I already reported this problem on this newsgroup, but nobody had an answer. The problem is that on Vista network detection takes
ages, as opposed to WinXP. But as long as the lan connection is not established, you cannot connect to you DSL ISP. The solution is
to disable the TCP/IP v.4 and v.6 binding for the lan connection and to rely on a virtual ethernet network adapter instead, Vista
doesn't try to discover virtual networks. 2 virtual adapters are installed for example, if you install VMWare Workstation. It's
enough to have just one of them activated, enable TCP/IP v.4 binding for it. Then set the dns servers of your ISP in the config of
your internet adapter . And that's it, no more waiting for the lan connection any longer, you only have to wait until the RASMAN
service starts, then you can immediately connect to the internet. I am using the task scheduler in Vista to connect to the internet
automatically. The scheduler waits for the Vista Licensing service to start (it launches after the other services), then it
establishes the internet connection using rasphone.exe.

I also found a great way to severe RAS connections (i.e., the DSL internet connection to your provider). Usually, this is done
through rasphone.exe or rasdial.exe. But a much more interesting way is to do it like this:

rundll32 iedkcs32.dll, CloseRASConnections

cool!