US Vista Network/IP Gateway problems on Dorm Wifi

[rivaroonie]

I have a Dell Studio 15. And am using Windows Vista Home Premium.
I bought it in the US and now am studying in Italy. I can connect to the campus wifis and several points around the city but my dorm wifi network seems to have trouble. I did the diagnostics test and my Gateway IP fails. I was wondering how I can manipulate my computer settings/network settings in order to pass it.

Symptoms:
When I use either Chrome, Mozilla, or Explorer I am prompted to sign into my the networks Access page. that loads quickly. i sign in. and access is granted everytime to the network main page. then i'll type in google.com or facebook.com or whatever and it will connect (after a few seconds) but from there on out navigation is limited. for instance, google.com lets me search for something. the queries pop up but then i am not able to follow the links...i get Network Timeout, or Unable to access Internet, or Cannot find Page, etc...

i'm hoping i don't have to switch off vista because other people in the dorm can access it fine with vista.

i apologize for the lengthiness but i'm semi-desperate.


thanks for reading

[EINSTEIN_007]

It has to do something with your connection or either Vista. Read up the MS article here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933872

[Jackson2]

Adding a gateway

• Select Network => Branch Office VPN => Manual IPSec.
  
• The IPSec Configuration dialog box appears. The Manual IPSec menu option is disabled if you have a Firebox 500 and have not purchased the BOVPN Upgrade.
  
• Click Gateways.
  
• The Configure Gateways dialog box appears, as shown in the following figure.
  
• To add a gateway, click Add.
  
• The Remote Gateway dialog box appears, as shown below.
  
• Enter the gateway name.
• This name identifies a gateway only within Policy Manager.
  
• Use the Key Negotiation Type drop-down list to select either ISAKMP (dynamic) or Manual.
  
• Use the Remote ID Type drop-down list to select either IP Address, Domain Name, or User Name.
  
• Enter the gateway IP address or identifier according to your previous selection.
  
• A SOHO using DHCP or PPPoE for its external IP address must use the domain name as the identifier in the Firebox configuration.
  
• Select either the Shared Key or Firebox Certificate option to specify the authentication method to be used. If you select Shared Key, enter the shared key.
  
• These options are available only for ISAKMP-negotiated gateways. The same key must be entered at the remote device.
  
• If you want to define Phase 1 settings, click More.
  
• The Phase 1 settings fields appear, as shown in the following figure. Phase 1 refers to the initial phase of the IKE negotiation. It involves authentication, session negotiation, and key exchange.
  
• In the Local ID Type drop-down list, specify IP Address, Domain Name, or User Name.
  
• In the Authentication field, specify the type of authentication: SHA1-HMAC or MD5-HMAC.
  
• In the Encryption field, enter the type of encryption: DES-CBC or 3DES-CBC.
  
• In the Diffie-Hellman group field, specify the group. WatchGuard supports groups 1 & 2.
  
• Diffie-Hellman refers to a mathematical technique for securely negotatiating secret keys over a public medium. Diffie-Hellman groups are collections of parameters used to achieve this. Group 2 is more secure than group 1, but requires more time to compute the keys.
  
• If you choose, select the checkbox marked Enable Perfect Forward Secrecy.
  
• When this option is selected, each new key that is negotiated is derived by a new Diffie-Hellman exchange instead of from only one Diffie-Hellman exchange.
  
• Enabling this option provides more security, but requires more time because of the additional exchange.
  
  
• If you choose, select the checkbox marked Enable Aggressive Mode.
  
• Mode refers to an exchange of messages in Phase 1. Main Mode is the default.
  
• Specify negotiation timeouts in either kilobytes, hours, or both.
  
• If you specify both, the timeout occurs at whichever time arrives earliest.
  
• When you finish adding gateways, click OK to return to the IPSec Configuration dialog box

[Techno01]

Editing and removing a gateway

To edit a gateway, from the Configure Gateways dialog box:

1. Select the gateway and click Edit.

The Remote Gateway dialog box appears.

2. Make changes according to your security policy preferences and click OK.

To remove a gateway, from the Configure Gateways dialog box, select the gateway and click Remove.