Well, since I run Ubuntu Linux in a VirtualBox on my laptop, my first thought was to run the Linux vpnc client. And I got this working – nearly. I got it to connect but then, within 5 minutes or so, it would suddenly stop communicating. The client thought it still had  a connection but nobody was home on the other side.  <heavy sigh> Rather than beat my brains out trying to find a solution to that, I went back to Windows land to search for a third-party solution.

I found my solution in the NCP Secure Entry Client, a $144 software package. Since I didn’t have much of an idea of how the Cisco PIX at the other end was configured, it took me an hour of hit and miss before I finally got my first connection. But I can report that the software is golden and the connection is rock-solid — which it should be since this is the sort of software that you typically get for free, or a least at a hidden cost. There are a multitude of supported options in this software and you definately need to be a techno-geek (or conscript one) to get it configured. But with Windows Vista x64 its really the only option.

Oh, and I will not ever again willingly buy another product from Cisco or Linksys (now a Cisco company) if a customer-friendly competitor’s product is available for the same task. I’ve learned my lesson.