Web User - UK (2019-12-27)

Don’tuse Don’tuse Don’tuse

Usethisinstead

Usethisinstead

TurboVPNisaccusedof

stealingitsusers’dataand

sendingittoChina

Windscribe

VPNhas an

excellentfree

option and

doesn’t log

your data

Themobileversion of Braveis abrilliant

browser forprivacy-focusedusers

Don’tuse UCBrowserif

youvalueyour privacy

whenbrowsingthe web

VirusCleaneris

morelikelyto

infectyouwith

malwarethan

remove it

If youwantanantivirus app,stickwith

atrusted name suchasBitdefender

42 27 Dec 2019-7Jan2020

TurboVPN

Ifyou’reconcernedaboutyourprivacy

orwanttocircumventannoying

geographic

restrictions

ontheweb,

thenrunning

aVPNisa

nobrainer.

However,

notallVPNs

arecreated

equal.A

caseinpoint

isTurboVPN

forAndroid

andiOS,which–accordingtoareport

byTop 10 VPN(bit.ly/turbo 491 )–collects

alargeamountofuserdataandhas

aprivacypolicythatallowsthis

informationtobesenttoChina.Another

redflagisthatthecustomersupport

contactsareallGmailaddresses,which

isworryinglyunprofessional.

Initssummary,Top 10 VPNnoted:

“Thesepoliciesfellfarshortofwhatwe

wouldexpectfromamainstreamVPN

andwewouldrecommendconsumers

avoidtheseapps.”

WindscribeVPN

windscribe.com

4.2.2 9

Windscribeiscurrentlyourfavourite

freemobileVPN.Youget 1 0GBof

bandwidthpermonth,withachoice

of 1 0countries–includingtheUS

andtheUK–anditoffersasplit-

tunnellingfeaturethatletsyou

designatewhichappsshouldusethe

VPNtunnel.Ifyouwantunlimited

bandwidthand connections,along with

access to moreservers,you can

upgrade to thePro versionfor £8.49

amonth or £43.99 ayear.

Unlike manyVPNs, especiall ythose

withafree

version,

Windscribe

hasastrict

no-logging

policy.

UCBrowser

Thereareplentyofexcellent,

trustworthybrowserstochoosefrom

onAndroid,sothere’sreallynoneedto

switchtoonethatbombardsyouwith

advertsanddoesn’tcareaboutyour

privacy.Areportin2 01 6(bit.ly/

ucbad4 91 )showedUCBrowser(bit.ly/

ucb4 91 )transmitted“personally

identifiableinformationwithveryweak

encryption”and,in2 01 7,thebrowser

wasdiscoveredtobesendingdata

toaremoteserverinChina.

InMarch

2019 ,Doctor

Web(bit.ly/

drweb4 91 )

identifieda

hiddenability

inthebrowser

thatwould

allowitto

“download

andrun

questionable

codeonmobile

devices”,

bypassing

GooglePlay’s

ownservers.

BraveBrowser

brave.com

5 12

Sure,wecouldrecommendChrome

(whichcomeswithyourAndroid

phone),FirefoxorevenOpera,butwe’re

ratherpartialtothenewmobileversion

ofBrave,createdbyaformerCEO of

Mozilla–indeed,itwasour‘Appofthe

Fortnight’lastissue.Itusesthe

Chromiumengine (the open-source

versionofChrome),isv eryfastand

focuse sonsafeguar ding your pr ivacy.

Themobilebrowser blocks pop-ups,

adverts, malwareand more,and loads

pageswith impressivespeed.

See ourworksho ponpage52for

deta ilsofthe latest desktopversion

of Brave.

APPS WITHPRIVACY CONCERNS

VirusCleaner 2019

Withsomanyscarestoriesregarding

maliciousAndroidapps,youcan’t

blamepeopleforwantingtoprotect

theirdeviceswithantivirussoftware.

Butthetruthisthatunlessyouregularly

downloadappsfrom

outsidetheGoogle

Playstoreorspend

yourtimebrowsing

suspectsites,the

chancesofyourphone

becominginfectedare

slimandinstalling

some‘viruscleaners’

cancausemoreharm

thangood.

VirusCleaner 2019

–Antivirus,Cleaner&

Booster(togiveitsfull

name)hasbeen

downloadedfrom

GooglePlaybymore

than 50 millionAndroid

usersbut,when

installed,asksforaraftofunnecessary

permissions.Theseincludetheabilityto

readandwriteexternalstorage,read

contacts,accessyourlocation,view

accountdetailsandaccessyourcamera,

which–accordingtoareportfrom

VPNPro(bit.ly/vpnpro4 91 )–couldallow

itto“addmoremalwaretoyourdevice”.

BitdefenderAntivirusFree

bit.ly/bitdef4 91

4.1

Asmentionedabove,youprobably

don’tneedanantivirusapponyour

phonebut,ifyoustillwantone,it’sbest

tostickwithwellknownsecurity

developers.Bitdefender’s software

oftencomestopinAVtestsand its

Android appisentirelyfree. It’s also

lightweight so,unlikesimila rproducts,

it won’tslowdownyourphoneordrain

itsbattery.Ify ou need extraprotection,

youcan pay£9.99 to upgr adetothe

paid-for version, BitdefenderMobile

Security, butit’snot essential.

Usethisinstead