<p>Whether you are on the road and worrying about hopping onto random hotspots in airports, hotels, and cafes, in a country where certain Web services aren't available, or just concerned about being tracked online, a VPN service is a worthwhile investment. Newcomer WiFi Protector aims to simplify the whole VPN experience, but it doesn't quite measure up against more polished offerings such as Norton Hotspot Privacy, AnchorFree Hotspot Shield , or VPN Direct .</p><p>VPN services offer Internet users the benefits of Virtual Private Networks without the complexity of installing a dedicated server. Most people may be familiar with using corporate VPN to access work files and services. A VPN service won't connect you to your work network, but you can use it to create a secure tunnel that encrypts all the data you are typing on whatever site you are on, as well as hiding your online activities from eavesdroppers.</p><p>WiFi Protector has a free, ad-supported offering and a paid version that doesn't display ads for $6 a month. The paid version comes with an "All History Cleaner," which is essentially a way to clean up cookies and delete browser history. There is also an Android app but no support for iOS or Macs.</p><p>We've looked at several VPN services recently and I've noticed a slight difference in speed and performance between paid and free versions. Paid versions generally have similar performance regardless of which server the user is connected to, while free versions may fluctuate. Since WiFi Protector doesn't give users a choice of servers, I decided to stick with the free version for the review.</p><p><a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2412700,00.asp">Keep reading...</a></p>