Remote access to your office PC

Need a quick, cheap way to get remote connectivity to your office? Take a look at GoToMyPC (www.gotomypc.com).

I recently helped a friend get setup on GoToMyPC. He works remote a couple of days a week and needs access to the network at his small business. He should have been able to use RDP or a VPN connection. Both are built into XP and are free and easy, right? Well, this is the real world. His firewall is old and can’t be configured for a VPN or RDP. Getting a new firewall, a static IP address and setting it all up would taken a few days to a week and may have cost as much as $800 for hardware and labor. Instead we set up GoToMyPC on his office PC. He can connect using his laptop (or any PC) and work as though he is at the office.

GoToMyPC worked flawlessly and he was up and running in less than an hour. There is a 30 day free trial and then it costs $20 per month or $180 per year. It will take 3 to 4 years to equal what he would have spent on the VPN solution.

If you can set up a VPN or RDP, great! If not use a tool like GoToMyPC.

Cell phone for laptop internet connection

Ever used your cell phone to get an internet connection for your laptop? A few weeks ago my son wanted me to take him and his buddy to the tennis court. I had a ton of work to do but didn't want to say no.

I knew I could get an internet connection through my cell phone. I had done it before when I had a Windows phone. It's not a bundled option with my Palm Treo 755P (yes, it's Palm OS and I love it). It took me a few minutes to find PdaNet (http://www.junefabrics.com/palmnet/). The download, install and setup was quick and simple. It took me 12 seconds to fire it up and get an internet connection. Yup! I clocked it with a stopwatch.... it really is 12 seconds.

I am on Sprint's high speed EVDO network and was getting download speeds that consistently felt like it was just a bit slower than the DSL in my house. Spent the next 90 minutes catching up on work, outside, enjoying the early evening, while my son and his buddy chased tennis balls around the court. Of course, being outside, the glare on my screen was just about impossible - but that's another story for another day.

PdaNet likes:
- Easy to install
- Very quick to fire up an internet connection
- $34; worth every penny

PdaNet dislikes:
- Can't talk and be online at the same time. Shuts down the internet connection to make a call. Gives an alert on an incoming call so you can answer or let it roll to vmail.

Notes:
- I had tested PdaNet on a Treo 650P that didn't use the high speed network. It still worked very well. The connection speed was bearable for simple browsing, webmail, etc., but no good for video clips or anything with hi-res, flash etc.

The Next Best Thing to Being There

Suppose you need to remotely take over another person's computer. It happens. We do it every day to troubleshoot client problems here at TECHIES. There are probably times when you, too, would like to be able to share someone's computer. Today, 333TECH will let you in on three of the best (and easiest!) programs out there that let you do just that.










1. Crossloop
Free for personal use, Crossloop lets you see the screen and control the mouse and keyboard on a remote computer as if you were working side by side on the same PC. The biggest limitation is that both computers need to be running Windows. Setting it up is quick and easy. Crossloop is a solid favorite among many TECHIES.

http://www.crossloop.com



2. WebEx
WebEx allows you to access other PCs remotely, like Crossloop above. But WebEx also has an online meeting place called meetmenow where you can have online web meetings, integrated audio, web cams and more. WebEx's pricing is affordable (unlimited online meetings for $39/month) and they have both monthly price plans as well as Pay-Per-Use. A big plus for WebEx is that you are not tied to any particular operating system. One person could be using OSX, another running Vista and a 3rd on XP.

http://webex.com


3. GoToMyPC
An online favorite with many, GoToMyPC "allows you to access your PC from any web browser. " This means, of course, that you could use it to remotely access another computer and fix something that is broken. Like WebEx, this solution comes with an affordable monthly support price ($19.95/month) but like WebEx, you can sign up for a free 30 day trial and see if it is right for you.

http://www.gotomypc.com



TECHIES is the IT Department for Small Business in the Twin Cities. If you have a computer that needs help, give us a call at 612.333.TECH and let us remotely fix your problems for you.