Hotspot Shield on Windows has features and benefits not found on other devices, such as iOS and Mac. Please review this brief summary explaining each feature and where it can be located.
Once you are signed in to the application on your Windows device, please select the gear icon on the left. This will take you to the Settings page.
You will see options such as general, Split Tuneling, advanced, and shortcuts. Each category has a different set of settings within them. Let's go over the General settings tab.
Start on launch: When you initially launch your Windows device, Hotspot Shield will be already activated in the background.
Start minimized: Once your Windows device boots up, Hotspot Shield will start minimized to the System Tray.
Auto-connect: With this enabled once you start up Hotspot Shield, the VPN will connect to the most recent virtual location you had selected prior to relaunching as soon as the app is launched.
Notifications: Enable to automatically get notified about any events in the Hotspot Shield app, such as when you connect or disconnect.
Connection Quality Feedback: If you enable this, you'll be provided with an opportunity to provide feedback on the connection quality whenever you disconnect.
VPN Special Features: This will take you to a screen displaying some of the great features provided by Hotspot Shield.
Language: Here you can set the language the Hotspot Shield app will use.
Split Tunneling
Moving on to the Split Tunneling feature. With the Split Tunneling feature (or, in other words, Smart VPN), you can choose which apps or websites will bypass the VPN tunnel, providing security and privacy to the apps or websites you choose.
Bypass VPN: With Bypass VPN, any apps or websites you add will bypass the VPN connection. This means that all of the apps and websites on your computer will use the VPN, except for the ones you select. The apps or websites you add to the list will instead bypass the VPN and use your normal internet connection.
Route via VPN: With Route via VPN, only the websites you select will go through the VPN. All other websites will use your normal VPN connection.
Protocols
You can easily change your protocols from this section which can help solve issues with connections or access. We highly suggest changing your protocol whenever you have a technical issue with our application. You can choose from 3 different protocols.
Automatic (Recommended)
This is automatically turned on when you connect to a virtual location. When this protocol is selected, we will pick the fastest and most secure protocol to connect to for your network or area.
Hydra
This is our company-developed protocol. It only can be found with us. This unique protocol is the fastest in the VPN industry and faster than our other protocols. It is the most secure of our protocols, so whenever you have a technical problem, please try changing to Hydra.
IKEv2 (IPSec)
While being less secure than the other protocols, this is one of the fastest protocols available. If not at par with Hydra, this is still a reliable protocol that may help with certain technical issues.
WireGuard
Our newest VPN protocol. WireGuard is designed to be fast and easy to use. While it is not entirely recommended, it is a very easy to use protocol with a good balance between speed and security.
Advanced
Moving on to the advanced section, we have 3 settings that can protect you while being connected or if you happen to disconnect.
Kill switch: If Hotspot Shield suddenly disconnects, enabling this feature will stop the data flow, protecting you by not allowing the internet traffic to run in the background once the VPN disconnects.
Local network: This features toggles access to your local network while connected. Blocking access to your local network is useful on public networks you don't control, as you may not want others on the same network to have access to your computer.
Auto-protect: Once you connect to a public network such as Starbucks, libraries, etc. With this feature, Hotspot Shield will start running automatically once connected to that type of Wi-Fi environment.
Prevent IP leak: Allowing this will prevent your IP from being detected while connected to the VPN. Once connected to Hotspot Shield your public IP has already changed, but this feature can prevent any sites, cache or cookies from leaking your IP.