What is Web Browser - MasterVPN

A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information
resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content. Hyperlinks present in resources enable users easily to navigate their browsers to related resources.
The major web browsers are Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, Apple Safari, and Opera.

Contents 1 List of web-browsers 2 Comparison of web-browsers 3 Pro / Contra 4 Recommendation

List of web-browsers

The mainly known web-browsers are:
Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Seamonkey, Google Chrome, Safari, Netscape Navigator, Konqueror, Opera, AOL Explorer
But there are numerous others:
Maxthon, Amaya, Epiphany, Camino, Arachne, K-Meleon, Shiira, Sputnik, iCab, Galeon, Links, Phoenix, OmniWeb, Avant, and many many more;
For iOS (iPhone, iPad, etc.) see a list of available browsers here: http://ipod.about.com/od/bestiphoneapps/tp/Top-Iphone-Web-Browser-Apps.htm

Comparison of web-browsers

The mostly-recommended browser is certainly Mozilla Firefox. It's open source and free, platform-independent and easy to extend.

• having the latest version? -> http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/
• get security and privacy related addons for mozilla -> https://addons.mozilla.org/
• Use our HMA! Webproxy browser extension for Firefox and Chrome -> http://wiki.hidemyass.com/Extension

For a more detailed comparison of web-browsers see the Wikipedia article: Comparison of web-browsers -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_web_browsers

Pro / Contra

Privacy:
Google Chrome logs your online activity and send's it to Google. Big minus!
Internet Explorer is from Microsoft, no trust there, but it seems to not spy as Chrome does.
Firefox is open-source, spyware-free and trusted.
Speed:
Google Chrome and Internet Explorer are faster than Firefox
Firefox needs the most system resources
Extensions:
Firefox is very easy to extend and has thousands of extensions.
Google Chrome tries too, but will probably never do as well as Firefox does, regarding add-ons and extensions.
Internet Explorer offers no extensions, only useless spyware toolbars

Recommendation

At the end, we'll certainly recommend Mozilla Firefox because of the following reasons:

• free
• open source
• easy to extend
• not from Microsoft (that's a plus!)
• not from Google (that's also a plus!)

When coming to points of speed and system performance, Mozilla Firefox could be better. It's not as fast as Internet Explorer or Google Chrome. But it's free, open-source, and easy to extend.
It's regularly updated and has a big community which helps developing further versions of Firefox. There are countless add-ons.

What is HMA VPN Privacy Policy?

Hidemyass.com ("our Site") and the services available through it are operated by Privax Limited (referred to as "we", "us" and "our"). We are a company registered in England under company number 07207304 and have our registered office at 7 Moor Street, London, W1D 5NB, UK.
We are a leading provider of web privacy and anonymity tools and therefore we are deeply committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy (together with any other documents referred to in it) sets out the basis on which any personal data we collect from you, or that you provide to us, will be processed by us. Please read the following carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your personal data and how we, as data controller of your personal data that you provide to us, will treat it.

Section 3 below explains how we use cookies to operate our site.
Please also review our Frequently Asked Questions.

If you have any questions regarding these terms, you can contact by email (info@hidemyass.com). Our privacy policy (referred to from now on as the "Privacy Policy") applies when you use our Site. Please read the Privacy Policy carefully before you start to use our Site. By using our Site, you indicate that you accept the Privacy Policy and that you agree to abide by it. If you do not agree to our Privacy Policy, please refrain from using our Site.

2. INFORMATION WE MAY COLLECT FROM YOU, WHY WE NEED IT AND HOW WE USE IT

We may collect and process the following data about you:
On registration:

• What data we collect: When you register we will collect your username, email address, password (encrypted) and IP address.
• Why we need this data: We will need your username and password in order to provide you with access to the web based control panel and to our downloadable VPN software. We will need your email address in case you forget your password or wish to receive email newsletters. Your IP address is logged by us so that we can prevent any spam, fraud or abuse of our Site and our services. We may store this data for up to two years, unless we are required, for legal reasons or under exceptional circumstances, to retain this data for an extended period.
• How we use this data: we use this data to provide our services to you, prevention of fraud and abuse. From time to time we may email you news, updates and sales offers which you can easily opt out of receiving by clicking "unsubscribe" in the relevant email.

When you contact us or submit comments on our Site:

If you submit comments on our Site or contact us for any reason we may store these communications for up to two years, unless we are required, for legal reasons or under exceptional circumstances, to retain this information for an extended period.
Payments:

• If you opt to pay for use of our services, we will direct you to make payment through a third party payment processor. We currently use the following third party payment providers: PayPal (view policy), 2Checkout (view policy), DalPay (view policy), Cleverbridge (view policy) Google Checkout (view policy); Plimus (view policy) is only available for customers with automatically renewing payments commenced before February 2012.
• What data we collect: The third party site will provide us with, and we will then store, the date on which you made the payment and the date that your account will expire, along with a generic number (your "Order ID Number"). We do not store your name, home address, payment details (e.g. credit card details) but this data may be stored by the third party payment provider handling the transaction and may be accessible by us.
• Why we need this data: We store this information as it enables us to know when your account will expire and to prevent and detect fraud. We need your Order ID Number so that we can link your order to your account. We will store this information for up to two years, unless we are required, for legal reasons and under exceptional circumstances, to retain this information for an extended period.

We are not responsible for any third party payment provider handling your transaction and you should refer to the third party payment provider's privacy policy to see how they use your data.

Web Proxy service:

• What data we collect: This is a free service and the only data we store are website logs. This log details your IP address, the address of the website you visit, date, time and the files/sites you viewed via the webproxy.
• Why we need this data: The website logs are needed to tell us what websites and files you have accessed via our network.

VPN service:

• What data we collect: We will store a time stamp and IP address when you connect and disconnect to our VPN service together with the IP address of the individual VPN server used by you. We do not store details of, or monitor, the websites you connect to when using our VPN service.
• Why we need this data: We do this so that we can monitor the performance of our Site, for example it enables us to sort server nodes by the amount of Users connected, to limit your account to one concurrent IP address per VPN connection (to prevent shared accounts), resource analytics (to carry out usage analysis for administrative purposes) and to prevent abuse. This data is stored on our system for no more than two years unless we are required, for legal reasons or under exceptional circumstances, to retain this data for an extended period.

Anonymous email service:

• What data we collect: We store the date and time of registration for the anonymous email service, your IP address, password, your actual email address (optional), and of course the actual emails themselves. You can delete your account and emails at any time but your registration details are stored permanently to be used as an identifier in case of any potential legal issues.
• Why we need this data: We need this data so that you can receive emails (although please note that you can't send emails). You can use this anonymous email service as a temporary email inbox for when websites you do not necessarily trust require an email address.

IP:PORT premium service:

• What data we collect: We store the date and time of order for the IP:Port Proxy List premium service, and the email address provided to us for receipt of the proxy list emails. You can delete your account at any time but your email address will be stored by us for no more than 2 years after you have deleted your account.
• Why we need this data: We need this data so that we can send you emails containing the proxy lists.
We will not share any of your data with anyone except in the circumstances referred to in section (Disclosure of Your Information).


3. cookies

We may obtain information about your general internet usage by using a cookie file which is stored on your browser or the hard drive of your computer. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer's hard drive. Cookies help us to improve our Site and are essential for our Site to operate. By accepting this Privacy Policy, you agree that we may place cookies on your computer. For more information about cookies, please visit aboutcookies.org.
We use the following cookies:

• Google Analytics cookies: __utma, __utmb, __utmc, __utmz. These cookies allow us to count page visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site, using a service provided by Google Analytics. For more information please visit: http://www.google.com/analytics/learn/privacy.html
• Affiliate cookies: aff_tag, ruid. These cookies allow us to identify if you have been referred to us by an affiliate, so we can pay commission to that affiliate.
• Login cookies: PHPSESSID, CAKEPHP, be. We use these cookies so you remain logged in when you are using your account.

4. WHERE WE STORE YOUR PERSONAL DATA

• 4.1 All information you provide to us is stored on our secure servers. The data that we collect from you may be transferred to, and stored at, a destination outside the European Economic Area. By submitting your Personal Data, you agree to this transfer, storing or processing. We will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
• 4.2 Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our Site; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.
• 4.3 Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password which enables you to access certain parts of our Site, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share a password with anyone.

5. DISCLOSURE OF YOUR INFORMATION

• 5.1 In the event that Privax Limited becomes part of a group of companies, we may disclose your data to any member of such group, which means any subsidiaries of Privax, or its ultimate holding company and its subsidiaries, as defined in section 1159 of the UK Companies Act 2006.
• 5.2 We may disclose your personal information to third parties:
  • 5.2.1 In the event that we sell or buy any business or assets, in which case we may disclose your personal data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets;
  • 5.2.2 If Privax Limited is, or substantially all of its assets are, acquired by a third party, in which case personal data held by it about its users will be one of the transferred assets; or
  • 5.2.3 If we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to enforce or apply our terms of service and other agreements; or to protect the rights, property, or our safety, our users, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

6. ACCESS TO INFORMATION

The UK Data Protection Act 1998 gives you the right to access information held about you. Your right of access can be exercised in accordance with the Data Protection Act. Any access request may be subject to a fee of 10GBP to meet our costs in providing you with details of the information we hold about you. To make an access request please email: info@hidemyass.com

What do you mean by Internet Encryption?

What kind of encryption does HMA Pro VPN use?

HideMyAss currently offers the maximum of security you can get nowadays - your internet traffic will be safe when using HMA! Pro VPN. Should someone intercept your traffic, it would be useless for him. He doesn't know the key and therefore can't decrypt the data.
Before connecting to the VPN, you can choose which protocol you would like to use, OpenVPN or PPTP.
OpenVPN connections: For encryption the cipher in use is CBC mode of Blowfish with encryption strength of 128bit, hash algorithm is 160bit SHA1, and the control channel is same TLSv1/SSLv3 DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA, 1024 bit RSA.
PPTP connections: For encryption PPTP uses MPPE (Microsoft Point-to-Point-Encryption) 128bit cipher with compression and MS-CHAPv2 authentication.
L2TP: Our L2TP Protocol is being tunnelled with IPSec, which supports multiple encryption protocols which are negotiated upon connection. The ones our servers support are:
TWOFISH_CBC, SERPENT_CBC, AES_CBC, BLOWFISH_CBC
Generally you can say that OpenVPN is safer than PPTP. But for normal purposes it shouldn't make a difference, so take the one which is the fastest for you.

Example of encryption

One example: When using Blowfish, the encryption works with a key that is needed to encrypt and decrypt data.
When we're using the string "This is a blowfish key!" for our key, and we want to encrypt the string "www.hidemyass.com", the result is:
EFBFE3763805B5A814C1221D87891D25E7263A06CF5A809A (hexadecimal)
5.878642217350418e+57 (decimal)
You can't decrypt this without knowing the key "This is a blowfish key!"

Microsoft Point-to-Point Encryption

Microsoft Point-to-Point Encryption (MPPE) is a protocol for encrypting data across Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) and virtual private network (VPN) links. It uses the RSA RC4 encryption algorithm. MPPE supports 40-bit, 56-bit and 128-bit session keys, which are changed frequently to improve security. The exact frequency that the keys are changed is negotiated, but may be as frequent as every packet.

MPPE alone does not compress or expand data, but the protocol is often used in conjunction with Microsoft Point-to-Point Compression which compresses data across PPP or VPN links.
Negotiation of MPPE happens within the Compression Control Protocol (CCP), a subprotocol of PPP. This can lead to incorrect belief that it is a compression protocol.

What is SSL VPN?

SSL or Secure Sockets Layer is a security protocol created by Netscape that has become an
international standard on the Internet for exchanging sensitive information between a website and the computer communicating with it, referred to as the client.
SSL technology is embedded in all popular browsers and engages automatically when the user connects to a web server that is SSL-enabled. It's easy to tell when a server is using SSL security because the address in the URL window of your browser will start with https. The "s" indicates a secure connection.

When your browser connects to an SSL server, it automatically asks the server for a digital Certificate of Authority (CA). This digital certificate positively authenticates the server's identity to ensure you will not be sending sensitive data to a hacker or imposter site. The browser also makes sure the domain name matches the name on the CA, and that the CA has been generated by a trusted authority and bears a valid digital signature. If all goes well you will not even be aware this handshake has taken place.

However, if there is a glitch with the CA, even if it is simply out of date, your browser will pop up a window to inform you of the exact problem it encountered, allowing you to end the session or continue at your own risk.

Once the handshake is completed, your browser will automatically encrypt all information that you send to the site, before it leaves your computer. Encrypted information is unreadable en route. Once the information arrives at the secure server, it is decrypted using a secret key. If the server sends information back to you, that information is also encrypted at the server's end before being sent. Your browser will decrypt it for you automatically upon arrival, then display it as it normally does.
For those running a secure server it is also possible to authenticate the client connecting to the server to ensure, for example, that the person is not pretending to be someone who has been granted restricted access. Another feature of SSL technology is the ability to authenticate data so that an interceder cannot substitute another transmission for the actual transmission without being detected.

Though SSL makes exchanging sensitive information online secure, it cannot guarantee that the information will continue to be kept secure once it arrives safely at the server. For assurance that sensitive information is handled properly once it has been received, you must read the site's privacy policy. It does little good to trust your personal data to SSL, if the people who ultimately have it will be sharing it with third parties, or keeping it on servers that are not bound by restricted access and other security protocols. Therefore it is always wise to read any site's privacy policy, which includes security measures, before volunteering your personal information online.

What is Internet Speed?

With Pro VPN the speeds of your internet connection should usually not be much less than normally.
Of course this depends on several factors like server load, distance to server, speeds of your ISP, etc.
Should your speeds be lower than expected, there are several things you can try to max out your speed:

• Change protocol (OpenVPN <> PPTP <> L2TP) and test again
• Switch server (nearest does not necessarily mean fastest!)
• Try using OpenVPN-UDP with our alternative clients - it's much faster than PPTP or usual OpenVPN. -> UDP
• Tweak your network settings as explained below.

Speedtest

To test your connection speed before and after tweaking anything, you can use e.g. 

• a speed test at http://www.speedtest.net
• download an test-file from qsc.de
• download a test torrent: Knoppix Torrent

Network tweaking

There are numerous ways to tweak your network-, TCP- and browser-settings.
All tools you will need are linked below.

Deactivate Halfopen-Limit (Windows)

First you should deactivate the limit for halfopen connections windows has. This archive (download) includes several tools for that: TCP-Z, Universal TCP/IP Patch, EvID (LvlLord Patch), TCP Patch.
Goal is to set the limit to 255 or deactivate it completely, depending on your operating system.

Network tweaking with TCP-Optimizer (Windows)

TCP-Optimizer is the best freeware tool for optimizing, tweaking and tuning network settings normal users don't have access to or know of.
It replaces all known Net-Tweak-Apps due its complexity. By using the presets (Windows Default, Current, Optimal, Custom) you can easily tweak all settings with one click.

• Download TCP-Optimizer: http://www.speedguide.net/files/TCPOptimizer.exe
• Documentation & Help: http://www.speedguide.net/tcpoptimizer.php
• FAQ: http://www.speedguide.net/faq_in.php?category=100
• Tutorial Videos: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=089D35A18C5211B4

Use the fastest DNS server (all operating systems)

With Tools like NameBench or browsermob-dns-perf you can test which is the fastest DNS server for you.
For most people it is Googles Public DNS (8.8.8.8 + 8.8.4.4) but they log your DNS queries.
There are others which are also fast and not from Google.

• How to change your DNS settings: See article DNS
• Download NameBench: https://code.google.com/p/namebench/downloads/list (Win/Mac/Linux)
• Download browsermob-dns-perf: http://wiki.hidemyass.com/images/Browsermob-dns-perf.zip (Win+Java)

Tweaking MacOSX

Unfortunately MacOSX does not have as many possible tweaks and networking related settings as Windows does, but still there are some things you can try:

TCP tweaks

• Start up a terminal window and run the following commands:
  sudo sysctl -w net.inet.tcp.rfc1323=1
  sudo sysctl -w kern.ipc.maxsockbuf=16777216
  sudo sysctl -w net.inet.tcp.sendspace=1048576
  sudo sysctl -w net.inet.tcp.recvspace=1048576

Apple broadband tuner:

• Installing this tool automatically sets the following settings:
  net.inet.tcp.sendspace: 131072
  net.inet.tcp.recvspace: 358400
  kern.ipc.maxsockbuf: 512000
  Download: http://support.apple.com/downloads/Broadband_Tuner_1_0

Additional:

• If you have a WLAN connection, change your routers channel and other WLAN related settings to see if you can get a better signal.
  Also, consider using a wired network setup instead of WLAN. It's more secure and always faster.
• Temporarily disable your firewall to see if this has a significant effect on your connection performance. If it does, check your firewalls settings,
  remove unnecessary rules or consider using a different firewall software.

Tweaking Linux

Please note that any of the following suggested modifications may improve performance and stability as well as make it worse.
To know if a setting has a positive, negative or any effect at all, it's a good idea to keep doing speedtests before and after each change.

• Modify TCP settings in sysctl.conf:
  Changing TCP settings on Linux is done by adding the corresponding lines at the end of the file /etc/sysctl.conf and then running "sysctl -p" to apply the changes.
  You should make a backup of the file (e.g. run "cp /etc/sysctl.conf /etc/sysctl.backup")
  
  net.core.rmem_max = 16777216
  net.core.wmem_max = 16777216
  net.ipv4.tcp_rmem = 4096 87380 16777216
  net.ipv4.tcp_wmem = 4096 65536 16777216
  net.ipv4.tcp_no_metrics_save = 1
  net.ipv4.tcp_congestion_control=htcp

• To increase TCP throughput, run this (replace eth0 with your network device identifier if different, e.g. wlan0):
  ifconfig eth0 txqueuelen 1000

• Disable auto-tuning to prevent unwanted behavior:
  sysctl -w net.ipv4.route.flush=1

• Modify TCP congestion control
  The sysctl variable net.ipv4.tcp_congestion_control is set to "reno" by default. You can set it to one of the following options:   
  
  reno: Traditional TCP used by almost all other OSes. (default)   
  bic: BIC-TCP   
  highspeed: HighSpeed TCP: Sally Floyd's suggested algorithm   
  htcp: Hamilton TCP   
  hybla: For satellite links   
  scalable: Scalable TCP 
  vegas: TCP Vegas  
  westwood: optimized for lossy networks
  
  E.g. run this:
  sysctl -w net.ipv4.tcp_congestion_control=htcp

• Disable segmentation offload, decreases performance but increases stability:
  ethtool -K eth0 tso off

Additional (all operating systems)

• Always make sure you have the latest available device drivers for your computer; Router firmware, ethernet-adapter and motherboard drivers, BIOS update, etc.
  If you have a network device from realtek, click here. Otherwise check the website of your motherboard/network-device manufacturer.
  Updating your operating system is also a good idea; you should regularly check WindowsUpdate.
• If you're using Firefox, check out the FasterFox add-on. It really improves surfing performance: FasterFox | FasterFox Extra | FasterFox Lite
• For testing your speeds, try the speedtest from above, or download an test-file from qsc.de, or download a test torrent: Knoppix Torrent
• For tweaking uTorrent Advanced Settings there are also several tutorials on this. None of them are perfect, you have to try each setting patiently until you're satisfied with the results. Checkout our article UTorrent for more Info.
• Old routers, or even new router that are provided to you by your internet provider, are often using outdated firmware or are technically badly manufactured. This can make a difference of multiple megabits - consider getting a better router!

Unnecessary protocols and services (Windows) On Windows, you should check the advanced settings of your network adapter in the Windows Network Center: It often contains unnecessary protocols and services that are slowing down your internet connection without being useful in any way. Disable, or better uninstall services like: QoS Packet Scheduler Virtualbox / VMware drivers, protocols and services Link-Layer Topology Bluetooth related Basically you can uninstall everything except Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) This is the only thing that's essential for the internet connection to work. However, should you loose connectivity after changing anything here, you can just reboot your computer and reinstall the removed things again, one by one.

Links

• For more Downloads and Tweaks visit: http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php
• Registry tweaks: http://www.speedguide.net/articles.php?category=93
• Downloads: http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php
• Security Scan: http://www.speedguide.net/scan.php
• Tweaks for all operating systems: http://xgu.ru/wiki/TCP_tuning

What is UDP?

When connecting to HMA Pro VPN using OpenVPN protocol, all connections are made through TCP
protocol.
But there's a way to use UDP protocol instead, resulting in faster speeds and it's bypassing many restrictions for other protocols; like when you cannot connect at certain locations using PPTP or usual OpenVPN.
Since UDP protocol is not yet integrated into the HMA Pro VPN client, you'll have to use our alternative clients for Windows and Mac.

When following the tutorials below, make sure to use the UDP config files: http://newmastervpn.blogspot.com/2013/07/what-is-udp.html
not the TCP config files ( http://hidemyass.com/vpn-config/TCP/ ).


Instructions for Windows -> OpenVPN client
Instructions for Mac -> Tunnelblick
Instructions for Android -> Android
Instructions for iOS -> OpenVPN on IPad/IPhone/ITouch
 

• You can also use the VPN client Viscosity (trialware) for Windows and Mac.
• The Mac client Shimo (shareware) is also supported.