VPN

I am thinking about setting up a VPN. One reference that seems pretty good (and clear) is

http://www.pcworld.com/article/21056...windows_7.html for Win 7

However one of the first steps is "Enter the IP address or domain name of the server to which you want to connect"

Question 1. How do I determine what server to use? Are there lists of such servers?

Question 2. Once I set up the VPN, can I easily toggle back and forth between using it and not? I expect to need to use the VPN only occasionally and would use my normal internet connection most of the time.

That link doesn't work for me.

Did you try Hamachi?
http://lifehacker.com/5902468/how-to...n-with-hamachi

That link seems ok to me. I've deleted my original answer because I realized I may have read the question incorrectly.

I think there is a problem with the certificate on pcworld.com. I'm behind a proxy right now, so that could be the issue.

I haven't used Hamach in a while, so I'm not sure what changes Logmein made after they bought it. Still, I think it's worth a shot.

Jim:

Are you trying to connect to home network? Or just surf privately in public places? It's not clear to me.

HAN--Thanks for responding.
This is a home computer, the only PC I own. I guess I am connected to a home network since I do use a router and Windows calls it a "Home Network".

Do you want to surf everywhere online using a VPN or just connect to a specific remote computer?

Jim:

The VPN type the article is talking about is making a connection from say, your home to your office or perhaps from a laptop back to your home or office. Not from your home to some generic endpoint.

If I'm understanding things right, it sounds like you just want to surf privately to the web from your home. Yes? Using something like proXPN https://proxpn.com/ would be more to what you're wanting. There are many other services like this.

The thing is, IMO, private surfing to the general internet is a myth. There can be somewhat private surfing but not 100%. Unless the VPN is only yours (such as the home to office example I gave), general surfing from something like proXPN means your surfing has to exit from some server somewhere in the world. That exit point can be monitored by who knows who or what.

Same thing using TOR https://www.torproject.org/ TOR users think they are anonymous. A little research proves them wrong.

Bottom line, with all the hackers, NSA type spying and government internet intrusion that is going on around the world, private browsing is limited in scope.

HAN--Thanks for helping me understand.
My purpose is to surf online and hide my location, but only from time to time.
I have not installed proXPN yet since it is not clear to me if it allows easy toggling back to regular (non proxy) use.
I did a little Googling and a site of interest is http://proxy.org/cgi_proxies.shtml . It seems to allow one time use of a proxy server with no installing. That would be ideal. Do you have any comment on that site and what it offers?

1) The only catch to using VPN is that you have to trust your VPN provider.

2) If what you are planning to do might be of interest to the likes of the NSA, recommend avoiding US based providers.

As Doc notes, I would not use any kind of VPN/proxy that I didn't trust implicitly. All of your traffic would be passing through it.

Sorry but I don't get any warm and fuzzy feelings from the site you listed. No way I can see to vet things at all.

Seems like Steve or Train mentioned using a VPN service here recently. But maybe I am imagining it... I'm not getting any younger!!

I said I would stay clear of VPN for general usage. Per Doc's note as it is my thinking too.