Others say...

"Very Good Product"
This VPN client was very easy to set up and works great! I connect to 9 different locations with this client and it was easy to duplicate the same setup at each location.

"Unbelievably bad"
Whoever produced this software seems to have missed the point. There is no point in havng one VPN client on your machine that limits you to just being able to use that one client. It would be similar to, say, allowing people to just access one web site on the Internet. In my case I already had two VPN clients related to work when I installed a Netgear router with VPN capabilities on my home network. The VPN software from Netgear stops my other VPN clients working.

Added to my woes I can't tell you how often I saw 'the blue screen of death' during my repeated software install/de-install efforts.

I am now returning both the router and the client software as this is an unusable solution.

"It's not too bad"
If you have previous experience in setting up VPN between two FVS318, this VPN software setup is piece of cake. It works fine for me espsecially for small office like mine, I can control all my servers when I am on a business trip even using dial up. It is awesome.

To prevent dropping of VPN connection, you need to adjust the MTU size to 1492 or other numbers. This is the information I got from Netgear technical support and it worked.

The only 2 complaints are:
1. I need to purchase it and doesn't come with the router.
2. The other guy was right, it doesn't work with Cisco VPN client



"Not compatible with Cisco VPN software"
The bummer about this software, and other reviewers tend to agree, is it's so buggy. Installation and configuration are easy, but diagnosing connection problems is a nightmare. This is especially true when trying to connect to another Netgear VPN router, which seems almost like an exercise in futility. Seeing that their software hasn't been updated in over 3 years points out Netgear itself isn't even behind this product anymore.

Buyer Beware: This software also conflicts with Cisco's VPN software, a much better, more reliable product. I needed both Cisco and Netgear's clients on the same machine, which does not appear to be possible, as the Netgear software conflicts with Cisco's operation. Uninstalling the Netgear software and *reinstalling* Cisco's (Netgear's software broke the Cisco client) enabled me to connect once again with the Cisco VPNs I often use.

The lack of a printed manual is also a downer for this product. I ended up returning my Netgear VPN Firewall 25 as well - it was very buggy and randomly went down - what a piece of junk. My Netgear Prosafe 318 VPN firewall is very good, but unfortunately their VPN software is unreliable, quirky, and seemingly unsupported.

"Poor Support, Design and documentation"
I purchased several copies of this product. They were intended to connect remote employees to Netgear's FVL328 router. Needless to say it was extremely difficult and time consuming to setup. And I consider myself highly competent in Server-Client network setup and configuration. FVL328 supports Dynamic DNS services, but the Client Software or FVL328 documentation says nothing of such setup. In fact it is full of typos and inconsistencies. By secondguessing the online posted manual for FVL328 (make sure you get the latest one) and using my experience I was able to connect to the FVL328. Then we upgraded the McAfee Viruscan from 7.0 to 8.0. Client computers (WinXP or Win2K) started to crash to Blue Screen of Death (BSOD). Clean installs and reinstalls in various order did not hel either. Mcafee has this bug in their knowledgebase and said that the SafeNet SoftRemote software (OEMed by Netgear as Prosafe VPN Client) release 10.1 had this issue but was corrected in release 10.3.5. Netgear does not even want to provide an update to this and is still under release 10.1.1 for 2.5 years. So either buy SafeNet SoftRemote or do not relly on Mcafee, hince the 2 stars