# Do I need a VPN



## cookiemonster (Feb 10, 2021)

Hi do I need a VPN I have avast premium security and buy a lot of stuff online plus do my banking.


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## jjnissanpatfan (Feb 10, 2021)

Only if you need 100% privacy. The internet using most browsers have virus protection built in and Windows has defender. If you know the websites you use are safe and are not advertising the online banking part your pretty safe. If you feel like you do not want Google(or who ever applies) or ISP your business then get a VPN.


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## W1zzard (Feb 10, 2021)

Not needed for those scenarios. And you can get viruses even with a VPN

If you want to download stuff via torrents then it might make sense so they can't sue you


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## cookiemonster (Feb 10, 2021)

Thanks.


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## Mussels (Feb 10, 2021)

VPNs are the equivalent of calling another phone, then having that phone start a 3 way call with where you intended to call in the first place

It only helps in very specific circumstances, and those are not as an antivirus or security mechanism
Here in aus you cant be sued for download a torrent only being the initial seed, so i personally dont care for being anonymous online.

1. by hiding your IP address, they give you a brief first layer of anonymity. It's not perfect, in a way no different to services that change your IP every time you connect.
2. They can help bypass network issues, deliberate or otherwise. As an example with downloads, an ISP may throttle certain downloads in peak times and a VPN *MAY* bypass their throttle
3. it can change your detected region, which can be used to get past geo locks on certain programs and websites. (buying steam games from a cheaper country, etc)


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## Bill_Bright (Feb 11, 2021)

Mussels said:


> VPNs are the equivalent of calling another phone, then having that phone start a 3 way call with where you intended to call in the first place


Hmmm. What a simple but understandable explanation for a relatively complex service. Consider it totally pilfered and positioned in my canned text document, set to be profusely plagiarized.


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## milewski1015 (Feb 11, 2021)

Bill_Bright said:


> Hmmm. What a simple but understandable explanation for a relatively complex service. Consider it totally pilfered and positioned in my canned text document, set to be profusely plagiarized.


I knew a lot of your responses to troubleshooting seemed like copy and paste  "Most important thing for electronics is good, clean, stable power..."

Also, you might want to take up poetry if that alliteration in sentence two is anything to go by


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## Frick (Feb 11, 2021)

The question is also if you can find a VPN you trust more than your ISP. Recently a bunch of them were caught storing data on open servers, and a bunch of them are owned by chinese companies, which may not be bad in itself but a service allegedly imrpoving privacy should be somewhat transparent.


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## Bill_Bright (Feb 11, 2021)

milewski1015 said:


> I knew a lot of your responses to troubleshooting seemed like copy and paste


Many are since many of the same questions are asked over and over again as new members post on this and other sites. But you can be sure, if I cut and paste a response, it is cut and paste out of my own Word document I generated myself over the years, through my own research. This is a 82 page "living document" that is constantly evolving, pretty much at the same pace as hardware and software technologies are advancing. 

If 30 different people ask, "How do I pick the right size power supply?", why should I waste everyone's time generating a new and unique reply when I could quickly answer their question was a canned text? So I will paste it in, verify links, if any, are still valid, then move on. 

If I copy and paste from someone else, unlike some, I either quote them directly, or I give them credit.


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## jboydgolfer (Feb 11, 2021)

i ran a vpn for a while, i tried a few of the well known brands. nord was one of the better ones, which at best allowed 65% of my true speed at any time. it didnt hinder my browsing too much, since my speed is sufficient, but it was noticeable, & not worth the 'benefit'. smart browsing & user practices, paired with something like Malwarebytes & security essentials will suffice for most users. 'need' is not the word i would use in terms of a vpn, id sooner say some can 'use' a vpn, but few 'need' one imo


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## Frick (Feb 11, 2021)

Bill_Bright said:


> Hmmm. What a simple but understandable explanation for a relatively complex service. Consider it totally pilfered and positioned in my canned text document, set to be profusely plagiarized.



Off topic reply:


Spoiler



This is obscenely off topic, but do you have good software for canned respones? I had a brief stint on MS tech support and they had a program called Canned Response Manager (the icon was a toilet!) and it simply put a thing in the system tray and let you create text snippets which were put in a meny which appeared on clicking the system tray icon and it copied the text to the clipboard. It was great and simple and I haven't found anything since which does the same thing, at least not with the same simplicity.


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## milewski1015 (Feb 11, 2021)

Bill_Bright said:


> Many are since many of the same questions are asked over and over again as new members post on this and other sites. But you can be sure, if I cut and paste a response, it is cut and paste out of my own Word document I generated myself over the years, through my own research. This is a 82 page "living document" that is constantly evolving, pretty much at the same pace as hardware and software technologies are advancing.
> 
> If 30 different people ask, "How do I pick the right size power supply?", why should I waste everyone's time generating a new and unique reply when I could quickly answer their question was a canned text? So I will paste it in, verify links, if any, are still valid, then move on.
> 
> If I copy and paste from someone else, unlike some, I either quote them directly, or I give them credit.


For sure! My original comment wasn't meant to be accusatory in any way. I'd be doing the same thing in your shoes. Was mainly just recognizing a confirmation of my suspicions haha


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