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Go to my PC? Gladly!

Posted by Matthew Brodsky

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Communication is the most valuable tool we have, and as Icaught up with a friend over a coffee on friday night,conversation turned to the next thing I was researching andwriting about for Laptopical - Remote PC access. Her response? -"WOW!"

Communication is the most valuable tool we have, and as Icaught up with a friend over a coffee on friday night,conversation turned to the next thing I was researching andwriting about for Laptopical - Remote PC access. Her response? -"WOW!"

And when I though about what I had just told her, I had toagree, it's easy to become jaded in this world of almostlimitless technology, but GotomyPC certainly has the wowfactor.

The basic premise is this; you set up a little bit of software(1.4 Meg) onto a PC, laptop, desktop, indeed any computer. Onceinstalled and passwords set up this PC becomes the "Host"terminal and begins to transmit itself over the internet. Thenyou can use any computer with an internet connection to remotelyaccess this host PC, and it appears on the machine you are usingexactly the same as the host PC.

So rather than set up a giant network or run two or more PC'swith differing set ups on them, just run one host. If you'regoing away working from home, you can have remote pc access andwork as if you were sitting in front of it anywhere in the worldwhere you can get on the internet. Laptops are great, but sometimesthat 12 pound desktop replacement is just too heavy to lug around:)

Now, I thought that the set up was going to be difficult havinghad some experience with the picky nature of a home network,nothing could have been further from the truth. Load the softwareonto the host, in this case my aging desktop PC, set up 2passwords, one to get onto the system and another to authoriseaccess from the remote location, reboot your host pc.

I then had to pause for a nice cup of tea, as my speed impaireddesktop struggled through its start-up routine.

Walking downstairs I pulled out my notebook, jumped onthe web, over to Gotomypc.com, and tapped the log in button.There I typed in my e-mail address I provided when I set up thehost and the password, clicked on the name I had given my PC("Tortoise 1" in my case) popped in the second password and thereit is as a little window. This can be made full screen with onesimple click, and it looks, feels and acts just like the desktopof my, erm, desktop.

Security is an issue with remote pc access, and one that shouldnot be overlooked. Citrix, the boffins behind GotomyPC take thisvery seriously indeed. The servers that the users pass through toremotely access their personal PC data, are covered with a hostof security features including SSL-encrypted Web site and end-to-end AES128-bit encryption. Obviously it would also be advisable not togive your passwords out or write them on little bits of papernear your PC's either, just to help matters.

One very handy feature is gotomypc's ability to transfer filesfrom the host pc's hard drive to the remote computer's harddrive, so data can be used when the session has been closed down.Little need for complex expensive networks, sneekernet and flashdrives, or sending stuff to yourself via Email here. This featurealone is worth price of admission in my opinion.

It's also worth mentioning that the service only displaysimages, not sound, so you won't be able to access your storedMP3's remotely, it is a shame that but maybe one day the techwill catch up.

Screen lag is also noticeable, it's only a micro-second but it'sstill there however you soon get used to it, and after a fiveminute session I had forgotten all about it.

By the way there are 3 GotomyPC account types to choose from:Personal, Professional or Corporate. Which one you sign up fordepends on the number of PCs you need to access remotely.Personal would probably be fine for most users.

All in all if looking for a remote pc access solution, this isan awesome product that deserves a look. Go for the WOW factor,stay for the productivity. Don't just take my word for it though;there is a free 30 day trial on the GotomyPC.com website.

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