Cookies, tracking, and what a VPN does not do
Cookies and your IP address let your activity be followed from site to site and assembled into a profile. That much is true and worth limiting.
The part the adverts get wrong: a VPN moves the point where your traffic joins the internet. It does not hide you from a site you have logged into, and it does not stop the cookies already in your browser.
Do this today
- Decline non-essential cookies on the banner rather than accepting all. It takes one extra click and it is the single highest-value habit here.
- Use a browser that blocks third-party tracking by default, or add a reputable content blocker to the one you have.
- Use a VPN for the thing it is actually good at — an untrusted network, or hiding your location from sites you are not logged into. Not as a blanket privacy fix.
What good looks like
You understand that logging into an account identifies you regardless of the VPN, and you make the choice knowingly.
Your browser is doing most of the work, because a setting you configured once beats a subscription you forget you are paying for.
Want someone to just do this for you? Start a conversation — twenty minutes, free.
Last reviewed: September 2026