If you live in the United States then you probably won’t get the Hulu.com reference, however if you live anywhere else, chances are you know exactly what I mean
For those not familiar, Hulu is a popular video playback site from NBC that streams many mainstream television shows right to your browser. The biggest problem with the site is that it blocks access for users outside the continental United States. Hulu isn’t the only site in the world that does this either. Many sites restrict access based on the IP Address that you are currently connected with.
This is where Hotspot Shield comes to the rescue.
Hotspot Shield is a free software download that allows you to use the internet anonymously – for both Windows and Mac computers. It works by providing you with a different IP address than you would normally get, allowing you to bypass country-type restrictions.
Here’s a look at just how easy it is to use.
Start by downloading the installer from the Hotspot Shield web site. The installation uses the standard wizard-type interface and I only identified two noteworthy items during the install. The first is that you should uncheck the box that says ‘Include the Hotspot Shield Community Toolbar’. Unless you are one of those people that loves adding more toolbars to your browser, this will provide you with very little additional value.
The second item I noted was that during the install you will see one or more Windows Security prompts that let you know that Windows can’t verify the publisher of the driver software it is installing. To complete the installation, click ‘Install this driver software anyway’.
Once the wizard completes, a browser window will open up taking you to the ‘Invite a Friend!’ page. You are in no way obligated to do this. In fact, you can probably just close that browser window and continue.
You should now see a little green shield in your system tray that looks like: 
It’s possible that it will be red depending on the current connection state (green is connected, red is disconnected). If the shield is red, you can right-click on the icon and the pop-up menu will give you the option to connect. The menu also allows you to look at the configuration properties and disconnect the Hotspot Shield.
Clicking on Properties in the menu will open a browser window and load the status page. This page shows the current state of the shield and the current IP Address being assigned. From here you can also disconnect the shield, or click on Show Config for more options and information. The extended config screen shows you how much data has moved in and out since Hotspot Shield last connected and the date and time of the last connection.
So you are now good to go. Reloading the Hulu.com site produces more favorable results than last time. The message about ‘our video library can only be streamed within the United States’ will be replaced by a message that tells you that advertising can’t be loaded. Amusingly enough, they offer a link to get support if you can’t see the ads.
After 30 seconds, the ad message is removed and the video playback begins. The only downside to Hotspot Shield is that it forces an advertisement across the top of the web pages you load while connected. I can deal with that though, simply scroll the page down.
Well, there you have it. Hotspot Shield does a good job at helping you avoid country discrimination, but it has some other great benefits as well. If you are prone to using public networks (e.g. hotels, coffee shops both wired and wireless) then you can use this utility to help keep your data safe and secure.
The software essentially creates a VPN (virtual private network) between your computer and the AnchorFree Internet gateway. The tunnel created prevents hackers and would-be snoops from viewing your emails, instant messages, credit card information and anything else you happen to transmit.
What other tools do you use to make your Internet use more secure and anonymous?
Try it out and tell me what you think!
Linux & All 
sod hulu… pandora is what i’m planning on using this for. thanks!
lol, all to they’re own
Great tip!
Does anyone know if this will also work for sites that don’t stream into the U.S.? For instance will it work in the U.S. for iTV.com who restricts streaming to the UK.
Anchor does only have network in US so it’s useful for US content only.
I use http://www.boxpn.com vpn service. They have servers globally as well as US and UK. It gives access to all UK content like itv or bbc iplayer.
I think so, I mean it should however I am unable to test it. If you try please send me an email or leave me a comment and tell me if it worked.
Sandy- Linuxandall@yahoo.com
I grabbed this and installed using wine. When I tried to connect there was a DDE error. I then installed it in XP running in VirtualBox and it connected fine; however I was unable to access the BBC iplayer from the US.
What distro are you using?
I am using PCLOS
Okay, I’m not sure what to say as I’ve not really used that distro…
It originally forked from Mandriva. No worries. I haven’t given up. It just didn’t work right out of the box for me.
Send me a link for PCLOS and I’ll make a partition on my holy hard disk for it and bless it with my use 😀
http://pclinuxos.com/?page_id=180
Looks cool, I’ll install it: take some screenshots and try and get HotSpot working
Doesn’t work for Hulu anymore…or maybe just for me but I’m getting ‘you are hiding behind a proxy’ when I try and watch something…
Are you using linux, Mac or windows?
Not for me in the UK! The smart folk at hulu.com now have the message:
“Based on your IP address, we noticed you are trying to access Hulu through an anonymous proxy tool. Hulu is not currently available outside…”
So much for that. Or should I blame my Mac???
Did you follow all the steps exactly? If you have send me a screenshot of the page. I’m not sure whether it is Macs that it doesn’t work on as I have used both on Ubuntu and Windows Vista
I’ve got the same problem on Windows 7. Think Hulu have got wise to it. Unless someone has a way to get round it?
Yes I’ve noticed that from the comments. Try using Proxify. It is a good tool I use to get round the MegaVideo time limit. Google proxify
Sandy
I tried boxpn on windows 7 and works like a charm.
thanks soooooooooooo much, man! this is genius! i recently put up naruto episodes which Hulu provided for me on my website and i was really happy cause everyone’s been nagging me about it for a while but then…I CAME ACROSS THIS GENIUS! thanks soooooooooooooooooo much again buddy!
I’m glad you liked the post so much. If you want more posts like that subscribe and share the blog on with your friends.
I just did it using a mac and it worked. Thanks dude!
Glad it worked!
Hotspot Shield is a great service and for free!
Yeah it is
I’m using Ubuntu 10.04 and wine. On start up I get DDE error.
Any suggestions?
Check out the new blog. I’ll be doing a new post on it using some different stuff for the same thing.
Why is this on a Linux website?
Hi:
I was trying to make anchorfree work under wine, but it doesn’t.
It installs OK, then I click on ‘Connect’, it opens firefox under wine (that’s my default browser), but firefox cannot connect to the URL http://127.0.0.1:895/config/?action=connect&lang=eng&afd=1277822433&afc=6B0472F4CFCA71BE2AD639AE4CC845B8
Any suggestion???
yeah, Proxify doesn’t work. neither does my friend’s proxy server nor mine…
I can’t use wine.
anyone been able to get hotspot to work with a winblowz box?
i try it with win7 it’s great but it doesn’t work with my ubuntu 10.04 . i used the last virgin of wine , thank you
HS did not work for me. (as far as I know Hotspotshield has been blocked in full by hulu )
Either I got message that I am trying to access hulu via proxy or I got no internet connection at all.
Fond a better way although it is not free.
I was looking for such option (to watch hulu anytime, anywhere) for a long, long time. I have tried many different ways off connecting (TOR, Proxies, Hotspotshied) but all of them were slow, time consuming to setup (I was spending more time setting stuff up than watching stuff) or not working (imagine how annoying it is – you’re wasting 30-40 min. to download stuff, read instructions and so on and so on… just to find out that hulu is still not working). With all those half measures speed is also big problem – as it turns out you need to wait 5 min to buffer video up in order to watch for a 30 seconds.
Enough!
I have looked at other – paid for – options. Tried few of them and I have to honestly say. HideIP VPN (hideipvpn.com) is the best.
1. Price is very reasonable.
2. Beside US IP you can get UK IP (to watch bbc or itv or listen to spotify!).
3. Speed is awesome since they got servers all over the US.
4. Can be used as VPN (for all net traffic) or proxy.
5. Support and help is great – I even got help from them on Sunday once.
6. Works on me netbook, works on my iPhone!!! (which is cool because on iPhone you can watch BBC iPlayer)
7. That is the best – no more fear!!! With their service I can use torrents again
Overall… for a few bucks a month I got great and versatile service – worth every penny/cent/drahma
I’d actually recommend using a paid VPN. Hot spot shield doens’t seem to work anymore. The one I use is VPN Authority (http://www.vpnauthority.com). It is pretty easy and really flexible in terms of servers. Hope this helps my fellow hulu-ers. 🙂
Great suggestion. VPN Authority worked amazingly for me. The price and simplicity of setup is great. Martin was also very patient with me… had some minor things I needed to change. It was completely my fault though. 🙂
I use boxpn and works great for both HULU and Netflix.
I use UnoTelly. It’s a specialized way to unblock Hulu and other restrictions. (http://www.unotelly.com)
While you can’t do the normal VPN stuffs like anonymous browsing, it’s a lot cheaper than VPN if all you want is to watch Hulu outside USA.
I use Streaming VPN ( http://www.streamingvpn.com ) and it’s extremely easy to use. The customer support and pricing is unbeatable. More so you get the privilege to have top security on your account which is the most reason why I like to use. I recommend it for everyone. Thank me later.
Hotspot Shield did not connect. As for the other recommendations well you can watch HULU and other streaming media, but then you’ll have to pay for the privilege, minimum price seems to be around $5.00 per month. Personally I just download the stuff I want to watch from the USA using torrents, most TV episodes are released on torrents, 3-4 hours after they’re broadcast in the US, and always one season ahead of the UK, best of all it costs you nothing.
If you’re looking for a way to watch shows from the us then You should really try UnoTelly the don’t require you to download anything just sign up an they tell you what to do it’s so simple an easy an fast it really is unbelievable an if you have any problems you can contact them an they reply to you faster than big corporations go to their website an try it out http://www.unotelly.com/unodns/
Cool, might try this to watch slayers and other animes…
It worked for me! 😀
I am in the UK (Channel Islands though – not mainland. Maybe this makes a difference and lets me go undetected by Hulu?) and I’m on Windows Vista, and I could play stuff on Hulu! I was so happy! Thank you tons, I’m enjoying watching my favourite American shows now. 🙂
Hotspot no longer works on Hulu. Godspeed.
This is very much interesting and aside from that we also share some inputs that can provide a safe browsing experience.
THANKYOU THANKYOU THANKYOU! so happy now! I love us tv and now I can easily watch it without having to go to strange websites to find it haha, as you can tell i’m pretty happy right now XD xxx
Hot spot no longer works from the uk to watch hulu
If you want to watch Hulu in UK and other countries you may use a VPN service. For example I’m testing a VPN from Kepard for more than a month and i’m quite satisfied with it. I had just to create an account through a link which was provided by a friend of mine. In case you get interested just register through this link: tinyurl(dot)com/c85uhnu and get 15 days of free VPN, then if you like it just invite another friends of yours and get 30 days of free usage per invite. Just give it a shot. 🙂
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Hi there,
Ah, the days when you’d need a VPN to unblock Hulu are thankfully a thing of the past.
All you need now is to use either Firefox or Google as your browser and download a single solitary add-on.
It’s not my invention but I have written about this fabulously easy method in a blog post and it really could not be simpler…
I just have tried but with another vpn myexpatnetworks, the problem is when trying to get the payment for the subscription at hulu.com. As I live in Scandinavia and my credit card is not from the USA, it does not let me in and I cannot get the subscription and neither the 7 days trial. Any ideas how to pass on that?
I do believe all the concepts you have presented on your post. They’re really convincing and can definitely work. Nonetheless, the posts are too brief for novices. Could you please extend them a bit from next time? Thank you for the post.
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I managed to get Hulu working here on my Laptop in London, via a US/UK VPN
Streams fine without buffering, so far..
http://www.laptoptelly.com
I feel that for a piece of mind and 100% reliability a VPN is a good thing to have. Moreover, apart from Hulu, I can watch ABC, The CW, CBS, NBC and more on my iPad and Samsung Note 2.
Anyways I use ZoogTV VPN (http://www.zoogtv.com) to watch Hulu, US Netflix and listen to music on Pandora. No more geo-blocked US content on any device!