The best Mac VPN 2017

The best Mac VPN 2017

Whether you're concerned about your online privacy or looking to access sites that are ordinarily blocked in your country, a VPN (virtual private network) will help. You'll be able to hide your location online and access blocked content using the services in our round-up of the best VPNs for Mac.

Many people use a VPN in order to enjoy the BBC iPlayer's streaming services while outside of the UK, or to access US Netflix whilst inside the UK in order to make use of its expanded catalogue (although with much tougher restrictions these days many VPNs can no longer help you access these reliably). VPNs are also a great tool to help you keep prying eyes at bay, giving an element of anonymity whilst browsing the web.

VPNs are also a great tool to help you keep prying eyes at bay, giving an element of anonymity whilst browsing the web.

There are free VPNs available, but beware that some free VPNs may install unwanted toolbars or third-party applications, and others simply offer much less advanced features. It's important to first read the terms and conditions before using a free VPN, and to make sure you know the free VPNs limits.

Generally, though, even paid-for VPNs are quite cheap. You can subscribe to many for under £6 per month.

Read on for our round-up of the best and most popular VPN services available for Mac. To find out more about what a VPN does and how that can benefit you, read: What is a VPN? You might also like: Best antivirus for Mac

Best VPN for Mac

PureVPN

• Rating: 
  
• RRP: From £2.30 per month, From US$2.95 per month
• Buy from PureVPN

PureVPN is fast and reliable, packed with features at a great price, which is why we've deemed it our favourite VPN for Mac.

It is among the biggest services when it comes to the number of countries it offers. There are more than 750 servers available in 141 countries.

It also boasts that there are no third-parties involved and no logs of your activities, as it's a self-managed network owned by the company itself. It does, however, keep a record of connections and bandwidth in order to optimally manage its servers.

It has a kill switch feature, and also offers split tunnelling if you only want to use the VPN connection for specific apps.

PureVPN is compatible with more than 20 devices, including your Mac, and you can login to 5 devices at once with your account. Prices start at $2.95 per month if you're willing to commit to a year, or $10.95 per month if you want to pay on a month-by-month basis.

It also offers a 7-day money back guarantee.

You can find out more in our full Pure VPN review.

CyberGhost

• Rating: 
  
• RRP: Free version available; £3.74 per month, Free version available; US$5.83 per month
• Buy from CyberGhost

Another of our favourites is CyberGhost offers one of the safest ways to browse the web, and has managed to build a solid reputation when it comes to security and transparency.

We've named it the best cheap VPN for Mac.

In addition to helping to keep you anonymous online, CyberGhost also boasts military-grade encryption to protect you against hackers trying to steal your data on public WiFi hotspots.

It works with most devices including phones and tablets, and there's also an ad-blocker included in the application to speed up surfing. Of course, that does deprive impoverished writers of their hard earned money, so that's something worth bearing in mind if you want to switch the ad-blocker on.

There is a free version of CyberGhost but it lacks some of the main features. You'll need to wait before you can connect, and after three hours you'll be disconnected and will need to connect again. It's more of a trial designed to show you how the service works.

The full version for a single device is £45 per year or £3.99 per month, while the five-device plan is £70 per year or £6.99 per month.

You can find our more in our full CyberGhost review.

Private Internet Access

• Rating: 
  
• RRP: From £2.60 per month, From US$3.33 per month
• Buy from Private Internet Access

For an even wider choice of servers, Private Internet Access offers a whopping 3,340.

It's also mega-cheap at just under £3 per month, and you'll get five licences for that small fee that can be used simultaneously on any device, including iOS and MacOS.

It doesn't track your IP address or timestamps, offers a Kill Switch feature and lets you pay anonymously. It's also among the fastest VPNs available.

There is one big downside, though, and that's that it is based in the US, which is the very centre of the 5-eyes data swapping collective.

For some, that will ring immediate alarm bells, but if you're not overly concerned about where it is based this is a definite contender for the best VPN available.

Find out more in our full Private Internet Access review.

NordVPN

• Rating: 
  
• RRP: From £5 per month, From US$5.75 per month
• Buy from NordVPN

Another great option is NordVPN. The company tells us that it does not keep any logs of user activity at all so it's brilliant for security, and there are more than 700 servers across 57 countries to choose from.

NordVPN offers Kill Switch that will end the connection if the VPN drops for any reason, too.

NordVPN is also reasonably priced, and offers lots of privacy and security features to help it become one of the most attractive VPN services for internet users looking for privacy online.

It's easy to set up and it's quick, too, and there are mobile apps included should you need them. Connect to up to six devices at once.

A big downside is that we had trouble streaming Netflix US via NordVPN, so if that's what you're looking for you'll want to look elsewhere.

Find out more in our full NordVPN review.

IPVanish

• Rating: 
  
• RRP: £5 per month, US$6.49 per month
• Buy from IPVanish

IPVanish is good-looking and easy to use, which is why we've recommended it as the best VPN for beginners. isn't going to help you watch US Netflix, but it is a popular option that is well-worth considering if you have a different priority such as torrents or security/privacy.

It'll appeal to home users thanks to access to Netflix US. However, it's also based in the US, which is a distinct turn-off for those worried about online privacy, but it doesn't keep any traffic logs at all so it's unlikely any data will be available to share with the government anyway.

The good news is that it has a whopping 700 servers across 60 countries, and you'll be able to connect via five different devices at once with the same account.

If you do want to use the service for torrents you can reduce the encryption to hide your IP address without sacrificing download and upload speeds.

Better yet, IPVanish owns and operates the entire internal infrastructure (its private network, physical points of presence and servers), which is unlike most other VPN services available today.

IPVanish offers a Kill Switch, and offers apps for iOS, Android and Windows in addition to Mac. You'll get a 7-day money back guarantee, and prices start at around £5 per month.

Find out more in our full IPVanish review.

ExpressVPN

• Rating: 
  
• RRP: From £6.50 per month, From US$8.32 per month
• Buy from ExpressVPN

Among the speediest VPN services out there is ExpressVPN. It's not the cheapest option available starting at $8.32 per month, but it does offer 24/7 live chat customer support and a 30-day money back guarantee, as well as a zero log policy and kill switch.

There are more than 1,000 servers available in 95 countries, and a range of apps for mobile devices as well as your Mac or PC, in addition to router apps too.

ExpressVPN also works with Netflix to allow you to virtually reside in the country of your choice to access additional TV shows and movies.

You can find out more in our full ExpressVPN review.

Hidden24

• Rating: 
  
• RRP: From £3.99 per month, US$5.99 per month
• Buy from Hidden24

Hidden24 focuses completely on privacy and anonymity, after starting life in 2005 as a reaction to Sweden's snooping laws.

It now has a UK-based server farm that means you can protect yourself online by connecting to another UK server. It uses the operating system's own VPN capability so there's no app to download, and setup is simple thanks to complete, detailed guides.

We found the service to be speedy and stable, but there's no kill switch option and you can only connect to UK servers for now, so no US Netflix.

It is useful for ex-pats or those travelling outside of the UK though, as it means you can access UK content including BBC iPlayer even when you're not in the country.

Find out more about Hidden24 in our full review.

ZenMate

• Rating: 
  
• RRP: Free version available; £5.99 per month, US$4.99
• Buy from ZenMate

We liked ZenMate for its simplicity. You just have to download it and then pick a country, and that's more or less all there is to it.

We're not sure exactly how many servers ZenMate has, but there are 28 countries to choose from. If you just want to get online with a simple, low-cost VPN, this may be for you.

Simplicity isn't always the best thing, though. If you want to control things like encryption level, or if you really want a kill switch, you'll need to look elsewhere.

It does grant access to US Netflix, but it was mighty slow when we tried to do so. It also seemed to slow down our internet connection.

It costs £5.99 per month, or £49.99 per year. There's also a 14-day money back guarantee.

Find out more in our full ZenMate review.

StrongVPN

• Rating: 
  
• RRP: From £4.50 per month, US$5.83 per month
• Buy from StrongVPN

A speedy option that offers a great interface for mobile is StrongVPN. It can access Netflix US and doesn't log any data.

It does have its downsides, though, including a lower country count than rivals at 24, and just 46 cities. It's also a bit complex and technical, so it definitely isn't for beginners.

The price is extremely competitive, though, at $10 per month or $69.96 per year.

Buffered VPN

• Rating: 
  
• RRP: £6.30 per month
• Buy from Buffered

Buffered is the final option on our list, and while it should be a perfectly serviceable VPN solution thanks to its many features, it is let down by a slow interface, fiddly mobile setup and poor performance.

Plus, it's not the cheapest available, and it logs some data that some might find off-putting.

There are more than 30 countries available to reside in though, and you don't need to worry about any bandwidth restrictions.

There's no free version of Buffered, but there is a 30-day money back guarantee available.

Plans include a monthly plan at $12.99 per month, but you can save by opting for a bi-annual plan for $9.99 per month or a yearly plan of $8.25 per month. There's 24/7 customer support, too.

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Best Mac antivirus 2017

Your guide to the best antivirus and security software for Mac 2017 for your peace of mind.

By <Mr. Tech> | 3:25 PM

If you've got a Mac and are wondering whether you need antivirus and which best Mac antivirus you should choose, you've come to the right place. Here, we reveal the 8 best antivirus programs for macOS and Mac OS X right now.

Do I need Mac antivirus?

A hoary old question. Plenty of Mac aficionados will tell you that Apple computers are inherently secure and don't require protection. We'd argue that they are wrong - or misguided, at least.

Macs are more secure - or less insecure, at least - than their Windows brethren for two reasons. On the technical side, macOS is a Unix-based operating system. As a Unix-based operating system macOS is sandboxed. It's like having a series of fire doors - even if malware gains access to your Mac, it is unable to spread to the heart of the machine. Macs are not unhackable, but they are more difficult to exploit than Windows PCs.

The second reason is that there are far fewer Macs than there are Windows PCs. Fewer targets, and these are harder to hack. Is it any wonder that cybercriminals focus on the Windows world? All malware these days exists to make money, and the criminals who create and share such filth are not doing so because they want to work hard. They pick off the lowest hanging fruit, and that is unprotected Windows PCs.

Two reports from early 2017 suggest that Macs are becoming less secure. Business Insider even suggests that Macs are now more vulnerable to viruses and attack than even Windows PCs! The CVE report on the Top 50 Products By Total Number Of "Distinct" Vulnerabilities in 2016 Mac OS X came in at number 10, and Windows at 14. And Fortune has warned of new Mac malware that can freeze Apple computers. Mac users should not feel complacent any more.

There is active malware in the Mac world, however. And one of the biggest threats is your own behaviour.

What we look for

For any security software to be effective and worth the install it has to be able to prevent malware from infecting your computer. Mac antivirus is no different. We look for anti-malware properties that prevent known and unknown threats from having their way with your Mac. We use AV-Test.org's own testing data to ascertain the effectiveness of each antivirus in this respect.

But security is only half the story. In order for an antivirus to work effectively it also needs to be unobtrusive. AV-Test also looks at the impact of these pieces of software on your system: in laymen's terms, how much does the antivirus slow down your Mac, if at all.

For each of the security solutions we outline over the following slides, we have tested their ability to keep your Mac safe, and balanced that against the impact on your Mac's performance. You'll see that even though the best free antivirus programs are good at protection, for instance, they also hurt your Mac's speed much more than do paid-for software. So you need to balance cost against performance impact when selecting a product. Now, on to the best Mac antivirus packages.

What's the best antivirus for Mac?

Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac

• RRP: From £39.99, US$39.99
• Buy from BitDefender

Our number-one best antivirus for Mac is Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac. In AV-Test's lab, Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac blocked 100 percent of the threats thrown at it. Even more impressively, it had a lower than 10 percent system impact, meaning that you won't even know it is protecting you, while it is protecting you. You can read more about Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac here.

Here are Bitdefender's UK prices:

• £39.99 (1 Mac, 1 year)
• £59.99 (1 Mac, 2 years)
• £79.99 (1 Mac, 3 years)
• £49.99 (up to 3 Macs, 1 year)
• £79.99 (up to 3 Macs, 2 years)
• £119.99 (up to 3 Macs, 3 years)

UK Mac owners can buy Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac here. There is also a free 30-day trial if you want to try before you buy. 

In the US, Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac costs:

• $39.99 (1 Mac, 1 year)
• $59.99 (1 Mac, 2 years)
• $89.99 (1 Mac, 3 years)
• $59.99 (up to 3 Macs, 1 year)
• $89.99 (up to 3 Macs, 2 years)
• $129.99 (up to 3 Macs, 3 years)

US Mac owners can buy Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac here.

Bitdefender, then, is our pick for best Mac antivirus. But there are seven more excellent best Mac antivirus packages in this roundup, and depending on your precise requirements, budget and so on, you may find one of the others more suitable. If you'd like to learn more, read on.

For further reading, see: How to remove Mac antivirus software

ESET Antivirus for Mac

• RRP: From £29, From US$39.99
• Buy from ESET

Another paid-for Mac antivirus, here is ESET. This £29 tool offers 100 percent threat detection, and scores reasonably highly in speed tests. You can save up to 25 percent by going for a two-year licence, and there are various cost-saving options for multiple Mac households up to £59 for a four-Mac licence. And there is a 30-day trial.

To find out more about ESET Antivirus for Mac, click here.

AVG for Mac

• RRP: Free version available, Pro version £49.99, Free version available
• Buy from AVG

In AV Tests most recent research, only four our of the twelve antivirus packages tested managed to detect 100% of the malware thrown at it. AVG is one of those, as are numbers two and one in this chart. AVG has a bigger impact on performance than our two front-runners, though.

There's a free version available with limited capabilities, and the Pro version which includes full protection costs £49.99. There is a free trial of Pro available, though, which is well worth trying.

To find out more about AVG for Mac, click here.

Norton Security for Mac

• RRP: £49.99, US$69.99
• Buy from Symantec

Symantec's Norton Security didn't perform as well in AV Test's recent tests as it did back in December, so we've had to bump it back from its number-two position. It offered 99.17% detection which is still great, but when there are plenty of alternatives that scored 100% it makes it more difficult to recommend. It's also not the fastest option available. 

Norton Security retails for £49.99 for a single Mac. Step up to £59.99 and you can protect up to five devices, which can include Windows PCs and smartphones as well as Macs, which is pretty cool. Albeit a little pointless on the smartphone front. You can get further discounts by buying a two-year licence.

To find out more about Norton Security, click here.

Kaspersky

• RRP: From £39.99, US$59.99
• Buy from Kaspersky Lab

Kaspersky will set you back £39 a year for the full internet security suite for Macs. In return you get 99.17% percent threat detection from the antivirus, as well as anti-spyware, safer banking software and the rest. Oh, and there is a 30-day trial. The catch? Greater impact on system performance than some of the better products we list in this story, although not by much.

To find out more about Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac, click here.

Sophos Antivirus for Mac

• RRP: Free, Free
• Buy from Sophos

Our number-one free Mac antivirus, Sophos Anti-Virus requires of you only that you cough up some personal details. Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac costs you nothing but detects 99.17% percent of threats. It does have a minor impact on performance, however. That may be enough for you to notice the difference, depending on what spec machine you have. The paid products above it in our chart are better, but Sophos is a compelling product.

To find out more about Sophos, click here.

Avira for Mac

• RRP: From £29.99, Free version available
• Buy from Avira

Another free antivirus for Mac, and another that successfully protected its test Mac, Avira Free Antivirus 3.2 is in at number four only because it had more of a system overhead than products one to three. According to AV-Test's lab Avira will keep your Mac safe, for free, but you may pay for it in terms of system performance.

To find out more about Avira Free Antivirus, click here.

Avast for Mac

• RRP: Free version available
• Buy from Avast Software

A Mac security freebie, Avast detects 100 percent of threats. But this tool had a significant performance impact during tests. If you can stand that, it is a good free option. But there are better.

To find out more about Avast Mac Security - Free, click here.

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The Time Travel and Teleportation Experiments of Project Pegasus

Project Pegasus

Project Pegasus

I’ve often mentioned Project Pegasus, but we’ve never really talked about it, you know? So sit back, relax, mix yourself a cool Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster. Or don’t, because reading this will probably give you the same effect.*

In 2004, Washington-based attorney Andrew D. Basiago began telling his story of a top-secret organization called Project Pegasus. Although he was only seven years old at the time, Basiago claims he had, from 1968 to 1972, participated in a number of bizarre experiments that took him on journeys through time, space, and potentially into parallel universes.

“Project Pegasus was the classified, defense-related research and development program under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in which the US defense-technical community achieved time travel on behalf of the US government – the real Philadelphia Experiment.” – Project Pegasus Mission Statement

The mission of Project Pegasus was to study the effects of time travel and teleportation on children, as well as to relay important information about past and future events “to the US President, intelligence community, and military.” According to Basiago, children were recruited specifically for their ability to adapt “to the strains of moving between past, present and future.”

But how?

While Basiago claims there were several time travel devices at work during these experiments, the majority of his temporal adventures can be attributed to our old friend Nikola Tesla.

Documents, allegedly retrieved from Tesla’s New York City apartment after his death in January 1943, revealed the schematic for a teleportation machine. Using something Basiago calls “radiant energy,” the machine would form a “shimmering curtain” between two elliptical booms.

“Radiant energy is a form of energy that Tesla discovered that is latent and pervasive in the universe and has among its properties the capacity to bend time-space.” – Andrew Basiago

Passing through this curtain of energy, Basiago would enter a “vortal tunnel” that would send him to his destination. The other teleportation devices included a “plasma confinement chamber” in New Jersey and a “jump room” in El Segundo, California. There was also some kind of “holographic technology,” which allowed them to travel “both physically and virtually.”

They weren’t always safe, though. One of Basiago’s cohorts, Alfred Webre, recalls one instance in which a child returned from his temporal voyage before his legs. As he puts it, “He was writhing in pain with just stumps where his legs had been.” These bugs, according Webre, have been ironed out in the 40 or so years since the experiments began.

Through Time And Space

So where did Basiago travel during these experiments?

Several of his voyages led him to the 1800s. On one occasion, he found himself at Gettysburg on November 19, 1863, the day President Abraham Lincoln gave his famous Gettysburg address.

As Basiago tells the story, he had been dressed up as a “Union bugle boy.” However, he felt that his over-sized shoes were drawing too much attention, so he wandered away from the crowd, only to be photographed (as you can see in the alleged photo up there).

Basiago also traveled to the Ford Theatre on the evening President Lincoln was assassinated. In fact, he did so multiple times, even running into himself twice, though he never actually witnessed the assassination.

Each trip, he says, was slightly different than the last, leading Basiago to believe that it wasn’t just time travel at work; he was being sent into “slightly different alternative realities on adjacent timelines.”

Finally, let’s not forget Basiago’s trips to Mars. In the 1980s, he utilized the aforementioned “jump room” to teleport to the Red Planet, with the express mission of acting as an ambassador to the Martian civilization. His fellow travelers? William Stillings and Barry Soetero, who these days goes by the name President Barack Obama.

“Planetary Impact”

Today, the “new” Project Pegasus, led by Andrew D. Basiago himself, is apparently campaigning for the United States government to publicly disclose its teleportation technology, which would benefit humanity as a whole and make transportation both on Earth and throughout the cosmos instantaneous and environment-friendly. Or something like that.

At any rate, Basiago’s story is far from over. While the Web Bot’s prediction in 2009 that he would “make a [planetary impact]” as a government whistle blower never really came to pass (more on that later), he’s got some new plans. Namely, he intends to run for President of the United States in 2016.

“In 2016, Andrew D. Basiago will be a candidate for President of the United States under the banner Andy 2016 – A Time for Truth.”

To be honest, at this point I’m not entirely opposed to the idea.

*A beverage invented by ex-President of the Universe Zaphod Beeblebrox. Drinking a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster is said to be very much “like having your brains smashed out by a slice of lemon, wrapped ’round a large gold brick.”

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