An amateur's guide to staying safe and private online.

**devinm0804** · 03-27-2016

Your guide to protecting your online privacy.

The reasons in which you'll want to protect yourself in the world of online are far and many. Just a few crucial ones are,

To keep yourself safe from theft.
To keep your connection online and stable from script-kiddies.
To keep yourself anonymous from online trackers & advertisements.
To keep yourself anonymous from anti-cheat, rebel-seeking programs.
To feel like a badass.

With the following guide you should be able to protect yourself from game bans, online trackers, hackers, viruses, and malicious websites. It will be text-only, because I'm too petty to post links. Tell me how you like it.

VPN - Virtual Private Network
"VPN, or virtual private network, is a network that is constructed by using public wires — usually the Internet — to connect to a private network, such as a company's internal network. There are a number of systems that enable you to create networks using the Internet as the medium for transporting data." -Webopedia

Basically, its a network of servers that create a connection and then filter you through them. Masking your IP address and hiding you. By the way, for the sake of the tutorial, think of your IP address as your identification number. However each device has a unique one, like your phone and computer.

The Best VPNs:

ExpressVPN
SaferVPN
HideMyAss!

Note utilizing some of these VPNs will slow down your connection, since you are first connecting to a server that can be some ways away - however, the better the network hosting it, the better your connection and bandwidth.

The Best Free VPN:

BetterNet.

VPNS to Avoid:

GhostVPN
HotSpot Shield

Once you've found one to your liking, or maybe you just skipped to this part of the guide, you're going to want to protect your browser.

What browser do I use?
FireFox is currently the fastest & safest browser, and Mozilla is not-for-profit, so you're ideally safest with FireFox unless you're using Tor or something like it. But there is a lot less functionality and stability in those deep-web-able browsers so I tend to avoid them.

Whether you use FireFox or not, you're going to want to go to your browser settings or options, and go down to 'privacy.'

Checkmark DO NOT TRACK REQUEST.
Do NOT ALLOW any option that SENDS STATISTICS, DIAGNOSTICS, ETC!!

Next, download these add-ons:

uBlock Origins
FasterFox (If you're using FireFox)

uBlock Origins will block all advertisements and trackers, and can remove elements from a web-page such as a Comcast Copyright Alert. Do NOT use Ad-Block or Ad-Block Plus.

Using a DNS/Proxy:
1. Google DNS.
2. Open DNS.

Using these "Domain Naming Systems" (From my understanding) can help protect and even improve your connection from your ISP and those who may try and track you similarly.

Well shit, hope that helps you. If you have any tips yourself mention em'.

**Trol553** · 03-27-2016

Yeah im using VPNs daily , good thing

**Lunatic's Sheep** · 03-27-2016

Nice guide man. Hope this helps others

**Little Snow** · 03-27-2016

The internet is always a dangerous place to be.

**tttwedgy** · 03-27-2016

Oh god I'm using Ghost VPN & ad block I'm a nub

Plus i couldnt find FasterFox

**devinm0804** · 03-27-2016

just google "FasterFox" it should be the first search result.
Ya nub.

**Jester** · 03-27-2016

Well, you have really helped me out by suggesting uBlock. It's so much better than ad-block. Will make sure to follow other precautions of yours in the future.

**devinm0804** · 03-28-2016

Glad it helped, I'm by no means an expert but I try to share what I can and encourage people to correct and add to what I've put here.
And yes, when I found uBlock I was incredibly happy.