HideAway VPN - Program Help

A VPN is a technology to pass network traffic via an encrypted tunnel. It provides secure access to the internet and guarantees anonymity and privacy.

Since it connects you via the secure tunnel to a server located elsewhere, this means you are able to access blocked or restricted websites.

This also means your actual location is hidden since it looks like all your internet traffic comes from the country you're connecting through.

But HideAway offers a lot more…

Other VPN's all have the same features, but HideAway has been built from the ground up to offer better benefits to users.

Flexible rules

HideAway intercepts your internet traffic and diverts it to different countries according to the rule you have selected.

HideAway can also be used to divert traffic from applications, like your internet browser or email program, or used to block or ignore traffic too.

It's like a flexible filter for your internet traffic, allowing you to divert internet via different countries, ports or IP address for websites and applications.

What makes HideAway different?

HideAway has been engineered with flexibility, speed and security in mind. With other VPN's you're limited to connecting your entire computer to a single country, so your entire computer looks like its in another country therefore with some VPN's, things like local harddrives, printers, security cameras might stop working.

HideAway gives you more flexibility to create rules to only redirect certain websites or applications and block or ignore others.

Additionally, HideAway is connectionless, so you don't need to connect and disconnect to the servers. Just setup your rules and continue with your work.

Faster than other VPN's

Speed is another factor where HideAway shines over a VPN. VPN's usually slow your traffic by around 30%, but HideAway doesn't interfere with your internet speeds, and in many cases will increase it as it gets around your internet providers traffic management.

Since you don't lose speed or increase latency with HideAway, it's perfect for games and streaming video.

…and also has features other VPN's have

HideAway masks your IP address and encrypts your internet traffic so you can browse the internet in complete anonymity.

HideAway will keep your wifi connection secure when you're connecting to public wifi spots while using non secure websites and email.

Lots of locations to connect to

Connecting to different countries means you can access geo-blocked or restricted content you couldn't otherwise access, such as video on demand, sports, movies, games and music which might be blocked in your country.

HideAway runs on Windows 10, 11.

Download HideAway from Download

Double click on the HideAway Setup program and it will automatically start the installation process.

When HideAway first runs, the main screen appears and you'll be on the 'Preset' menu item on the left.

My Rules

Preset rules are quick and easy rules to start with. Example: My Computer 'redirects' to New York, USA or, The Chrome Web Browser 'redirects' to Sydney, Australia

Custom rules: Use custom rules to create different rules to redirect, allow or block any application process, domain, port or IP address. You can create multiple rules to all run at the same time. There are many more preset rules on display here, so you can see how they are constructed and copy and edit them for your own use.

Import/Export: Export and import your rules for use on another computer.

Settings

General:

Show License Key: This is the license screen where you input your registration key and check the date of renewal and also renew your HideAway VPN license.

Version number and license expiry is shown in the top left.

Preset rules are quick and easy rules to start with. Example: My Computer 'redirects' to New York, USA or, The Chrome Web Browser 'redirects' to Sydney, Australia

The 'My Computer' rule is what you would normally see a VPN. You select a location and the VPN redirects all your internat traffic to that location.

HideAway also offers more granular preset rules, such as being able to only redirect a web browser to a different location, or Torrents, or to watch some streaming services.

First, select the top dropdown menu 'Redirect: My Computer' Next, select the location, and choose a location close to you or another location you're interested in. Finally, click 'Connect'

HideAway will now redirect and encrypt all your internet traffic to that location, so it looks like your computer is in that location.

There is a checkbox 'Don't redirect my email'. This is useful as a lot of email providers don't like it if you change your location, and will ask you to login again with security measures. Checking this box allows you to avoid this, but it means your email will not be redirected to the VPN location.

While preset rules are simple to start with and will suit many people, sometimes you want to do some different things, such as unblock websites, make your computer go to one location but one of your web browsers go to a different location, or Gmail stays at home. Custom rules allow you to do this.

Custom rules allow you to work so that you need never turn off HideAway, because, for example if you find a website which doesn't load, as happens with a lot of VPN's, then make a rule to exclude that website.

When you have HideAway active redirecting to another country, you may find you can't send emails.

Our servers do not block any emails, but because your computer is redirected to another country, your ISP will mostly likely block emails being sent on their network (due to spammers abusing this).

Instead select the option in HideAway - "Don't redirect my email"

Custom Rules let you define your own rules for filtering your computer internet traffic. Each filter can redirect traffic, using ports, IP address, website or process name.

In HideAway, click the Custom Rules button and you'll be taken to the screen with 3 sample rules, which you can delete/replace.

The rules run in order of precedence from top to bottom, so rules at the top take precedence over rules under them. DOMAIN rules take precendence over PROCESS, which take precedence over MY COMPUTER rules. Within APPLICATION and MY COMPUTER, you can also filter PORT and IP ADDRESS.

DOMAIN = any website domain or subdomain. eg netlfix.com or docs.google.com PROCESS = any application on your PC. eg chrome.exe or notepad.exe PORT = any port on your PC. eg Port 8080. IP ADDRESS = any IP address in CIDR notation, and must be /32 notation. eg 192.168.1.19/32 to target just that IP. To easily calcuate a CIDR for an IP address or IP address range, visit https://www.ipaddressguide.com/cidr

Note: Some local ports and IP addresses are already ignored by HideAway so as not to interfere with printers etc.

Usage: Click the ADD RULE icon to add a rule, and the trash icon to delete a rule. The copy icon copies a rule, and the pencil is for editing a rule.

To add a custom rule, click the 'Add Rule' button.

Choose the Category. My Computer: This is your entire computer Application: A program on your computer, but uses the name of the process. eg chrome.exe Domain: Any website domain. eg facebook.com or app.facebook.com but leave out the http:// or https:// part

Type a rule name and a description to help you remember what it does.

Each rule will have filters to tell the rule what to do.

Add Process Filter: Include any process on your pc, eg chrome.exe Add Port Filter: Filter any port on your PC. eg 80 Add IP Filter: Enter an IP address(es) using CIDR notation. Add Domain Filter: Enter a domain. eg facebook.com

Redirect: Redirect the filter to a location Exclude: Exclude this filter from HideAway traffic Block: Block all traffic with this filter

Note: You can add ports and IP addresses on to the end of a process. eg chrome.exe:80 For each rule, the location has to be the same. Create a different rule for a different location.

When you're finiahed creating your filters inside the rule, click 'Create Rule'

Rule order

Rules are ordered in terms of precedence, where 'Domain' rules have priority over 'Application' rules, and Application rules have priority over 'My Computer' rules. You can drag and drop within those categories to reorganise the priority of the rules within each category by using the drag and drop icon.

Rule Controls

Each rule allows you to disable, copy, edit and delete the rule using the icons on the right side of the rule.

Rule summary

Below the rules is a box which explains how the rules work together in plain english.

To add a custom rule, click the 'Add Rule' button.

Choose the Category. My Computer: This is your entire computer Application: A program on your computer, but uses the name of the process. eg chrome.exe Domain: Any website domain. eg facebook.com or app.facebook.com but leave out the http:// or https:// part

Type a rule name and a description to help you remember what it does.

Each rule will have filters to tell the rule what to do.

Add Process Filter: Include any process on your pc, eg chrome.exe Add Port Filter: Filter any port on your PC. eg 80 Add IP Filter: Enter an IP address(es) using CIDR notation. Add Domain Filter: Enter a domain. eg facebook.com

Redirect: Redirect the filter to a location Exclude: Exclude this filter from HideAway traffic Block: Block all traffic with this filter

Note: You can add ports and IP addresses on to the end of a process. eg chrome.exe:80 For each rule, the location has to be the same. Create a different rule for a different location.

When you're finiahed creating your filters inside the rule, click 'Create Rule'

Rule order

Rules are ordered in terms of precedence, where 'Domain' rules have priority over 'Application' rules, and Application rules have priority over 'My Computer' rules. You can drag and drop within those categories to reorganise the priority of the rules within each category by using the drag and drop icon.

Rule Controls

Each rule allows you to disable, copy, edit and delete the rule using the icons on the right side of the rule.

Rule summary

Below the rules is a box which explains how the rules work together in plain english.

You can usually watch blocked content via HideAway although some services are a bit more of a challenge to get working, and we don't guarantee they'll always be available. You can watch BBC iPlayer, ITV, Amazon, Hulu, Netflix with some degree of reliability.

HideAway uses AEAD. AEAD stands for Authenticated Encryption with Associated Data. AEAD ciphers simultaneously provide confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity. They have excellent performance and power efficiency on modern hardware.

Specifically, HideAway uses ChaCha20-Poly1305 encryption with 256bit key size, 96bit random number size and 128bit MAC size. Secret keys are generated randomly per every connection and a nonce to keep data confidential. This verifies data has not been tampered with and includes replay protection.

HideAway also encrypts the destination IP address and port and DNS queries.

ChaCha20 is around three times as fast as AES on platforms that lack specialised AES hardware and is also not sensitive to timing attacks. Poly1305 is a high-speed data authentication code.

Yes, you can test this at https://ipleak.net when connecting to another country if you were to select HideAway to redirect MY COMPUTER to another country.

If you were to make a custom rule and just re-directed your internet browser, then you'll notice that it fails the DNS leak test. The reason this happens is because HideAway makes specific redirect rules for different applications, but Windows has other processes running called 'svchost.exe' which leak your IP address through DNS.

You can setup a custom rule to redirect Port 53 and/or svchost.exe when not redirecting your entire computer to get around this.

A VPN kill switch is a security feature that automatically cuts off your internet access if your VPN connection drops, preventing any sensitive data from being transmitted unencrypted and protecting your privacy online by essentially "killing" your internet connection until the VPN reconnects properly.

HideAway has an automatic inbuilt kill switch.

HideAway, nor the company Firetrust does not log any of your activity online. In fact, HideAway does not have any logging programmed in to it, so we wouldn't be able to turn it on because it doesn't exist!

You can download HideAway VPN from the download page and start using it for free. There's no payment up front or login required.

In this trial mode, HideAway will run for 5 minutes and pause for 10 minutes indefinitely until a license is purchased.

Each license key allows you to use it on unlimited devices that you own. There are restrictions to running it on more than 5 devices at the same time.

The renewal cost of HideAway is the same as a new license at the date of renewal.

Due to the cost of running a VPN service, and the fact it can be used without payment, the no questions asked, money back guarantee refund period is 30 days after purchase. Email [email protected] if you would like a refund.

The HideAway VPN EULA is a fair and short license agreement.

HideAway VPN - Fair End User License Agreement

We grant you one license to install and use this software on an unlimited number of your devices. If you do not agree to the following terms of this license, please uninstall and remove all copies and return the product within 30 days of your purchase for a full refund.

You may install and use the software on an unlimited number of your devices. You may make back-up copies of the software for archival purposes. You may permanently transfer your license to use the software to another party who will be bound by this agreement, provided you do not retain any copies of the software.

The software is protected by the copyright laws of the New Zealand and other countries, and we retain all intellectual property rights in the software. You may not separately publish, sell, market, distribute, lend, lease, rent, or sublicense the software. However, this license is not to be construed as prohibiting or limiting any fair use sanctioned by copyright law, such as permitted library and classroom usage or reverse engineering.

USE OF SERVICE

You undertake to ensure that your use of the HideAway VPN will comply with all applicable local laws and regulations. You will not use HideAway VPN for the following activies.

• Hack or attack other computers or networks on the internet.
• Scan (eg. port scanning, running proxy hunters) other computers or networks on the internet.
• Transmit viruses, worms, trojans etc. to other computers or networks on the internet.
• Attack our servers and resources in any way.
• Receiving and distributing pirated copyright materials. This includes, but is not limited to the following activities: trading, selling, bartering, sharing, transmitting or receiving, of such materials.
• Send unsolicited data in any form. This includes, but is not limited to the following: Sending unsolicited emails (i.e. SPAM email), hate email, mass-marketing emails, unsolicited instant messages and unsolicited SMS.
• Engage in any sort of child pornography activities. This includes, but not limited to the following: Trading, bartering, selling, transmitting or receiving such material.
• Criminal activities. This includes but is not limited to the following: Engaging in the use of stolen credit cards, stolen bank accounts, stolen debit cards, stolen charge cards, stolen online payment accounts (eg. PayPal).
• Send out phishing or identity theft emails.
• Encourage criminal or terrorist activities of any sort.
• Threaten or harass others.
• Run resource intensive programs that will interfere with the usage of our services by our users.
• Share your account with others. You will be responsible for all the activities involving your account.
• Pay for the service from a stolen credit card.

LIMITED WARRANTY

We warrant that the software will provide the features and functions generally described in the product specification on our website when you purchased it and in the product documentation. Media on which the Software is furnished, if any, will be free from defects in materials and workmanship.

We have taken all reasonable steps to keep the software free of viruses, spyware, “back door” entrances, or any other harmful code. We will not track or collect any information about you, your data, or your use of the software except as you specifically authorize. We will not intentionally deprive you of your ability to use any features of the software or access to your data.

We do not warrant that the software or your ability to use it will be uninterrupted or error-free. To the extent permitted by applicable law, we disclaim any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

LIMITATIONS ON LIABILITY

Your exclusive remedy under the above limited warranty shall be, at our option, either a full refund of the purchase price or correction of the defective software or media. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, we disclaim all liability for indirect or consequential damages that arise under this license agreement. Nothing in this agreement limits our liability to you in the event of death or personal injury resulting from gross negligence, fraud, or knowing misrepresentation on our part.

GENERAL PROVISIONS

If any part of this agreement is found to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining terms will stay in effect. This agreement does not prejudice the statutory rights of any party dealing as a consumer.

This agreement will be governed by the laws of New Zealand.

This agreement does not supersede any express warranties we made to you. Any modification to this agreement will be communicated on the Firetrust.com website.

This agreement will apply from the date of the installation of the software.

HideAway uses a prototcol similar to Wireguard but as well as usuing UDP, it also uses TCP, all in an encrypted tunnel, so it looks like normal encrypted internet traffic.

There are no limits to the amount of internet traffic you can use with HideAway.