Download ZenVPN. VPN client that makes browsing the web safer and more private. Download ZenVPN VPN access (Unlimited Weekly plan) Now! Free Vpn Tunnel Downloads Connect to a Virtual Private Network (VPN) You can connect Surface to your workplace network by using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection.

From Liberconnect: ZenVPN routes all your Internet traffic via an encrypted tunnel to a remote server allowing you to - Bypass any website blocks enacted by your government or network operator - Access geo-restricted services such as TV streaming - Protect your connection from snooping - Protect your identity by concealing your real IP address from the sites you visit - Escape traffic logging done by your ISP

ZenVPN aims to be unobtrusive and almost invisible. There no settings to fiddle with - it's all set and forget. We also won't install any toolbars or other useless 'extras' on your computer.

ZenVPN does not monitor, log or restrict your Internet activities.

You can choose from a wide range of 'virtual locations' through which to route your traffic: currently in France, United Kingdom, Germany, Netherlands, US, Chile, Russia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Israel and India for the premium version and France, Netherlands, US and Singapore for the free one. New locations are being added regularly.

The free version includes 250Mb/day traffic allowance (and growing constantly) and offers all the same privacy benefits as the premium one.

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What do you need to know about free software?

• Pros

  Reliable performance. Easy-to-use interface. Fast, responsive customer support.

• Cons

  Very limited free trial. Few servers in Asia or Latin America. Bandwidth restrictions. No Mac or mobile support.

• Bottom Line

  ZenVPN is trying to be the VPN you set and forget. It's easy to use and reliable for most purposes, but there are plenty of other services that give you more for your money.

ZenVPN is a personal VPN service that's easy to use, hides your online activity from eavesdroppers, and allows you to spoof your IP address to view content that is restricted to specific geographic locations. Its focus is on maintaining a small footprint—the only time you notice it is when something goes wrong. While ZenVPN will take care of the basics, it doesn't offer anything to make it stand out from the rest very crowded VPN marketplace. Pricing begins at $2.95 per week; there is a free trial available, but it's very limited.

• $4.99
• $19.99
• $9.95

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How VPN Services Work
Your computer has an IP address assigned by your ISP, an address that can be used to figure out the geographic location of your ISP's data center. If you are concerned about increasing government surveillance or want to foil aggressive advertising, you may want to change your IP address to make tracing your online activity harder. Or you may be trying to access a service that is restricted by geographic region.

ZenVPN lets you 'change' your geographic location by overriding the IP address assigned by your ISP with one drawn from its pool of servers. ZenVPN offers 'virtual locations' in the United States, Canada, Chile, Singapore, Hong Kong, Moscow, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Netherlands. It's not apparent how extensive ZenVPN's infrastructure is in each country, but it looks like as though it would be a good service for those trying to access Europe-only sites or who are traveling in the region.

Even if you are not trying to hide your location, using a VPN service makes a lot of sense. The service encrypts all online traffic and ensures data remains hidden from third parties when on an open wireless network. During testing, the network utility Wireshark verified that my traffic was encrypted.

VPN services generally all do these same things, for the same general tradeoffs in performance. Websites may take a little longer to initially load when connected to a VPN service, but performance is still tolerable. Some companies perform bandwidth compression to try to speed up performance, but some speed hit is to be expected. For security, ZenVPN offers both PPTP (which is considered weak) and IPSec (which is pretty good, but not as good as OpenSSL). Advanced users can also download the settings to manually configure OpenVPN, an open-source software.

ZenVPN is a paid service, although there is a very limited free trial. ZenVPN Standard, which gives users up to 5GB a day bandwidth, costs $2.95 a week, $5.95 a month, or $49.95 a year. ZenVPN Premium has no bandwidth restrictions and is $5.95 a week, $9.95 a month, or $95.50 a year. I was surprised to see a paid service with bandwidth restrictions. It's a very generous cap, but it's still a limitation.

Overall, the subscription costs for the service can add up, but ZenVPN offers some flexibility with per week and premium pricing plans. This review and rating assumes a standard $5.95 per month plan of ZenVPN on a Windows 7 laptop.

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Not that there is next to no support for non-Windows platforms such as Mac, Linux, Android, or iOS. To use ZenVPN with other platforms, users will have to manually configure the connection using the configuration settings provided. This is better than no support at all, but it is a little sad that while ZenVPN aims to be as easy and low-effort as possible on Windows, using it on any other platform requires considerably more networking savvy.

Installation and Getting Started
I first created an account on the ZenVPN website. Unlike all the other VPN services I've tested, ZenVPN doesn't have a management interface on the computer—everything is Web-based. Once I had an account, I downloaded the installation file, copied down the VPN credentials for manual setup, looked at the list of servers, and upgraded to a paid plan. The free trial is for an hour—although some parts of the site still mention the old terms of 20 minutes. I installed the client, which is quite simple and quick, and connected to ZenVPN right away.

ZenVPN's primary goal is to have as small a footprint on the user's computer as possible. In fact, it is perhaps the most minimalist such service I've seen to date, trumping even Spotflux Free and Spotflux Premium's slimmed-down user interface. I saw a little note telling me ZenVPN is connected in my system tray, and if I clicked on the green padlock icon, my only options were to disconnect or switch virtual locations (via the Web portal). ZenVPN would appeal to users who don't want to deal with extra screens.

There doesn't appear to be anyway to configure ZenVPN. For example if I didn't want to have it connect automatically on startup, there's no way to turn that off. The default configuration is all you get.

I clicked on available locations on the map in the Web portal to switch Virtual Locations, and then hit Activate. I then saw a message that I would have to disconnect and reconnect—which made sense since I was doing this on the Web interface. However, it felt strange that I could change my location on the interface and not have that propagate to my computer until I manually disconnected and reconnected.

I also disliked the fact that the only way to tell what region I was connected to was to check the Web portal. Imagine a mean-spirited prank by someone who figured out your portal password and changed locations without you knowing until you bothered to check again. Yes, I am that paranoid.

Speed and Performance
I like to test VPNs when I am travelling internationally, and ZenVPN held up well in airports and overseas. I didn't see any significant lags or issues that would make ZenVPN difficult to use.

To measure network speed, I ran tests available on SpeedTest.net. I connected to each server and compared speeds for that location with the VPN turned off. The figures below are based on testing on a wired connection, over DSL. I also ran each test twice and picked the higher value.

Performance was consistent across locations. I wasn't surprised the speeds were better for European servers, since ZenVPN seems to be currently focusing on the European market. The U.S. servers turned in a decent performance, as well. If you click on the performance icon, you will see that performance was also consistent with other paid VPN services.

Good Enough, but There are Better
If you're looking for a free VPN service, ZenVPN's trial offers nothing that other competitors don't already provide. And as a paid service, it still falls short to competitors. Spotflux Premium offers a similar minimal set-and-forget interface but with better user experience; Editors' Choice Norton Hotspot Privacy offers multi-device support; and Editors' Choice Private Internet Access offers blazing speeds. While ZenVPN promises to not throttle network speeds, even for torrenting, most torrent users will likely chafe at the GB per day restriction. Yes, performance is solid and the software can be minimized to get out of your way, but the average performance is not enough to offset the so-so feature set.

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Bottom Line: ZenVPN is trying to be the VPN you set and forget. It's easy to use and reliable for most purposes, but there are plenty of other services that give you more for your money.

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