One of the things that the Internet has made easier is the ability to work from home.
There were private networks that allowed you to do this before but these were only available to the big time people at your company.
The cost was simply too great for the company to allow just anyone that worked for them to have this ability.
Time To Relax Work
But with the advent of the Internet all you now have to do is just have a couple of different pieces of software to securely connect to your work computer from home.
After that you are now working from your home office (aka the couch).
I will go over a few of the tools that you will need to allow you to work from home securely.
Some you already have on your computer, others you will have to download.
The first thing that you are going to want to do after you have decided that you want to work from a remote location, is to decide which software that you will need.
The software that you choose will have to have a mixture of security features and ease of use.
There are several solutions on the market that will allow you to set up what is called a VPN (virtual private network).
Go To My PC
One of the most popular is a piece of software called Gotomypc.
It is a VPN solution that has been heavily optimized to allow you to easily and swiftly create a VPN for your business needs.
This software receives rave reviews from the tech press and is known as being fairly secure.
Tight VNC
A popular open source solution for a VPN connection is to use TightVNC.
This software is free, provides encryption services, and is fairly well maintained by the people who own it.
It is not as easy to use as gotomypc in my opinion but it is still a pretty good option.
Windows Remote Desktop
Last but not least is Windows very own software that is already installed in your system.
This software is simply called Remote Desktop and it will allow you to connect to your computer the same as all of the others.
It is not, perhaps, the most elegant solution but it gets the job done.
Finish Off With A Strong Firewall
Even though you may have a VPN going, you will still need to secure the rest of your network.
Some people believe that if they have the VPN working on their network that it is all they need to keep the network secured.
This is very wrong.
You are still going to need a firewall to keep your network secured as well.
You will need to have them work together , as that is how you maintain a secure connection.
A strong encrypted VPN along with a good firewall will help keep your system as well as your data transmissions safe.
I have walked you through several software solutions that you can use to securely connect to your computer or network remotely.
I am sure that you will like the ability to work on your computer remotely when you give it a chance.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Scam,
, LogMeIn is cool for cross-platform remote control.
You mentioned only three products for remote access. In fact they are numerous and there’s a great comparison table at wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_remote_desktop_software. It is extremely useful for choosing the one you need.
Concerning personal preferences I like Radmin for remote access to Windows PCs
Thanks Gryffyn, LogMeIn is certainly a good alternative.
Here’s the link for anyone who wants to check it out : https://secure.logmein.com/US/home.aspx
I’m a big fan of LogMeIn.com as well. I can use RDP and LogMeIn via my cell phone, laptop or work PC. VNC and RDP are nice, but needing know the IP address and not having the centralized server to initiate a tunnel to the remote PC is just a pain sometimes. LogMeIn works great, even the free version and even with my multiple monitor setup.
Thanks for that Gerald – its a handy list as you say.
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