Get US Access To Websites While Abroad With Free Download: Hotspot Shield

May 30, 2008 by Anil P.
Filed under Security, Tech

Increase the security of your wireless connections and bypass international blocks of websites by downloading Hotspot Shield. The program connects you to the Hotspot Shield virtual private network (VPN) located in the US potentially getting you around regional blocks of popular websites.

Netflix for example doesn’t allow users to access their “play now” feature which lets you watch movies in your queue on your PC. A connection through the Hotspot Shield VPN will trick this and many other websites into thinking you’re located in the US.

This hack didn’t work for me each time and the connections were less than stable, but tolerable for the most part. Hotspot Shield also purports to give you “unbreakable” secure wireless access but doesn’t tell you how. If you’re connecting through a fairly reputable wireless connection (like an airport or T-Mobile hot spot) most of your important data like passwords will already be encrypted by the websites you visit.

Avoid any computer-to-computer networks and keep your online accounts safe at Internet cafes with these 12 applications you can run from a USB drive. The advertisement heavy Hotspot Shield is a free download, for both PC and Mac.

Thanks Felipe!

EDITED [5/31]: Hotspot Shield works for both PC and Mac and is Lifehacker’s featured download today.

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Comments

18 Responses to “Get US Access To Websites While Abroad With Free Download: Hotspot Shield”

Felipe says:
May 30, 2008 at 11:27
Seems to worked fine for me every time i used it down in Ecuador, I usually use it to catch the office at hulu. Like you mention above it has a lot of adds but you can cut them off by closing the add window that displays on top of ur browser.
Reply
gamal says:
March 17, 2009 at 15:17
thanx
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B On The Move - Tech News - Access US-Only Web Content with Hotspot Shield [Featured Windows Download] says:
May 31, 2008 at 7:42
[...] Windows only: Freeware application Hotspot Shield secures your public web browsing by connecting you to the internet through the Hotspot Shield virtual private network. What more people seem to use Hotspot Shield for is to access US-only websites from outside the US. We post a lot of content on Lifehacker, and sometimes we get guff for not identifying US-only services. Hotspot Shield has been the go-to service for tons of Lifehacker readers dying to try a site who’ve hit the US-only wall. Hotspot Shield is ad-supported and installs a toolbar (lame, I know), Windows only. Got another tried and true method for accessing region-specific sites? Let’s hear about it in the comments. Hotspot Shield [via foXnoMad] [...]
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Life Clerks » Access US-Only Web Content with Hotspot Shield [Featured Windows Download] says:
May 31, 2008 at 7:48
[...] Windows only: Freeware application Hotspot Shield secures your public web browsing by connecting you to the internet through the Hotspot Shield virtual private network. What more people seem to use Hotspot Shield for is to access US-only websites from outside the US. We post a lot of content on Lifehacker, and sometimes we get guff for not identifying US-only services. Hotspot Shield has been the go-to service for tons of Lifehacker readers dying to try a site who’ve hit the US-only wall. Hotspot Shield is ad-supported and installs a toolbar (lame, I know), Windows only. Got another tried and true method for accessing region-specific sites? Let’s hear about it in the comments. Hotspot Shield [via foXnoMad] [...]
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Access US-Only Web Content with Hotspot Shield [Featured Windows Download] · TechBlogger says:
May 31, 2008 at 8:10
[...] Windows only: Freeware application Hotspot Shield secures your public web browsing by connecting you to the internet through the Hotspot Shield virtual private network. What more people seem to use Hotspot Shield for is to access US-only websites from outside the US. We post a lot of content on Lifehacker, and sometimes we get guff for not identifying US-only services. Hotspot Shield has been the go-to service for tons of Lifehacker readers dying to try a site who’ve hit the US-only wall. Hotspot Shield is ad-supported and installs a toolbar (lame, I know), Windows only. Got another tried and true method for accessing region-specific sites? Let’s hear about it in the comments. Hotspot Shield [via foXnoMad] [...]
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June 5, 2008 at 6:52
[...] I’d like to welcome those readers who may have found me this past weekend from Lifehacker. This past weekend they wrote about my post on how to access US-only websites with Hotspot Shield. [...]
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October 15, 2008 at 2:00
[...] read or corrupted by anyone listening in. (The connection is all over the air, remember?) Download HotSpot Shield, available for Windows and Mac. Not only will it protect the data you transmit over the Wi-Fi [...]
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