Reviewing VPN4ALL and why you should care!

They the people at VPN4ALL, gave me a trial service and I must say “I have been nothing but happy with the service for about the last few weeks”.  Some of the things I love about this is they actually have an app for your to use on your Android device.  So you don’t have to know any code, which goes back to to their slogan “VPN made easy”.  You know I’ve talked in the past about other VPNS, and securing your device.  It isn’t always that simple with free Wifi Hotspots.   I should know, I visit them almost constantly and that is because I am constantly on the move.  I have tried the free VPN’s and I must say this service is even better than you could get with any Free service.

Mobility!

This is the key reason I decided to use this service because I am constantly going place and using other free wifi hotspots and I know it is always going to be insecure because of connections.  I will say I always worry about who might see my password or see my personal information and try to take  my identity.  I will say with the ease of use with the VPN4ALL mobile app, I can connect to a VPN in minutes and not need to know any technical data.  You will need to buy an Mobile VPN4ALL Account to use this(minimum 5$ a month).  Great value for your buck and you don’t have to worry about all those people watching you.

Reliable Service

Speed and reliability are always going top of the security tree.  I will always need to have a service where there is no interruption and this seems to fit the bill quite nicely.  I can connect to any server I want and see if it is faster or slower.  I can also set it up to switch IP(internet Protocols) every Minute to hours, if I so desire.  Could give people headaches if they were trying to watch me!

Discounts:

If you are like me and looking to save money, use my coupon code “paulstechtalk15” at VPN4ALL to save 15% on either or both Mobile and regular VPN service.  See what else I have said about this service on my other post, If you want to keep your privacy, look no further!  Give this service a try and you won’t regret it!

My Top Five Favorite Posts for 2011

English: Posts in the sand Presumably these po... Image via Wikipedia

It’s that time again!

I know this blog has been up and down this year and thus I want to discuss some of my more popular and ones that I am really proud of.   We all know that is isn’t going to be easy for me but I thought we could at least talk about some of more favorite posts and let people who just found my blog see some of my other posts!

We’ve all seen those post each year on different blogs and I am sure I am not the only one who does this but it is something that I like to do.   It after all is about community and sharing with my friends.  I know I consider my readers like close family because I am always thinking what I can do to better my life and yours.   This is my biggest reason for blogging, to make life better for everyone and make it much more enjoyable for me also.   You don’t know how nice it is just to sit down and write to my family(readers) and not have to feel like there is pressure to post.   This is my goal every time I write a post to share and hope it makes people think about how to work smarter and not hard.

Top Five Favorite Posts!

I will start off with my Five favorite posts and discuss them in length.   You can always feel free to look around and click any article on my site without worries.

  1. How to Get a Free VPN for Ubuntu/Kubuntu! –This is was one of those that I did because it was essential for me to find a free VPN for when I go to hotspots and not have to pay.   When you are on a limited income and trying to get to your next paycheck, then you know why I couldn’t afford to pay for a VPN service.  Also I use Kubuntu and thus couldn’t use the Windows only free VPNS that were available.
  2. Three ways on how to NOT waste your Money! —  This one is a supposedly a recruiting job from (crmglobalresources.com) but after doing my research it looks to be like my other post “Why do I need to pay for recruitment?” So I was really proud of this one to tell people about it! So don’t always think there will be easy money.4
  3. Apple Needs to Worry about Security and Virus! —  This one was of my favorite post also because I am always tell people that there will always be Apple viruses and that their advertisements in the past will always haunt them because Apple can and will be targeted now and in the future for virus attacks because they are getting a larger share in the Marketplace.
  4. My Reasons why Amazon will make an Android Tablet!  —  This is another one of my favorites because it was one of those that came true.   Just look at the the Kindle Fire to verify it, that is after all an Android tablet.   I think they have more to come in the future but only time will tell!
  5. Android Malware, Ridiculous! —   Let’s face it, most people think that Androids can’t get virus or have malware.   I discuss this in length and tell you that even Linux can have viruses and you should count your eggs before they are hatched.  I am not going to say that they will or will not but I discuss why hackers and virus writers would love to do it.   Once the market gets saturated enough with Android devices they will start to develop viruses and malware for them, I am sure it.

As you can see that there were some really good posts in 2011 and I hope to get even more post done in 2012. I am going to be resolute to doing a better job of posting but that could be a futile effort.

Paul Sylvester

Need Glasses? Try GlassesUSA!

With Linux, All you Really need is Google!

Linux can keep you sane!

I don’t say that lightly because today, I was going to use Linux and all of the sudden I couldn’t get past the Kubuntu splash screen.   It would just hang their not doing anything else.   I didn’t know what was going on, if you have seen the look on my face you would of know I was scratching my head.   The obvious question though is what happened, that I was asking myself.   This isn’t something that I am new at, but it was something I’ve never dealt with because when I was using Linux in the past it was always for leisure and not something that I used regularly.   Now that being said, I have begun to use KDE and Ubuntu more and more.   I find the open source community really intriguing and I am wanting to learn.

Keywords are the key!

When you have a problem with Linux, all you really need to put the right description of the problem into Google,  and you’ll find the answer eventually.  Now I won’t say this hasn’t been a learning experience, because recently I bought a book to better help me to learn more about Kubuntu and Ubuntu called “Beginning Ubuntu Linux“, So I will be reading up on how to handle the operating system more and more and being able in the future to help others with the same problem.   If you haven’t gotten a book, I’d start there like I am.   I will do a review of the book later on when I get done reading it from cover to cover but for right now it will be a handy tool.

Solution to my Problem!

This solution that I will be talking about might not work with you but at least it will point you in the right if doesn’t work.  I first searched several different forums, the Ubuntu Forum and the Kubuntu Forums for the answer using Google I might say.  After much searching I found a topic about updating and Graphics stop working and talking about the xorg not starting.  Which in turns lead me into the other topic Just Updated, Graphics have stopped working and thus lead me it how to fix my problem without having to wait till I could get a Pendrive from my house to fix the problem.  If you are looking for the solution here it is:

Go into Recover Mode

Go into the Terminal — I couldn’t even boot into the GUI safe mode
apt-get remove xorg-driver-fglrx

That wasn’t all I did, I also did

apt-get autoremove

This was just in case I missed something.

I was messing around with fixing the KDE4D bug where it would freeze up everytime I would disconnect from the VPN and so I edited the

sudo nano /usr/share/kde4/services/kded/networkstatus.desktop

I then changed the true to the false

X-KDE-Kded-autoload=false
X-KDE-Kded-load-on-demand=false

I thought that might also be the problem so I changed that back to true.   Any ways, after I did all that, I got my Kubuntu to come back to life.   I don’t know necessary understand what happened but I did fix it.   I did however find a good work around for that bug for the time being.   Just install KNetworkManager and it will automatically remove the plasma-widget-networkmanagement. So Now I don’t have to worry about the system locking up and not being able to do anything.   I do hope they fix the Plasma problem in the coming updates but I will just have to wait see.

Go Linux

Paul Sylvester

How to Get a Free VPN for Ubuntu/Kubuntu!

 

Is there a Free VPN for Linux?

Use Coupon Code “savenow15” AND SAVE 15% on the lifetime of your account!I had to search both high and low.   It took me several hours and searching to find a viable option for me.   I wanted to share this so others wouldn’t have to work as hard to surf safer on the web.   If your like me, I like to go to free wifi spots to blog or even just surf the web.   I don’t want anyone getting my personal information so I would always have to use Windows.   I really got fustrated having to always load Windows when It was just easier to load up Kubuntu.   I know in the past this was something that was never really an option because you’d have to be a real geek to do anything like this.   Thanks to the open community of Linux, we have a viable option now for those who aren’t technically geeks but would still like to keep their web surfing secret from prying computers on an open wifi spots.

How to setup your free VPN for Kubuntu!

 

  • If you haven’t updated to Kubuntu 11.04  or later then you will need to make sure you have that version or later for this tutorial to work.  You can also use Ubuntu 11.04 or later but the screenshots will be for Kubuntu, so there may be some difference in looks and names but should be relatively the same.
  • Book Mark the FREE US PPTP VPN site — This is essential because the problem with this free VPN service is that changes every 12 hours.   This however isn’t a big problem because if your using a VPN for Wifi Hotspots.   It just means everytime you go to a wifi spot you will be unsecure until you go to the bookmark and change the password.  To Bookmark the site you can easily just press CLT-D.

If you have done those two steps then you are ready to setup your VPN.

Setting up the VPN

This is going to be relilitivly simple, because if your using the Linux you will know some of this already.

  • Go to your Network Manager —  There are 2 ways to do this.   You can find it on your toolbar either being a Ethernet or Wireless icon, just right click it and choice “Network Manager Settings” or you can click the “Start > Applications > Settings > System Settings > Network Settings”.
  • Once there you will want to click VPN

Click to see larger picture

  • Click the Add Button

  • As you can see if you have booked mark that page I told you earlier to go to.  You will need to add the Gateway, username and password(remember this password is only good for a few hours, so remember this step). Then click “Advanced

 

  • You will only need to do this once.   Uncheck all in the Authentaction area but the MSCHAPv2 and Check “Use MPPE Encryption” but do not check the “Use Stateful Encryption”, if it is checked uncheck it.   Then click OK!
  • Hit Ok or Apply and exit out of the manager.   You may have to reboot to get the new settings to activate.   I had to with my current system but that was only when creating the new VPN, after that it work fine.

 

You will need to edit the password everytime you want to use the VPN but if you have made it this far than you should be all set to use the VPN to safely surf the web.   In order to change the password just remember the first 2 steps and instead of adding a new VPN just edit the one you created and change the password and hit Apply when done.   I hope this has helped other Linux users to surf the web safely on free wifi spots.   Enjoy!

*Update*

There seems to be a kde4d Bug and ntrack bug that causes the menu bar and toolbar to freeze.   Just thought you’d like to know!!

*Update #2*

There are another site that you should also check out for a Free VPN Service:

 

If I find more sites that you can use to get a free VPN with PPTP then I’ll update this as soon as I find them!

 

Paul Sylvester