A very good friend of mine will shortly be posted to work around the Middle East and I certainly don't envy him that at the moment. We want to try to keep in touch and my sister suggested we first look at some PureVPN reviews on the internet and find out how a virtual private network can help us communicate.

My sister informed us that unfortunately in the Middle East and in some other countries around the world you can't just access the internet, Skype and other social networks like you can in the US, UK or Europe.

Some of these countries block or filter the internet making it impossible to use some websites and services. This is a real pain in the butt as my friend and I normally use Skype whenever he is travelling around the world. So we are going to need to investigate these virtual private network services before he sets off.

Have you ever been browsing around YouTube and found that you can't watch a particular video because it has been blocked because of you geographic location. This happened to me last week and I was a bit shocked to be honest. I found out that YouTube does this based on your own local IP address which gives away your location in much the same way as your physical address does.

I've also discovered there is a way to get around this thanks to a VPN4All review I read on a comparison website. A virtual private network (VPN) is a series of computers dotted around the world that you can use to connect to the internet. Once you have your own VPN account you can log in and then pick whichever of their servers you want to go online. This means that you look as though you are connecting to the internet from a different location.

I started looking at some VPN rev iews last month with a view to signing up but I first wanted to clarify exactly what I could do with a VPN. I know I can use to watch YouTube videos that would otherwise be restricted in my country but what else can I do with a virtual private network?

A friend of mine told me you can use a VPN to watch TV programmes from different countries and also hide your IP for other reasons. He did not have the time to elaborate and what these were but watching foreign TV networks appeals to me and seems like as good a reason as any to subscribe to a VPN.

I'm learning French just now and being able to watch French TV channels should help me a great deal. It will also save me a lot of money on signing up for French lessons or buying a course.