There are good and bad free VPNs. There are good and bad pay VPNs. The bottom line with a VPN is you have to trust the organisation running it. Some years ago I tested the trial versions of both CyberGhost and Zenmate. Both work but both had tracking/security issues. Both were owned by Kape Industries, as is Private Internet Access. At that time Express VPN was regarded as 1 of the top 2 VPN providers alongside NordVPN. ExpressVPN is now also owned by Kape Industries. Kape Industries, (formerly Crossrider), was known for adware and malware.
https://restoreprivacy.com/vpn/reviews/cyberghost/
If you only need IP addresses for the USA, Japan, and the Netherlands I recommend the free version of ProtonVPN. (If you sign up for free Protonmail you can use this email to get free ProtonVPN). If you need other IPs then NordVPN is probably the safest and best value pay VPN. If you need free European IP addresses consider PrivadoVPN, (10GB monthly limit & will spam you with about 12 emails per month - also no DNS over-ride). All VPNs are frowned upon by eBay and Gmail.
Things to look for in a VPN:
1) A verified no-log policy.
2) The company operates from outside the 5, 9, & 14 eyes jurisdiction.
3) Wireguard & OpenVPN protocols with IKEv2 as a back-up 3rd option.
4) The ability to input your own choice of DNS servers.
5) A Kill Switch option.
If you want a VPN just for streaming and you have 100Mbps+ internet speed then consider SurfsharkVPN as a low cost, high speed option.
Additional recommendations, (based on Windows10 machines):
Update your TAP-Windows Provider V9 driver to 9.24.7.601.
Update both your X64 and X86 2015-2022 Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable files to 14.36.32532.
Change your default DNS searches to Cloudflare or Quad9.
These recommendations are easy things to do on a Windows PC. I can provide links or assistance if needed and allowed by BMR.
