How do services like http://strongvpn.com/ and http://blacklogic.com/ work?  They say that it masks the IP and without use of a proxy?

Without getting into a complete course on IP addressing and routing, this is the basic difference between Proxy/anonymizer and VPN.

A proxy is just exactly as the name implies. You go there and use there system to get out into the internet. When you do this, you now have a different Public IP address and their service does not track where you came from, so now you are anonymous. This type of behavior is easy to spot (for the most part) and many secure sites or even networks that you are connected to (public networks) do not allow you communicate in this manner.

VPN service works in a similar manner, the difference is that your communication out there in the internet is encrypted. I dont fully understand how they (the website you posted)  can actually say that all your traffic is encrypted while surfing. This type of connection requires a point to point conversation; hence the name PPTP (Point to Point Tunneling Protocol). So since they have no idea where you want to go and cirtainly google is not going to decrypt your message, how are they actually keeping the conversation "secret" the whole time? Maybe I misunderstood! But they are also hiding your IP address because this type of connection actually makes you part of the service provider's network. And that is how your IP address is hidden.

The bummer part of all this is that, there is no reason why we cant just surf the net privately and anonymously. But the fact of the matter is, that there are too many ways to trick our computers to do things that they should not do. And being able to track IP addresses to areas or even your home is something that I like; but with a very large grain of salt.

Getting lengthy now..... unless you are trying to hide, the best option would still be to have your family Remote Desktop to a computer in the US and have that computer just go out to the internet as most of us do.

Just a thought.

I connect to my VPN via a public access point  and then restrict all traffic to that tunnel.

Can I have the computer set the default gateway to my router on the network I am connected to VIA the VPN?

This using the internet and VPN tunnel like a network cable through the internet to my router and then using the internet that is connected to my network.

I have to limit the amount of data because they get charged by the amount of data transfered, so remote desktop would not be very efficient.

Eric,

The way QVPN works (especially with our routers) is the router creates a "static" route to your private IP address through a virtual interface on the router's WAN port. The name of the of this virtual interface is ipsecX (X = 0 or 1...). The router DOES NOT hand out an ip address to the connecting client from a local pool. It simply creates a route to the connected host's ip address. This is used for split tunneling reasons. Split tunneling helps you maintain a high speed connection on both ends.

Therefore, you will only pass traffic that is destined for the remotely connected network through the tunnel, not all traffic. The impact on performance when you do not use split tunneling is severe. It slows the connection at the router's side. There is not a way to change this behavior. The product was designed this way.

Bill

Is their a way to do this using the windows VPN connection?

I found the use remote gateway box in the advanced options.

Is their a way to block all traffic except traffic through the VPN and use that as the internet gateway?

I have tried to set up the built in windows VPN to connect to the router but have not succeded yet.

What settings do I have to have on the router/windows computer to do this?

I have to use a DynDns name for my router because I have a dynamic address.