Hide My Ass! VPN Service Review

By William Van Winkle
published

Our readers have weighed in with their own assessments of popular VPN Service HMA!, to which we’ve added our own hands-on test results.

One-Star Reader Ratings

Swipe to scroll horizontally
☆ Rating: ★✓ Pros: Easy to use, free version.✗ Cons: Same as the rating, poor performance.☁ Comments: Only tried the free version, but it is very slow and often doesn't work at all.
Swipe to scroll horizontally
☆ Rating: ★✓ Pros: Fast.✗ Cons: Complicated to configure and work on my computer at first, customer service below average to me.☁ Comments: Difficult to use.


MORE: Best VPN Services Of 2015MORE: The Pros And Cons Of Using A VPN Or Proxy Service
MORE: VPN Services in the Forums

William Van Winkle is a Senior Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware. Follow him on Twitter.

Follow Tom's Hardware on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.

William Van Winkle
Topics
Security
vpn
8 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Handoncloud
    Good job! :D
    Reply
  • Cujothemadog
    they'll turn u in in two minutes flat
    Reply
  • carnetarian
    I stopped reading as soon as I saw p2p services are disabled. I will never use a VPN that tries to tell me how I'm allowed to use the internet.
    Reply
  • Rookie_MIB
    Currently a member of HMA, and a while back their speeds were a bit flaky, they've improved that quite a bit to the point where I can max out my connection. Only other I have issues is that they -do- log and will forward copyright accusations.

    However, judicious use of -where- you connect to avoids most of those problems (ie: don't connect to an US server if you're going to torrent US films, in fact, avoid US servers in general...)

    As for their turning in of the hackers who were using their service, while they might shrug at copyright accusations (relatively victimless crime), remember what these guys did in the Sony hack, that was a high-profile international incident which resulted in the FBI, Justice Department, and Interpol stepping up. Faced with that, and -legal- court orders, I'm sure they had little choice but to turn over the info they had on them.
    Reply
  • f-14
    Currently a member of HMA, and a while back their speeds were a bit flaky, they've improved that quite a bit to the point where I can max out my connection. Only other I have issues is that they -do- log and will forward copyright accusations.

    However, judicious use of -where- you connect to avoids most of those problems (ie: don't connect to an US server if you're going to torrent US films, in fact, avoid US servers in general...)

    As for their turning in of the hackers who were using their service, while they might shrug at copyright accusations (relatively victimless crime), remember what these guys did in the Sony hack, that was a high-profile international incident which resulted in the FBI, Justice Department, and Interpol stepping up. Faced with that, and -legal- court orders, I'm sure they had little choice but to turn over the info they had on them.

    that's not hiding your ass, that's 'giving up your ass' false advertising.
    Reply
  • Rookie_MIB
    15953239 said:
    that's not hiding your ass, that's 'giving up your ass' false advertising.

    No, because it's clear in the TOS that they DO keep track of logins and correlated to IP/DATE. They forwarded it and warned me that it was against their TOS and would terminate my account if it continued. That is also the -only- one I've ever gotten.

    These guys who did the Sony hack went way beyond a simple movie download though, they infiltrated a major company, using a service which clearly stated they did track that info, and would comply with a legal court order (not just a random threat letter from a copyright troll), and they thought they were untouchable.

    They were wrong.
    Reply
  • carnetarian
    15953239 said:
    that's not hiding your ass, that's 'giving up your ass' false advertising.

    This is right on the money. It sounds like this VPN will give you up in a heartbeat, which completely defeats the entire purpose of having a VPN. I wouldn't use this VPN if they paid me.
    Reply
  • admin$
    I used to use HMA. They will not allow you to download any torrents which was the reason i had purchased the VPN in the first place. They sent me a warning then suspended my account. They auto renewed my subscription without notifying me in January, suspended my account in February. No refund. I would not recommend this software to anyone. I have since switched to PIA... no issues at all, would definitely recommend PIA.
    Reply