ANSWERED Mac configuration for various VPN purposes

[doveoriginal 9]

Hi AirVPN community!

 

I am completely new to the world of VPN's and I find it quite difficult to understand some topics. I invested a lot of time in reading through the threads already and I read about a 70 year-old, among others, having the same difficulties as I do in some areas. I believe that the constellation of my "needs" is quite unique, which is why I started a new topic. I hope that this is not a problem for the moderators. 

 

Maybe it would be best to list my issues and what I understood from the comments in the forum.  When I decided to buy VPN access, it came down to wanting:

 

• to be able to browse the internet for (political and other) news, do research, etc. anonymously, especially since the revelations about the NSA, etc. spying on everybody.
• to be able to use streaming services, VoD, etc. from various countries
• security when doing monetary transactions (ebay, paypal, amazon, online-banking)
• anonymity coupled with speed for torrenting

 

 

Now, from various threads in the forums I got to the following conclusions:

 

• For anonymity, don't mix identities - so while I am torrenting, I should not be on any social network.
• VPN's protect me when doing monetary transactions
• I should configure my connections in a way to protect myself while torrenting in case of loss of connections, so my real identity does not get revealed, even if it is only for a couple of seconds.

 

My questions and problems are the following:

 

• I am using a Mac running Mavericks and currently I use Tunnelblick. Should I stick with it or should I try the AirVPN Beta software for Mac? What are the benefits/disadvantages compared to Tunnelblick?
• Which countries/servers are the best for:
  • Banking, Amazon, eBay, etc.?
  • Torrenting?
  • Surfing the web and doing research without needing to be paranoid?
• Before I can download the OpenVPN configurations for Mac I first need to choose various things in the Config Generator, such as continent OR country OR single server, etc. Later, it gives me more detailed options which I don't understand (connection modes, UCP, TCP, SSH, SSL, which ports to use, proxy, separate keys/certs, resolved hosts, bundle executables, etc.). I do understand some of the uses, but I get confused when needing to choose for my respective purposes. For the above-listed needs, what should I consider?
• Although I read quite a lot about the topic, I do not understand how to protect my connection when the connection to the VPN is lost temporarily while torrenting.

 

 

I hope I explained my situation well enough and I am sorry if my questions seem stupid to persons more knowledgeable than me. I would be very happy to receive some suggestions, and, ideally, solutions to my problems.

 

Thank you very much

[doveoriginal 9]

Anyone any suggestion? Maybe AirVPN staff? 

 

I would really appreciate any help.

 

 

[athelstan 11]

Hi doveoriginal

 

Your wish to use a VPN for anonymity does not mesh well with your desire to use it for security. There is more to your online identity than your name and IP address, see for example:

 

ip-check.info

 

panopticlick.eff.org

 

Unless you're reasonably expert in all this, the only really effective way to partition your two identities is to use two different computers, with wireless disabled. If you don't have a second computer, you might consider installing a Virtual Machine. Alternatively, just forget about using the VPN for any personally identifiable traffic, and use two different web browsers for your two identities.

 

As a general rule, for online banking etc. you should use a server in your own country to avoid triggering security alerts. For anonymity, you should use a server outside your own country. For torrenting, you should use a NL server.

 

You are more likely to get replies if you keep your posts short and ask one question at a time