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In the past, a VPN was used mainly to safely connect remote employees to corporate networks. Today, the main use of a VPN is to achieve anonymity on the internet. Other uses of a VPN include:

• • Bypassing geographic restrictions to enjoy online content that’s available only in certain parts of the world.

• • Protecting sensitive data when using public Wi-Fi hotspots, which are a frequent target of snooping.

• • Preventing internet service providers from blocking certain activity, such as torrenting.

• • Hiding the real IP address assign to an internet-connected device to conceal the location of the device and the person using it.

• • Enjoying lower latency when playing online games and video chatting with friends and family.

Virtually all mainstream operating systems today, including Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, and iOS, come with built-in VPN support. However, some configuration is required to take advantage of it. At the very least, you must input the IP address of the VPN server you want to connect to and provide your username and password (some VPN servers accept an authentication certificate instead). Alternatively, you can skip VPN configuration by downloading a third-party VPN app that lets you establish a VPN connection with a single click. All major providers of VPN services offer such apps, so you have a lot of options to choose from.