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What is CAPTCHA, why it is used, and how to deal with it when using a VPN.
Google keeps asking you to choose traffic lights or pictures of buses that don't end in any way, every time you use it when you're connected to a VPN?
Then you're dealing with CAPTCHA requests. You may be used to seeing them on web pages and forums, but do they also appear on Google? Usually not. But you'll start seeing them more and more often if you use Google under a VPN.
We offer you a translation of the technical media resource TechNadu's short guide on what a CAPTCHA is, why it is used, and how to deal with it when using a VPN.
What is a CAPTCHA and why is it used?
CAPTCHA comes from "Completely Automated Public Test (to Tell) Computers and Humans Apart", which translates as "a Fully automated public forum to separate computers and humans". As the name suggests, CAPTCHA is a test that is easy for humans to pass, but difficult for computers. The aim was to help the sites to distinguish real users from bots.
Websites typically use captchas when users want to open an account, post a review, leave a comment, or buy a product. The goal is to detect and prevent automated scripts and bots from performing these tasks, so that the site is not bombarded with spam. In addition, captchas are also used to protect websites from cyber threats. For example, they can act as an effective barrier against DDoS attacks.
As for why Google uses CAPTCHA, it is very likely that their servers are protected from malicious traffic in this way. Also, according to them, they use CAPTCHA to prevent unauthorized login to the account.
Why do you see the CAPTCHA if you are using VPN?
This is because almost all VPN services use shared IP addresses. This means that you share an IP address with many other VPN users.
And from Google's point of view, multiple search queries from a single IP address indicate suspicious traffic. In this way, the search engine marks the IP address as suspicious and prompts you to perform CAPTCHA requests to prove that you are a real person and not a bot.
The timing of the appearance captcha to all users in different ways. It is difficult to say exactly what it depends on. According to Reddit users, if you make 15-20 Google searches in a row, you will have to solve a CAPTCHA on average every 5-6 searches.
How to deal with CAPTCHA when using a VPN
Use dedicated IP addresses
Unlike shared IP addresses, a dedicated IP address is used only by you. This way, you're less likely to get caught on a CAPTCHA, because Google won't detect multiple traffic sources from the same IP address.
Unfortunately, VPN services do not offer dedicated IP addresses, or they are paid. For example, on NordVpn, a dedicated IP costs $ 70 per year. However, you can create your own VPN service many times cheaper.
Connect to another server
This is not a guaranteed solution, but it can sometimes work. You can also receive CAPTCHA requests if you have a really bad ping, or the server's IP address was marked as suspicious by Google because it received too many search queries from it. If you use a VPN with an extensive network, you can quickly find an alternative server.
Various extensions
Buster is the most optimal option. This is a free and open source tool that solves reCAPTCHA tasks. Buster is quite fast and can process captchas in less than 30 seconds.
"I'm not a robot CAPTCHA clicker" is also mentioned in discussions on this topic, including on Reddit. It is available in Chrome and Firefox. But, as the name suggests, this extension is only useful for the CAPTCHA where you need to click "I'm not a robot". It won't work for captchas where you need to recognize images.
unCAPTCHA
The unCAPTCHA tool can also help. A developer study shows that this tool can solve reCAPTCHA tasks via audio with an 85% success rate. However, this is not for everyone. You can't install it as a browser extension. Instead, you will need to use the command line.
In addition, the developers clearly stated that reCAPTCHA now includes additional protection that limits the success of their application. Therefore, unfortunately, they no longer support this code.If it doesn't work, there's nothing you can do to fix it.
Do not clear cookies
We can't say for sure if this helps or not, as we haven't seen any improvement from it. However, some VPN users on Reddit say they don't clear cookies in their browsers, which helps them get fewer CAPTCHA requests.
If this really works, it's probably because Google, like any other site you visit, sees you as a returned user with a different IP address when you have Cookies in your browser, rather than as a new user with a different IP address. If you have already passed a captcha before, then the system is more likely not to ask you to do it again.
Use different search engines
If you don't want to log in to your Google account while using a VPN, to reduce the risk of encountering a CAPTCHA, you'll have to switch to a different search engine that doesn't use captchas as often. Some decent alternatives include DuckDuckGo, StartPage, and searX.
Try a different browser
There's a chance you won't get as many CAPTCHA requests if you use a more privacy-oriented web browser when connecting to a VPN. So instead of Chrome or Opera, try Firefox, for example.
Try less popular VPN providers
Less popular VPNs have fewer users, so Google is less likely to flag the IP addresses of their servers as suspicious. If you often use Google when connecting to a VPN, you might want to purchase a paid plan to use it as a fallback option. However, before using such a VPN provider, you must first make sure that it is secure and does not collect data.
Google keeps asking you to choose traffic lights or pictures of buses that don't end in any way, every time you use it when you're connected to a VPN?
Then you're dealing with CAPTCHA requests. You may be used to seeing them on web pages and forums, but do they also appear on Google? Usually not. But you'll start seeing them more and more often if you use Google under a VPN.
We offer you a translation of the technical media resource TechNadu's short guide on what a CAPTCHA is, why it is used, and how to deal with it when using a VPN.
What is a CAPTCHA and why is it used?
CAPTCHA comes from "Completely Automated Public Test (to Tell) Computers and Humans Apart", which translates as "a Fully automated public forum to separate computers and humans". As the name suggests, CAPTCHA is a test that is easy for humans to pass, but difficult for computers. The aim was to help the sites to distinguish real users from bots.
Websites typically use captchas when users want to open an account, post a review, leave a comment, or buy a product. The goal is to detect and prevent automated scripts and bots from performing these tasks, so that the site is not bombarded with spam. In addition, captchas are also used to protect websites from cyber threats. For example, they can act as an effective barrier against DDoS attacks.
As for why Google uses CAPTCHA, it is very likely that their servers are protected from malicious traffic in this way. Also, according to them, they use CAPTCHA to prevent unauthorized login to the account.
Why do you see the CAPTCHA if you are using VPN?
This is because almost all VPN services use shared IP addresses. This means that you share an IP address with many other VPN users.
And from Google's point of view, multiple search queries from a single IP address indicate suspicious traffic. In this way, the search engine marks the IP address as suspicious and prompts you to perform CAPTCHA requests to prove that you are a real person and not a bot.
The timing of the appearance captcha to all users in different ways. It is difficult to say exactly what it depends on. According to Reddit users, if you make 15-20 Google searches in a row, you will have to solve a CAPTCHA on average every 5-6 searches.
How to deal with CAPTCHA when using a VPN
Use dedicated IP addresses
Unlike shared IP addresses, a dedicated IP address is used only by you. This way, you're less likely to get caught on a CAPTCHA, because Google won't detect multiple traffic sources from the same IP address.
Unfortunately, VPN services do not offer dedicated IP addresses, or they are paid. For example, on NordVpn, a dedicated IP costs $ 70 per year. However, you can create your own VPN service many times cheaper.
Connect to another server
This is not a guaranteed solution, but it can sometimes work. You can also receive CAPTCHA requests if you have a really bad ping, or the server's IP address was marked as suspicious by Google because it received too many search queries from it. If you use a VPN with an extensive network, you can quickly find an alternative server.
Various extensions
Buster is the most optimal option. This is a free and open source tool that solves reCAPTCHA tasks. Buster is quite fast and can process captchas in less than 30 seconds.
"I'm not a robot CAPTCHA clicker" is also mentioned in discussions on this topic, including on Reddit. It is available in Chrome and Firefox. But, as the name suggests, this extension is only useful for the CAPTCHA where you need to click "I'm not a robot". It won't work for captchas where you need to recognize images.
unCAPTCHA
The unCAPTCHA tool can also help. A developer study shows that this tool can solve reCAPTCHA tasks via audio with an 85% success rate. However, this is not for everyone. You can't install it as a browser extension. Instead, you will need to use the command line.
In addition, the developers clearly stated that reCAPTCHA now includes additional protection that limits the success of their application. Therefore, unfortunately, they no longer support this code.If it doesn't work, there's nothing you can do to fix it.
Do not clear cookies
We can't say for sure if this helps or not, as we haven't seen any improvement from it. However, some VPN users on Reddit say they don't clear cookies in their browsers, which helps them get fewer CAPTCHA requests.
If this really works, it's probably because Google, like any other site you visit, sees you as a returned user with a different IP address when you have Cookies in your browser, rather than as a new user with a different IP address. If you have already passed a captcha before, then the system is more likely not to ask you to do it again.
Use different search engines
If you don't want to log in to your Google account while using a VPN, to reduce the risk of encountering a CAPTCHA, you'll have to switch to a different search engine that doesn't use captchas as often. Some decent alternatives include DuckDuckGo, StartPage, and searX.
Try a different browser
There's a chance you won't get as many CAPTCHA requests if you use a more privacy-oriented web browser when connecting to a VPN. So instead of Chrome or Opera, try Firefox, for example.
Try less popular VPN providers
Less popular VPNs have fewer users, so Google is less likely to flag the IP addresses of their servers as suspicious. If you often use Google when connecting to a VPN, you might want to purchase a paid plan to use it as a fallback option. However, before using such a VPN provider, you must first make sure that it is secure and does not collect data.
