Using a VPN normally directs all your web traffic via a secure encrypted tunnel, protecting it from Snoopers. But if your VPN connection falls? Your device can move to a less secure network, such as an insecure Wi-Fi access point, put your data at risk – the same danger that has persuaded you to register for a VPN in the first place.
A kill VPN switch detects a deposited VPN connection and immediately blocks your Internet access, ensuring that traffic never leaves your unprotected device. It’s the theory, at least. But does your application really give it really? You can start to know in just minutes.
- Check your current Internet connection
The first step of running a simple game switching test is to check the details of your regular Internet connection (all you use when the VPN is turned off).
Disconnect your VPN and turn a look. If you do not know where to do that, check the Settings panel: NordVPN has a game switching section, ExpressVPN has a network lock option on the General tab.
Head to the page of the page page, a practical site that can automatically update the URL chosen at regular intervals.
Copy and paste http://ip-api.com/csv in the page recycling address box and set the ‘Refresh at each …’ check box on a 1 second box.
Click Start and page CoverRefer Opens a new browser tab with your current IP address and location, and then refreshes it every second.
When you see these details in the page recycling window, you know that your device uses your current unprotected Internet connection. Use a VPN and its play switch should prevent you from accidentally returning to the connection, but that’s what happens? Let’s see.
- Log in to your VPN
Turn your VPN Kill ON switch, and choose a VPN location in another country (anywhere that this country is watching you now), press the Connect button and look at the page recycling window.
You will probably see error messages or “no internet” for a few seconds, but it often happens because the network settings are updated. Once the VPN says it is connected, wait a few more seconds, and the window should display the IP address and location of your VPN.
You are now ready for your first test. If your kill VPN switch disables the Internet access entirely when you are not connected to the VPN, simply click the disconnect button on your application and look at the page recycling window.
If you see the location of your regular connection, even briefly, it means that the kill switch does not block the traffic of the page recycling page. This could be of greater importance if it was just a second or two, but it could be a problem if it lasts longer.
But if the kill switch works as appropriate, you will see that the VPN IP address disappears, immediately replaced by a blank window, or maybe DNS error messages or “no internet”. And when you reconnect, the error messages must be replaced by the IP address and the location of the VPN, without you never see the details of your normal connection.
(If it looks like your VPN failed, be sure to be very clear how the application kill switch should work before you complain about your supplier or completely the service. NordVPN’s Windows Kill Switch Blocks your Internet Unless you are connected to the VPN, our test applies. But ExpressVPN does not hit if the connection falls unexpectedly: it will not activate if it is enough to disconnect.)
- Change your VPN location
Then, log in to your VPN, then (if your application allows it), try to switch to another location while looking at the page recycling window.
Most applications now close your first connection, and then start establishing the next one.
If the kill switch works, it should hit as soon as the first connection closes. The page recycling window must move from your IP address and VPN location, on “No Internet” or similar errors during reconnection, then go directly to the new VPN IP address.
But if the game switch does not protect you completely, you will see a chance to see your true IP and place after closing the first VPN connection. This can only be for a few seconds, the time required to establish the second connection, but it always indicates that the kill switch does not properly work.
- Put the VPN connection forcibly
The main objective of a Tuer VPN switch is to protect yourself from an abandoned connection. It is not easy to simulate that, but you can disrupt your VPN connection and see if the Kill switch records.
If you are on a mobile device and you are connected to Wi-Fi, for example, exit the router range. If you have more than one network available, try moving from one to the other. Or if you are at home, turn your router again.
The idea is to break your current connection forcibly and see how the application behaves. Does this warn you that the connection has dropped, for example? Does he reconnect automatically? (Otherwise, check your application settings, there may be an option to summarize that.)
And, crucial, does the game switch properly block Internet access, so the page of recycling the page indicates only your IP address and VPN place? Or do you see your original location, at least briefly, until the application can reconnect to your VPN?
All you try, keep in mind that killing the switch efficiency can vary depending on the platform: just because your Android VPN application does well, it does not mean that it will protect you on the iPhone or the Office computers. Ideally, run at least some tests on each type of device where you use the VPN.
Succeed or fail?
Let’s be Frank: This is probably about about the basic basic switch test you will get. There are many important problems that it will not catch. VPNs may not properly direct DNS traffic via the tunnel, for example, but there is no way to spot this here.
This means that you should pay attention to your interpretation of the results. If an application seems to work well, you never broadcast your VPN IP in the page recycling window, so it’s better than a lot. But that does not guarantee that its play switch is without bug. There may be other problems that we are just not identified.
The actual value of the test addresses to find applications that fail. You may not be able to say with certainty if a game switch works in each situation, but identify applications that do not yet do very useful – especially when a test is as fast and easy as it.
