F-Secure Freedome: A VPN With Some Built-In Antivirus Features

Just make sure you’re okay with that privacy policy.

- Ian Paul

There are a few VPN services that offer their own antivirus, one is Avira Phantom VPN Pro (go.pcworld.com/avph), which we looked at previously; Finland-based F-Secure is another. The company’s Freedome VPN is a premium service that offers 22 country locations around the world and extra freebies like tracker and malicious-site blocking.

Freedome on Windows offers a large, expansive interface that makes it easy for new users to navigate. The primary dashboard features a big button in the center that says either “ON” or “OFF.” To the left of that is the amount of bandwidth you’ve used, and to the right there’s a count of the harmful sites and trackers Freedome has blocked.

Below that is a rectangle showing your current country location target. Click it and a list comes up showing all the various country locations organized by continent. Pick the country location you want, and Freedome should start connecting right away. If it doesn’t, return to the main dashboard, click the button, and you’re away.

Overall, it’s a very good starting point for new and experienced users. For most people, this is the only part of the app they’ll ever need.

For those who don’t want Freedome blocking malicious sites or trackers, the two left rail options, Browsing protection and Tracking protection, can turn those features off; they are turned on by default.

Below those two options on the left rail is the Tracker Mapper. This is an educational tool for those who want to see just how much they’re being tracked online. The feature is similar to Mozilla’s Lightbeam project (go.pcworld.com/ mzlb) in that it shows all attempted tracking in an interactive visualization.