So, I bought a new laptop… been going through it for the past couple hours getting familiar with it and importing all my various settings. I have been using Norton for my VPN for the past few years, but I am considering switching to a different one. My Norton is due to expire at the end of the year. What do you folks use? I like to get recommendations and opinions from other and y’all are some pretty knowledgeable folks here.
I am been doing some research and am considering Nord VPN or possibly TOTAL VPN… these are a couple that my on-line reading have come up with as decent ones.
I don’t need a VPN for cloud storage, I am 'prolly going to go with MS One Drive for that. I am used to how that format works (especially with the file manage format of which I am used to.) … so storage is not a priority.
I wouldn’t regard myself as tech savvy but I found that for my workplace that Norton was a waste of time. Nord however does work.
My workplace server shows up as Norwegian but all my paid for streaming services are UK based. Nord allows me to watch the services that I am paying for while on a Norwegian server. I used to have problems accessing banking services and the likes too but have no problems with Nord. It’s expensive but hasn’t let me down
What do you use a VPN for? To be totally honest with you, as a long time IT guy, for whatever that’s worth, I don’t need one and find that most people don’t. Unless for like getting around region restrictions on streamers or something. If it’s for that, Nord is probably fine, as they’ll probably obfuscate your traffic so that Netflix doesn’t detect it as VPN traffic or whatever other streamers. The cheapie/free VPNs might get a little hairy there as far as being detected by streamers.
If it’s for “safety" reasons, Windows Defender and good internet hygiene is enough for 95% of folks probably.
I had Nord VPN for a couple of years and it’s pretty good; however, I was a bit unhappy with them when they autorenewed my subsctipion without telling me, and I heard they collect your data. So I switched to Proton (came with the email) and that’s not bad either.
I used to have NordVPN, until they got more expensive and made changes I didn’t need. So I switched to Proton VPN. I like Proton VPN a lot more. I tried the free version first, but I have now a subscription and I really love it. It also blocks most ads on web pages (not on YouTube, unfortunately). It blocks trackers and it has a lot of different features. I especially love being able to use servers in other countries, so I can access local content which normally wouldn’t show in my area.
Windscribe are really good - straight shooters, funny…
I think they are “Ukrainian-Canadian” at core (as far as I can discern)… and there is some controversy (but isn’t there naturally with any VPN service?!?), but they got consistently good reviews from users (also for the free version).
Just saw an article about some fake or dodgy VPNs going about, they do the work of a VPN but collect your data and use it to get your bank details etc. Worth watching out
I’ve been a road bike (bicycle) racer for a long time and have many friends that use both Nord and Proton to get access to all the racing which is not televised in the US. I think most have moved to Proton, at this point, but if you look at some older GCN videos on YT, they often share discount codes for Nord.
I’m using Proton, but I have the whole package. I started with their email a while back and now pay for the full package subscription with all their products.
The Windscribe guys have a lot of humor… they just offered to show me my Windscribe Wrapped 2025 including all the sites I spent a lot of time on using VPN
Of course, they then just re-emphasize (in a sequence of funny reels) that they have absolutely no clue…
Proton for me, too. NordVPN is solid, too, but I now use the full Proton suite (email, password manager etc.) and it’s great.
They have plenty of new servers being added all the time, very helpful for using country - specific versions of your fave sites which are blocking the more well - used servers.
