Snoopers Charter VPN advice needed

[ontodva]

With the Snoopers Charter coming soon in the UK, I intend to start using a VPN service. Disregarding issues of the VPN logging user details or leaving my IP address discoverable, what other potential personal information leaks should I be aware of?

For instance, websites take a machine ID, package and sell it on. What would using a VPN do to protect against, say Google matching my machine ID when not using the VPN (they have this ID now) with my VPN-enabled sessions? Or would it be the machine ID of the VPN server that is collected?

If I don't use the VPN before and during all online activity, can I be matched and identified using browser persistent storage? Would I have to track down and eliminate all persistent storage and cookies before the first time I use the VPN?

Is P2P secured? Is Usenet secured?

Should I quit the VPN before signing in to webmail or any other subscribed website?

I assume I will have to kill my Windows logon and switch to a local-only account.

Currently my ISP uses IPV4 and dynamic IP allocation. I won't use TOR - it is way too slow.

 

[Mike]

Assume all communications are monitored. I don't think anything is secure. Sure, there are some forms of encryption that might take a supercomputer to crack, but it can be cracked. I used VyprVPN recently and was very impressed. However, OpenVPN is called OpenVPN because it is an open source protocol. The other protocols may have already been broken by someone out there. AES encryption might already have been broken by "someone out there". No one should assume their data is truly private when they browse online. That is my strict opinion of things, but I will leave others to comment further.