Home Networking

[OrangeBlooded]

My brother owns his own business. He wants to start working from home about a third of the time and wants to setup his home office to be able to “plug in” with his business network. Is something that is “relatively” easy to setup?

 

[mishatx]

being able to access one of his machines in the office from home, and use it as though he was sitting there is fairly easy to set up, with a few programs and a monthly fee. If he wants it to be like his home machine is connected to the office network, this may be more complicated depending on the network hardware he has at the office.

 

[EEE]

he'll want to set up a vpn using a vpn enabled router (like the linksys WRT54G) on each end. google 'vpn tutorial' or check out broadbandreports or dslreports.com for more info. i think windows xp has that built in, but i would'nt trust it. i don't see why there would be any monthly fees.

 

[washparkhorn]

In reply to:

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[wherzwaldo]

As long as you're not playing audio/video through the connection, Windows XP's built-in Remote Desktop functionality is good over high-speed connections. I, too, fail to see the need for monthly fees.

 

[idigTexas]

I think the monthly fee refers to the need for internet connectivity at home. The assumption from most posters is that your brother would already have this. This may or may not be true. Regardless, having the business foot the bill allows it to become a tax deduction, albeit a rather small one (unless he has something above and beyond what the typical home user has).

The specifics on the best way to set this up depend on what networking infrastructure may already be in place at the office, how secure the connection needs to be, and what you brother needs to be able to do remotely.

 

[HilltopHorn]

On a similar vein, I am running a desktop and a laptop on a wireless router using DSL. They both have XP. So I can use the XP remote access to move large files from one to the other?

 

[wherzwaldo]

You don't need to use Remote Desktop to share files between computers on the same network. Just share both hard drives and make sure your network is secure. You will be able to see the other computer in My Network Places.

And BTW, GotomyPC DOES have a monthly fee independent of Internet access. Seems like a waste to me, unless the computer you're wanting to control does not run XP Pro.

 

[mishatx]

GoToMyPC has a monthly fee but its brain-dead simple to set up. With XP, you'll need an externally reachable IP, holes in the firewall, etc. With GTMPC, you just install software on the host machine, then log in to the machine through GTMPC's web site. No network configuration, no hardening of XP for security. You can be up and running in 5 minutes with no idea of what you are doing.

Of course, I'd suggest using the GTMPC free trial, and using that 30 days to decide you actually do want to connect to the office from home, and, if so, learn to set up a secure and cheaper method to do so.