We’ve written a lot on this blog with regard to the usefulness of a VPN connection. To sum up, it helps you “hide” behind another IP address while keeping the connection encrypted. This is specifically useful for accessing geo-location-limited online resources like Hulu,  Spotify or some online TV shows. Indeed, VPN is some “secret” weapon for overcoming those geolocation limitations – and they work pretty well.

VPN disconnects – An unpleasant surprise

However, for those experienced VPN users, they have surely noticed that, from time to time, VPN connections are cut-even though your internet connection isn’t. This can lead to the tricky situation since you may still be surfing some restricted online resources, thinking that you are protected behind a VPN- which isn’t the case anymore.

So let’s see first some reasons why those VPN connections can be cut. In fact, there can be multiple reasons to that, here are the most usual ones:

• You’ve got a bad internet connection between your computer and the VPN tunnel. This may happen if your internet connection isn’t steady enough. One rule of thumb is that, whenever possible, you chose a VPN endpoint that is close enough to your computer. For example, if you live in China, and that you have to choose between a VPN that ends in London or in Los Angeles: chances are that you’ll have a better connection by choosing the London VPN endpoint. Well, I’m oversimplifying things here, but one thing you have to remember is that what actually matters when it comes to evaluating how close  VPN endpoint is by counting the number of hops between your computer and VPN endpoint. It’s not about measuring geographically the distance
• Your internet connection is overloaded: if that’s the case, then it may happen that some of your VPN packets can’t go through. This may happen under, at least, two conditions: you have some applications on your computer that are eating all the bandwidth (think of P2P applications and downloads), or your internet link is saturated (check with your internet service provider if they’re fair enough to tell you the truth :).

How to handle VPN disconnects

Now let’s see some options that will help you handle those VPN connections outages. Most serious VPN providers come with an app that has the “VPN autoconnect” feature. HideMyAss VPN and PureVPN, for example, come with that feature enabled. I’m sure there are other VPN solutions that exist out there who implement that feature too. But the purpose of this article is to show you some solution is your chosen VPN solution doesn’t come with that feature.

Now, it would be great if a “program” monitors the VPN connection for you so that it stops your connection and reconnects if your VPN connection is cut. And that’s what the opensource solution VPN Lifeguard do. VPN lifeguard is a Windows program that can help you specify some programs that should only be launched provided that a VPN connection is established. There are few caveats though to VPN lifeguard: it doesn’t support OpenVPN, and it has to be run in administrator mode.

If you are on a Linux system, you may want to try VPN Auto-connect for Linux. I haven’t yet found a similar solution for Mac, but if some of the readers know some, feel free to mention it in the comment section.

Conclusion

VPN disconnects can and will happen to every user. It depends on the VPN service how they are handled. The best case is provided by services that constantly monitor the VPN connection and, in case, it drops the app immediately tries to reconnect to the same server or another one. This is the VPN autoconnect feature.

One of my readers asked me about this issue, but as I do not have Windows 7 installed on my computer, I’ve searched for a tutorial on Windows7Hacker.com.

How to setup Windows 7 VPN – PPTP

Step 1.  Open Network and Sharing Center from Control Panel

Step 2. Choose Set up a new connection or network.

Step 3. In the next window, choose to Use my Internet Connection (VPN)

Step 4. Type in the address in either domain name or IP address.

You should receive this information from the VPN service provider. Next, name the connection in the destination name box. Then click Next.

Step 5. In the next window, enter your username and password for the VPN access.

And click Create. You’re all set if you see the next window as below.

Step 6. To launch it, simply click the small network icon on the system tray at the bottom right corner.

Further, pick the connection we just created from the popup list, and Connect.

PPTP VPN alternatives

The PPTP VPN protocol is not the safest choice when it comes to security. It is well known that PPTP was cracked and it is rather unsafe to use it. Fortunately, there are better alternatives. You may either use SSTP, L2TP or OpenVPN.

The simplest way to use a Windows 7 VPN is to download the VPN apps from top VPN providers. These apps not only that simplify the connection (just click on a button, and the connection is automatically set up), but also offer the option to switch between different VPN protocols. Thus, you may choose that one that fits your need best.

You may find below a list of VPN services that I recommend:

Yesterday, I presented how to get your Nexus One phone if you are leaving outside United States, United Kingdom, Hong Kong or Singapore. Today, it’s time to see how to configure a VPN connection and browse anonymously using the new Google phone. Learn about the Nexus One VPN.

Nexus One uses Android 2.1 as the operating system, that includes support for Virtual Private Network (VPN) connectivity. Here is, step by step, how to setup a VPN connection.

How to create a Nexus One VPN connection

Step 1. Press the Home icon, press Menu, and tap Settings

Step 2. Tap Wireless & networks
Step 3. Tap VPN settings

Step 4. Tap Add VPN

Step 5. Select the type of VPN to add (PPTP, L2TP, L2TP/IPSec PSK VPN, L2TP/IPsec CRT VPN)

Step 6. Fill in VPN details such as VPN name, VPN server, etc. (the required settings will depend on the type of VPN service you use).

How to connect to the VPN

Step 1. Press the Home icon, press Menu, and tap Settings
Step 2. Tap Wireless & networks
Step 3.Tap VPN settings (take a look above)
Step 4. The VPN connections you have added are now listed
Step 5. Tap the VPN you wish to connect to
Step 6. A dialog box will open asking for your credentials, enter them and touch Connect.

When connected to a VPN, you will see an ongoing notification in the Status bar on your Nexus One.

How to disconnect from the VPN

You simply open the notifications panel at the top of the screen on your Nexus One and click on the VPN notification, then tap Disconnect.

[Via KnowYourMobile.com]

P.S. If you are looking for a VPN for your phone you should check the following VPN services HideMyAss, ibVPN, NordVPN, ExpressVPN.

How do you connect to VPN on your Google Nexus One? What VPN service do you use? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Windows XP VPN: How to setup a VPN connection

1. Open the Windows Control Panel.
2. Open the Network Connections item in Control Panel. A list of existing dial-up and LAN connections will appear.

3. Then choose the ‘Create a new connection’ item from the left-hand side of the window. The Windows XP New Connection Wizard will appear on the screen. 

4. First, click Next to begin the wizard, then choose the ‘Connect to the network at my workplace’ item from the list and click Next.

5. On the Network Connection page of the wizard, choose the ‘Virtual Private Network connection’ option and click Next.

6. Enter a name for the new VPN connection in the ‘Company Name’ field and click Next. The name chosen need not match the name of an actual business.

7. Choose an option on the ‘Public Network’ screen and click Next. The default option, ‘Automatically dial this initial connection’ can be used if the VPN connection will always be initiated when the computer is not already connected to the Internet. Otherwise, choose the ‘Do not dial the initial connection’ option. This option requires that the public Internet connection is established first before this new VPN connection will be initiated.

8. Enter the name or IP address of the VPN remote access server to connect to, and click Next. Company network administrators will provide this information.

9. Choose an option on the “Connection Availability” screen and click Next. The default option, ‘My Use Only,’ ensures that Windows will make this new connection available only to the currently logged on user. Otherwise, choose the ‘Anyone’s use’ option.

10. Click Finish to complete the wizard. The new VPN connection information has been saved.

Important! In order to be able to set up a VPN connection, you need the hostname and/or IP address of the VPN remote access server.

How does a VPN work?

This truly is a legitimate question. If we think about it, by using a VPN solution, we are redirecting all our traffic into one gateway (the VPN server) so that it manipulates our IP packets, the replaces some headers so that our traffic is seen as originating from the VPN server instead of our actual computer. Well, this is an over-simplified explanation of how a VPN works, but it gives a simple picture of the whole system.

So the concern of our reader is justified. By sending all our traffic to a VPN provider, we are empowering them to screen every bit of our traffic. This means that we now have two gateways:

• First, all the internet traffic that we have goes through our ISP: we can’t overcome it. We always need to have an ISP or gateway that will connect us to the rest of the world,
• Second, we are adding a second layer that also acts as a gateway if we chose to work with a VPN provider.

By using only the ISP, we know that the ISP administrators can screen all your traffic. In order to prevent that, we can use a VPN provider that will encrypt all traffic between you and the VPN provider, thereby preventing the “screening” at the ISP side. But then, how do we make sure that our data aren’t screened at the VPN server-side?

This whole thing doesn’t build trust, does it?

In fact, what we really want to know is the logging that is made on the VPN server side. At the client side, we can eventually see some information when the VPN client is connecting (it shows, for example, the reasons if you can’t connect), but once you are connected, you usually don’t see anything really interesting, even though you enable the verbose mode which should show you more information.

I, for example, checked the log on my VPN client and found out that the log is reporting a lot when initiating the connection (DHCP configuration, handshaking process, …), but since the connection is established, it goes on mute mode. And most of the times, the log format is unreadable for the non-techie person.

The only thing that we can be sure is: at the VPN server side, the service provider can run a packet-sniffer that will log all the traffic – coupled with the VPN logs, they have all the ability to reconstitute your traffic.

Can I check the VPN connection logs?

Back to the initial question: how do we check how our VPN log is traced, I think it all comes down to the same answer: as a client, we can’t. It all depends on how the VPN provider has configured his logging feature on his own servers.  But the same applies to the logs at our ISP: they can trace it all, but as clients, we just can’t have access to those logs (unless you have a federal court order).

VPN services with no logs policy

There are several VPN services that have no logs policy, meaning that they do not keep any logs regarding the VPN connections users make. Take for example, ibVPN, NordVPN, PureVPN, PrivateInternetAccess. Thus, if you are concerned about the logs you may choose one of these providers. Also, just to be sure, read the provider’s logs policy before subscribing.

Do you know other VPN services that declare that they do not keep VPN connection logs? Share them with the comments below.