VPN for school.

under the internet connect in mac theres an option to use a VPN and i was wondering if it was worth it to set that up for using my laptop on public wifi networks (school, library, ect.).

 

To VPN into what? Usually people VPN into a network in order to access files, etc. I would do a little reading on what a VPN actually is/does and then ask your question. Unless I'm misunderstanding you.

 

no your not. i really dont have that good of an idea what it is thats why i asked.

 

There's probably not really a need for you to VPN in.

For example, let me tell you why I needed a VPN connection.

I attend VT, and needed to reinstall Vista from my house. Because I can download software from their server and burn an ISO I don't need a disk. However, in order to protect against piracy and other unsavory actions, you have to have a VT IP address to download the files (in addition to logging in).

As I was obviously off-campus 200 miles away, I would have been out of luck, had it not been for VPN. By VPNing in (virtual private network), I was able to gain access to the software repository. A VPN will "virtually" allow you to tunnel in to the network.

There are many other applications and it can get quite technical.

Here's a decent link for further reading.

 

oo ok thanks. i thot it was something like if i was signed onto a public wifi i could set that up so people couldnt see me (like in addition to firewall).

 

You can use VPN to do this, assuming you have it set up to encrypt data. This way any data that's traveling over the open network will be encrypted. However, at the University where my parents work, IT tells people not to use the VPN for general websurfing, and only for the kind of stuff that vespoli mentioned.