VPN auto-connect, kill switch and protocol settings help protect travelers switching between airport Wi-Fi, hotel Wi-Fi and cellular data on the go.

Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Look Up Mashable Selects Creator Playbook In My Bag Say More Trending Now Back to School Good Connection: Uplifting stories for a digital age Switch Off Mashable Voices Safety Net All Series Proton VPN drops to $2.99 per month: Unblock global Netflix, sports livestreams, and more for 70% off Soumya is a deals writer who covers consumer tech, shopping deals, and the products people use every day. With experience writing about everything from AI tools and software to smartphones and home gadgets, she enjoys breaking down product research into clear, useful recommendations. When she's not tracking deals, she's usually comparing products, digging through reviews, and figuring out what actually makes a purchase worth it. All products featured here are independently selected by our editors and writers. If you buy something through links on our site, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.

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When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. These six commands make it much easier to find the page, file, or answer you need. Quotation marks, minus signs, and a few short commands can cut through pages of search clutter and turn you into a Google Search pro. Most of the time, Google's smart enough to understand the jumble of random terms you typed in. But if it can't make sense of your word salad and the results miss the mark, a few small commands can clean up the search.

Bitdefender VPN has an excellent starting price, even if it lacks the advanced features that privacy nerds may want. Lacks the most advanced privacy features. Pricing is less attractive after the first year. The internet is thick with VPN services . So thick, in fact, that it can feel a bit suspicious--and send you running back toward more familiar companies.

NordVPN leads with fastest speeds and advanced features, while Mullvad offers exceptional privacy at $5 monthly and ExpressVPN provides extensive US coverage. Utah's new law creates uncertainty for VPN users, potentially leading to traffic blocking or invasive identity checks by websites. Utah residents are facing a major shift in online privacy. A new state law, Senate Bill 73, has made Utah the first state to specifically target VPN use as part of its online age-verification rules, holding websites responsible even when users attempt to mask their location with a VPN. Privacy advocates warn the law could pressure websites into blocking VPN traffic entirely or expanding invasive identity checks for everyone.

We list all notations used in this paper in Table 1.

UK's Starmer announces crackdown on AI chatbots in child safety push United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced a crackdown on artificial intelligence chatbots that endanger children and pledged to seek broader powers to regulate internet access for minors. Starmer's office said on Monday that the government would target "vile and illegal content created by AI" and push for legal powers to act quickly on the findings of a public consultation that will consider a social media ban for children below 16 years of age. "Technology is moving really fast, and the law has got to keep up," Starmer said in a statement. "We are acting to protect children's wellbeing and help parents to navigate the minefield of social media," he said. The measures will require all AI chatbot providers to abide by digital safety laws, including a ban on creating sexualised images without a subject's consent.

You'll get the best VPN experience by paying, but prices don't have to be steep. When talking about the best VPNs, I frequently warn about the dangers of trusting free VPNs without verifying them. Although there are a few free VPNs worth recommending, many other free providers are ineffective, malicious or looking to profit off their users (or sometimes all three). Even the best free VPNs work a lot better once you subscribe and access their full service. This can be frustrating if you want to enjoy the benefits of a VPN but don't have the budget for yet another subscription.

The first step is always to figure out how easy or hard the VPN is to use. Windscribe and other VPNs are important tools, but you'll never use them if the UI gets in the way. I tested Windscribe's desktop apps on Windows and Mac, its mobile apps on iOS and Android and its Chrome and Firefox browser extensions. To start with, let me say that installing Windscribe is a breeze no matter where you do it. The downloaders and installers handle their own business, only requiring you to grant a few permissions. The apps arrive on your system ready to use out of the box.