tl;dr ☑️

  • Get Proton VPN🔗
  • Difficulty: Medium 🟡
  • Protects: Web and App 🟢
  • Cost: Free or Paid 🤑
  • Optional: Nice but not necessary

Why Bother? 🤷

Advertisers and trackers use your IP Address🔗 to help identify you and your location. An IP address is like a home address for your internet connection.

A VPN (Virtual Private Network🔗) does two important things related to ads and tracking:

  1. Replaces your IP address with that of the VPN provider, thus masking your location from advertisers.
  2. Hides your network traffic (websites you visit, services you use) from your ISP (Internet Service Provider🔗). In addition to providing you a connection to the internet, ISPs often sell your internet usage data to advertisers or share it with regional governments.

VPNs also provide other benefits which are summarized here🔗 by the PrivacyGuides team. VPNs are not necessary for most users but do the aforementioned tracking protection which cannot be achieved through other methods suggested here.

Setup & Config ⚙️

  1. Go to the ProtonVPN Website🔗 on your desktop or mobile device. (For best results use on all your devices).
  2. Select “Sign Up for Free”
  3. Complete the Account Creation Process
  4. Download ProtonVPN🔗 for your device.
  5. Install or run the ProtonVPN app on your device of choice to set up the VPN connection.

Enable Netshield (ProtonVPN Adblocker)

Enabling Netshield is Optional. If you are using a custom DNS that blocks ads, Netshield is redundant. Netshield is a DNS based adblocker but uses custom DNS servers only accessible when connected to Proton VPN.

To Enable Netshield go to the ProtonVPN Support Website🔗 to find out how to enable Netshield for your device.

Although ProtonVPN does offer a free tier, you will notice that your internet connection speed is signnificant reduced. This is due to the free product having a limited amount of bandwidth for all free users.

Go to the ProtonVPN Website🔗 to upgrade to a paid tier.

Other Alternatives 💡

  • Not interested in ProtonVPN? The folks at PrivacyGuides🔗 have very well researched VPN alternatives.

What’s Next ⏭️

  1. (If you haven’t yet) Web Browser🔗: You’ll have a brand new browser to limit ads and tracking on the web.
  2. (If you haven’t yet) DNS🔗: You’ll set up a custom DNS to block ads and trackers on your mobile phone and smart devices.
  3. Continue learning about Online Privacy🔗: You’ve got this! Time to take your online privacy to the next level!