[BiPolar_Nut]

The P is for Private, which refers to the network routing only, not encryption. VPN's typically are encrypted, but they do not need to be.

I would consider it unprofessional, but arguably may not be necessary. The VPN tunnel itself is what would be encrypted...meaning traffic leaving the computer running the VPN client would be encrypted to the VPN server, then decrypted and sent to the rest of the world. Right now, without a VPN, you are sending the same unencrypted data you'd be sending if you were running through an unencrypted VPN. The only difference is you are changing the route the data takes.

Instead of your data going from Home to ISP to Internet Router A to Internet Router B to Internet Router C blah blah blah, your traffic would go from Home to ISP to VPN server to VPN server's ISP to Internet router X to Internet Router Y to internet Router Z etc. On an encrypted VPN, the hops from your Home to the VPN server only would have an additional layer of encryption. The path the data takes from the VPN server to the final destination would remain "normal".

VPN encryption/non-encryption will not affect your https or other encrypted traffic. Meaning, your poker logins, paypal password, etc will still be encrypted the same as if you were connecting directly from home without a VPN.