Here is a good video for the process or downloading Balena Etcher as well as the image file (ISO) for the distribution you choose (his case it’s Kali - yours is Mint) but process will be basically the same. Even tho not a huge fan of silent tech vids, but this one is pretty straight forward Create Kali Linux bootable USB on Windows using Balena Etcher Tool - YouTube
I’ll be monitoring this forum for about another hour live.
If up early, I can walk you thru it. Just holler, QP
Thanks, i got that sorted. I am up now and pausing whilst i work out the best free vpn and what programs to add etc
Brave is an excellent browser with a VPN built-in - just sayin
but brave doesnt seem to be in the program dowload manager or whatever it is called? , I am not on that computer jsut now
Easiest way to install Brave on Mint and Ubuntu derivatives.
@vasileios put his together. Simply follow each step after downloading the file.
thanks, will have a go later
That did the trick thanks very much. Is there an on /off switch for the vpn or it is on all the time?
No it is NOT always on. It is only on, when you choose what is called a PRIVATE window or tab. If you are in BRAVE then go to the (see pic) upper right (Hamburger) 3 horizontals lines (clic) and there you will find the options for new window, new PRIVATE WINDOW, or PRIVATE TAB (which are the correct option - you will notice GUI skin on browser turns deep purple) or the most secure which is TOR but you won’t be able to enter some sights with TOR running.
Or to ALWAYS go in that way…When you go to BRAVE in the start menu under the INTERNET category, you can right clic to add to PANEL - Then go to your icon in panel - RIGHT clic and choose open NEW INCOGNITO WINDOW - and boom!
Just an fyi, Tor tunneling is “more secure” then a standard privacy based browser such as Brave, etc, but it is not the best, your best bet according to Tor is to run a true VPN with Tor for the best security possible even with “Private” window or tab. The idea of private tab/window is that no cookies, auttofill, passwords etc are saved/read while utilizing the Tor network and the information requests are encrypted.
A true VPN will bounce the Tor network requests through multiple VPN networks and specify your requested location as to “spoof” your location as well as encrypting all information transfers end to end.
Yes it can get very confusing very fast.
Hey @QuriousPatriot!
A great tip for the TOR aspect of the Incognito window.
One very important note to keep in mind is the following:
With any browser, Brave included, when you activate the Incognito mode, what it does is not store the history of the pages you visit on your device. It does not encrypt your communication and is not a substitute for a VPN.
Also, when you connect via TOR, your Internet Service Provider will know you are on TOR. Some of those providers do not look upon TOR favorably, so you might get throttled. The ideal approach is to connect to a VPN service and then exit to TOR (i.e. by using Brave’s Incognito with TOR approach). Some VPN providers also offer a direct VPN-to-TOR connection.
Vasileios, thank you so much for that education. That was based on when I used to look at the logged in sessions from Telegram when it first started, so I ASSUMED (we know what that does 
) the Cognito option feigned the IP because it showed out of state login. I see now that is NOT the case and I am glad you straightened this out, because I try to but hlpful to the newbs because I’m barely past one (so i remember), but my purpose is to NEVER mislead. I wish i could delete but i guess this correction is good. thanks again
Thanks very much for this explanation, very useful. Are there any free VPNs that are good and would you recommend them? eg Proton is owned AFAIK by CERN , satanist cabal.
It’s always my pleasure @QuriousPatriot!
I know you have great intentions and thank you so much for helping out! A while back, when Incognito was first introduced, I thought the same thing. Until I encountered a few articles that claimed otherwise. Then I tested it. Incognito is basically good if you don’t want people - who use the same computer - to see your browsing history (without having to delete everything). However, the requests sent by the browser are not encrypted and can therefore be monitored - which can be unpleasant if you’re inside a corporate environment, as the admins can see where your browser is going.
Hey @foxy!
Personally, I have several VPN services. Some for tests, some for my daily drivers. I have two to recommend to you. One is NordVPN, which is very secure, outside of the 14-eyes jurisdiction, and its servers run on RAM-disks, which means they cannot keep logs, even if they wanted to. It’s blazing fast and has a nice autoconnect feature that keeps your system always connected to the VPN. This one I use as my daily driver.
However, there is a small downside to it. When you suspend your system for a while, its service may freeze. In that scenario, you may need to reboot. However, once you grow more familiar with the terminal, you can simply reset the service and restart the network. Also, it has no GUI (graphical user interface) for Linux.
NordVPN allows for up to 6 devices to be connected simultaneously, but can be installed in as many as you like.
Another good option is SurfShark. Speed wise, I consider it second to NordVPN. It has great security capabilities as well and it too is outside the 14-eyes jurisdictions with zero logs. Both NordVPN and SurfShark have been independently audited, so you know what they claim is true.
The downside of SurfShark is that it doesn’t have a GUI too on Linux, and that it doesn’t auto-connect. You’ll need to manually connect it via terminal - or follow a process to place its OpenVPN configurations on your Network Manager.
Regarding the number of simultaneous connections, SurfShark offers unlimited.
thanks and thanks for your info on others questions as well, very useful. Having battery display and freezing problems now but have started a new thread.
Hello,
Thank you for all your great support here on Jeff.Pro.
I’ve been running Linux-Mint Cinnamon/Lenovo-Flex thru v20-21 and recently settled on Manjaro Ruah Plasma/KDE for a 2013 MacBookPro. I can’t seem to find a way to get NordVPN working and with AUM, deprecated the Nord installer doesn’t work. (The lack of apt-get is an interesting learning curve to be sure!) I’d like to get the terminal nordvpn running as I have a script on Mint-Cinnamon that I’d like to use on Manjaro.
Thanks for any help, ideas.
Might check here a Manjaro is Arch based, might be able to use some of it.
Thanks. I’ve looked at that method. It seems to require AUR which is deprecated on Manjaro Ruah. As this is a fresh start I didn’t want to depend on an install method that wouldn’t be supported going forward.
Installation
NordVPN can be installed with the package nordvpn-binAUR.
To clone the Git repository of nordvpn-bin, run git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/nordvpn-bin.git.
I’ll update any progress with that.
I got it running! Thank you for pointing me at that link!
Had to clone the git repository, install flex, bison and then build and run the installer. Much easier than I thought. I saves a script of the process…
Learned quite a bit about Manjaros package manager pacman as a bonus.
Running “pacman -Syu ” updated the system before running the install, which is really nice way to keep things up to date. Easier than “apt-get update && apt-get upgrade …”
Very interesting process. Would not have bothered doing it this way but for your encouragement.
