Be careful that you're not swayed by big-time endorsements and reviews
All computer users

Recently I was flipping through one of the most popular computer magazines and I found an article about securing your laptop when using a public Wi-Fi hotspot - such as the ones found at restaurants, airports, parks and the like.

The article was singing the praises of a freeware program that promised to keep your information locked away even when using a public Wi-Fi hotspot. Naturally, we're always on the lookout for good and useful freeware programs to feature in our newsletter. So I downloaded the software to evaluate it for possible inclusion in our newsletters.

The program which was getting such glowing praise from this computer magazine is called Hotspot Shield. I followed the link in the magazine to product's Web site (and foolishly didn't read the privacy statements or anything else - after all a major computer magazine was singing its praises) and proceeded to download Hotspot Shield. As I was clicking the link to download it, I noticed that the product had received acclaim from CNN, The Wall Street Journal, and PC Magazine. I'm not saying I read the article in PC Magazine, mind you, I'm just sayin' .

The download was quick and easy. After it completed I began the installation. Keep in mind at this point I'm still considering it as a candidate for our "Freeware Pick of the Week" so I took a couple of screen shots during the installation - in case we decided to make it our freeware pick.

I started becoming a little bit leery of the program when it wanted to change my start page, install a toolbar and make a number of other questionable changes, but like the good trooper I am, I pressed onward with the installation, making notes for our readers to make sure they unchecked a number of annoying options. By the time I got to the second screen, and I had to start unchecking even more boxes, I started getting very concerned - and a little miffed. Still I pressed on. Good freeware is getting harder and harder to find, so I forgave the program's hunger to ravish my computer. I unchecked all the boxes presented to me.

I watched as the program installed and noticed it was installing drivers, alarm bells started ringing in my head. The next thing that set off alarms were the "Windows Services" it was adding to my computer. Still trusting the magazine's glowing review, I let the program finish installing.

Before I go any further, you need to know what the program does and why I thought it was a good program to test. So here's what Hotspot Shield's Web site says:

"* Secure your web session, data, online shopping, and personal information online with HTTPS encryption.
* Protect yourself from identity theft online.
* Hide your IP address for your privacy online.
* Access all content privately without censorship; bypass firewalls.
* Protect yourself from snoopers at Wi-Fi hotspots, hotels, airports, corporate offices.
*Works on wireless and wired connections alike. Provides Unlimited Bandwidth.
*Works on the PC and the MAC, including new operating systems (Windows 7 and Snow Leopard)

Hotspot Shield protects your entire web surfing session; securing your connection at both your home Internet network & Public Internet networks (both wired and wireless). Hotspot Shield protects your identity by ensuring that all web transactions (shopping, filling out forms, downloads) are secured through HTTPS. Hotspot Shield also makes you private online making your identity invisible to third party websites and ISP’s. Unless you choose to sign into a certain site, you will be anonymous for your entire web session with Hotspot Shield. We love the web because of the freedom that it creates to explore, organize, and communicate. Hotspot Shield enables access to all information online, providing freedom to access all web content freely and securely. Secure your entire web session and ensure your privacy online; your passwords, credit card numbers, and all of your data is secured with Hotspot Shield. Standard antivirus software protects your computer, but not your web activities.

....Hotspot Shield creates a virtual private network (VPN) between your laptop or iPhone and our Internet gateway. This impenetrable tunnel prevents snoopers, hackers, ISP’s, from viewing your web browsing activities, instant messages, downloads, credit card information or anything else you send over the network. Hotspot Shield security application is free to download, employs the latest VPN technology, and is easy to install and use.

So go ahead - Get behind the Shield - Try Hotspot Shield today!

Hotspot Shield runs on:

* Windows 7
* Windows XP
* Windows 2000
* Windows Vista
* Mac OS X (10.4 Tiger)
* Mac OS X (10.5 Leopard)
* Mac OS X (10.6 Snow Leopard)..."

If this program worked as advertised, it would be a great find for those of us with laptop computers who often use public hotspots (Wi-Fi). Since so many restaurants, hotels, airports, etc. offer free Wi-Fi, most of you with laptops or netbooks are likely to use a public hotspot some time. But Hotspot Shield didn't work as advertised. My broadband connection, which is normally very fast, seemed sluggish when I browsed the Internet with Hotspot Shield enabled. Maybe it seemed sluggish because the program stuck an advertisement at the top of every page I visited - and worse - made it look like the ad was part of the site and not not coming from the program. The program injects the ad on every site you visit - but unless you've read all the fine print, you'd never know it. Sneaky.

After fooling around testing the program for about 30 minutes, I had had enough. I used Revo Uninstaller to remove the program. Keep in mind that Revo uses the program's own uninstaller to remove the program first and then goes after the residue left behind by the program's uninstaller. After uninstalling the program, I rebooted my computer and Web browsing on my desktop was back to normal. No damage done. Or so I thought. About 30 minutes later I fired up my laptop and my normally stable wireless connection was missing. Windows 7 reported "no connections available". My home wireless network has worked flawlessly for years. Suddenly it stopped working. I realized that the changes Hotspot Shield had made to my router had affected my internet connectivity. My laptop couldn't find any wireless connections - no matter what I did. I installed Hotspot Shield only on my desktop - I never installed it on any other computer. Yet it affected both of my laptops. Not good. I solved the problem by turning off both my cable modem and my router and restarting them. After that I was able to get back on the Internet with both laptops, but not without some fiddling around with settings.

EB and I never recommend a program we haven't tried and wouldn't use on our own computers. It's hard to believe that CNN, The Wall Street Journal, PC Magazine or anyone else could ever recommend this program. I've installed a lot of software over the last 15 years, but I've never installed a worse program than Hotspot Shield. The installer tries to change your home page, install an unnecessary toolbar, and make a number of other unnecessary and unwanted changes to your computer. The ads it inserts at the top of Web pages it neither owns nor has any connection with is totally unacceptable. We couldn't recommend this program to our worst enemies, let alone our trusting readers. If CNN, The Wall Street Journal, or PC Magazine had actually tried this program they simply could not have endorsed it - unless - unless there was money or favors changing hands. There's just no way anyone with any computer experience at all could ever recommend Hotspot Shield. It's the worst form of adware - trying to sneak ads on web pages so it appears that the web page is actually displaying the ad is dishonest. Yes there was a small "X" to the far right of the ad, and if you clicked it the ad disappeared, but there was no mention of how the ad was being generated. No notice that this advertisement is being generated by Hotspot Shield. Hotspot Shield, no matter how wonderful its purpose, does not work as advertised, its installation is replete with items that have to be unchecked, and the insertion of advertising on every web page you visit, is the worst kind of trickery.

After I related my experience to EB she did some checking and was astounded by what the company behind Hotspot Shield (Anchor Free) was telling potential advertisers, and that is basically "we have pool of gullible fish we have locked into using our program and you'll get to to show your ads to all of these fools." That's not what they actually say, but that's what is boiling under the surface of their words, in our opinion.

It's no wonder there is so much confusion and so much distrust surrounding computers and the Internet. You'd think you could trust PC Magazine, CNN and The Wall Street Journal. But if you had trusted their glowing reviews of Hotspot Shield, you'd have one unsavory adware program installed on your computer. Unless there was some financial or promotional consideration being paid to the reviewers, we can't see how anyone could ever recommend Hotspot Shield.

Our recommendation? Stay away from Hotspot Shield. And remember, just because you read about or heard about it from a review in a nationally known publication or Cable channel, doesn't always mean it's been tested well or that it's a good program. We never recommend or feature any program that we haven't tested and that we would use on our own computers or recommend to our families and friends. It's too bad others don't follow those same guidelines.