ExpressVPN

About ExpressVPN

The practical case for a tunnel client is narrower than the marketing suggests but real: traffic on a public wireless network is visible to anyone else on it, a hotel or airport network sees every hostname requested, and some networks tamper with connections outright. Routing through an encrypted tunnel removes that entire class of problem, whatever else it does or does not do.

This client is built around getting connected without configuration. One control connects to a recommended location, the server list covers a wide spread of regions with a search box, and the protocol choice can be left automatic or forced to a specific one when a restrictive network blocks the default. Connections come back on their own after a laptop wakes or changes network.

The kill switch is the feature worth understanding. If the tunnel drops unexpectedly, network access is held rather than falling back to the ordinary connection, which prevents the quiet leak that happens when a client reconnects silently in the background. It can be set to block only until the tunnel returns, or to block until manually released.

Split tunnelling is controlled per application rather than only by address range, so a backup client, a printer utility or a work application can be kept outside the tunnel while everything else goes through it. There is also an encrypted resolver so name lookups travel inside the tunnel rather than leaking to the local network.

What is included in this build

• Wide server location list with search and a recommended location control
• Automatic or manually forced protocol selection for restrictive networks
• Kill switch holding all traffic if the tunnel drops unexpectedly
• Split tunnelling controlled per application as well as by address range
• Encrypted name resolution carried inside the tunnel
• Automatic reconnection after sleep or a network change
• Optional connection at system startup before the desktop loads
• Connection diagnostics for identifying a blocked or throttled path

Changed in version 14.2.0.13656

• Faster connection establishment on first connect
• Improved behaviour on networks that block the default protocol
• Split tunnel rules now survive an application update correctly
• Lower processor use while connected
• Refreshed server location list

Installation walkthrough

These steps assume a clean machine. If a previous release of the same application is present, deal with that first, since an overlapping install is the most common cause of a setup that stops halfway.

1. Disconnect and uninstall any other tunnel client, since competing virtual adapters break routing.
2. Extract the archive and run the installer as administrator.
3. Allow the network adapter driver to install when prompted.
4. Reboot once so the adapter registers with the networking stack.
5. Enable the kill switch and add any local ranges to split tunnelling before relying on it.

System requirements and file details

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