The larger the bandwidth, the less grievance this will give you.ĭeriving from these two are other advantages, such as access to content that might otherwise be restricted in your area and protection over unsecure Wi-Fi connections. It achieves both almost seamlessly, if it weren’t for the browsing speed slowdown, which is understandable and unavoidable if you are at the far end of the VPN server. Hotspot Shield Elite is designed mainly for two things: keep your connection to the Internet secure regardless of the network used and maintain your IP private. If you are in US, the difference should be insignificant.ĪnchorFree does not impose any bandwidth restrictions, so you can use the application without worrying about data cap. Nevertheless, access to content that would not regularly be available at the expense of speed is a tradeoff plenty of users are willing to make.
Hotspot Shield Elite offers routing through a US-based IP and, as such, if you are based in a different region, the connection might be noticeably slower. Speed is an important factor when using a VPN.
In the case of the free edition, the protection is limited only to websites created to push malware onto your computer. This includes phishing sites and pages created to deliver malware.
It can also automatically turn on and keep you protected when such networks are detected.Īdditional settings let you enable or disable the browser icon or starting Hotspot Shield when Windows loads up.Īs far as malware protection is concerned, Elite version of the software relies on data retrieved from a cloud database containing more than 3.5 million domains known or suspected to harbor malicious content. You can set the application to warn when the computer connects to the Internet over unsecure Wi-Fi networks or untrusted wired ones. The configuration panel is pretty straightforward and sports a small amount of options. This not only secures the connection, but it also ensures that your IP remains private, as attempts to find your IP will hit the company’s servers. When turned on, Hotspot Shield encrypts your browsing sessions and routs the connection through AnchorFree’s own servers. It shows the current status of the VPN connection (green if it is on and red if it is off) and hovering over it displays the amount of data trafficked.
Once you have Hotspot Shield on the system, a small icon will be added to the browsers top bar, next “minimize” button. It offers to add a toolbar to Internet Explorer and Firefox, but the option is unchecked by default, unlike in the free version. Installing the Hotspot Shield Elite consists in pretty much going through the screens without making any modifications. Shelling out the money also brings to the table faster browsing and cloud-based protection against a wider range of online threats (malware, infected websites and phishing). One free of charge and supported through advertising, while the other, Hotspot Shield Elite, is clean of ads and can be purchased for a $29.95/ 26.43 EUR yearly fee or as a $10 / 8.83 EUR pay-as-you-go service valid for 20 days.Īlthough the two versions are pretty similar, the advertising in the free product does a great job at making Elite more appealing.
The application is available in two editions. Besides maintaining anonymity online, a VPN can also keep your connection safe as it can encrypt online traffic by routing the connection through the company’s servers. Hotspot Shield from AnchorFree is designed as a simple approach to offering the regular user the benefits of a virtual private network (VPN).