Is VPN necessary with Mac computer?

You do not need any VPN, NordVPN or otherwise.

Many people opt for a VPN out of a misinformed sense that it somehow provides greater privacy on the internet; this has been proven a false hope. It is also not inherently faster or better than any other connection.

That said, there can be good reasons for using a VPN. What are the reasons you are interested in a VPN?

Atheos_1 wrote:

Thanks IdrisSeabright, I appreciate your input, his college Wi-Fi is secure, but how about when he brings his Mac to the local restaurant or Starbucks to work on his assignments? Those places usually have public Wi-Fi which is not secure, I see college kids all the time at places like Starbucks with their computers working on their homework. That's what concerns me, is when he goes to public places and the only Wi-Fi available is public and not secure... Thoughts?

My thoughts are that there is a lot of scaremongering out there. Is your child going to be doing banking or income taxes, designg weapons for the DOD or other things involving sensitive information while sitting in Starbucks? If so, there is, perhaps, some cause for concern. But, if what they're doing is writing a paper, or researching the mating habits of the ring-tailed lemur or (more likely) hanging out on the social media site du jour, no, it's not something I would worry about. I would be far more concerned by what information the VPN company is storing.

You might want to look at this article:

Effective defenses against malware and ot… - Apple Community

I think it's one of the best, most pragmatic references I know.

Atheos_1 wrote:

Thanks IdrisSeabright, I appreciate your input, his college Wi-Fi is secure, but how about when he brings his Mac to the local restaurant or Starbucks to work on his assignments? Those places usually have public Wi-Fi which is not secure, I see college kids all the time at places like Starbucks with their computers working on their homework. That's what concerns me, is when he goes to public places and the only Wi-Fi available is public and not secure... Thoughts?

Connections to https Web sites are secured against eavesdropping using a layer of security that is separate from, and in addition to, whatever the underlying networks provide.

Someone "sniffing" a Wi-Fi network might be able to determine what site you were connecting to – but to see the stuff you were working on, they'd have to crack the encryption. (Or. resort to a low-tech method of watching your screen from a nearby table as you worked.)

The s iin https stands for "secure." Plain http sites do not have this extra level of security.

Note that https security only protects against eavesdropping, not against connecting to bad sites on the Internet. If you visited a hypothetical CriminalsAreUs dot com Web site that had a https address, your connection would be secure against eavesdropping by other criminals, but it wouldn't make the place safe to visit …

Atheos_1 wrote:

Thanks IdrisSeabright, I appreciate your input, his college Wi-Fi is secure, but how about when he brings his Mac to the local restaurant or Starbucks to work on his assignments? Those places usually have public Wi-Fi which is not secure, I see college kids all the time at places like Starbucks with their computers working on their homework. That's what concerns me, is when he goes to public places and the only Wi-Fi available is public and not secure... Thoughts?

Go to Settings/Apple ID (at the top) > iCloud and turn on iCloud+ (it will cost 99¢ a month, but is worth it and cheaper than any quality VPN). Then turn on Private Relay.

This is Apple’s secure connection method, and is more secure than any VPN.

Unless you are using a VPN to log into a secure server provided by your school or employer, probably not. You've probably heard how great NordVPN is from Nord or publications that get money from Nord ads.

Start here:

Don't use VPN services.

Atheos_1 wrote:

Thanks Lawrence, I just did that on my iPhone, going to do the same to my son's computer. While I was in my settings I also found "Advanced Data Protection". I will have to read more on that too and turn it on and also set up "Account Recovery".

This is a starting point for reading about Advanced Data Protection. Note the bit in the iPhone screen snapshot where it says

"Because Apple will not have the keys required to recover your data, you will be guided to set up an alternate recovery method in case you ever lose access to your account."

Press release: Apple advances user security with powerful new data protections - Apple

That links to a much longer, technical site on Apple Platform Security.

I would recommend against Advanced Data Protection, as it extremely limits many useful features of the iPhone. It is intended for iPhone users who might targets of advanced spying, such as political leaders, journalists, activists, etc.

Atheos_1 wrote:

Thanks again IdrisSeabright, laughing my butt off over here!!!

Please know that I am in no way attempting to make light of your desire to protect your child. I sincerely hope that your child gets to spend at least some of their first year in college doing lots of non-serious things as they figure out who they are. And I hope that the things they do don't have any serious consequences.

Thanks, Servant of Cats, for a comprehensive response.