Darrinr,

That behavior may result from a policy setting in the VPN client that forces all traffic to use the VPN tunnel when the VPN client is active. The setting may or may not be able to be overridden in the client configuration. Some organizations don't allow users to alter that particular client setting. Your company's VPN/Networking support people should be able to help with this.

Jim

I'm assuming that you either have a Windows 2000 or Windows XP either way try the following steps:

Click on Start, Settings, Network Connections, In the Virtual Private Network Section locate the VPN connection to your company, then right click and select Properties.  From the VPN Properties click on the Networking tab from the top, then click on Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) click on Properties at the bottom right click on Advanced then on the General tab click to remove the check mark from Use default gateway on remote network then click on Ok, Ok, Ok.  You should be able to access the internet.