Remote PC access - Logmein, Gotomypc, etc
 

I've been spedning a lot of time away from home lately and am unable to check my emauil, which I want to have stored on my main PC at home for business stuff.

Within my own home network, I've been using Remote Desktop that's built into Windows when I want to sit in the living room, using my laptop.
However, when I'm away from home, what's the best option for connecting to the main computer over the internet? I just tried Logmein. Vaguely workable, but I don't like the web browser interface. Gotomypc requires a monthly $$ I've read.

Any other programs for this sort of thing? Or... is it posible to use Remote Desktop over the internet? I haven't been able to get that to work at all...

What's the best solution?

Remote Desktop works well over the internet as long as your upload speeds on your internet access are fairly quick.


Go to DynDns.org and setup a free account. You basically need to turn your PC into a server.
You create a server name and password.

If you have Dynamic DSL then you have to use a free piece of software they provide called IP Updater.

Make sure you have very long and complex passwords set up.

Now you can Remote in from anywhere. This is not the most secure setup and you will see constant attacks from bots when you check the access logs, but I have been doing it this way for 10 years and have not had an issue - yet.

You are using a sledgehammer where a screwdriver will do.

Depending on your email account, you can use web access to check your email from anywhere. I assume you have a POP account so it is stored locally (i.e. in your computer) - another alternative is to use an IMAP account so the folders stay replicated on multiple machines.

Again, depending on who is your email provider, a simple web account is easiest. Or you can set up a gmail account (you don't need to use the address), and use it to check your POP account.

gotomypc is perfect!

Yup. Just set the preference on your home machine to leave a copy on the server for 1, 2, or however many days you specify.

Then set your laptop to never delete from server.

I personally use the gmail route to aggregate all my accounts in one place plus the spam filter is f'ng awesome.