A while ago, there was a BBC tv show that I wanted to watch. If you aren’t in the UK and have tried to watch a BBC show online, you’d know that you get the this message.

So whats the sensible way to get around this? Find a proxy that would fool the BBC to think you are in the UK. In my search, I found a free solution…but it didn’t help me. It will however help people that aren’t in the US to watch US content from websites such as Hulu.com. Hotspot shield is a free program that allows you to view websites through a VPN. The IP address that websites will see when you visit their site is a US IP so sites like Hulu.com will think you are in the US and let you see all of the wonderful content available at that site.

I say its free, but its not…really…well you don’t have to pay any money for the software. How it is Hotspot Shield is funded is by serving an ad at the top of every webpage you view while the service is activated. Yes you can activate and deactivate the service when you want.

This program would work perfectly for what I was trying to do, but you don’t get to select the region you want to appear you are located. It will always be in the US.

There are other uses for this program. Lets say you are on a network that blocks certain websites…such as Facebook. Well since Hotspot Shield uses a VPN to serve webpages, you would be able to still view those websites. Now to find a way to run it from a USB drive so you wont have to install it on your PC at work or school.

Check out Hotspot shield here