Virtual Private Networks have their own important place in the networking world. With more and more of us becoming addicted to the whole practice of being online all the time, the reason for using VPN connection is even stronger. If you are using an Internet connection at a place which you cannot trust entirely, using a VPN connection is the best thing which you can do. This is the reason why one should signup for VPN services. More importantly, one should know how to setup a VPN connection in every sort of device. In this tutorial, we will discuss how one can setup SSTP VPN connection in Windows Vista.
Step 1: Create a new connection
The first step would be to create a new connection. This can be done in Vista, by going to the Start menu, and click ‘Connect to’. This opens up the list of connections that are there in your PC. It would also show the current networks you are connected to. In here, click ‘Set up a connection or network’. In the page that comes next, choose ‘Connect to a workplace’. This is what you need to do if you want to connect to VPN service.
Step 2: Details of the VPN connection
After clicking next, you would find a page asking you to choose between dialing directly and using Internet. Click ‘Use my Internet Connection’ (VPN). This would start the setup of the VPN connection. In the next few pages you would need details regarding the VPN service which you are using. These can be found in the configuration email that’s sent to you at the time of the registration with the service.
Enter a name of the VPN connection, followed by the Internet address of the VPN server. This address can be the IP or the complete address. In the next page, type your username and password for the VPN service. You can choose to let the PC remember your credentials, so that you can avoid having to enter the details, every time you want to connect to VPN. After all this, click ‘Create’.
Step 3: Change the properties of the connection
Don’t connect to VPN yet. Click ‘close’ instead of connect now. Then go to ‘Connect to’ again, and you would see the VPN connection you just made. Right click on it, and go to its ‘Properties’. In the ‘Networking’ section of the Properties, you should see the option asking for Type of VPN. In this drop down menu, choose ‘Secure Socket tunneling protocol’ (SSTP). After you have done this, you have successfully setup the connection.
Now you can just connect to the VPN, by simply double clicking the connection name in the ‘Connect to’ option in Start menu. As we can see, setting up VPN connection in Windows Vista doesn’t take too many steps. More importantly, it’s not convoluted at all. Hence, if you want to have a safe and secure web experience, using VPN is the best bet you got.
