The prevailing wisdom says a console gamer on a controller could never beat an equally skilled gamer on a keyboard. PC gamers live and die (digitally) by the mechanical keyboard, and for good reason.

When properly maintained, a mechanical keyboard is a versatile digital weapon that allows for a wide range of functions and customizability. For multimedia and business professionals,  https://www.bestadvisor.com/how-to/how-to-clean-a-mechanical-keyboard  it’s an instrument of creation.

Despite how often our dirty fingers brush the keys, most people tend to neglect giving their keyboard a regular bath – let alone a quick shower. Did you know you should be wiping and sanitizing your keyboard once a week? Most people don’t.

If you’re suffering from unexplained performance slowdowns, or if your previously white keys have turned gray or black, it might be time to clean your keyboard.

Why does a clean keyboard boost gaming performance?

A dirty keyboard will hinder one of its very important functions: responsiveness. Dust and grime can accumulate under the keys and make them stick when you press down on them.

You don’t want to deal with the slowdown of a dirty keyboard. Especially if you’re right in the middle of an intergalactic firefight, or if you’re trying to maintain a fast workflow on that video editing project you need done by Friday. A clean keyboard will ensure that you’re gaming and creating at fast speeds.

What is a mechanical keyboard?

The two most common types of keyboards are mechanical keyboards and membrane keyboards. Mechanical keyboards and membrane keyboards have different builds, and so they require different cleaning methods. This article will primarily focus on the cleaning of mechanical keyboards, but we’ll briefly go over the cleaning of a membrane keyboard.

Before you get started, let’s review the key components of a mechanical keyboard and how they function.

Key matrix

The key matrix is a large piece of circuitry at the heart of the keyboard. You don’t need to worry about cleaning the matrix. You won’t be disassembling the keyboard enough to see it, and you should avoid messing with it, anyway.

Keycap

All those buttons you press – the squarish ones with numbers and letters and symbols – those are the keycaps. The keycaps are what your fingers press against when you type. Thus, they get far dirtier than other parts of the keyboard. Mechanical keyboards have large keycaps, which make them popular with gamers.

Switch

Switches are smaller pieces of circuitry that sit in between the key matrix and the keycaps. Each keycap has a switch underneath. Whenever you press down on a keycap, the keycap pushes the switch against the key matrix. The contact completes the key matrix circuitry and allows for an electric current to flow.

Switches use small springs to “bounce” back into position after you press down on them. The hyper-responsiveness of the spring mechanism makes mechanical keyboards popular with gamers. You shouldn’t disassemble the switches, but you may need to clean the top of them if you have a very dirty keyboard.

Plate

The plate is the outer shell that encompasses the key matrix and switches, and keeps the keycaps in place.

Keyboard cleaning supplies

Here are a few of the supplies you’ll need to clean your mechanical keyboard:

1. Cloth
2. Microfiber cloth
3. Small brush with sturdy bristles or a Q-tip
4. Vacuum cleaner
5. Small bowl
6. Flat head screwdriver or keycap puller
7. Sterilizer (denture tablets or dish soap will work)

Optional: Ultrasonic cleaner

Light cleaning a mechanical keyboard

You should give your keyboard a quick clean once per week. All you’ve got to do is wipe down the surface of the keyboard a couple of times:

1. Wipe the keyboard with a damp microfiber cloth.
2. Dry the keyboard with a separate, dry cloth.
3. Wipe the keyboard with a disinfectant wipe.

Doing this simple task just once a week will go a long way in preventing buildup of dust, dirt, grime, and germs. If you give your keyboard a light, weekly turn, you won’t have to deep clean it as often.

Deep cleaning a mechanical keyboard

You’ll have to deep clean your keyboard if the keys are blackened by dirt, or if the keys “stick” when you press them, or if your keyboard is suffering from slow responsiveness.

Deep cleaning requires you to disassemble parts of your keyboard. If you’re unsure of where all the parts go, take pictures as you take it apart so you’ll remember how to put everything back in place.

To deep clean your mechanical keyboard:

1. Unplug your keyboard
2. Vacuum the keyboard

Use either a handheld vacuum cleaner or your vacuum cleaner’s hose. Slowly vacuum over each of the keys and the spaces between them. This will remove the top layers of dust and loose dirt.

3. Remove the keycaps

Many PC users dread removing the keycaps. Removing them may require using leverage and force – which makes users afraid that they’ll accidentally break something.

If you don’t feel comfortable removing the keycaps, don’t. Leave them on and clean them exactly like you would clean the switches. Remember, though, that mechanical keyboards are designed to have their keycaps removed.

Remove the keycaps with a keycap puller or a flat head screwdriver. If you’re using a flat head screwdriver, just insert it into the space at the edge of the keycap and leverage it out. If a screwdriver is too large for your keyboard, you can use a bent paper clip.

4. Clean the keycaps

Place the keycaps in a small bowl. Fill the bowl with warm water, and then add sterilizer (dish soap or 2 denture tablets). Let the keycaps soak in the sterilizer for 6 hours.

Rinse the keycaps when they’re finished soaking. You should be able to easily remove any remaining dirt or grime with a small brush (a toothbrush works perfectly).

If the grime is sticky and can’t be removed with excess brushing, you may need to wash the keycaps in an ultrasonic cleaner. An ultrasonic cleaner is a small machine that vibrates water at high frequencies to blast away dirt and grime. Most of the time, an ultrasonic cleaner is unnecessary. You’ll only need it for the dirtiest keyboards.

When you’re done rinsing the keycaps, set them out to air dry. Don’t use a paper towel to dry the keycaps. Paper towels leave small particle residue and they can cause scratches.

Pro tip: Keycaps may take a while to air dry. It’s important that the keycaps are 100% dry before you place them back on your keyboard. If they aren’t, you risk serious damage to your keyboard.

5. Clean the switches

Clean the switches while the keycaps are soaking.

Vacuum over the switches to get rid of dust and dirt that has sunk past the keycaps. Use a small brush or Q-tip to scrape away grime that’s on or around the switches.

Use a damp cloth or cotton swab to wipe the spaces in between switches – try not to get the switches moist.

6. Reassemble your keyboard

When the keycaps are dry and you’ve finished detailing the switches, put the keycaps back on. They should easily pop back into place. You’re done! You now have a clean, pristine keyboard!

How to clean a membrane keyboard?

The difference between a mechanical keyboard and a membrane keyboard is that the keycaps on a membrane keyboard press down upon a rubber dome instead of a switch.

In a mechanical keyboard, the keycaps are attached to the switches. But on a membrane keyboard, the keycaps are not attached to the rubber domes. They’re attached to a separate, removable plate.

To remove the keycaps, you’ll have to remove the entire keycap plate first (you’ll most likely need to use a Phillips screwdriver). After you’ve removed the plate, then you can pop out the keycaps for cleaning.

When you remove the plate from the keyboard, you might be exposing the key matrix. Be careful not to mess with the key matrix! Keep the bottom half of the keyboard somewhere where it won’t get damaged or dirty.

Mechanical keyboards from HP®

HP® produces a variety of mechanical keyboards that are built specifically for PC gaming.

The HP OMEN 1100 mechanical keyboard is equipped with ultra-responsive mechanical switches, including N-key rollover for anti-ghosting. The keyboard glows red to keep you from miss-keying, and the W-A-S-D keys are painted in a contrasting red color to make your movement buttons easier to find.

The HP OMEN Sequencer mechanical keyboard uses optical mechanical switches that are 10 times more responsive than standard mechanical switches. Customize your arsenal with individually backlit keys. You can choose from up to 16.8 million RGB colors, all with unique effects. You can use the colors to segment your keyboard, thus improving the speed with which you find and access each key.

Now that you know how to maintain a mechanical keyboard, it may be time to add one to your gaming accessories arsenal.

Related article: How to Clean Your Laptop Screen

About the Author: Zach Cabading is a contributing writer for HP® Tech Takes. Zach is a content creation specialist based in Southern California, and creates a variety of content for the tech industry.

Fortnite: Battle Royale is one of the most popular video games in the world, for that reason it is very common to find approximately 20 million players connected at the same time. This success achieved by Epic Games is due to many reasons, but the one that stands out is undoubtedly its successful competitive system, which besides being incredibly addictive and exciting, also offers a level playing field between its players, thanks to that, to win a game of Fortnite requires skill, strategy, and luck.

But, the skill and strategy required to win at Fortnite are incomplete without a good weapon that matches the player’s skills. Weapons and items in Fortnite receive constant changes and improvements each season, due to these very significant changes, it is very difficult to determine which is the best weapon or item in Fortnite.

When it comes to weapons, Fortnite offers a lot of them and each one provides a certain advantage depending on the combat conditions and the scenario. Based on the above, below is a list of the best Fortnite weapons, taking into account battlefield conditions and weapon category. With the weapons mentioned in this list, and a good strategy, victory at Fortnite will be closer.

The best pistol: The Hand Cannon

Among the entire category of pistols, it can be concluded that the Hand Cannon is the most destructive choice. This pistol is a miniaturized version of the Heavy Sniper, so its power is assured. Although its power is quite low due to the 7.40 patch, it is still one of the best weapons in Fortnite.

The Hand Cannon offers precision, fast fire and the ability to destroy most bullet structures. For all those reasons, it is obvious that this weapon is on the list.  This weapon is also one of the most expensive in Fortnite item shop, taking into account the fact that this is a fluctuating market.

Best Sniper: The Heavy Sniper

Of all the snipers, the Heavy Sniper is the best when it comes to damaging your opponent. It has an amazing 150 points of damage to the body and a huge power that can destroy structures with a single shot.

The best strategy for the Heavy Sniper is to use it to destroy an opponent’s cover, to immediately proceed to use a conventional rifle to apply easy damage to the enemy. When a weapon allows such a unique tactic, you don’t have to think twice about using it.

Best Short-range Weapon: The Heavy Assault Rifle

In Fortnite there are many quite good short-range weapons, such as Drum Gun or SCAR, but if you take into account the healings and protections that the other players will perform, the explosive damage is the most effective. For that reason, the Heavy Assault Rifle is the most recommended in this category of weapons.

Although this rifle has very limited accuracy and a magazine of 25 bullets, its 36/38/40 damage points are highly massive for any player who gets in its way. This rifle has an elevated loading time, but that is solved by firing this weapon in short bursts.

The Best Explosive Weapon: The Rocket Launcher

In Fortnite you can find very good explosive weapons like grenades and grenade launchers, but when it comes to balancing handling and range of action, the rocket launcher is the best option.

Weapons like the Heavy Sniper and the Hand Cannon are very effective at destroying buildings and coverings, but the Rocket Launcher is even more so. Another great advantage of the rocket launcher is the possibility of changing weapons before the projectile hits. This speed to change weapons is very versatile when making a surprise attack on an opponent.

In Fortnite there are a great amount of very versatile weapons for different situations, but the previously mentioned ones are some of the most effective at the time of the combat. Obtaining some of these weapons requires a lot of luck with the coffers, but they can also be purchased through a Fortnite item Shop.

In short, winning a game at Fortnite: Battle Royale is a very complicated task (considering this is a battle against 99 other players), but even so, it is hoped that the weapons on this list will help them with their strategies and allow them to get closer and closer to winning a complicated game at Fortnite.

Significance of an office phone system is not under the veil anymore. The world is aware of what wonders it can do to a business. Starting from cutting down the calling cost to operating at a global level without any qualms, it plays an indispensable role and supports success from the back-end. However, all of this is possible only if your phone system is inclusive and comes with particular significant features.  Without these features, it will be only half good and will fail to serve you as it is supposed to be.

As a small business phone system is a mission-critical tool, it is inescapable that you choose it prudently and diligently. In this article, we’ll tell you about some of the features that your phone system should have.

Basic office phone system features

Just as every tool has some basic operations without which its existence holds no value, there are some common features that your office phone system should also have. Here is a brief of them –

Call Conferencing – Business takes place in many dimensions these days. That is why your phone system must be able to connect all these dimensions over a single place. Call conferencing is one feature that makes it possible. With the help of this feature, businesses can add any third-party to two-way communication and turn it into a three-way conference. Also, if you operate from a remote location, this feature is of great help. Arranging meetings with other agents situated at different locations becomes an easy task with it.

On-hold Music – On-hold music is a key feature that you cannot ignore at any cost. It is this feature that makes the call waiting time of the caller a pleasurable experience and refrain them from hanging-up in between. Additionally, on-hold music can be used as an indirect marketing strategy. You can use promotional message at the place of default music.

Voicemail – Not every caller wants to wait for the executive to answer the call. Some prefer dropping a voicemail and then expect you to revert with the solution. In that case, your enterprise-level phone system have a voicemail facility. This feature will record the voicemail and will directly deliver it on your registered email. You can create as many voicemail inboxes as per your need and handle the traffic pretty easily.

Call Recording – No matter how observant your executives are while dealing with agitated customers, some minute details will get slipped while taking call notes. If this happens often with you, you – as a business – will fail big time to deliver great customer service. Call recording is one basic feature that every small business phone system should have to eliminate the drudgery of taking notes and save data easily.

Call Forwarding – Waiting for a call to get answered in the most vexatious thing and call forwarding feature sets your customers free from this. This feature automatically transfers the call to the next available agent when one line is busy.

Advanced office phone features

The key reason for any product’s success is the ideal blend of basic and advanced features. While basic features support the existence of a product, advanced features expand its viability and gain it an edge over others.

Here are some of the advanced features that your enterprise-level hosted phone system should have –

Global Connect – If you are a business that operates at a global level, then global connect is what you need to call your customers at the right time.  There is a time zone difference between two places, and this feature will help you know the time zone, the validity of the number, and country details. It reduces the amount of failed attempts.

Call Queuing – This advanced feature will let you answer the calls in the order they were received.  It will place the calls in a queue and distribute them according to their number. This feature is helpful to reduce the call waiting time, missed calls, and to manage the call traffic professionally.

Call Barging – If you run a call center then call barging is what you need to maintain the quality in your customer service. This advanced feature lets the administrator enter a two-way conversation between the caller and the executive at any point in time. It can be used to transfer the call to any other extension, to the concerned department, and voicemail box without disconnecting the on-going call.

Call Distribution – Call distribution is one advanced feature that your office phone system should have to route the calls diligently. Instead of forwarding the calls to a particular line, it distributes the calls based on your priorities or in Round Robin Order.

All these basic and advanced features make your office or enterprise-level hosted phone system a comprehensive tool and endow it with the ability to suffice its purpose well. So, don’t forget to look out these features while you are buying a VoIP number for your business.

College textbooks represent one of the leading requirements and costs for most credit courses. Instructors often vary the type of books they expect students to read, from the purchase of e-books and print texts to semester-by-semester rentals.

University texts are also available in various formats, including anthologies, surveys, handbooks, and workbooks along with many others. But not everyone is satisfied with the way that texts are sold and used in the current higher education market due to supply and order reasons like the following.

Instructors May Experience Limited Distribution

A majority of campuses prohibit faculty from requiring students to use the instructor’s own textbook. Alternately, if they can use the text in the classes they teach, they must report sales and income to university officials to avoid a conflict of interest.

In addition, text publishers might provide faculty authors an order discount that students do not receive, which does not encourage faculty to require higher-cost textbooks or students to buy them. Instead, students will either forego buying the textbook or share a friend’s copy. This defeats the purpose of publishing the books and expecting students to pay top dollar for them.

Students Often Pay Skyrocketing Book Costs

Whether or not an instructor requires students in his or her classes to use texts that have been authored by the faculty member, textbook costs continue to rise, adding to the financial burden of a college education. Compounding the problem is the fact that many if not most texts can be used in only one class and will be relegated to the student’s bookshelf for possible future reference or sold at a discount price to another student.

Depending on the discipline and course, newly-published books often run several hundred dollars. Students who take more than a class or two each semester may rack up a sizable book bill along with tuition and fees, and possibly other expenses like parking and computer use. While used books and e-books are often cheaper, they are not always available for all students every semester.

Bookstores Struggle with Stock Expectations and Payments

Each term, instructors or departments submit book orders to the bookstore to prepare for the next semester. Orders are based on expected class enrollment, but these figures cannot be confirmed until the semester begins. By then, the bookstore may have ordered too many or too few texts, which means store associates may have to scramble to order more books for students who need them or return unpurchased books unless they decide to keep them in stock for the following semester, hoping the book does not go into a new edition.

Another potential complication when students start to buy textbooks each semester is how to pay for them. Those who receive financial aid finance books for their classes one way, while students on scholarships typically purchase bookstore supplies using another method.

Other Options

Students sometimes prefer to buy textbooks as required or recommended by faculty by ordering through a non-campus bookstore. Occasionally, faculty change their texts at the beginning of a semester for various reasons. An instructor may be replaced due to illness or other situations, which means a replacement instructor may prefer to use different books for the course. Students also switch classes at the last minute for a variety of reasons, requiring them to return planned books and exchange them for others in the new class that has been added.

Using another bookstore off campus at their leisure allows students and faculty to avoid some of the hassles associated with books and supplies used in college courses. Students can pay on their own terms in a more straightforward way than the campus bookstore might require.

College today is more complex and challenging than ever. Faculty and students benefit from fewer distractions in order to focus on the task of education. By broadening the ways in which course books can be ordered in their various formats, time frames, and payment plans, instructors can avoid the stress of technical aspects of their job like book orders, and students can take care of book orders on their own schedules and budgets. Reducing stress associated with book orders will help the semester to begin more smoothly and make everyone involved a little happier and carefree.

What are the features of the Magento 2 content management system and what innovations have been implemented in the improved version of the CMS?

The second version is designed to fix some bugs of the previous version of Magento. But even with them, the online store management system was named one of the most popular in the world. In order to get to know the world of Magento 2, you need to dive into the details. How did the management system achieve such results, and how did the great story of one of the best CMS begin?

Magento is a powerful content management system in online stores. As you know, the company Magento Inc. has changed more than one owner, but it did not prevent it to reach a decent world level. In 2011 it was purchased by the American company eBay Inc. and 4 years later it was successfully sold to Permira. Swinging with a change of power did not prevent Alexa Magento from becoming the most popular system of online store management, one of the most popular open E-commerce systems, and help to create on the basis of its platform more than a hundred thousand online stores!

Magento deserves to be called the “leading platform” for e-commerce because it holds approximately 30% of the market. At the moment, the project community has a huge number of participants – about 375,000. A word that is immediately recognized when you think about Magento is “power”. Definitely, this is the most important quality that distinguishes it from other CMS. Power, strength, well-coordinated strong construction – all this has attracted a really big fish in the world of e-commerce. Enterprises with breathtaking incomes such as Nordstrom, Adidas, North Face, use Magento. Just think about it, the system is so strong that it can work quietly if the catalogue is viewed by 350 million people, and orders – almost 500 thousand (per day).

Flexibility

Magento has always been the most flexible online shopping platform. You can set up many unique options and plugins for your business. For example, you can use your search line, catalogue design and other marketing tools. Multi Fees extension is one of the many extensions.

Wide range of marketing opportunities

Keep in mind that Magento can react quickly and systematically to any new input information. Adjust prices and make promotions with promo companies by changing the design of the page in real time.Install Multi Fees extension for Magento 2, organize a variety of sales, e-mail-sales with the latest information about new products, sales hits and other news of the store.

SEO-friendly

With Magento, it is easier to achieve high positions in search results. The system creates an XML-map of the site itself, which allows you to speed up the detection of a web resource by search engines, respectively, has a positive impact on attendance and sales.

Easy administration panel and catalog management

From an administrative point of view, Magento also has many useful options. These are import and export of goods database, the addition of categories and subcategories, sorting of goods by specific characteristics, monitoring of stock balance. It is convenient that you can easily add several images to each position, attach related and similar products. Also, the function of saving the cart is implemented (remembers customers and saves the order for a certain period of time), tracking the order at delivery.

Easy navigation, product selection system, filtering, and comparison function help users to find the right product and get the most information about it. Customers can rate the product on several scales, write reviews, and maintain a wishlist. For the convenience of ordering, comparing products, the user is shown the pages of the catalog, which he viewed earlier.

Reporting

You’ll get full statistics on your business. You will have information about the best customers, product rating, number of orders and much more. What’s more, you’ll even know about goods that are often added to your cart, but removed just before you buy them.

Security

Magento – CMS with a high degree of safety. Highly professional developers are constantly working on the improvement of the system. In addition, the use of SSL certificates serves as a reliable guarantee of resistance to viruses.

Trust of global brands

On this platform, there are many online stores of world-famous brands: Tiffani & Co, Lenovo, Nestle, Gucci, and others. The number of online stores on Magento already exceeds 90 000.

In writing an essay, it is important to get it right with the content of the article as well as correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar. An essay checker is an essential plagiarism checker tool that helps students, as well as teachers, get things right with their write-ups, and one can quickly get these tools with these devices. Also, with an essay plagiarism checker, you can ensure that your essay is 100 percent free of plagiarism, which will help you score more with your write up.

Technology has influenced the education sector enormously, and some of the big giants in the technology market that have played a considerable role in this sector include Google, Apple, Microsoft, and recently, Amazon.

Google has, however, become most popular among teachers and students, over pioneers like Apple, and Microsoft. Apple had initiated its educational hardware and software program for teaching and learning before Google came into the sector.

Fast forward to recent days, teachers and students have become obsessed with its Products, according to Rachel Premack. The educational technology sector is a vast market, which is expected to hit over $43 billion in 2019, so these giants are keen on taking their chunk in the market.

How Google Overtook Apple in Education?

Following earlier days of technology advancement, apple products for teachers were common in classrooms, enhancing learning. Products of Microsoft and Apple for education decreases drastically between 2013 and 2017 as Chromebook becomes popular in classes. Shares of Apple for educators mobile reduces by 33 percent, while Microsoft devices for educational purposes reduce by 21 percent, which has coincided with the rise in the use of Chromebook in classrooms.

The main reason for Google taking over from Apple in the education sector is that they have made their products more accessible to everyone. On the other hand, Chromebook is very popular among researchers to search for queries, check up materials when writing essays, searching for free plagiarism checker tools to use for your article, etc.

With the popular search engine of Google, it has become more useful for an educational purpose which Google had leverage on its products. Google introduced Chromebook with useful features that make it easy to navigate from devices. You can easily connect these devices with other devices, and share your essay or articles, use search engine easily. The ability to share your works on any device when you connect with your Google account is another preference that proves useful in academic works. You do not need to carry your devices to be able to access your works with your devices, and as well as sharing your works easily with colleagues or in the classroom.

Google has overtaken Apple in education with its cost-friendly product such as Chromebook. Google had focused on providing cost-effective hardware and software products for educational purpose. Earlier, Apple was the pioneer of offering classrooms affordable computers but had slow down and focused more on high-end consumer products.

We can summarize the reasons Google have overtaken Apple in the educational sector in the following ways:

• Google products have become more affordable than Apple products.
• Google has improved hardware and software than Apple.
• Researchers find it easier to work with Google devices with useful tools.
• Google devices have become trendier.
• Google features are compatible with other devices.

Apple Education Plans for the Future

Apple has taken steps to overturn the trend in the education technology market with the introduction of low-end iPads for classrooms. The action taken by providing these affordable iPads is to rival the cost of getting the Chromebook, which Apple sees as a turning point in losing the market to Google.

In March 2018, iPad which sells for educational use was introduced in the market, a bid to increase sales of Apple products. The iPad goes for above $300 for regular customers, which is a strategy to target the educational sector with high potential.

However, producing low-end iPad is the foremost strategy to overturn the tides of Google overtaking Apple, which may not be enough presently.

So, the lead set by Google in the education sector is a huge one as they have not only become popular, but simple to use and affordable. Apple needs to put in more effort, especially in the area of software for Apple for education to improve usability.

Apple had taken steps in reducing the price of their product to try to balance the market in the educational sector, which is a good step in the right direction. However, they have to take other factors into consideration if they intend to take back their position in the educational technology market.

A Virtual Private Network, or a VPN, is a connection method that allows the secure traffic of data between the connected devices. A VPN protects the data by encrypting it and thus granting its secure transfer. People use a VPN service to safeguard their privacy and ensure the secure sharing of sensitive information.

At the same time, there’s a question of speed, namely, how all that encryption process affects the speed of your Internet connection. In this article, we will explore this topic in detail.

So, can a VPN slow down your Internet?

The short answer is yes, it can. However, everything is not that simple, as it all depends on the circumstances.

If you are using a high-quality, reliable VPN service, you will not notice the difference. Most VPN providers offer a decent speed with a minor decrease, as compared to the usual Internet speed. This reduction is caused by the encryption process, which protects your network.

With that said, certain factors make the connection through a VPN slower.

1. Slow Internet

If your Internet speed is slow to begin with, a VPN will not solve the problem. Some users may purchase a VPN service only to make their Internet perform faster, but in most cases it is ineffective and they end up with even a slower connection than previously. So, if you believe that a VPN affects your Internet, first ensure that you have an adequate speed by running a speed test, as described in this guide.

2. The physical location of the server

When it comes to the speed, the distance to the VPN server you are connected to is important. The farther the server is, the longer it takes for the packets of data to be transmitted. That is why, for faster performance, make sure to connect to the server that is located nearest to you. Good VPN providers have a range of servers all over the world, so you can easily choose the most suitable one.

3. Server overload

It is possible for a server to get overcrowded when there are too many users and not enough bandwidth. This situation happens rather frequently with free VPNs. In this case, the solution is to try connecting to a different server, where there may be fewer visitors. Ultimately, you should choose a provider with no bandwidth limitations on their servers.

4. Interference

Some firewalls or anti-malware programs may interfere with your VPN and slow down your connection. Although it is not that common, some of the security programs may be configured to affect the traffic and the CPU usage of your computer. Make sure to use one of the best antivirus options to avoid interference.

5. Encryption

The level of encryption has its effect on the speed as well. The stronger it is, the more CPU it takes up. Mostly, it concerns older devices though. In this case, you may switch to a lighter protocol.

In conclusion

So, as you can see, it is not a myth that a VPN can make your Internet slower. That is why you should stay away from a free VPN and choose a legitimate provider that offers reliable service.