Desktop applications release [v62]

asanjeev

Today we released a new version of the PIA client for Windows, OS X, and Linux. You can download it on the Client Support Page here:

https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/pages/client-support/

This release allows disabling desktop notifications (pop-up notifications) and adds a menu option to automatically connect to the best server.

In this release:

* Improvements to connection state management.

* Adding option to disable popup notifications.

* 'Connect Auto' menu option.

* Security-related improvements.

* Reduces number of processes and memory usage.

Some notes about processes:

You may notice that there are multiple processes started by the PIA app. These may include 2 instances of "pia_manager.exe", 3 or 4 instances of "pia_nw.exe" and on some platforms "rubyw.exe" (Similar processes can be found Linux and OS X).

This is by design, the PIA Desktop client is built with multi-process architecture, similar to Google's Chromium browser.

TheImmortal

Hi asanjeev,
Just installed V62, still getting 8 processes and i got "route deletion failed, element not found" at command prompt which i have a screenshot of. Also have a screenshot of task manager running v62.

TheImmortal

Forgot to add to the above comment, i expect 4 processes because thats what PIA app was running on version 58, so 4 is fine but 8 is not !

Asguardian

I've lost the port tool tips from the menu bar on OS X...It's enabled in the preferences. I dunno, it's not not inspiring to see that...QC is really lacking here.

asanjeev

@Asguardian - which region are you connected to for port forwarding? I'll just check if I can reproduce the issue.

@TheImmortal - I understand that the count is a quite high. Unfortunately right now this is one of the limitations of the platform that we use (node-webkit). Essentially it runs 4 processes:

1. A main process (which we start)

2. A crash reporter process (which is something which is automatically created by node-webkit)

3. A renderer process to actually 

4. A second renderer process which which runs animations through GPU (though this should be disabled in most cases) 

This behaviour is pretty common, but we're investigating ways to improve performance and reduce memory footprint.

Asguardian

asanjeev, try Toronto. Thanks!

TheImmortal

In your own words " it runs 4 processes" which i'm fine with but i'm not getting 4 processes i'm getting 8 !
I have an alternative and tell me if its a good idea or not, i completely uninstall V62 and then check task manager before and after shutdown if the processes are still there i'll manually kill them and then reinstall V62, your thoughts on this please ?

OpenVPN

V62 on Macintosh does not mask your IPv6 Address properly and will leak your true identity. How to check for leaks: http://ipv6leak.com/

1) Connect to the VPN go to the website above. If it tells you you have no leaks but once you exit the application and relaunch it you're IPv6 Will indeed leak.
2) after the application is relaunched and your IPv6 is leaking then it doesn't matter which server you connect to it will continue to leak.
You can confirm this by going to the network settings where it will display what IPv6 address your computer is connecting too meaning that the VPN is not masking your IPv6 because if it was you are IPv6 Address would be configured to off.

p8661094

Twice have had my VPN connection drop on me while connected to a torrent application, in the setting for the kill switch you get the following "Please only enable VPN Kill Switch if you really need it. The Kill Switch requires modifying the Operating System's network settings and can in rare cases cause connectivity issues. This feature WILL NOT work if you use MORE THAN ONE network interface on your computer simultaneously." I have since ignored this warning and activated the kill switch. 

I am disappointed that the VPN connection isn't more stable and the disconnecting occurs after a number of hours in use.  I'm wondering why is this warning there, because of this warning I did not activate the kill switch when using the v62 client (windows).
I did not notice this in v60 (skipped v61) and went straight to v62 Is anyone else experiencing this?

TheImmortal

Does anyone else think that 8 processes running on the new app is too much given that the old app only had 4 processes running. And on top of that wheres this significant reduction in memory usage i read about when the new app was in beta. How can it have a "significant reduction when its running 8 processes not 4. And i still am not seeing a improved app performance, it still takes way way too long to connect. All i'm seeing is that this supposed new app is worse than the old app, what the hell is going on.

Asguardian

I've given up on the PIA app, using an OpenVPN client, on OS X I use the open source TunnelBlick app...working very well. Sad to see PIA has not progressed further in the last year :-( PS. I will keep trying new versions once in a while...not holding my breath...

asanjeev

@Asguardian: I have checked and port forwarding seems to be working fine on OSX Connecting to toronto. I'll send you a PM with details on how you can send me some diagnostic info to help me identify why it's not working for you.

@TheImmortal: I understand that the high process count is a cause for concern. When we added "significant reduction in process count" a few users were seeing close to 12 processes and we prevented additional ones from spawning.

@OpenVPN: We're looking into reproducing the ipv6 leak issue like you mentioned in a reliable manner. I will update regarding this issue on this thread shortly.

p8661094: I'm sorry that the killswitch wasn't working as intended and that the VPN connection was not stable. I'm going to send you a PM with some information on how you can provide information to help me diagnose your issue further.

WillP0w

These later releases, I see 8 PIA processes in background. Two rubyw.exe files and so on...

In the browsers for instance, you can clearly see more responsiveness when browsing to page to page, even under massive bandwidth usage.

Previous to these later releases, it was freaking ridiculous, how the delay was when clicking on hyperlinks and such, even when pretty much idling on the Internet.

... this in regards to the Windows version.

WillP0w

Would be nice though to see that coming back from Windows Standby mode, PIA won't again save it's network customizations that has already been applied by PIA previous to Windows Standby mode. Right now I have two options; don't have the PC ever save power and go into standby mode. #2 have Windows shutdown when done, so when I start Windows, run PIA without connecting, and exit out of PIA and all is fine.

Asguardian

@asanjeev, I never said port forwarding was not working, I simply said that the tooltip in the menu bar was not showing anymore, that's very different and not much of a dealbreaker. The reason why I will not be using it in the short-term is because it (the pia app) keeps dropping my connection; that has been a constant for the last several years. The open VPN client does not do that.

OpenVPN

@asanjeev, Has anyone Else reported this IPv6 leakage issue? Surely you must have more people experiencing this. There's got to be something wrong with the latest version v62 because I uninstalled v62 and then reinstalled v61 and everything functions perfectly without any problems. Any word on when the next update will come out to fix this issue??

TheImmortal

@OpenVPN Hey, i can say i dont have an IPv6 issues with this version simply because i have IPv6 leak protection on along with DNS leak protection. asanjeev allready knows my issues as does many other people who work for PIA and that issue is still too many processes. The old app had 4 processes this new app has 8 i dont know why so many for the new app. And still way too long to connect to any server,i'm trying both udp and tcp and a variety of ports and see no difference.

Rube

How to access application settings?
I have... Start application at login & Auto-connect at login both checked. With both of these checked I can not get into the settings. Unless I reinstall program again.

Besides this, I'm very happy with v62 on Windows 10.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry about that, I found it.
To get to application settings
Right click on green PIA Icon in sys tray, click on disconnect, top of menu.
Then right click on red PIA Icon and click on settings.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have a Nice Day!!!!!
RUBE

OpenVPN

@TheImmortal, I do have IPv6 leak protection turned on but it still managed to leak every time I disconnected and reconnected to a different server or exited the application and relaunched it. Everytime my IPv6 would leak no matter what server I was connected too. Everything is fine at computer startup, when the application connected to the service. It is only after you disconnect from the service and attempt to reconnect to a different server or exit the application and then relaunch it that your IPv6 will leak. I don't know if the IPv6 leakage vulnerability exist on the Windows operating system, I'm using Macintosh OSX version 10.11.6
If anyone is using the Windows operating system and is having this leakage issue please contact private internet access support immediately and let them know please. Everything works fine in v61, there are no leaks of any kind so I had to downgrade to the previous version until the leakage issue is found and patched.

@Rube, to get into the application settings click on the private internet access icon and click settings. Once you see your username and password look down at the bottom of the panel and you will see a button labeled Advanced click on it and there you will find the extra private internet access settings. At the bottom of this page you will see a button labeled encryption, this is where you can change the security that your VPN tunnel uses.

gd3f363f43

p8661094 maybe vpn kill switch option depends on what system and torrent client you use (maybe you could try linux - debian,if you dont already,with transmission open source torrent client - really great tool)
Cheers

sj221

Thank you very much for listening to your customers by adding the option to disable the desktop notifications!!!

TimeBomb

I came here to request that "Connect Auto" be re-added. Nice to see it already has.

I'm also glad I can disable the stupid notifications, as they are incorrect as often as not (i.e. I often see a notification saying I'm disconnected when I am not, or vice-versa).

I didn't get an update notice at all in the v61 client, and here we are, two weeks after the release of v62. I also wish I could easily check the current version without disconnecting first! I understand the need to lock out settings while connected, but I can barely read the version number with that overlay.

Edit: In v62, in order to see the version, you have to:

1. Disconnect

2. Open settings

3. Switch to Advanced mode

4. Squint to see the tiny number

It seems silly to me that this is necessary just to see the installed version.

OpenVPN

@asanjeev, still no update to fix the IPv6 leak issue in v62 on Macintosh OSX? Any idea when an update will be released to fix this leakage issue? I had to downgrade to the previous version v61 until this problem with the current version of the application is patched. I have been exchanging various emails with your technical support team and I was told that your development team is aware of this issue and working to fix it.

Tripod

Windows 7 x64 using version PIA 61.

1. think I have noticed a change in behaviour of this -vs- older PIA
a) I start the app manually so the first stage is getting red man icon in notifications area. Hitherto that meant routing table disabled (?) and no internet connection can be had. When I wanted to connect to the internet I would right click and select a node and shortly, the green man icon would appear and there would be connection, no IP leaks on testing.  Conversely, after disconnecting the node, red man icon would reappear and there would be no network connectivity (iirc...)

b) Now however I have noticed that when the red man icon is visible, there IS internet connectivity - I only noticed because a FF extension automatically loaded its homepage before I had connected to any node. I then tried manually another page elsewhere and it loaded too.

Is this behaviour correct / as intended?  I preferred the certainty of knowing there was NO internet connectivity when the red man icon showed. If I had finished using the vpn I would then exit the red man icon and (usually necessary) recomplete in TCP/IP propeorties thhe router's standard IP settings including sometimes also DNS servers.

2. Going to the download page of version 62 I see it is said to be for Windows XP upward.  I thought Windows XP compatibility had been dropped a few versions back. What is the correct position regarding that please?

OpenVPN

@asanjeev, I hope the ipv6 leakage issue in v62 of the mac app will be fixed in the next update. Please release a beta version of the next update v63 with the ipv6 leakage issue fixed so that it maybe tested by the user base. Perhaps you could add an option in the advanced settings which would allow the application to check for beta updates so that your users that want to experience new features before they are released may do so without any hassle.

OpenVPN

Are the developers any closer to releasing an update that fixes the issues present in v62 of the private internet access application?? I would like to see them release a beta version so that way we are able to test it before the final version is released

jtcgiants56

Did this update auto-update? I have the new ver but I dont think I updated myself.

TheImmortal

To any admins/app devs, whats in the V63 app, no release notes have been posted here ?

doaks

Hi TheImmortal,

This release just removes Blowfish from the encryption options. We have a few more things in the pipeline, they're just not 100% tested and ready to go yet.

As something to look towards, you should be able to find release notes for any new version from our downloads page here – they tend to get put there before we end up posting them to the forums.

Blob

v63 is still creating shortcuts in the wrong location on Windows…

☓ %UserProfile%\Start Menu

✓ %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu

Can we have an option to disable shortcut creation altogether? I reorganise my shortcuts but they are always re-created when I update.

doaks

Hi Blob,

I'll bring this up with our development team and make sure they see it, thanks for letting me know. I'll also bring up that suggestion with the team and see what they say, thanks.