Sometimes, its the little things that make a big difference. I use a Windows VPN connection to access a corporate network. Although I could get to the corporate network, I was restricted in going anywhere else. This wasn't the most productive situation as I needed access to the intranet and internet. After talking to the system administrator we came up with an acceptable solution that might work for you.

{mostip} Before you change your settings, I strongly encourage you to check with your system administrator. There are good reasons why they may not want you to change this setting. And yes, they deal with corporate security. Like many solutions, there are advantages and disadvantages to consider.{/mostip}

My frustration started when I was working on a project where I needed to use an internal test system and a production version on the Internet. Every time I used a VPN connection and tried to access the Internet or use email I would get an error. The typical response was, "The connection has timed out".

Since I'm not a network expert, I asked the company's system administrator. Sure enough, there's a solution called split tunneling. This feature routes your corporate network traffic over the VPN (virtual private network) and non-corporate traffic through your regular internet connection.

To use Split Tunneling,

1. Check with your system administrator.

2. Click your Start button.

3. Select Connect To.

4. Select Show all connections.

5. Find your connection in the Virtual Private Network section.

6. Right-click your VPN and select Properties.

7. Select the Networking tab.

8. Click the Properties button.

9. Click the Advanced button.

10. Uncheck Use default gateway on remote network.

11. Click OK.

After making these changes, I was able to use reach the private intranet and the public Internet. Before this solution, I was either using a second PC or continually logging off the VPN to send emails or access a public resource.

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