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 on the left the gear icon and this will display your settings.
You will see options such as general, smart VPN, 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 in a smaller, minimized window.
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.
Notifications: Enable for any new features or updates that you would like to be notified.
Connection Quality Feedback: Enable this feature for after you disconnect the VPN and you would like to share your feedback on how the connection was performing.
Smart VPN
Moving on to the Smart VPN feature. With the Smart VPN feature (or, in other words, Split-Tunneling), you can choose which apps or websites to bypass the VPN tunnel, providing security and privacy to the apps or websites you choose. You just simply add the URL to this screen.
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.
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.
Please contact us via Chat or email if you have any more questions or concerns.