About three weeks ago my Win 7 started showing a strangely changed behaviour. I do not always use a VPN, I tend to use it on about half the sites I use. So, when needed, I simply activate it, and kept on doing what I was doing. But know, this is no longer possible. Now, without exception I get a notice that the site cannot be loaded. Quite obviously someone's software has realized that my IP has changed. Could be Win 7, could be Firefox (or palemoon). Even if it is possible, you are sent on these wild goose chases through half a dozen captchas... Does anybody know who does, it never happened before July 2017, or a way to avoid it? Thank You
The problem is two fold. First is that the IP you get assigned might be, or just added to a list of black listed IP addresses, or it may originate in a foreign country that many sites will block. The second is that some sites will not allow any connections at all if you are using a VPN. Target.com comes to mind. There are many others. If you have a Gmail account you will get challenged if you attempt to log in using a VPN that has a different IP address than you usually have. One way to minimize the hassle, is to select a specific location you VPN provider has. It might be something like USA West, East etc. This will usually give you a specific range of IP addresses, for example, 195.32.145.xxx where the IP address in the last subnet (xxx) change but the first three (195.32.145) remain constant. This method seems to keep most sites happy but you may still get challenged by Banking or other financial sites. You can get around this, by updating your security settings at the various institutions an include a cell phone number. They will text you a verification code and after you enter it, you can gain access to the site. And to make matters worse, your VPN provider might change something internally, like PIA recently did, that will add to the problem. .
I answered to this yesterday... what happened? „First is that the IP you get assigned might be, or just added to a list of black listed IP addresses, or it may originate in a foreign country that many sites will block.” That is nonsense. All it takes is cleaning the cache and a computer restart, and it will connect. “The second is that some sites will not allow any connections at all if you are using a VPN.” Again nonsense. ALL THOSE sites are accessable with or without VPN, just switching between these two kinds of connection is not possible. And that is exactly what I actually wrote “One way to minimize the hassle, is to select a specific location you VPN provider has. It might be something like USA West, East etc.” It of course has nothing at all to do with which location I choose, it is the same with everyone. And suggesting the usage of a location in one of the five eyes states is not such a good idea in the first place… “And to make matters worse, your VPN provider might change something internally, like PIA recently did, that will add to the problem.” PIA changed its set-up 10 weeks (and made an enormous mess of it, which seems to have been fixed according to the PIA page on reddit) this change happened two weeks ago...