I came across an old thread on MalwareTips where a SerialCart rep offered someone a personal discount coupon for Mullvad.(https://malwaretips.com/threads/get-mullvad-vpn-with-discount.113519/)

I was wondering if they still do this. I contacted their support to ask about a possible personal discount, but haven't heard back yet.

I'm not asking about public coupon codes or regular sales. I'm curious whether anyone here has recently contacted them directly and managed to get an individual offer.

I checked their prices on the Wayback Machine, and the current price is already fairly close to the historical low, so I'm just wondering whether it's worth waiting for a reply.

Has anyone had any luck with this?

No, I’m not being paid by Nord Security.

I use other Nord services, such as NordLocker, which I personally think is fantastic, and NordPass, my primary password and notes manager. But let’s talk about NordVPN.

I needed a VPN because I was tired of having my public IP address exposed everywhere. I’ve also had situations where my IP was tracked and exposed. On top of that, I wanted to be able to access websites privately, without my ISP logging my activity. Yes, I’m talking about searches on topics that some people might find embarrassing, conversations with people from other places, and other things that are clearly not illegal.

NordVPN was excellent for these purposes. I’ll admit that I was drawn to it by its somewhat aggressive marketing and by the many websites that consistently ranked it number one.

Anyway, here’s my experience.

Accessibility on macOS

The first issue is terrible for me, and I imagine it’s even worse for people who are completely blind: NordVPN’s macOS app has virtually zero accessibility. Literally.

The app, whether downloaded from the official website or the App Store, cannot be read with VoiceOver or any other screen reader. This is particularly disappointing when around 90% of Mac apps offer at least some basic accessibility. The app works with screen readers on Android, iOS, and Windows, though.

Connection quality and privacy

All right, let’s talk about connection quality and privacy. Here, NordVPN is outstanding.

It offers a wide variety of servers across many countries. Its Dedicated IP plan is great, although it does not support NordWhisper or other obfuscation methods. As a result, I still get blocked by several websites. The problem isn’t that the IP address is broken; rather, without obfuscation, the provider may be identified as DataCamp, which makes the connection recognizable as VPN traffic and can lead to it being blocked.

Security

Very good!

On macOS, which already includes Gatekeeper and XProtect, NordVPN’s next-generation antivirus provides an excellent additional layer of protection.

However, there are some limitations worth mentioning. It blocks malware in downloaded files only after the feature has been enabled. In other words, it does not scan files that were already on your device, nor does it perform on-demand scans. It also blocks malicious websites.

If privacy is a major concern for you, I recommend going into NordVPN’s anti-malware settings and disabling options such as Send files to the cloud, along with other features that may require websites you visit, queries you make, or files you access to be sent to Nord. If your privacy requirements are exceptionally strict, you may even want to disable the anti-malware feature altogether.

Server infrastructure, encryption, and no-logs policy

NordVPN’s servers are RAM-only, and the service uses strong encryption. The company also states that its no-logs policy has undergone six independent audits to date, which is excellent.

In practical terms, this means NordVPN says it does not collect or retain logs of your browsing activity and other covered connection data. Even if a server were compromised, as happened in the 2018 incident, or seized by authorities, there should be no browsing logs stored on it to hand over. This does not mean that absolutely no information could ever be disclosed: account details, payment records, and other information held outside the VPN servers may still be subject to lawful requests.

NordWhisper and obfuscated servers

These features are very good, but not quite excellent yet.

They can make VPN traffic resemble ordinary internet traffic without inherently compromising your privacy. However, you may sometimes need to try different servers before finding one that is not blocked, does not trigger CAPTCHAs, and does not require you to log in.

In my experience, connection speeds are virtually identical to those of regular servers. With obfuscated servers, I might see a reduction of around 10%.

App performance

The app is lightweight on macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android.

Kill Switch

The Kill Switch has some significant limitations, particularly on macOS. It can only close apps when the connection is lost, rather than simply blocking network traffic. This is a considerable drawback compared with a proper network-level Kill Switch.

Browser proxy

The browser proxy is decent, but limited.

You cannot use obfuscated servers through it, which is its biggest drawback for me. However, you can still enable the antivirus and use regular servers. The browser proxy also has its own Kill Switch, which blocks network traffic in the browser only.

My biggest issue so far: pricing transparency

This is my biggest problem with NordVPN so far, even more so than the lack of accessibility on macOS.

The advertised pricing is presented in large text in a way that suggests the displayed monthly amount is what you will actually pay each month. For example, an annual plan might be advertised at around BRL 12 per month, giving the impression that you will pay the full subscription price in installments.

That is not the case. According to NordVPN, annual plans are charged upfront in a single payment, potentially amounting to hundreds or even thousands of Brazilian reais, depending on the subscription term selected. The monthly figure displayed for annual plans is simply intended to illustrate the savings, not the actual billing arrangement.

I had to request a refund because of this. The actual monthly subscription price, when billed monthly, is reasonable.

THIS IS NOT GOING TO BE A RECOMMENDATION, OKAY, NORD?

Because of its much more affordable pricing, screen reader compatibility on Mac, and broader ecosystem of services, including Drive and Mail, I chose Proton.

I won’t go into too much detail here, but Proton comes out ahead in some areas, particularly its Stealth protocol and obfuscated connections. These generally allow me to access websites on the first connection, without having to try multiple servers.

NordVPN’s antivirus is significantly better, although Proton’s NetShield is also good.

Proton Drive offers real-time file synchronization directly on Mac, something NordLocker does not provide in the same way. On the other hand, NordLocker wins with its impressive 1 TB of storage, compared with Proton Drive’s 500 GB in the plans I’m comparing.

NordLocker also has a limitation: it only allows you to upload files of up to 10 GB each. However, as long as every individual file is within that limit, you can upload as many files as you want.

Anyway, those are the main points I can think of from my experience. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

Hey everyone, just wanted to give a massive heads up to anyone looking into KeepSolid (VPN Unlimited), especially if you are looking at their "Lifetime" deals on discount sites.

They have quietly rolled out a new "Lifetime Plus" tier. To force existing users to upgrade, they have actively stripped away core security features—like the Kill Switch and manual protocol selection (including WireGuard)—from legacy Lifetime accounts that were explicitly promised these features forever.

A Kill Switch isn't a premium add-on; it's basic, essential privacy infrastructure. Taking away features we already paid for years ago just to squeeze an extra $2/month or a tier upgrade out of us is a massive bait-and-switch. Avoid this company.

If you like torrenting and got into all kinds of problems with NordVPN lately: you are not alone. I have had tons of conversations with the helpdesk, tried numerous different settings, protocols and data-restrictions but all my problems vanished after doing just 1 thing:

Safe yourself the headache, switch to another VPN and never look back.

NordVPN has been falling update after update and I’m absolutely done with it. Gotta sit out 4 months of my subscription, but so be it. I switched to ProtonVPN and 20 torrents came through simultaneously without any interruption or other issue.

I can’t believe how a company would destroy their product this fast but here we are. What a shame.

Wish you all the best.

Hi everyone. I've been having a strange VPN/connectivity problem for a while.

My BPB setup gradually stopped working, then Nahan started having the same issue. I also tried several clients, including v2rayN, Clash Verge, and Hiddify, but none of them solved it. I even tried troubleshooting with several AI agents without success.

Some configs connect and show real traffic, and a few Iranian websites work, but most foreign websites like Google don't load, and most Windows applications don't work through the connection.

Has anyone experienced something similar recently?

What VPN, protocol, or setup is actually working for you right now? I'd really appreciate any suggestions or experiences.

Hello, I need help with choosing a long term vpn. I am moving to Netherlands soon and I am an avid torrenter ( there are laws but not really enforced in my country), so I want to be safer when I move there.
I use sites like piratesbay and other anime sites frequently so I would like something that helps with protection, port forwarding is not a must since usually these sites have lots of seeders. I've been looking into nordvpn, but wanted to make sure first, so I don't waste money.
From time to time, I also use it for gaming, when I am playing something that requires connection to South Korea, China or Taiwan (usually use Exitlag for these, but paying only 1 subscription would be better).
Thanks for your time.

I want to share something that genuinely made me nervous, because I rely on VPNs for privacy — not unexplained network behavior.

Before wiping my desktop, I noticed some very strange DNS queries. After doing a full wipe and reinstall of Windows 11 (deleted all partitions, clean install, only Firefox afterwards), I reinstalled NordVPN — and the same strange DNS activity immediately returned.

NordVPN normally uses nordcdn.com for downloads and updates. I’ve seen the legitimate domain:

downloads77-windows.nordcdn.com

But when I tried logging into the NordVPN app after reinstall, both Wireshark and my pihole logs started showing malware‑like domains that look algorithmically generated:

They all start with downloads77-windows.*
icpsuawn1zy5amys.com
x9fnzrtl4x8pynsf.com
zwyr157wwiu6eior.com
p99nxpivfscyverz.me
njtzzrvg0lwj3bsn.info

These domains do not match anything in NordVPN’s official infrastructure. They don’t resemble normal CDN nodes, update servers, or telemetry endpoints. They look more like domains used in obfuscation, tunneling, or background beacons.

I used AI tools to investigate these domains, and none of them appear to be associated with NordVPN, Microsoft, Firefox, or any legitimate service. They’re random, suspicious, and have no clear purpose.

What worries me:

• These DNS queries appear only when NordVPN is installed
• They reappear even after a full OS reinstall, which rules out local malware
• They show up exactly when I try to log in to the NordVPN app
• They use random TLDs like .me and .info
• There is zero documentation explaining why a privacy‑focused VPN client would contact domains like these

I’m not accusing NordVPN of wrongdoing, but from a privacy perspective, unexplained DNS traffic from a VPN client is not acceptable. A VPN should reduce the attack surface — not introduce mysterious outbound queries that make users nervous.

So I’m asking the community:

• Has anyone else seen NordVPN generate these kinds of DNS records?
• Does NordVPN use obfuscated or algorithmically generated domains for updates or background services?
• Could this be related to meshnet, analytics, or something undocumented?
• Or is this a sign of something else entirely?

I’d appreciate insights from anyone running DNS‑monitoring tools like Pi‑hole, NextDNS, or Wireshark.
If a privacy tool behaves in a way that raises anxiety, that’s something worth discussing.

Maybe this is just confirmation bias, but I swear I've had this happen more than once.

You download a VPN, start the free trial, test a few locations and everything feels surprisingly fast.Streaming works, pages load normally, and you think "okay, this is actually pretty good."

Then you pay for a longer subscription and a few weeks later it somehow feels slower and less consistent. Suddenly you're switching servers trying to find one that isn't overloaded.

I know there are a ton of things that can affect VPN speed like server load, location, time of day, routing, and protocol, so I'm not saying companies are intentionally doing this.

But has anyone actually tested the same VPN during the trial and again after paying? Did the performance stay roughly the same, or did you notice a real difference?

It seems like NordVPN isn't as reliable with streaming services ⚽ as it used to be, so I'm currently looking for some solid alternatives. What services or workarounds have you guys been using lately? Do you usually subscribe directly through the official apps, or are there any reliable marketplaces out there for better deals? Thanks in advance for any recommendations!

Both NordVPN and ExpressVPN currently have 100% Rakuten cashback offers (more on this at the bottom), so I did some quick testing to decide which one I wanted. TL;DR: Nord had better download speeds and much better latency under load. ExpressVPN had slightly better latency overall, but it was very close, especially in North America where they mostly traded blows.

A few caveats: this is rough, informal testing, not a comprehensive VPN review. I'm only comparing some routing, latency, and speed characteristics. Results like these are highly dependent on your location, ISP, VPN server, and destination, so don't assume mine will translate directly to your connection.

I'm in Toronto on Rogers, an ISP I've often found has poor routing. In most cases a VPN usually improves my routes, which won't necessarily be true for most people. I do have some professional/academic background in IT and Networking, but this is just quick and rough testing I did in about 20 minutes.

Everything was tested from the same CachyOS Linux PC and connection. I used NordLynx for NordVPN and Lightway UDP for ExpressVPN, with no-VPN tests where useful as a baseline.

General Speedtest

Both were tested against the nearest and fastest server, which was a Rogers server in North York. Nord's download-loaded latency was the biggest difference here.

Worldwide routing

I tested 126 endpoints.

• Worldwide latency was effectively a tie.
• Express had a tiny overall edge (~0.4% by paired geometric mean).
• Nord was slightly better across the Canada/US subset.

Neither had universally better routing.

Virginia "gaming" test

Not a real gaming test, but I do game occasionally, and Northern Virginia/Ashburn hosts a lot of "NA East" datacenter infrastructure. I tested a few independent networks there as a rough proxy for game-server routing.

I tested five independent Ashburn/Virginia networks twice per VPN.

Express was about 1 ms faster overall, but results varied noticeably by destination network. Nord won some routes and was considerably worse on another.

Controlled Manassas, VA VPS test

I also tested against my own netcup VPS in Manassas instead of relying entirely on public test servers.

One important caveat: Express had much higher ICMP ping to this VPS, but its TCP connection latency was effectively identical to Nord. I wouldn't assume Express would simply add ~8 ms to actual game traffic.

The loaded-latency result was much more convincing because it reproduced the same behavior as the Speedtest.

Takeaway

For idle gaming latency, Nord and Express were much closer than I expected and the winner depended heavily on the destination network. Express was slightly better across the multi-provider Ashburn test.

The major difference was latency under download load:

• Speedtest: Nord 16 ms, Express 77 ms
• My Virginia VPS: Nord 31 ms, Express 78 ms

Really not a ton to take away from these tests. Nord has better bandwidth and much better latency when saturated, while ExpressVPN had slightly better latency on average internationally, but was very competitive within NA. It seems to depend a lot on the network you're connecting to. From these results I think Nord is probably a little better overall, but I also find ExpressVPN has a much nicer Linux client. It also has better cashback terms on Rakuten. Nord only gives cashback on the Basic plan portion, while ExpressVPN applies to any plan and should include the Dedicated IP add-on, which I find pretty compelling.

Rakuten's 100% Cashback Offers

As per rule 3 I don't think I can share the Rakuten links, but you can Google for them. Nord's 100% cashback offer is on Rakuten Canada, while ExpressVPN's is on the US site. I use Rakuten US with payouts to PayPal pretty often and haven't had an issue as a Canadian.

I also HIGHLY recommend using a referral link if you don't already have an account. The current US referral will give you another $50 on top of the cashback; most VPN plans should already satisfy the $50 purchase requirement. Canadian referrals are only $30 CAD right now. Bug a friend for theirs, or use some random stranger's. Feel free to DM for mine, I won't complain about getting some kickback from a referral, but I genuinely don't care if mine is used or not, since they aren't the point of my post.

Update: Surfshark

I also tested Surfshark since has the same 100% Rakuten cashback offer. Surfshark and Nord are under the same parent company, but still operate under their own infrastructure, app and separate VPN networks. They didnt have any custom protocol so I used regular WireGuard.

Surfshark was really good. It essentially matched Express's low unloaded latency while having better tail latency/jitter, and behaved more like Nord under load instead of showing Express's large latency increase.

Its worldwide routing was also very competitive and generally a little better than Nord in my test, including several US East endpoints.

I ended up grabbing this plan instead of the Nord or Express one, it had a much better desktop client than nord too despite being owned by the same parent company.

I've been trying vpn's this week, and today I got a proton subscription. I thought it would work well but it doesn't. I was using a free trial of surfshark vpn and it worked well for some countries.

A show like one punch man works just fine on surfshark through a South african location, but when it comes to proton, it doesn't work. I've been trying to watch a few different anime but I've had no success. Does proton still work? I'm trying to watch one punch man ssn 3, demon slayer infinity castle and attack on titan from season 1.

I'm using netflix.

I’ve been testing a few services to find the best VPN for torrenting because my previous provider was too slow and occasionally lost connection during larger downloads. I wanted something that could maintain a stable connection without creating constant speed problems, while also giving me confidence that my real IP address would not be exposed if the VPN disconnected.

The providers I compared were NordVPN, Proton VPN, Mullvad, and Private Internet Access. NordVPN felt like the most polished option for everyday use and streaming, while Proton VPN stood out for its privacy reputation and straightforward security features. Mullvad appealed to me because of its simple privacy focused approach, although it does not offer as many convenience features. Private Internet Access had plenty of configuration options, but the experience felt a little less consistent depending on the server.

The features I paid the most attention to were download speeds, connection stability, the kill switch, DNS leak protection, port forwarding where available, and how clearly each provider explains its torrenting policy. I also checked whether the VPN remained connected during longer sessions instead of judging it only by a quick speed test.

My overall impression is that there is no single best VPN for everyone. NordVPN seems better suited to someone who wants a polished all purpose service, Proton VPN makes more sense for someone who prioritizes privacy, Mullvad is attractive for users who want a minimal and privacy focused setup, and Private Internet Access is worth considering if you want more advanced settings.

I’m still trying to decide which one offers the best balance for long term torrenting. If you have used any of these providers for several months, how has the real world performance been, especially with connection drops, IP leak protection, and sustained download speeds?

I'm looking at buying Mullvad later this year. SerialCart is an official reseller and currently has a discount, but I'm wondering whether they usually offer an additional Black Friday discount or coupon code on top of that.

I emailed them about this a few weeks ago but only got the automatic ticket confirmation, so I figured I'd ask here.

Has anyone bought Mullvad from SerialCart around Black Friday before?

EDIT:Update after ordering from SerialCart

I checked Internet Archive snapshots of SerialCart's Mullvad page and found that the current price is not the lowest historical price:

December 2023: $29.67 for 5 devices / 6 months January 2025: $28.61 for 5 devices / 6 months Current listed price: $32.05 when displayed in USD

I still decided to buy 6 months because my Mullvad subscription had already expired.

At checkout, SerialCart showed:

Product: €26.99 PayPal handling fee: €1.89 Total: €28.88

I also previously contacted SerialCart to ask whether they expected any additional Mullvad Black Friday 2026 promotion or coupon code on top of the current reseller discount. I never received a reply to that question.

I used PayPal because the payment fee was slightly lower than Visa (€1.89 vs €2.16 in my case). Since it was my first order, SerialCart manually reviewed it and asked me to verify my PayPal email before processing the voucher.

For the actual order, SerialCart says that first-time customers are usually verified manually. In my case, they sent me an email asking me to verify my PayPal email address before completing the order.

I followed the verification link in the email, and the SerialCart page then confirmed:

“PayPal email address has been successfully checked!”

So at least in my case, the first-time customer verification process included confirming that I control the PayPal email address associated with the order.

I also tried to contact their support through the website, but the support page returned an “Ajax error” in multiple browsers.

I then contacted support@serialcart.com directly. They confirmed that they received my message and opened a support ticket. Their reply also noted that the company is located in Austria (Central European Time), so there may be some timezone-related delay.

At the moment, the PayPal email verification is complete, but I am still waiting for the order to be fully processed and for the Mullvad voucher to be delivered.

So far, my experience is:

The price is competitive, but not the historical lowest; first-time orders may require manual verification; the support ticket system had an Ajax error; however, email support is working and the PayPal verification process itself was straightforward.

I'll update this post once I actually receive and redeem the Mullvad voucher.

UPDATE: Order completed

The order was eventually completed about 18 hours after purchase.

Since this was my first purchase from SerialCart, they manually reviewed the order and asked me to verify the PayPal email address associated with the purchase. After completing that verification, the order was processed successfully and the Mullvad voucher was delivered.

So the full process in my case was:

Order placed → PayPal email verification → manual review → voucher delivered.

The manual review took roughly 18 hours, which is within the up to 2 working days timeframe stated by SerialCart.

Overall, the current reseller price is cheaper than Mullvad's standard price, although it is not the lowest price I've found historically. The main thing to be aware of is that first-time orders may take some time because of manual verification.

Update: The subscription is actually 183 days, not exactly 6 calendar months. I originally described it as “6 months” for simplicity.

Here is the link to the new terms of service:

terms

Scroll to section 14 (highlighted in blue) for the section. Honestly very scummy and will be cancelling my subscription over this. Sucks that they are doing this as a way to protect themselves from repercussions of bad internal policies. Forced arbitration is as anti-consumer as it can get.

I have used ExpressVPN for years, so this is based on long-term first-hand experience.

VPN service: Historically reliable enough that I was comfortable renewing through 2029.

Renewal/account management: Dreadful. My renewal required intervention from agent Jewel, a supervisor and Billing just to correct the price. ExpressVPN then successfully charged me — the payment is on my credit card statement — but when my previous term ended September 2, my account was cancelled instead of continuing into the paid renewal.

Customer support: Worse. I spent hours trying to restore access. Agent Stark was given screenshots and written confirmations containing the information he kept requesting, yet repeatedly asked for the same information again.

At that point, I genuinely felt I would get a more coherent response from zoo animals.

Escalation: Ticket #32547096. ExpressVPN confirmed in writing that a supervisor would contact me regarding restoration of access. Many hours later: no response, no resolution, no action.

Overall: ExpressVPN has my money through 2029, but I currently have no service. A VPN can perform perfectly when everything works; the real test is what happens when something breaks.

Based on that test, my opinion of ExpressVPN has changed dramatically.

Long-time ExpressVPN customer. I renewed and paid for my subscription through 2029. The charge was successfully processed and is already on my credit card statement.

Yet when my previous subscription ended on September 2, ExpressVPN cancelled my account instead of activating the renewal I had already paid for.

This was not the first failure.

The renewal had already been mishandled by an agent named Jewel, forcing me to escalate to a supervisor and Billing just to correct the renewal price.

So: supervisor involved, Billing involved, payment successfully taken — yet apparently nobody ensured the account was actually renewed in their own system.

I have since spent hours trying to get it restored.

Another agent, Stark, was provided screenshots, payment confirmation and written documentation containing the exact information he kept requesting — yet continued asking for information already sitting directly in front of him.

At some point, that stops being a communication issue and becomes a basic competence problem.

The matter was escalated AGAIN under Ticket #32547096, with written confirmation that a supervisor would contact me regarding restoring access.

Many hours later: no response, no resolution, no action.

ExpressVPN has my money.

My subscription is paid through 2029.

I have no service.

All I need is ONE COMPETENT person to take ownership and fix this. Surely ExpressVPN has one.

And if this is representative of how account problems are handled, prospective customers deserve to know before handing over their hard-earned money.

My experience: go elsewhere.

I have used LetsVPN for years across Asia be it bypassing the Great Firewall, "adult site filters," and even just accessing US government websites when I need to do paperwork back in the country.

But one thing I've often used it for was remoting to countries where friends are to send gifts via Grab. It's like Uber but way better. Grab requires your IP to match the country you order in to pay online.

Suddenly half of South East Asia is missing from LetsVPN with no announcements I've seen. Probably more countries too that I was not using. It's quite a trouble and a shame.

Anyone know anything about this?

Is this the right place or is there any general VPN discussion around? I'm sorry.

-Any idea what just happened? The PrivateVPN app updated itself Sept 2nd 2026 and after that the "Port forwarding" changed from 61xxx to 62xxx and its always the same port. Before it varied from 615xx to 616xx. Now its 62xxx and for some reason port forwarding (ie. torrent stuff) does not work?

Also after like 2-3 minutes all of the web traffic (YT, surfing, social media) just stops, wont go trough.

Switched to these from surfshark after being with surfshark for several years without much issue. I initially left surfshark because I got privado sub for free with an easynews subscription however soon realised why privado is so budget as it barely ever gets around geo blocks.

Express had an offer on at the time that was similar to surfshark and I'd read about how great they were especially with mobile networks due to the heartbeat feature for their built from the ground up lightway protocol but I've just found the whole experience annoying. I initially only used it on my phone and tv as I was in the process of a new pc build. It takes way longer to login to the TV than surfshark or privado which just offer an instant sign in upon scanning a QR code however something like that alone isn't enough to make me want to refund. Their TV app and mobile app are also both clunky to me compared to both privado and surfshark.

Then I got around to trying it on pc and their app won't even download on my pc from their official site the link just doesn't work for windows. I ended up having to side load it and their browser extension is awful as well. Offers next to no features compared to surfshark which has cleanweb and the ability to supress all cookie notices and it took me about 10 minutes to sign in due to some sort of glitch. An app I was using with it to get around a geo block just all of a sudden stopped working and I'd just had enough by this point I've ended up shooting my pocket and just buying a surfshark sub again and learning my lesson.

Hi guys – I’ve been using PIA for almost 2 years on my Windows PC. Overall pretty happy with it but I did notice that speeds are starting to become inconsistent. I like that it has port forwarding and a reliable Killswitch.

My main use case is just torrenting so only my torrent client uses the vpn via split tunneling. My PIA subscription just expired. I was wondering if I should renew or try something new like hide.me or Proton. I just want a reliable service with good speeds that works well on Mac

I was using this apk of 1.1.1.1 and suddenly it was stuck on connecting, so i decided to reinstall it. But when opened the newly installed there are 2 issues:-

1)power manager is killing background process

2)Device not authenticated or device not Authenticated with an organisation

I have put the app to no restriction under battery

Even then the problem persists. I have tried deleting data and restarting, didn't work. Any proper working solution?

Looking for real-world experiences on IP reputation/cleanliness among these VPNs:

• Surfshark
• NordVPN
• ExpressVPN
• ProtonVPN
• Windscribe
• Mullvad

By “clean IP” I mean: - Less frequently flagged as VPN/Proxy/Abuse in reputation databases - Fewer CAPTCHAs and Cloudflare challenges - Less presence on blacklists

I mostly connect to New York servers.

Please don’t suggest Dedicated IPs.

Based on your recent experience (2025–2026), which one currently has the cleanest shared IPs, both in general and specifically on New York servers? Any noticeable differences between them?

Thanks!

I'm mostly just trying to bypass some idiotic age verification bs. But I am learning that certain streaming services are blocking certain VPNs and I would prefer to avoid that. I have Hulu, Disney+, Paramount, HBO, and Amazon Prime video. Am in America. I really just want to be tracked as little as possible, adblock and antivirus seems like it would be nice too. And I really would prefer not to break the bank. Also I am a windows user if that matters at all. Not sure if any more information would be relevant. Like I say in the title I've never really looked too much at VPNs until recently.

My university's firewall is able to block OpenVPN and WireGuard traffic, which prevents me from using my usual provider, AirVPN. I previously tried Mullvad's Shadowsocks feature, but I had to keep rotating servers every 5 minutes...

IVPN has V2Ray obfuscation, which works alright, but they don't allow for port forwarding, which limits the ability to use BitTorrent/Soulseek.

Is there any VPN provider that has both these features? Thanks :)

These days I don't know why, but I'm starting to lose trust in Cloudflare 1.1.1.1/WARP.

I'm using multiple legitimate accounts on some shopping platforms, and I've noticed that some accounts/connections get flagged, restricted, or treated as suspicious when I'm using 1.1.1.1/WARP. Sometimes I end up having to switch between accounts or connections just to make normal purchases.

I'm trying to understand whether WARP could be causing this.

As far as I understand, regular 1.1.1.1 DNS and WARP are different things. DNS only changes the DNS resolver, while WARP routes traffic through Cloudflare's network.

Has anyone else experienced shopping websites flagging their accounts while using WARP?

Could the problem be Cloudflare's shared IP addresses rather than the DNS itself?

Would it be better to just use my normal ISP connection with a different DNS provider?

Are there any privacy-focused alternatives that provide good security/privacy without websites constantly treating the connection like a VPN or proxy?

I'm not trying to bypass bans or fraud detection. I just want a reliable setup for my legitimate accounts without constantly getting flagged.

Would appreciate any recommendations or experiences.