Keep the VPN Connection Box from Popping Up

VPN connections (virtual private networks) are wonderful. I use one to connect to work several times per week. I can do all sorts of handy things: surf the network, grab files, print to my office. But one annoyance has been bugging me for a good while now, and I’ve just been putting up with it. Seemingly at random moments, the VPN connection box would just pop up for no reason.

I finally got tired of clicking the cancel button, and decided to figure out just what was causing this problem. Turns, out that Internet Explorer was the culprit, even though I only use Firefox.

VPN Popping up and Internet Explorer

Like I said, even though I don’t use Internet Explorer, it was still causing the VPN connection box to pop up. Internet Explorer was considering the VPN connection as a default connection. It’s no wonder that this was giving me trouble since IE is also so tightly weaved into the operating system. It also explains why I was seeing this even though I only use Firefox.

To keep the vpn connection box from popping up, all you have to do is open up Internet Explorer, click Tool > Options and then click on the Connections tab.

On the Connections tab, select the VPN connection listed under “Dial-up and VPN Connections” and click the remove button. Yeah, that screen is from Internet Explorer 6. If you’re using IE7 (you poor thing!) I imagine the process would be similar. Just find the Options window and look for connections setting.