I moved this thread to Forum Support. I do not have an answer for you.

 

There are not usually issues with web sites, but it depends upon where your connecting is routed from when it hits the website server. European countries and the UK are usually ok, anywhere else may be suspect.

Some media sites you will not be able to view because of international agreements, etc. Some credit card companies and utility companies will not allow you to connect either.

For web browsing though, you will be able to log in to most sites. But not all.

If you have Windows 11, it has a VPN built in. I don't know how good it is, I use ExpressVPN.

 

I had a VPN free trial. Problem was if I googled something I would end up at Amazon in London or Peru. Was hard to direct it to a USA location without elaborate google direction. Fianlly just let free trial expire.

 

If you are unable to choose your country to route through, free is not good.

 

VPN's don't protect you from malware.

All they do is encrypt your connection from your computer to the internet to hide your location from your local ISP. They are completely pointless unless you are an anti-government activist or you want to access Netflix offerings in other countries. For anti-malware you need dedicated anti-virus software and some basic common sense of what websites to avoid and download things from as well as avoiding suspicious emails. Never click on email links especially if they ask for your credit card info, social security, login/password info or other BS you know you didn't enter (sweepstakes, contests, etc.).

 

I use my VPN mostly to watch German television. Some channels and some programming on certain channels is not available outside of Germany.

I also use it to shop, and for search engines that give me results overseas without having to change my browser search areas back and forth from the US to Europe to the US which is a PITA.

 

VPN's don't protect you from malware.

Exactly right. Many times in my experience, people using a VPN for personal stuff have something nefarious in mind. Many sites won't accept signups from a VPN for good reason.

 

To be fair they were originally intended to be used for employees to connect to company servers offsite and ensure the connection is secure to protect company information (that is what my company I work for does). Nowadays so many grifters are selling them as something needed confusing the cybersecurity illiterate when you really don't. The vast majority of the internet are already set up with secure websites that encrypt your connection to it (if there is no lock icon in the URL bar it is either an outdated fan site or a scam). Not only that your bandwidth takes a hit because encryption requires it as well so you are paying for something to slow down your internet speed. So, unless you want to watch overseas content like in the case of MichaelE, VPN's are a waste of money.

 

Also 100% true, when I was working, we did indeed have a VPN to connect to the company's network if we were out of the office, pretty standard stuff.

However, anytime I've tinkered with a VPN for browsing, it has causes a significant slowdown. It's hard to imagine it now causing some performance hit, you're basically working in a store-n-forward environment.

 

I have not experienced any sort of internet speed problems using the VPN that I do.

ExpressVPN is a top-rated service and I've used them for over two years without incident.

If you're using a five year old or older computer, you might have trouble. My 12 year old Lenovo T520 running Win 11 Pro keeps up just fine with my new Lenovo T16, so YMMV.