Anyone Experienced with Cisco VPN Client in Windows?

I need to access my work VPN from school. My boss is a linux freak and blames all my issues on using windows. I have a Cisco VPN client (which my boss even helped me to configure). Now, the client always connects. It's pure randomness if I'll be able to access the internet or not once it's connected. If I try to launch gaim, the VPN stops accessing the internet. It randomly stops accessing the internet after I've been connected for a few minutes (anywhere from 5-15 so far) and when I reconnect, it either won't authenticate me or it won't access the internet. Also, when the VPN is connected my sound is extremely distorted. By this I mean, it's either dead silent, wierd groaning, staticky noises come out of my speakers, or if sound does come out, it sounds like something out of a horror movie. My boss blames it on windows and the only other friend of mine who might have an answer is very hard to get ahold of during the week. Anyone have any suggestions?

 

well, the vpn is to get around my school network blocking access to some stuff i need for work. so, yes, my vpn account is configured to allow me to have unrestricted access to the internet. i tried using the windows ipsec client, but i couldn't find anything about group authentication, which i need in addition to my account authentication.

 

yeah, it's a PIX. I'll ask him to look at it today, he only finally got me my password yesterday. Like I said, he's blaming the problems on windows. Google confirms that the sound distortion I'm experiencing is normal (which is bizarre, if you ask me), but I really can't find anything about the other issues.