Using a VPN gives you some extra protection/privacy when browsing the net from your laptop on a public or work network. If you haven’t done so yet, then head over to itshidden.com and sign up for a free account. Keep in mind that this is really only meant to be used for browsing, the free account is not an option for P2P or similar heavy usage. A paid account will give you a static IP with port fowarding and better speeds.
The following instructions should work on any Linux distro with GNOME.
First add PPTP support to the Network Manager:
sudo apt-get install network-manager-pptp
Click the Network Manager icon and open VPN Connections > Configure VPN… Click Add… Select the Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol and click Create…
Enter a connection name, add vpn.itshidden.com as the Gateway, and enter your login credentials.
Click Advanced… and select Use Point-to-Point encryption (MPPE). Set security to 128-bit.
Click OK, then Apply. Close the Network Connections window.
You can now connect to the VPN by clicking on the Network Manager icon and selecting the connection under VPN Connections. You will have to restart your PC if the connection fails. Once the connection is established you should see a padlock on the network manager icon. You can also head over to WhatIsMyIPAddress.com to check if it worked.
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November 13th, 2009 on 10:41 am
hi! thanks for the info!
But do you have any idea how to get it working with a paid isHidden account?
November 13th, 2009 on 10:52 am
I don’t have a paid account, but I would have thought that the setup/use is exactly the same.
I had a look through the instructions for XP and the only difference seems to be the host name. So instead of vpn.itshidden.com use vpn-pay.itshidden.com.
Let me know if it works and I’ll update the main post.
November 22nd, 2009 on 10:44 pm
No, it does not work for the paid version, it only does for the free version.
I have contacted itshidden twice already but they don’t reply.
November 27th, 2009 on 8:21 am
Came across the IAPS Security Store the other day. They have a massive amount of security products and vpn services. Its the largest collection of countries I’ve seen from any provider: https://www.intl-alliance.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1
November 27th, 2009 on 2:35 pm
Hey great tutorial, at the moment I am using Crunchbang linux and it worked for about 40 minutes then I disconnected it and went out, came back and tried again and it didn’t work and refuses to work anymore
I am in China on holiday so I can only guess thats the reason.
Thanks for your tutorial though it helped greatly
November 27th, 2009 on 4:04 pm
@Dennis Nedry: Glad to be of help
itshidden.com seems to be pretty popular lately, maybe they have problems keeping up with the bandwidth and connections for the free accounts.
February 27th, 2010 on 3:29 pm
i almost did those but also i can’t do last step “setting up security to 128-bit”and save that
it is automatically becoming “Default” !!
woukd mind plz help me?
tnx