If you have difficulties accessing various websites and you have asked yourself , How do I know if I have a VPN and if it is activated and works correctly? Here we will give you a brief explanation of what you can do to check if you have this service active and how to know if it is really doing its job.
The VPN service is widely used today, as it allows us to access content that is normally blocked in our place of residence. In addition, it can be very useful when using the internet of a cafeteria or public network, protecting you from the dangers of public networks.
How do I know if I have a VPN and it is working?
Normally to have a VPN network or VPN service, we have to affiliate with it in advance. Because this service is usually paid and does not come pre-installed almost anywhere. However, we can do a check if we are connected to a VPN network. Using a tool that comes by default in our Windows operating system.
For this check we will use the CMD command console , which is installed by default in any version of Windows. We must go to the start menu and in the search bar write CMD. With this we can notice that an icon with the same name appears and we must open it by clicking it. Then it will open a console in which we will only have to copy ‘ip’ and then ‘config’, this all pasted and without quotes.
After writing it, we will only give enter from the keyboard and a list will appear with information about our address. Depending on your country, you should have an IP corresponding to your address . If you do not know what the IP of your country is, you can search for it on the internet through any browser. In case you have an IP from another continent, you will be using a VPN.
If you are using Mac you should know that there are exclusive VPN services for this system. To check its proper functioning, you can use your browser. With which you can check your IP by doing a simple search, when you open your browser you must enter What IP do I have assigned? With this you will be able to know which address you have on your computer.
Other factors that indicate that the VPN is working properly
If we are already sure that we are using a VPN network. We must take into account some factors that indicate that it works properly. Among these is the speed with which we browse, due to the operation of VPN networks , the internet can be reduced in speed. However, when we have good service, this should not be noticed at all when browsing.
If you notice that your internet is slow or heavy, it may be because you are using a free VPN. So it does not provide support for these cases and only hides your IP without worrying about its speed. In these cases it is always advisable to rule out possible causes. So it doesn’t hurt to check your antivirus settings. Because many of these have access to your internet networks.
This is the case with Mcafee , a very common antivirus in home computer equipment. This can slow down your connection when using VPN, because it detects it as unsecured or buggy. Therefore, you can disable Mcafee momentarily , then try to use the internet again and see if the speed increases significantly.
An important factor to consider
On the internet you will see many offers on these services, and the free ones are usually very attractive since you do not need to cancel anything. However, you should be careful with these free services.
Mainly because they have access to your data once you connect, and since they do not receive any type of payment from you, they can sell your information for profit. For this reason, it is best to buy a paid service.
If you are very new, you can start using the VPN that Opera has built-in, and thus go practicing with this service to see if it is convenient for you or not to pay for it. We recommend Opera because it is a serious company with many years of experience, which offers a simple VPN service, which can help you adapt and know how it works.
