If you are a gamer, you have probably heard about Hamachi or even used it to play games online. In a layman’s language it basically facilitates a player to join a game network online so that he can play with other players from around the world. The lazy ones love Hamachi since it takes a big headache away and allows all players to connect with each other in a jiffy. Some of the games to name would be Minecraft, HOI 3 and more. But is Hamachi safe and secure? Is this software dangerous to share game servers? Or are you risking your entire PC by joining an unknown network?
In this Hamachi Review, I will be talking about everything you need to know about Hamachi, before you start using it. Starting from what it is, it’s uses, it’s advantages, is it safe and legal to use and more. Hope you will enjoy reading the post, so let’s begin.
Contents
What is Hamachi and How it Works?
Hamachi is a free program or software that allows you to create a free, quick, simple and secure virtual private network (VPN) between any two or more computers connected to the Internet. To make it more simpler to understand, by creating a network it allows you to securely access any of your computers, anywhere in the world, as if you’re on the same network.
using a user interface you can create groups and invite other users of hamachi into your group (or join other groups if invited). you have a list you can constantly look up who is connected to you. all persons to whom you have a connection will also display in the windows network folder.
It creates a secure peer-to-peer connection for up to 50 devices per network. Each user can establish up to 256 networks. A member explained this nicely by using a metaphor in one of the threads on Minecraft forums,
Imagine you have a pipe network going through your town. It’s a water pipe, but you want to send oil through, obviously you cant do that. So you go and build a pipe inside the existing pipe only to your friend who’s waiting for the oil. Now you can send oil through the inner pipe without leaking oil into the outer water pipe. the metaphor isn’t entirely correct, but its the best i can think of.
Hamachi is obviously a boon for all those who are technically not so sound and definitely not networking/security wizards.
How to Use Hamachi: Set Up First Network
It’s super easy to get started, once you download and install the software. It’s available for Windows, Linux & Mac operating systems, so you are all covered. Just follow the below steps in order to set up your first network using Hamachi.
- Download Hamachi client for your preferred operating system (Website download link)
- Install it on your system by following the on-screen instructions
- Launch it and click on the Blue power button to start it
- Click on the Network menu
- Select Create Network
- Enter the network name, a strong password and click on Create
- You are done!
You can use Hamachi for a lot of applications like creating gaming servers, home office networks (SOHO) and so on.
Advantages of Hamachi
There are some great benefits of Hamachi not just as a VPN but more, here’s a list of some quick ones I could think of. However, there are many more than these.
- Allows to create free and secure VPN
- Lot of applications (business, gaming, secure browsing etc.)
- Uses existing Internet connection
- Quick and excellent user experience
- No downtimes
Is Hamachi Safe & Legal?
Coming to the most important question when you do stuff online, is the security concern. Hamachi is in disguise a long ethernet cable that you plug into another network. You need to use the firewall and stuff in order to protect your data.
NO, Hamachi software is not unsafe. People connected to the VPN can only access the files and folders that you have shared. Since anyone can send files and access the shared files, you must also take care of the data you choose to share.
Security Tips
- Start Hamachi when you are about to start working or playing games and turn it OFF once done, immediately
- Wipe and reload the virtual image every time you connected if you are really paranoid
- Avoid connecting to strangers on Hamachi. Use it with trusted people only. Don’t let your Hamachi pipe be accessible to others without a key
- Make sure you have an up-to-date Anti-virus software and Firewall is turned ON
- Granted that it’s creating a VPN, so it’s similar to having their machine on your home network. Sure bad things could happen but if you trust your friends and make sure they follow basic rules (run a Virus scanner, AVG/Bitdefender/Kapersky, check with Malwarebytes, then you should be fine)
Hamachi is free for up to 5 computers in your network. If you run Hamachi as a service in unattended mode, you can choose from their subscription packages HERE.
Final Words
That’s all I got for you! So with this, we come to the end of this Hamachi review. I know it’s brief but I think it’s enough for a beginner since that’s what Hamachi is all about (catering the needs of the non-technical fellas).
Though I have included some good sources wherever possible if you want to go and learn more in-depth about it. I hope you enjoyed reading the review and got some good insights on how to be safe and secure while using Hamachi and joining new networks online. Read more here about VPNs, Hamachi, joining servers and more.
Feel free to comment below and ask questions, I will be happy to help you. Share the post as a vote of thanks if you think it was helpful. Cheers!
