NetShade for Mac

With its functionality and unobtrusive operation, NetShade for Mac enables you to protect your online security by connecting to the Web anonymously. This premium product comes with a ten-day trial and can connect to free online proxies as well as dedicated VPN servers that deliver better reliability and speed. The app manages to cover all the basics in terms of features and delivers them in a custom but easy-to-use interface.

When started for the first time, NetShade for Mac asks you to install a helper tool. Once you do that, you are presented with a clean, attractive interface. You'll like the Menu Bar icon that enables quick changes as well as the addition of bars in the main window that indicate how anonymous and secure the selected proxy or VPN is. The supplied proxies connect with no problem, but at random points you might receive a message that there is an IP address mismatch. Switching to a new proxy solves the problem. In terms of speed, this app proves to be fast, having in our tests a latency of 0.40 seconds and download speeds of up to 1.2MB/s.

If you want to connect to the Web anonymously, you will find NetShade for Mac extremely useful. Convenient, fast, and unobtrusive, it's easy to forget about it once you set it up, which is how a program of its kind should be. Although it does come with a price tag, advanced features such as using a VPN and a proxy at the same time make it a sound investment.

Editors' note: This is a review of the trial version of NetShade for Mac 5.4.4.