The PureVPN team has been hard at work developing new versions of their custom VPN software. Yesterday they rolled out new releases of both their Windows and Android apps. We’ve since had a chance to test out the Windows client and are excited to share a review of the software. Those interested can download the latest version from their site. Please not that its currently in beta so you might run into some issues, though we didn’t have any problems. Those new to PureVPN can sign up for unlimited VPN access from just $4.16 a month.
We started be downloading the new PureVPN client on a Windows 10 system. The installation was pretty simple. There was a little delay at the end of the install. At first we thought perhaps the installer was hung but it pulled through a minute or so later. From there we fired up the new app, logged into the service, and were greeted with a screen to customize our experience.
As you can see the client provided us with five options:
- I want to stream
- I want to unblock
- I want security / privacy
- I want file-sharing
- I want to use remote / dedicated IP
We chose “I want security / privacy” and moved on into the client. It defaulted us to using L2TP and asked us to choose a desired server location.
Instead we clicked on the “L2TP” protocol link to see what other options were available.
As you can see the PureVPN team lists each protocol along with images that denote the speed and security level of each one. It seemed a little odd that the “auto” setting had perfect marks while none of the actual protocols received the same marks. Your options include auto, PPTP, OpenVPN (TCP), OpenVPN (UDP), L2TP, SSTP, and IKEV. We like using OpenVPN so we went ahead and changed it over to UDP.
Now that we had a protocol selected we wanted to see what the additional options were in the client. To do so we clicked on the “gear icon” to the left and then clicked on the “basic” tab, and finally the “show advanced options” link. From there we had a number of decisions to make.
It appears that the default setting in the PureVPN app set it to run at the fastest possible speed. That may be fine for streaming but it definitely doesn’t work for us so we changed the encryption setting. Here are the options offered in the app:
- Fast Internet Mode (Encryption Disabled)
- Best of Both Worlds (128 Bits Encryption)
- High Security Mode (256 Bits Encryption)
If your goal is security or privacy then I suggest using at least 128-bit and recommend using 256-bit encryption as long as it doesn’t slow down your connection too much. There is a balance between security and performance. It depends on your goals which is one reason we like the PureVPN “customized experience” which can be set at any time by going into the client options screen.
Now that we have all that set it’s time to connect.
The software quickly connected us to a VPN server in the United Kingdom. Once we were connected in Manchester we could browse the internet as if we were physically sitting in the UK. The same is true if we had connected to a server in the United States or elsewhere. Our primary focus is security so it’s more about the encryption for us. However, I know that many of our readers want to stream and unblock sites. The software works great for that purpose as well. Connect to a server in the US to watch Netflix or the UK to stream BBC iPlayer. The possibilities are endless.
We didn’t have any issues using the PureVPN client. The only negative from our perspective was the client being set to “encryption disabled” by default. I recommend you go through the basic and advanced options before connecting for the first time. They have some other features you may want to consider enabling:
- Secure DNS
- IPv6 Leak Protection
- Internet Kill Switch
The “Internet Kill Switch” brings us to our final topic. If you are a fan of file sharing then you know that some VPN’s support it and others do not. There are also many companies who limit which server locations you can use for P2P activities. PureVPN takes that approach and makes it very easy to see which servers allow P2P.
As you can see the server list denotes “P2P” beside every server location that supports it. That will make it easy for file sharing users to find a good server location. The Netherlands is always a popular spot.
That about it. We really liked the user interface in the new PureVPN app. The “Customized Experience” helps you set the app without having to know the technical settings to meet your needs. I suggest you go through the basic and advanced settings anyway to get the most out of the service. Otherwise the software looks great and didn’t give us any issues. That’s saying something for a beta release. If you haven’t had a chance to test their service I suggest you sign up and give them a try. PureVPN is currently offering up to 65% off their service so you can enjoy unlimited VPN with up to 5 connections from just $4.16 a month. Make sure to check out their new Android app as well. We look forward to testing it out in the days to come.
