Today I received an alert from Malwarebytes touting a free 7-day trial of their VPN. It has actually been around for a few months. and received a lukewarm review from PC World here: https://www.pcworld.com/article/3546168/malwarebytes-privacy-vpn-review.html

I have never trialed a Virtual Private Network, nor seen the need to pay for one. I am not aware of any free VPNs.

PC World did review the "best" VPNs on Sept 1, 2020:
https://www.pcworld.com/article/3198369/best-vpn-services-apps-reviews-buying-advice.html

What is lacking in my research, is any evidence of independent testing of the efficacy of VPNs in protecting privacy.

To me, bying a VPN is a pig in a poke. I don't intend to trial it.

Any comments welcome ...