Searches on UOAA Website & this Discussion Board

[To Dream a Dream]

I just tried to do a Search on our UOAA Website & the protocol seems to have changed since my last successful attempt. If I am not mistaken, it now involves GOOGLE more directly than the former way. Could someone please clarify this for me? Before I enter into unfamiliar territory. Thanks.

[To Dream a Dream]

Could this have been due to my use of a VPN? When I turned it off, I seem to be back to the original search process.

[BillGK]

Yes, it’s the VPN. I use a VPN. Just did a search on “colitis” and it returned zero results. Then turned off VPN and got nearly 200 hits.

VPNs get in the way for some sites.

[To Dream a Dream]

Thanks, Bill. I am still learning.

[Mara]

I have never used a VPN even when traveling outside the country - why do you two think it's necessary???

[To Dream a Dream]

Hi Mara: My computer experience had been severely limited to some desktop word processing way back in the '80s until our modern dependence upon the new technology forced me to take the plunge & upgrade. And it seems I am forever 'learning' since. My VPN was recommended by the security service I purchased to supplement the basic one provided by MS Windows. I also have their browser extension installed. Hopefully, it all helps me as I flounder amid the dangers of the Web.

[Mara]

TDaD - sometimes I think that those with not much experience are taken advantage of....I don't really use much extra with MS Windows - most things are free for basic protection but I do pay a bit extra for a malware program. And in the many years since I have had a computer - I think I'm on my third now - I only once many years ago had a incursion.....I really don't think the web is that dangerous for everyday use...then again, maybe I am very misguided....or very lucky.

[JerryNYC]

I did a test run after reading your post. As you are aware, every year or so I do a search using the search term "abdominal adhesions" to see if there is anything new. But I got the same series of responses I have gotten in the past, with with and without VPN (which I normally turn on only when I am doing financial things). So the good thing is that the forum search function continues to work well; the bad thing is that no one has posted anything useful for me to try. The sad thing is that abdominal adhesions are the most common complications after abdominal surgeries (or pelvic surgeries in women) but there is little that can be done once they arise, especially after multiple surgeries. And an even sadder thing is that they can be diagnosed only during surgery. Even sophisticated imaging tests such as CT-scans or MRIs fail to visualize them because the adhesions look the same as the rest of our "innards" during these diagnostic procedures. They can be seen only directly by a surgeon during open surgery or minimally invasive (laparoscopic or keyhole) surgery). Finding an easy way to treat or remove these adhesions would be worth a Nobel award in Medicine!

[BillGK]

Mara, here is my thinking about using a VPN.

The first thought is my internet service provider. If you are like me you use a provider like Cox or Spectrum. I am convinced - don’t ask me to tell you why I’m convinced because I can’t remember, lol - that my ISP looks at my traffic, and sells information on me to advertisers and who knows who else. What happens is that when information flows from your computer, out to the internet, it flows through the servers of the ISP. It is unencrypted, so the ISP can see what you wrote. Let’s say that you look on Amazon for underwear: This is an actual example, from my experience. I remember looking for simple Fruit of the Loom, by name. And I bought a package of them. Pretty soon I was getting ads for some pretty strange stuff, not kidding. This kind of thing is sort of creepy, makes me feel like I’m in my house and I hear somebody trying to pick the lock on my front door.

So, one way that the details of my transaction w/Amazon or any other internet site can be compromised is the ISP. There is no law that prevents them from looking at your traffic through their servers, gathering information, selling it. And I find nothing in their terms of service that says that they don’t do it. And I have read numerous sources that say that it happens.

When you use a VPN the VPN provider has software that installs on your computer. Among other things, this software encrypts all the traffic that flows from your computer onto the internet, so that your ISP can’t look at it. I like that.

The second thing is to just make me anonymous/private on the internet. This is a fear of the dark thing, since I’ve never had a serious breach. The VPN makes me (mostly) anonymous on the internet, so that third parties other than my ISP have a hard time finding me and targeting me with ads (or worse?). What happens with a VPN is that when I send a search request to the Amazon web site for my Fruit-of-the-Looms (or anyplace else) my request flows a VPN server, called a proxy server. The proxy server then forwards my search request to Amazon. Amazon sends a reply back, and it goes to the VPN server address, not my address. The VPN server then forwards the reply to me. Now, I am basically anonymous to everybody except Amazon and my VPN, which is the way that the transaction should be. I am anonymous because only the VPN server has the address of the computer (mine) that was involved in the transaction.

I now get far fewer trageted ads and I pretty much assured that parties unknown are going to have a much harder time making sense of my emails and texts and other personal interactions and finding out who sent them.

I know that VPNs - at least the good ones - work. I bought ExpressVPN after reading that the Turkish government confiscated an ExpressVPN server in a criminal investigation and found nothing stored on the server. This told me two things, first that a government entity was not able to read criminal activity and second that ExpressVPN does not store anything on its servers once my transactions are completed. So I felt that I could trust ExpressVPN and that it does work to make me more private.

So these are the positives, for me.

There are negatives. The first is cost. I recently had a problem with ExpressVPN that their technical support people (who are excellent!) could not get to the bottom of. So I decided to try another service. I am now on NordVPN for $88 for two years. Another subscription, sigh. You can get “free” VPNs, but I’ve read that their business model often includes selling your personal information to third parties…! Also, VPNs can interfere with some web sites, which is what happened w/Dream on this site with her searches. Further, VPNs can occasionally malfunction and block you from the internet. Once you recognize that this has happened it takes about 30 seconds to go to the VPN app and reset things. But until you get experience it can be frustrating to not realize what the heck is going on w/your computer.

Overall, I feel better having a VPN. Better security, better privacy, better general anonymity. Far fewer targeted ads that make you wonder who the heck has your information. A VPN is not a panacea; likely there is no such thing as complete privacy once you sign on. But a VPN helps.

Hope this helped you w/your question.

[Mara]

BillGK - thank you so much for your very informative post concerning use of a VPN.....I might think about it...

But as far as targeted ads - not sure if I get them or not - for example I don't see an ad on this page as I view the forum. I do see ads on some travel discussion boards. Some sites tell you to disconnect your ad-blocking service I think....

I do use AdblockPlus a free app....

My provider is Verizon FIOS...

Thanks again,
Mara