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I use a VPN service to protect my packets from being sniffed, altered or blocked. A VPN service has become a necessary tool these days but most people are unaware of why they should have access to one.

Why use a VPN? Real world examples below;

• While in Argentina, I was unable to send email because the ISP in BA blocked all SMTP (port 25) to prevent spam. I would like to send my email but do not want to reconfigure my computer for each city I visit. — Fire up a VPN and I was good to go.
• While visiting a coffee shop in Portland, I notice a want-a-be hacker (733T HaX0r!) being not so subtle about sniffing all the traffic.  — Fire up the VPN and am safe to read my email.
• In a hotel in Southern California, I would like to check my bank account but can see that the hotel has poor tech support allowing me (and everyone else) to see all the other computers in the building. Yep, you got it – Use a VPN service to encrypt my data.

The service I use, is called Witopia (www.Witopia.net)and it works flawlessly in XP but not so with Win7. NASA has a theory about “failing safe”, where if something breaks the critical cargo (people) are still safe or have access to escape. Witopia for Win7 does not fail safe!

Issue;

If you install the program normally in Windows 7, the service will connect up to the remote exit point (Hong Kong/LA/DC/London/ect) and will tell you that it is connected and encrypted. At this point, all your data should be shunted over the VPN only. This may or may not be true as discovered by visiting a IP trace website (http://en.utrace.de/) to see your real exit point.

Solution;

You must run Witopia’s personalVPN in “Administrator Mode” for the data to be sent to the right exit point but it will not warn you of this! Do not trust the program’s communication.

Be sure to follow all the instructions for Witopia personal VPN and not rely on the program to tell you if it worked or not.

You can read more about VPN here.