106 PCWorld JUNE 2022HERE’S HOW 4 WAYS TO STAY SAFE ON PUBLIC WI-FI
As added protection, you can install the
HTTPS Everywhere (fave.co/3G3ABxk)
extension from the Electronic Freedom
Foundation. It’s available for Chrome, Firefox
(fave.co/3LuTcVT), Edge (fave.co/3lp5HHX),
and other browsers, and further minimizes
unintentional use of insecure sites.FIRE UP A VPN
As mentioned above, when you visit a secure
website while on public Wi-Fi, other people
on your network can’t see the details of the
data exchanged. However, they can see that
you’re on that site.
If you’re using Google or killing time on
TikTok, maybe you don’t care. But step that
up to checking your bank balance on your PC
or phone, and suddenly the stakes rise.
Since you can’t always wait until you get
home to handle certain business, you can
safeguard your privacy by routing your PC orsmartphone’s internet activity through a virtual
private network (VPN). To use one, you first
connect to the Wi-Fi, then to the VPN. After
both those connections are established, you
then proceed with your normal internet
browsing. All of your traffic goes through the
VPN’s servers—someone monitoring network
traffic will only see your computer sending
and receiving data from the VPN, not the sites
and services you hit up during that session.
Obviously, you must trust your VPN for
this strategy to work. For that reason, most
free VPNs don’t past muster—they often
don’t guard your privacy as strictly as a paid
service. Stick to vetted services, like those
in our best free VPN roundup (fave.
co/3wWhXFp). To get better speeds and
access to more servers around the globe, you
must move up to one of our recommended
paid services (fave.co/3FtTTMs). Worldwide
servers are important if you’re traveling
internationally,
as you’ll want
local servers to
lean on.
Otherwise,
having to route
your traffic an
ocean away
and then back
again will
notably slow
down your web
Using a VPN on your PC or smartphone elevates your privacy on public Wi-Fi. browsing.