September 2016 - GlassWire Blog

Do you use a VPN? Well… your IP may be leaking.
Most people don’t realize there are three main ways your VPN can leak your IP address to the public. Fortunately, there are also three fixes you can implement to solve this problem.

First let’s see if your VPN is leaking your IP to the public. Connect your VPN and visit IPLeak.net to see what your IP address is verses what IPLeak.net shows.

If everything looks good and your real IP is not visible then you can probably stop reading now, however if your real IP is visible there are some things you can do to fix it.

Tip: Not sure what your real IP is? Turn off your VPN and go to whatismyip.com. You can then turn on your VPN and see what whatismyip.com shows for your VPN IP.

Problem 1: WebRTC Leakage
The most common problem VPN users face is the WebRTC IP leakage problem. To fix the problem with Firefox you can type in about:config in the address bar, then go to media.peerconnection.enabled and set it to false. For Chrome there is an extension called Scriptsafe you can install and the reviews look positive, but please use it at your own risk. It’s probably best to use Firefox while using your VPN.

Problem 2: DNS Leakage
The second common problem with VPN IP leakage is DNS leakage. First, before doing anything check your VPN software that came from your provider and see if it has any settings that will plug the DNS leak. If you have no luck then it’s probably a good idea to use different DNS servers that are not associated with your geographic location or ISP. OpenDNS and GoogleDNS are two free options that are out there.

Problem 3: IPv6 Leaks
Now go check out IPLeak.net and see if you’re still leaking. If you’re still leaking your real IP the next step is to disable IPv6. For Windows you’ll need to go to the “Network and Internet” control panel then choose “Network Connections” and right click each entry to change the settings for each network adapter. Where it says “Internet Protocol Version 6” you’ll want to uncheck the box.

Now turn on your VPN and visit IPleak.net one more time and you should see your real IP is no longer visible. That is a lot of work to do something that you thought your VPN was already doing, isn’t it? Congratulations on being one of the few people who uses a VPN with no IP leakage!

Don’t use a VPN? A VPN is a virtual private network and many people use one to use the Internet safely on public WiFi hotspots, or to hide their IP address when using the web for privacy reasons. Check out this Blog post we wrote recently that explains the benefits of a VPN and how to get one.

We at GlassWire recommend Private Internet Access for VPN service. Get 58% off of PIA VPN service when you sign up through our link. Also we’re a PIA affiliate so when you sign up through our link it also supports GlassWire. Not a fan of PIA? Check out this list of recommended alternative VPN services by Cloudwards.

By now, almost everyone has typed in their home address on Google Maps to see the viewable Google Street View image. Google Street View provides panoramic views of most major streets and cities all over the world. The images are stitched together mostly by Google cars that have a large camera on top. Perhaps you’ve even seen a Google Street View car driving around before.

Google Street View cars have taken all kinds of interesting photos over the years, and maybe you’re happy that there’s an easily accessible picture of your house online anyone can look at. However, if you don’t want a picture of your house online for anyone to see, it’s easy to remove your house from Google Street View.

How can I remove my house from Google Street View?

To remove your house from Google Street View go to www.google.com/maps then type in your home address. Next, click on the small picture of your house that says “Street View”. If there is no photo then perhaps your house isn’t in Google Street View at all. Now, adjust the arrows on Google Street View until you see your house.

You can then click the “Report a Problem” link at the bottom right of the image as it’s shown in the photo below.

The next page you are sent to will give you the option to ask that your house is blurred. It will show some photos of your house, then you can choose the ones you wish to blur out. In some cases there could even be an actual photo of you if you happened to be outside when Google’s street view vehicle drove by. If that’s the case then you can select that picture and ask that it be blurred.

Our team at GlassWire tested our own home addresses and found the photos of our homes were blurred within several weeks of our reports. However, once you remove your house it appears you can’t ever have it re-added, so please be 100% sure you want to remove your house before filing a report with Google.

Many real estate websites and services like Realtor.com, Redfin, or Zillow make use of Google’s Street View images. If you think blurring your home on Street View could make it more difficult to sell your home the future then you may not want to remove it from Google Street View.