To secure your internet connection, Hotspot Shield creates a Virtual Private Network (a secure connection, usually abbreviated to VPN) between your computer and the Hotspot Shield developer's website, Anchorfree, based in the USA.

Everything is done in an extra tab open in your browser so there's no need to configure anything. A green and red shield in your system tray indicates when Hotspot Shield is and is not connected. The VPN is encrypted with 128 bit SSL encryption so that you can surf safely without worrying about others intercepting your data.

The major reason why users are flocking to Hotspot Shield though is because it allows you to view sites in the USA that are usually restricted to outside users. This is particularly useful for video sites such as Hulu or restricted videos on YouTube.

Hotspot Shield generally works very well. However, you do have to put up with an ad banner at the top of your browser although you can close it. In addition, it tries to install a toolbar at the beginning although you can opt out of this. If you've got Expat Shield installed, you'll also need to remove that first before installing. Also, surfing with Hotspot Shield is noticeably slower than normal but it's fine for streaming video from video sites such as Hulu.

Hotspot Shield for Mac now includes malware protection meaning that while using it, you shouldn't get infected by anything that may damage your system.

Hotspot Shield for Mac is an easy to install and use way of accessing sites that are blocked in your region.

Download Hotspot Shield for Mac 2.85 in Softonic

MacProxy forwards network settings to a proxy server, thus enabling users to hide their IP address and navigate the Net anonymously. MacProxy supports all major browsers, including Safari and Firefox as well as applications such as Mail, iChat, FTP and Telnet. MacProxy can even connect via your iPhone, turning it into a local proxy.

All major protocols are supported, namely SOCKS 4, 4a and 5. You can choose to access MacProxy via its simple interface or by using a System Preferences pane. The main interface immediately pops up on installation so you don't have to access if through the System Preferences Pane on first launch.

Adding a new proxy is very easy. Just go to the Proxies tab and click the '+' to add a new one. You can give the proxy a name and configure which protocol you'd like it to use. Once you're up and running, you can monitor the amount of traffic to and from your proxy.

MacProxy is extremely simple to use. It would have been preferable if the developers had at least provided some public proxies to get of taste of how it works but if you already have one set up, administering it via Mac proxy couldn't be easier.

MacProxy is an ideal tool for a network administrator or web surfer who wants to preserve their privacy or surf to sites not normally available outside their own country.

Download MacProxy 2.01 in Softonic

If you go into the preferences menu you'll be able to even add or remove bytes, to make sure you're monitoring the correct amount of bandwidth. You can also decide to clear stats completely and start from zero by clicking reset. This is quite useful after a while, as it can get confusing as to how much bandwidth you've been using.

SurplusMeter is a useful tool to monitor all stats on your broadband bandwidth usage.

Download SurplusMeter 2.0.2 in Softonic

Viscosity is an OpenVPN client for Mac which gives a rich Cocoa graphical user interface for creating, editing, and controlling VPN connections. Viscosity is very much aimed at VPN novices. It allows connections to be completely configured through a GUI, without any need to know how to use the command-line or OpenVPN's configuration file syntax.

Viscosity does a nice job of monitoring your OpenVPN connections to ensure you know what's going on at all times and the floating 'Details' window keeps you up to date with IP addresses, traffic flow, and OpenVPN messages. Thanks to support for Growl as well, Viscosity keeps you notified about your VPN connection including alerts when the status of a VPN connection changes, IP address changes etc. It also works with keychain to protect your privacy at all times.

However, the big drawback of Viscosity is that it only supports the Open VPN protocol which means no Cisco support. Cisco VPN users are therefore excluded from using it.

Overall though, Viscosity is a superbly-presented OpenVPN client that makes managing and setting up VPN connections an absolute breeze.

Download Viscosity 1.3.3 in Softonic

WeFi automatically detects all WiFi access points within range and connects you to the one with the best Internet connection. If WeFi software detects a new access point, it allows you to be the first to map it. In addition to this, it also provides you with Instant-Messaging tools and a buddy list so you can see where your friends are currently connected.

The point of WeFi is that it's a community driven project that grows as people map it and add to the network. The more people that map access points and reveal them, the bigger the community becomes. This is all very well but the problem is that WiFi points come and go and there's no guaranteeing that the access point labelled on the WeFi map is for public use.

WeFi is a clever idea (although not original by any means) but it will only be of real use if significantly more people join it's network.

Download WeFi 2.8.2 in Softonic

Dialectic can be configured by way of dialing methods such as AppleScripts but you can also store usernames and passwords for all your phones. Dialing rules will be of most use to those of you frequently calling around the world, but can also be set to organize your calls by types, such as as business or private ones.

I can see how Dialectic is aimed at simplifying things for you if you have more than two phones and make calls constantly. However the drawback is that you always need to be working from your Mac and need to ensure that all your phones can connect to it properly.

Dialectic converges all your phones into one interface from where you can dial and store any number.

Download Dialectic 1.7 in Softonic