Installing personalVPN-SSL on Windows
From Witopiawiki
Overview
The following are detailed (perhaps, overly so) instructions on how to activate your personalVPN™ service(s) with WiTopia.
We’ve automated a lot of the process versus the competition, but a VPN is still a complex network security service so we’d recommend skimming through them once before jumping in. Then, proceed carefully and you should join the ranks of the fashionably encrypted within a few minutes.
REGISTRATION
CLICK HERE and enter your ORD# and e-mail address from your Order Confirmation e-mail. Then, click “Submit.”
Note: If you also purchased a PPTP account with WiTopia, you will need to register it separately.
ACTIVATION
CLICK "Submit," and in a few moments a screen should load with a "Build it" Button.
DO NOT HIT BACK BUTTON OR RELOAD
If you receive an error, go back and check your ORD# or e-mail address for extra spaces or typos. The fields are case-sensitive.
CLICK "Build it" button to create your customized personalVPN™ Installation Package.
DO NOT HIT BACK BUTTON OR RELOAD
DOWNLOADING
RIGHT-CLICK on the link displayed and BOOKMARK it. This will allow you to download your custom installer if you ever lose it.
All bookmarked? Okay, CLICK on link to download your Installer Package. A box should appear on your PC inviting you to Download personalVPN_Installer.EXE
CLICK “Save File” to Download to your PC.
AFTER INSTALLATION, PLEASE KEEP THIS INSTALLER SOMEPLACE SAFE; PREFERABLY ON A SEPARATE DRIVE OR CD. IF YOU EVER HAVE A HARD DRIVE CRASH, ETC. YOU CAN REINSTALL YOUR VPN IN SECONDS USING IT.
INSTALLING
NOTE for China and other VPN users in censored countries: After you Install, you may need to change certain settings to reach certain sites and/or enjoy best performance, or you will not be able to access certain sites. The most important of these are using our DNS servers versus your ISP's. The instructions for DNS setup and other ways to optimize the performance of your vpn can be found in this link: http://wiki.personalvpn.net/wiki/VPN_Service_Speed_Issues
IMPORTANT: IF YOU HAVE A PREVIOUS VPN INSTALLED MAKE SURE YOU RIGHT-CLICK ON VPN ICON AND "EXIT" AND "UNINSTALL" BEFORE INSTALLING.
WINDOWS VISTA and WINDOWS 7 USERS
Double-click on the new personalVPN_Installer.EXE icon that should now be on your desktop. You may receive an "Unknown Publisher" warning. This is common and you can ignore by clicking "Run".
IMPORTANT: DO NOT CHANGE ANY INSTALLATION OPTIONS INCLUDING INSTALL LOCATION ON C DRIVE.
WINDOWS XP USERS
YOU MAY RECEIVE A WARNING ABOUT THE TAP-Win32 Adapter V9 not passing "Windows Logo Testing."
This occurs as openVPN must install a virtual ethernet adapter to function. This is an outdated warning and does not happen on later versions of Windows. IGNORE THIS WARNING and CLICK “Continue Anyway” button.
YOU MUST RUN personalVPN™ AS ADMINISTRATOR
WINDOWS VISTA and WINDOWS 7 USERS
RIGHT-CLICK on "personalVPN" icon and SELECT “Run as administrator” and the icon should also appear in your taskbar in lower right-hand corner of screen.
WINDOWS XP USERS
DOUBLE-CLICK on the "personalVPN" icon on your Desktop and an icon should appear in your taskbar in lower right-hand corner with two RED monitor screens.
XP users can simply click CONNECT from this icon BUT WILL STILL NEED TO BE RUNNING YOUR PC AS ADMINISTRATOR FOR VPN TO CONNECT.
OK, LET'S CONNECT!
Assume you want to connect to our server pool in Washington, DC, simply, RIGHT-CLICK on the GUI icon in your lower taskbar and choose the WASH DC METRO Gateway then select “Connect”.
A connection log should run and the screens should go from YELLOW to GREEN and a 10.x.x.x IP address will be assigned.
That's it. You should now be connected to our Dulles, Virginia (Washington DC Metro) VPN Gateway!
Let's go ahead and TEST and TROUBLESHOOT any issues below before you DISCONNECT and try another gateway.
TESTING YOUR personalVPN™ - SSL (openVPN)
To make sure that you are fully secured and anonymized, Click Here and you should see a different IP address displayed instead of your ISP’s and the location of the Secure Gateway your are connected to. WiTopia does "stealth" servers in a variety of ways so it may not say "WiTopia" and the location may also not seem to match because there are many geolocation databases out there and many are not accurate, unfortunately. Rest assured the server is where we say it is so feel free to perform a traceroute http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traceroute to verify if you wish.
NOT CONNECTING? - Common Issues
If you still see your ISP's IP address and your location, RIGHT-CLICK on icon and “Exit” then MAKE CERTAIN you are running as ADMINISTRATOR by RIGHT-CLICKING on the original "personalVPN" DESKTOP icon and select "Run as administrator". This is most common error. You can also try #8 on the personalVPN™ SSL FAQ.
If it doesn't connect at all, look at #13 on the personalVPN™ SSL FAQ as you may have a personal firewall or local firewall blocking.
If you have no "connect" option at all and see "About, proxy settings, and Exit" you likely did not install as administrator, did not install to default location on C Drive, or something else (possibly your UAC settings if using Vista) prevented your VPN files from being installed properly. See #8 on the personalVPN™ SSL FAQ to correct your "permissions" and then Uninstall and Reinstall your Windows_PVPN_Installer.EXE package and, if all defaults are followed, including install location on C Drive, a connect option should appear.
If none of that works, RIGHT-CLICK your VPN icon and VIEW a connection log (if you can) and send the complete log to us at support@witopia.net to start a trouble ticket with a Support Agent. Please also include your OS (Vista, XP, etc.), Order Information, and a description of what occurred and we'll get you fixed up right away.
SEEM ABNORMALLY SLOW?
Some loss in download speed is normal due to encryption and distance, but often browsing speeds can actually improve or seem "snappier" as you se the VPN. What we're looking for here is if the VPN is dramatically slower than regular connection. If so, please check out http://wiki.personalvpn.net/wiki/VPN_Service_Speed_Issues
USING WITOPIA'S GLOBAL VPN NETWORK (Choosing the Best Gateway for you)
WiTopia has hundreds of VPN servers around the globe and will continually be adding more. Unlike others, we allow customers unlimited and instantaneous switching between these gateways as well as access to our special servers that allow for TCP 443 access and 256-bit (or what competitors mistakenly call 2048 bit) encryption.
Again, we pre-load this capability so there are no more files to install or complicated configuration changes. All servers are instantaneously available by simply choosing them in the pulldown menu and we'll do the heavy-lifting.
Right click on the gui icon, then CLICK Disconnect. YOU MUST DISCONNECT FROM A GATEWAY BEFORE SELECTING A DIFFERENT ONE.
After disconnecting, you are free to reconnect to any Gateway or special server you wish, whenever you like. Again, this is a key advantage of WiTopia versus others who don't allow switching or make it exceedingly difficult. Enjoy the network. We are proud of it.
CHOOSING A VPN GATEWAY CITY IN GENERAL
For best performance, usually choosing the closest city is best. HOWEVER, that is not always the case so you should feel free to experiment. For example, many China VPN users find California cities much faster than Hong Kong, Tokyo, or Singapore even though we maintain ample capacity at each gateway.
Cities in CAPS are where we maintain the greatest number of servers as well as an especially varied mix of ISPs and data center providers. Again, versus competitors, "our backups have backups."
Other cities still have ample server capacity and diversity, of course, but they are smaller in scale until traffic warrants adding additional servers.
TCP 443
This selection is useful if you suspect a congestion or "dirty line" issue somewhere between you and the WiTopia VPN gateway or find that the standard configuration is blocked at a location. It does, however have higher overhead so should be used only when needed.
256-bit
This selection may be useful if you are being pursued by "probing" extraterrestrials and/or the Illuminati and the tin foil wrapped around your computer is not keeping them from hacking your Facebook account.
In all seriousness, it would take thousands of years to break correctly deployed 128-bit encryption so you don't really need it and 256-bit encryption may yield slower performance.
But, when when we saw competitors offering 256-bit encryption as possibly a bit of a marketing ploy, or completely misrepresenting reality by calling it "2048-bit encryption" (because the initial certificate exchange of openVPN can be set to that... but the ACTUAL data through tunnel is 128-bit or 256-bit), we realized we needed to offer it as well.
Unlike others, there is no premium to pay. It is there for your unlimited use at no extra charge.
Just know it isn't any more secure in any practical terms and, again, may bog down your performance.
But, if you want it, we got it!
DISCONNECTING AND ONGOING USE
We recommend that you only "Disconnect" and DO NOT "Exit" when you're done using your personalVPN™.
If you "Exit," the icon will disappear and you'll have to relaunch personalVPN by clicking on the desktop icon, or going to Start – All Programs – PersonalVPN.
It's also best to disconnect personalVPN™ when not actively using your computer. If you have left your computer unattended with VPN connected, we recommend you, at least, recheck your IP address to ensure VPN tunnel is still up or, better yet, disconnect and reconnect.
That’s about it. Enjoy your Encryption and Thank You for your business!!
