The search button is at the top right corner of the site. It's the magnifying glass icon. It opens a search box with a custom DuckDuckGo search.
Regarding the VPN provider, please remember that using a VPN means that all of your traffic appears to come from the exit IP used by the VPN provider. You are not the only person using that VPN. Spammers and hackers might also be using that and get its IP blocked on your client's site. This is why it gets blocked.
Please note that it DOES NOT make sense to use a third party VPN when accessing the backend of a site under your control. In fact, it is bad security practice doing so! Your actions are logged by the VPN*, including all GET parameters in the URLs you visit. This undermines your security. Furthermore you are accessing the site using the VPN's IP address which means that you will either get blocked when someone else using the same VPN attacks your site or you are effectively unblocking that IP, allowing everyone using that VPN to attack the site as if Admin Tools wasn't installed.
The only valid uses of a third party VPN are a. when you're in a situation where hiding your browsing among a bunch of similar traffic can reasonably lower your chances of being swept up by a repressive regime and b. to spoof your IP geolocation for geo-restricted sites (which is why we removed GeoIP blocking from Admin Tools as a totally ineffective security measure). Everything else is marketing hype. It's definitely NOT a security measure when accessing your sites.
* Yeah, I know they say they don't do that. A few months ago a security researcher found databases belonging to VPN providers accidentally left open to the public and they do, indeed, log everything. It makes sense. If a client of theirs uses the VPN for illegal activity they get a bang on the door from the authorities. If they don't keep logs they will be shut down and bear responsibility for the illegal actions of their clients. Logging means they can help the authorities and continue to operate. What they can do is choose which authorities to work with, based on jurisdiction. Just like a regular ISP.
Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos
Lead Developer and Director
🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!