Networklock doesn't work and no minimization

[StylishSpecter 0]

Hi, I've been using AirVPN for a few days and I noticed that Eddie probably isn't quite fully developed yet. On the one hand there is the matter with Networklock I mean if Eddie is running it works perfectly but if you close Eddie for some reason or it is terminated by another process, the connection is immediately free and the actual IP appears. I tested it several times with Automatic with Windows filter control and with iptables on Linux, same result. Why can't Eddie, like other VPNs, keep it that way if desired so that the Internet only works with Eddie or have I overlooked something? Then the things with minimization under Windows will dutifully disappear into the taskbar if desired, but under Linux, despite installing the Gnome extensions for tray icons, I still have to move them to another workspace - only. It's annoying. That's exactly how I ask myself why airvpn doesn't have a double hop, of course because of tor, but does it really make sense that I first have to install and start tor so that Eddie can access it? I do not know. Otherwise I think airvpn is really great, I like the technical details but these are things that annoy me. Maybe I'm just missing something, I'm happy about any suggested solutions.

[Tech Jedi Alex 1499]

1 hour ago, StylishSpecter said:

Why can't Eddie, like other VPNs, keep it that way if desired so that the Internet only works with Eddie or have I overlooked something

This is by design, see for example:

1 hour ago, StylishSpecter said:

That's exactly how I ask myself why airvpn doesn't have a double hop, of course because of tor, but does it really make sense that I first have to install and start tor so that Eddie can access it?

Huh? Of course it does – for supported websites and services. And offering double hop between servers of the same VPN provider does not add anything to privacy, safety or security, it just caters to unnecessary paranoia.
The solid recommendation is to use Tor as it is designed to route traffic through multiple nodes. Much more thorough and battle-tested as when AirVPN would implement something akin to it.

[StylishSpecter 0]

Ok thanks for the answer, it's a shame to see that AIRVPN considers these methods "unnecessary". Recent history has shown that it can be very, very easy to trace data traffic via network analysis or AI traffic analysis. I don't know if you're familiar with the topic, but your ISP can still see the amount of data you send to the VPN and if someone is monitoring the website you're accessing, it's pretty easy if you're only connected to one server with the right means to find out which connection the request came from, whether encrypted or not. That's why it would be nice if AIRVPN also made double hopp available for activation by default to make it a little more difficult for snoopers. I'm not talking about authorities in general, data brokers can also use this technology. I don't think that's paranoia, but rather a real threat to our time. Okay enough technical things about the killswitch are stupid but less bad, assuming you don't catch a virus that then specifically closes VPN programs and thus reveals the true connection, that would be a big problem. I hope that AIRVPN improves this. With my problem minimizing in Linux, you can't tell me anything?

[Tech Jedi Alex 1499]

1 hour ago, StylishSpecter said:

it's a shame to see that AIRVPN considers these methods "unnecessary"

Please don't misunderstand – I'm not an AirVPN team member. My opinions are my own and don't represent AirVPN's or their team's stance on things.
 

1 hour ago, StylishSpecter said:

I don't know if you're familiar with the topic, but your ISP can still see the amount of data you send to the VPN and if someone is monitoring the website you're accessing, it's pretty easy if you're only connected to one server with the right means to find out which connection the request came from, whether encrypted or not.

I'm not worried in the least in that regard – I live in a constitutional democracy currently.  If I want anonymity, I use Tor, and this is frequently recommended across these forums, too.
 

1 hour ago, StylishSpecter said:

That's why it would be nice if AIRVPN also made double hopp available for activation by default to make it a little more difficult for snoopers.

If you want to make it "much more difficult" instead of just "a little more difficult", use Tor. Double Hop is a feature requiring tremendous work to implement, but yielding little effect.
 

1 hour ago, StylishSpecter said:

I don't think that's paranoia, but rather a real threat to our time.

It's nothing but paranoia. VPNs are used by a very specific, niche clientele. And the majority of that clientele are file sharers aka torrenters who need a pseudonymous IP address.
Again, if you need more or less absolute anonymity, use Tor, not a VPN. Although, it is a strong combination.
 

1 hour ago, StylishSpecter said:

assuming you don't catch a virus that then specifically closes VPN programs and thus reveals the true connection

If I were someone writing malware, this'd be waaaaaay down my priority list. I'd concentrate on wringing money out of you personally, for me personally, by checking your drives for bank and credit card data, extracting website and mail credentials, forging nice messages for you to fall for, or simply encrypting your drive and making you pay for the decryption key. No one will break into your PC to kill some VPN connection  I mean, what'd be in it for the attacker?
 

1 hour ago, StylishSpecter said:

With my problem minimizing in Linux, you can't tell me anything?

It's honestly a bit difficult to answer. Eddie's behavior is rather inconsistent between all platforms, and on Linux even between different desktops, network managers and init systems.

[StylishSpecter 0]

47 minutes ago, Tech Jedi Alex said:

Please don't misunderstand – I'm not an AirVPN team member. My opinions are my own and don't represent AirVPN's or their team's stance on things.

Yes, I know that but I've been following the other posts here and I've noticed that you're an active writer, so you'll most likely know more about the practices and background of AIRVPN than most people here.
 

49 minutes ago, Tech Jedi Alex said:

'm not worried in the least in that regard – I live in a constitutional democracy currently.  If I want anonymity, I use Tor, and this is frequently recommended across these forums, too.

Since the latest leaks showed that 84% of all Tor exit notes are operated by the FBI, I'm staying away from it, if at all only via onion sites, but unfortunately most websites don't offer any yet
 

51 minutes ago, Tech Jedi Alex said:

If you want to make it "much more difficult" instead of just "a little more difficult", use Tor. Double Hop is a feature requiring tremendous work to implement, but yielding little effect.

It may have a manageable effect, but as contradictory as it sounds, I trust hacktivists who run a VPN like AIRVPN significantly more than the FBI who run a TOR exit node

53 minutes ago, Tech Jedi Alex said:

It's nothing but paranoia. VPNs are used by a very specific, niche clientele. And the majority of that clientele are file sharers aka torrenters who need a pseudonymous IP address.
Again, if you need more or less absolute anonymity, use Tor, not a VPN. Although, it is a strong combination.

That may be the case, but the TOR project itself and AIRVPN also advises against using torrent via tor because it could even harm the network. VPNs have long since emerged from the niche, some have one because they believe the baseless marketing promises and others just want a little more privacy, fewer trackers and that the service provider doesn't see what preferences you share with the hamster, for example ;-) 

56 minutes ago, Tech Jedi Alex said:

If I were someone writing malware, this'd be waaaaaay down my priority list. I'd concentrate on wringing money out of you personally, for me personally, by checking your drives for bank and credit card data, extracting website and mail credentials, forging nice messages for you to fall for, or simply encrypting your drive and making you pay for the decryption key. No one will break into your PC to kill some VPN connection  I mean, what'd be in it for the attacker?

You'll laugh just recently, that's exactly what happened -. Hackers had injected malware into company software and Chatgpt that was supposed to do exactly that, end all processes and then distribute malware or connect the computer to a bot network.
 

1 hour ago, Tech Jedi Alex said:

It's honestly a bit difficult to answer. Eddie's behavior is rather inconsistent between all platforms, and on Linux even between different desktops, network managers and init systems.

Yes Eddie is like the nice aunt who smooches you at every family celebration, she's annoying but somehow you like her


So now we have come extremely far away from the topic, had a lesson in IT technology and pushed my post into a corner that belongs in a nice private chat rather than in the post. I now know Eddie doesn't offer a permanent kill switch and there is no double hop. Whether and how you can get Eddie to accept his place in the taskbar on Linux is still unclear.
 

[ayatulkursi786 0]

Network Lock / Kill Switch Not Working

Try these:

1. Run the app as Administrator (Windows) or allow system-level permissions (Mac).

2. Make sure "Kill Switch" / "Network Lock" is enabled in settings → security.

3. Turn off conflicting features:

   • Windows Firewall custom rules

[Staff 10336]

On 11/2/2025 at 11:43 PM, Tech Jedi Alex said:

VPNs are used by a very specific, niche clientele.

It's a weird urban legend that the VPN clientele is a niche one, at least since 2015 (maybe even earlier).

According to security.org and other sources 1.75 billion people "commonly" use a consumer VPN in 2025,. Usage in the USA has declined significantly to 32% (we had a 50% peak in 2022-2023), yes, but it's not a niche obviously. The decline is driven mainly by the shift of companies dropping VPN to replace it with zero-trust solutions (corporate VPN now account for just 5% of usage, 8% in the USA, so it's less meaningful).

Worldwide, if 2024 survey of a specialized company we bought is correct, roughly 1/3 of the whole Internet population used a VPN at least "once per week". Unfortunately (for them too) of this 1/3, more than 30% used a "free" VPN (this implies that free VPNs are used commonly by more than half a billion persons in the world).

Some more data showing usage from USA perspective:
https://www.security.org/resources/vpn-consumer-report-annual

Kind regards