comments. I am concerned with my information appearing on the dark web. There also have been so many security breaches of our information.

thank you

I use Malwarebytes VPN on my Apple devices.

I used Norton VPN back when I had a Windows laptop but wasn't all that happy with it.

Re: DOES ANYONE USE A VPN

JoyFilled Warrior — Wed, 21 Jan 2026 10:26:00 GMT

gosh, y'all so impress me!!.