Hide My Ass!

Hidemyass Summary

Pros

•  Great VPN client interface

•  Easy to Use

•  Quick connect and switching

•  Auto Connect on Start up available

•  FREE and unlimited server switching

•  Multiple Billing & Payment Options

•  Unmetered & Unlimited bandwidth 

•  Availability of dynamic IPs

•  30-Days Money back guarantee

Cons

•   No trace route tool and external IP is not shown on connection

•   Security could be an issue because it does store user information after connection.

•   Speed is not remarkable

•   Fairly basic online client area

Overall, HideMyAss has the biggest advantage i.e. its extensive VPN client interface which is not only easy-to-use but also gives a host of information at just the click of a button. The ease of installation facilitated by the installer package is also a powerful selling point.

The Good: HideMyAss provides unlimited VPN access at a very affordable price. Also be sure to check out the “Secure IP binding” feature, it’s something exclusive to the HideMyAss software which increases your security in P2P networks.

The Bad: IPs are being logged, so you might not rely on this if you’re looking for extreme security, and also you might not want to share files on Bit Torrent or similar networks on US servers.

The Bottom Line: HideMyAss can be recommended to people who are looking to share files heavily and needing a way to bypass filters and restrictions in repressive regimes or at work/university and to surf securely on hotspots. For most users, this is just fine, so if you like simple use, good speed, a lot of very cool features and great support, this is absolutely for you.

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Hidemyass Review in Detail

Founded in 2005, HideMyAss is a premium service VPN service provider based in United Kingdom. With a total of 304 servers, HideMyAss has a huge VPN server selection with servers located in over 53 countries. Its services became especially more popular owing to its free website proxy tool.

HideMyAss offers about potential 35,500+ IPs and free 32 country switching service. Its user-friendly VPN client works well with any of the PPTP, L2TP and OpenVPN protocols.

HideMyAss VPN services include Pro VPN that anonymously secures your internet connection and encrypts your sensitive web traffic from hackers, network spies, and insecure networks. Their free web proxy lets you surf anonymously, hide your online identity and internet history.

The highlight of their VPN plans is “No Bandwidth Limitation” that means their VPN plans are unlimited and unmetered so you pay a flat price for a monthly unlimited VPN access on your desktop and mobile phones. And they claim to have the largest database of public open proxies, updated 24/7 with an up to the minute auto-updatable checking system.

In addition to PPTP, they offer OpenVPN that is fully secure network so users can unlock all the sites in their specific geographic regions. Once you connect to HideMyAss VPN servers, a secure internet connection is established between your internet provider and their VPN servers. As a result, everything you do online is 'encrypted' and essentially anonymous; anyone trying to break into your internet connection to steal sensitive data (e.g. on public Wi-Fi networks) will not be able to because your web traffic is securely hidden.

HideMyAss Features

1.         Pricing Plans: HideMyAss offers 30-days money back guarantee with the following purchase plans:

Monthly Plan: $11.52.

6-Months Plan: $50.66 and you save 27%

12-Months Plan: $78.66 and you save 43%

HideMyAss offers multiple payment options in the control panel. You can pay via PayPal or Credit Card and they accept VISA, MasterCard, Amex, Discover and Debit Cards for payments. They also support Google Checkout and Alert Pay making payments very easy for anyone.

2.         Ease of Use: Getting started with HideMyAss is very quick and easy. Simply register and buy your package online. Once you signup on their website, you can download the VPN client software from the members’ area and install it. The whole process is quick and takes just a few minutes. Once you have installed it, you can actually set it to start on system start-up and you can connect through HideMyAss instantly.

To login, enter in your username and password into the HideMyAss Auto Dialler. After entering in your login data, HideMyAss locates the server next to you, and with only one click it connects and starts the VPN. This means that you get automatically connected to the server that should provide you with the lowest ping time and the highest speeds. The software works with multiple protocols (such as OpenVPN, L2TP, and PPTP) meaning you can easily switch between protocols without having to install additional software

 3.        Online Client Area: HideMyAss has a very simple and straightforward client area on the website. You see your account information in the online control panel. You can also see all the PPTP servers, order and billing details that HideMyAss offers you as a Premium account holder.

In the control panel, you will find the download software links as well as all the available options for Windows, XP/Vista, Mac OS and Linux. In addition, they have download links for VPN client on iPhone/iPad and Android phones. This gives the user a good amount of flexibility to use VPN service from anywhere they want. Here are the various set up options:

•          HMA VPN Windows Client – .exe file for easy install and provides visual interface

•          HMA VPN Mac Client – .dmg file for easy install and provides visual interface

•          HMA VPN Linux Client – command line version – Alpha visual version available

•          HMA VPN iPhone / Android – supported with easy built-in configuration.

•          HMA VPN Router – dd-wrt routers are supported

HideMyAss provides the Help and Support section in the control panel where you can connect with their support team via live chat and email. You can also open a ticket or connect with a customer service staff.

4.         Quick & Easy Installation: Once you have downloaded the HideMyAss dialler from your control panel, you can install and start. To start, all you need is to enter the username and password and select the country of your choice. We found the HideMyAss VPN client software very impressive. It was particularly useful to find the right server and the nearest server that can give the highest speed and quick response time.

Some other benefits of their client include:

•          You can quickly choose and change the country of your VPN server

•          You can schedule IP address changes (i.e. change every 10 minutes)

•          You can use Secure IP Bind that forces specified applications to only connect after VPN session.

•          It allows Multi Protocol Support and enables to quickly change protocols.


5.     Server Map: HideMyAss has VPN servers marked out on a server map, useful for visual identification. Your physical location is also marked helping you see the distance between servers. Servers close together are grouped together until you zoom in.

In addition to this, it gives you geographic recommendations like VPN servers located closest to your physical location will usually be the fastest for your internet connection. By default their software will automatically select the server located closest to your physical location for ultimate speed and an additional server group will also display the 10 nearest VPN servers (measured in kilometres).

HideMyAss IP settings feature enables you to randomly change your IP address at set time intervals. Once you have set a time in minutes/seconds, the software will assign you a new IP address from the HideMyAss IP pool.

Another feature of HideMyAss VPN client is the Secure IP Bind. Their Secure IP Bind forces specified applications to only establish an internet connection once connected to their secure VPN. This ensures that said applications will only ever work behind a secure internet connection.

In addition, they provide an ability to do Ping Test and Speed Guide. You could also perform an Express Test on Speed Guide. This is pretty impressive as other services don’t offer even the slightest bit of own software and this one gives you all options a VPN can provide. You can also change the proxy settings manually from the VPN client interface. We really liked the load balancing alert feature in HideMyAss VPN client. If there is more than one server in a particular location, load balancing advises you which server has the least users connected, ensuring you connect to the least loaded server. You can load balance between specific locations or entire countries. The load balancing warning like below informs to change to a more accurate VPN server to avoid delay in response time.

6.         VPN Client Interface:  We liked the fact that the HideMyAss VPN client interface is a simple one and enables you to connect in seconds. There is automatic connection capability on start up so you do not need to dial in every time you log in. As a new user or even a beginner, such a VPN client is easy to use and there’s no professional expertise required to start using unlimited VPN service using HideMyAss.

While the PPTP encryption is not as secure as OpenVPN it may become handy if OpenVPN is being blocked in your network for some reason, or if you’re using a device that doesn’t support OpenVPN such as Android phones, iPhones and similar. Also it allows you to use the VPN client integrated in Windows if you can’t install the software because of limitations your employee set up on it or something like that.

7.          Speed: HideMyAss allows you to perform various tests before you select your server and country. You can select the VPN destination country in the VPN client and switch countries at no extra cost.

The thing we really like about HideMyAss is the fast switching of servers and locations using the software, and an easy overview about the available servers. With just one click of a button you can select the server that matches you best by looking at distance, ping, or speed (as there is a speed test integrated too), hit your mouse and the connection changes to the location you want.

When tested with and without HideMyAss connection from one of the server locations, the speed was found to be excellent and here are the results.

8.         Reliability: The connection with the HideMyAss VPN was very reliable and the disconnections were rare. Once the connection was established, it lasted for 6 hours without any interruption.

9.     OS & Device Compatibility: HideMyAss VPN service is compatible with Windows XP, Vista, Linux OS and Mac OS. The VPN works with any device that has support for OpenVPN or PPTP protocols. This includes iPhones, iPads and Android devices.

10.       Browser Compatibility: HideMyAss was found compatible with all browsers including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Google Chrome and Opera. The speed remained the same across browsers.

11.       Streaming: We could stream files on different sites and the download was fairly reliable. There were some disruptions found while streaming videos and TV online owing to the low download speed. We find it is perfect for those looking to share files on the internet. The sites like YouTube and Huhu were viewable on this VPN connection.

12.       Trace Route Tool: HideMyAss offers many tools for its users and their VPN client is particularly very attractive. However, there is no trace route tool to find out what sever route your connection is taking. For users who want to trace route, they can use external tools available online.

13.       Security: HideMyAss offers good amount of security through its PPTP and OpenVPN VPN connections. Once connected, you are assigned with the IP that is different from yours so you get to surf safely and you can unblock all sites that would originally not be accessible in your country.

14.       Encryption: HideMyAss VPN uses dynamically allocated shared IPs to add security for its users. The IP assigned to you is visible on to you on the VPN client. As compared to other VPN providers, they did not disclose what encryption level they are using except that they maintain full encryption for anonymous browsing.

15.       Privacy: HideMyAss VPN offers an external IP as soon as you get connected to the VPN network, they do log your IP securely. Unlike others, your IP is securely bound and protected at all times.

16.       Customer & Sales Support: HideMyAss VPN has a good customer support service. Their team was knowledgeable and the staff was very helpful every time we contact them. They do have a very well defined and comprehensive support library as well as an impressive web forum that covers almost all topics regarding VPN and more.

17.   Knowledgebase & Email Support: HideMyAss VPN has a good knowledgebase and email support in the control panel itself.

18.       Availability of Support Staff: We found that HideMyAss VPN has a very qualified and well responsive staff. We could connect them via live chat and get all queries answered easily.

19.       Before & After Sales Support: HideMyAss VPN provides reasonable before and after sales support and the staff is very helpful in clarifying your doubts before making your decision.

20.       Blog: Unlike many other VPN services, HideMyAss VPN has a good and active blog that has regular updates from. Their blogs are a great place to learn and catch up on some VPN related news and you can also get better ideas on how to utilize their services well.

21.   Forum: HideMyAss VPN has a very active forum and helps the users to resolve their queries among themselves. You can also learn about the latest promotions, service updates and even get accurate advice from moderator.

22.       Affiliate Program: HideMyAss VPN also has a dedicated affiliate area: http://affiliate.hidemyass.com/ where you can earn for each sale you deliver. The affiliate login is different from the VPN client login and you have to request or sign up for an affiliate program separately if you want to become a HideMyAss affiliate.

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