A VPN’s kill switch is a nifty feature that blocks Internet traffic if no VPN traffic is detected. To put it in simple terms, if your VPN connection suddenly drops without your knowledge, your PC won’t be able to revert to your default, insecure Internet connection. You can probably see why it’s important to have this feature on at all times. NordVPN is one of the most popular VPN services on the market, and we wouldn’t expect its kill switch to stop working. However, these things happen and there’s no way to prevent them. However, you may be able to do something about restoring it.

How can I fix NordVPN’s kill switch?

Conclusion

All in all, not being able to benefit from NordVPN can be a huge drawback. We haven’t been able to replicate the kill switch issue with any of NordVPN’s protocols. However, some users have been able to fix the issue by simply switching from NordLynx to OpenVPN. Currently, NordVPN automatically chooses the NordLynx protocol for you, and changing it is also a bit confusing. In order to change the NordVPN protocol you need to take the following steps: It does the exact same thing as the Internet kill switch, but only for specific apps. So, for instance, you could enable the app kill switch for your torrenting client, or web browser. In case the VPN connection suddenly drops, your PC will still have Internet access, but those specific apps won’t be able to get back online without the VPN. You can also toggle the global kill switch if you notice that the app kill switch doesn’t do a great job and fails frequently. For instance, your firewall or antivirus software can block or restrict certain apps or services, either completely or partially. Check your firewall for any connection rule that may block or restrict NordVPN in any way. Modify them so NordVPN isn’t blocked. Then do the same with your antivirus/antimalware, if necessary. Since NordVPN cutting your Internet access with its kill switch is quite important, you’ll need to elevate its privileges. Therefore, installing and running NordVPN as an administrator might just do the trick. We need to make sure that the service is running properly, so we’ll simply restart the service. Don’t worry, we’ll tell you how to do it. It also packs a built-in kill switch that you can toggle on and off to your heart’s content. Furthermore, PIA comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Thus, if you notice that not even PIA’s kill switch works on your PC, you can ask for a refund. It’s worth mentioning that in this case, the issue may be hardware-related, and you might need to replace your network card. PIA’s main features:

More than 22,000 fast servers worldwide Strict zero-logging policy Can unblock various geo-restricted services Military-grade 256-bit encryption Supports OpenVPN and WireGuard protocols Integrated kill switch PIA MACE component that blocks ads and malware domains

Thankfully, this isn’t a common issue on Windows 10 computers, so you might not even stumble upon it. However, if it happens, we recommend you to go through all of our suggested fixes. You may just find the one that does the trick quickly and without significant effort.

We recommend Private Internet Access, a VPN with a no-log policy, open source code, ad blocking and much more; now 79% off. Name * Email * Commenting as . Not you? Save information for future comments
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