Computer Shopper - UK (2020-10)

ISSUE392|COMPUTER SHOPPER|OCTOBER 2020 43

WITHITSDONKEYmascotandjokeyname
–anacronymfor‘hidemyass’–HMAhas
oftenriskedlookinglikealessthanserious
VPN.Infact,itsownershipbyAvastputsit
underthesameumbrellaasAvastSecureLine
(Shopper389) and AVGSecure,bothVPNs
with an emphasis on internet security.
HMA takes aslightlydifferent angle,
focusing on privacy,auser-friendlyinterface
andspeed. Forthe most part, this works,with
theservice’s Windows and smartphone apps
doing an impressivejob of making it as easy
as humanly possible to do what it is you’re
tryingtodo, without restrictingyou in terms
of options andfeatures. It’salso recently been
updatedtoversion5,which brings it more in
line with other major VPNservices in
maintaining astrict no-logspolicy –whether
it’s yourIPaddress, any DNSqueries,
browsinghistory or transferdata.

BRITISH FILES

Setup is easy,and is particularly friendly to
first-time VPN users.The defaultLightning
Connect location takes you to the fastest
nearbyserver –ofwhich there are over 1,000,
across 290 locations –and if you want to go
further afield, all the countries andregions are
listed foryour selection, alongwithshortcuts
forfavourites andthe bestoptions for
streamingand P2P file-sharing.
What’s more, if you’re not surewhich
location to go for, the app has its ownbuilt-in
speed test where youcan select locations
from alist –and addyourown –thenget a
measure of theping and download speed you
can expect through eachofthem.

HMAVPN5

★★★★★

£5 per month•From http://www.hidemyass.com

VERDICT

Don’t be fooled by the deliberately asinine
exterior: HMA VPN is fast, intuitive and now
has ano-logs policy

VPN SOFTWARE

SPECIFICATIONS

OS SUPPORTWindows, macOS, Linux, Android,iOS•DETAILS

http://www.hidemyass.com•PRODUCTCODEHMAVPN V5

HMAisbased in the UK,which mayraise

afew red flags about privacy,especiallyif

you’re concerned aboutwho might access any

logsand where that datamight be shared.

Still, thanks to that no-logspolicy, there’s

nothingreally useful that could be handed

over even if UK authoritiesrequested it.

When it comes to security features, HMA

doesn’t go as farassomeothers,but it’s not

empty-handed either.There are no extra

obfuscationmeasures or double-hop options,

justasetting to shuffleIPaddresses every30

minutes to 12 hoursjust to makeitharderfor

any snoopers to track your location. There’s

also achoice of twokillswitches: oneworking

globally,the otheroperating on an app-by-app

basis, and bothterminating all connections in

the event of aVPN failure.

Performance is also no joke.With a

UK-to-UK VPN, we sawdownload speeds

degrade by an average 4.3% and upload

speeds by 3.6% over anon-VPN fibre

connection,but that’s not the kind of impact

you’re going to notice unless you’re streaming

4K games or multiple 4K video streams.

While connections to the Netherlands were

hit harder, at 9.3% and5.7%, connections to

Germanywerebarely affected, with adrop of

less than 2% on the UK download speed.

Longer-distanceconnections were

sometimes astonishingly fast. Youcan’t

expect highspeeds through aUK-to-Singapore

VPN,but drops of 46% (download) and 21%

(upload) aren’t badatall.With the all-

important US connection, we sawdrops of

less than 5% in both directions, whichis

highly commendable.

FAKE OUT

However,there is acaveathere. HMAuses

virtualservers based in Europe foranumber

of its long-haulVPN links,and when

connecting throughwhat was supposed to be

aNew York server,DoILeakpickeditupas

residinginthe CzechRepublic.Another

connection, through aConnecticut server,

registered as aGerman VPN.

Weirdly,thisdoesn’t seem to stop HMA

from foolingUSNetflix through the New York

andLiberty Island servers, but it’s something

to be aware of if you’re uncomfortable with

virtualVPN locations.

HMA’s Androidapp does an impressive

job of mirroring theWindowsversion, with

the same look andfeel, the same kill switch

featuresand even split tunnelling,sothat

you can select which apps usethe VPNand

which apps don’t. The iOS version is alittle

more basic, withnoreal options barauto-

connectand alocations list, but it stillhas

thesamefriendly UI.

Performance on bothcountsisconsistent

with the Windows app, though connecting

through aChicago VPNserveronthe

Android versionsaw speeds drop alittle

more,by11% downstreamand 5.4%

upstream. TheAppleversions sawspeeds

reduce by 4.3% and6.8%.

SMARTERTHAN IT LOOKS

HMAisn’t goingtobethe bestfitfor all VPN

users. Being based in the UK will be an issue

forthosefocusedonprivacy and anonymity,

while some more technicalusers have a

deep-rooted mistrustofvirtuallocations.

If you’re moreinterested in streaming and

security,however,then HMAhas alot going

forit. Speedsare good, security is strongand

it’s oneofthe easiest VPNs to use,almostto

the point of beingfun.It’snot acrucialfactor

when choosing aVPN, but we won’t deny it’s

nice foranapp to put asmile on your face.

StuartAndrews

⬆HMAgivesyouaccesstoover1,000serversin 290 locations

⬆HMA is aUK-basedservice,which mayraise
privacy concerns