recommendations? need to access work computer from home

[welshTerrier2]

so far, i know about PC Anywhere (Symantec) and thanks to a commercial on AAR, GotoMyPC ...

here's my current setup: both computers are running Windows XP Pro, both use a DSL connection to access the net (dynamic IP addresses change daily)

the main objective is low volume file transfers from office to home ...

PC Anywhere costs between $100 and $200 depending on whether it's an upgrade ... but the dynamic IP address at work would cause a problem ... Symantec said i would have to know the "host" ip address so either someone at the office would have to obtain it everyday (how absurd is that?) or i could use a hosting company like dynIP.com which charges something like $25 a year for a static address ... also, the software (i.e. host and remote) would have to be installed on the exact machines i want to use ... to access my work machine from other machines on my lan would require additional licensing ...

GoToMyPC seems to be completely browser-based ... you login to your subscription account using your email address and password ... after downloading and installing a piece of software on the host machine, your host is apparently open to any browser providing the correct login/password pair ... the good news seems to be flexibility ... the bad news may be security issues and the price is $15 a month if you sign up for a year ... they offer a 30 day free trial ...

any recommendations on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated ...

[democracyindanger]

1. wouldn't you be better off

getting a small flash storage device to carry between work and home? A whole lot simpler, more secure and cheaper.

[welshTerrier2]

2. not really ...

mrs. wt2 is having knee surgery this week and may be out of work for a few weeks ... she really doesn't know what data she may need ... plus, as new files are added or updated on the server when she's not in the office (there's a lan in the office), she may want access to them ...

a storage device would help a little but wouldn't give her the flexbility she needs ...

thanks for the idea though ... it might be useful for certain applications ...

[bemildred]

3. I would run a VPN or SSH for Windoze.

VPN support is included in XP IIRC, so it would be a matter of
installing and setting it up. I'm not sure how the transient IP
would affect it, perhaps a Windoze guru will comment. However I
have run them in the past through firewalls and it was not too
tricky, but that was with SDSL.

I am rather partial to SSH, which can be obtained for Windoze from
cygwin, and would not care about the transient IP since it relies on
crypto identification of the machines.

Both of those would be "free", more or less.

Google seems to turn up plenty on these subjects.

I suspect the advantage with PC Anywhere (in theory) would be it's
being more "user friendly". I have heard mixed reviews on it, some
people like it a lot, some never quite get it working right.

[jayfish]

4. If You Are Not Connected To A Router...

you can find out your IP address by typing "ipconfig"<ENTER> at a cmd prompt in XP. If you enable remote control on your work PC you will have direct access to it from the Remote Desktop Protocol client in XP.

Start
--Programs
----Accessories
------Communications
--------Remote Desktop Connection

This isn't very safe though, as anyone who can ping your work PCs IP address has the same access. It may be fine for a few days but someone will find your PC and attempt to crack it.

If you are behind a router things are a bit more complicated but still doable.

You will need to find out the IP address of the router, then use Network Address Translation to tell your router to route all RDP traffic to your work PC. You will still use the RDP client in Windows to make the connection. This is a bit safer but it's still pretty much wide-open. The best way is to use a router/firewall/VPN concentrator device between your ISP connection and your work PC or network. This is much more difficult but it is the safest option. If you would like me to get into the particulars of this method just let me know and I will help where I can.

Jay