Is anyone using HOLA free to access BBC iplayer

Just wondering if anyone is using HOLA free vpn to access BBC iplayer. If so has anyone had any bad experiences from this? Reason for asking is that I have been using HOLA free vpn successfully for quite a while now with nothing bad to report. However I have just been online and read some terrifying reports about HOLA and advice to delete immediately from laptop. Is it really this dangerous? If so does anyone have any suggestions as to what one can use free of charge on a laptop to access iplayer please? Dont want to pay as not using it much and also returning to UK shortly but still a few months to go.


Thank you for any suggestions for an alternative and for anyone who has experience currently with HOLA free vpn and is it really necessary to immediately get rid of it.

Carl thank you.....I have AVG free installed and do regular scans (and also update) which show up nothing except for one notification that keeps cropping up which says it is a ''broken digital signature'' whatever that is....so does this mean that so far I am okay as Chris Kate above....I wonder how many just on SFN are using HOLA and are unaware of the dangers involved.....good that you posted this on facebook Carl...do you know of any alternatives Carl that I and Chris and potentially others reading this can use please?

Thanks Carl, very informative…and 50 million users!! Incidentally, I tried to use Hola a year or so ago when I had a TV problem, and at that time it was less than useless.

I have Eset installed, so fingers crossed…

Peer-to-peer (P2P) networks are in use throughout the Internet. Most of our computers spend 90% of their processor time doing nothing and with P2P, spare processing time from member computers is aggregated in order to execute a program, share files, enable online chat and instant messaging.

P2P can be a good thing for sharing files without the need for a huge server BUT.....

When you install HOLA, this is what you are installing and that (above) is what it is doing. When your machine is idle even for a few seconds it is in fact working for the P2P network. HOLA themselves have said this is the way the service works.

If you are a FREE user of HOLA, and most of the 50,000,000 users are... (Yup, I said 50 million) they sell the resources/bandwidth of the network to cover their costs and pay for the PAID premium VPN service.

The problem with HOLA is that they sell their services to anybody and it has been repeatedly shown that HOLA enables BOTNETS to run on their service.

Did you know your HOLA software has the ability to download and execute software WITHOUT YOUR CONSENT? You do now.

That leaves you and your networked computers wide open to attack and just because it has not happened yet does not mean it wont.

If you must use it then for gawds sake make sure the machine using it is up to date in every way and has antivirus and anti-malware software up to date and running.

If when installing/using HOLA you had to 'allow it' with whatever security you use then you have already green-carded the software to do whatever it wants.

A nice description of botnets but feel free to ignore the advert in the last ten seconds.

Just saw your reply Carl....thank you Chris for your reply too.. So please Carl can you explain how it is that I and Chris Kite have both been using it without any problems. Is it okay if it is not enabled when not using it? Are there any free alternatives as Chris has asked too for watching iplayer please? I am using it on a brand new laptop....Also I understand that it is quite difficult to get rid of it off the laptop....

Carl, I should have pointed out that I only use Hola on an old laptop that’s not used for anything else. Any suggestions for a free VPN as Amanda asked? I know there’s a few out there but have no experience of them.

If you use HOLA then you ARE part of a huge P2P network which has been shown to effectively be a botnet used to perform all sorts of nasty things.

Rest assured. Your desire for BBC iPlayer makes the internet a much worse place. Get rid of it

I’ve had problems with our satellite reception recently, so have been using Hola to watch tv on a laptop. No real problems, but I only enable it when watching TV.

I have a standalone seperate server box which is solely for the use of VPn’s and streaming services. My laptop has in place firewalls etc which prevent external ‘bots’ coming across my network. It a 2tb storage facility so works brilliantly as a place to store recorded programs, handy if you’re streaming off different time zones etc.

I use TV Away - bloody brilliant! No software, no VPN’s and all that malarkey - just great, low cost, stress free, premium telly.

Doesn’t wok anymore. they want you to subscribe to premium