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Remote Possibilities (LAPTOP)
Years ago, remotely accessing a home or office PC was a big pain in the neck.  At best, you'd plug into a phone jack and dial your host system, then connect using special software.  Less than ideal, you'd crawl under a hotel bed searching for a phone jack, then try to figure out which combination of numbers to program into your laptop.

Today, remotely accessing your office or home computer files is easier than ever. You can still use dial-up and special software, but services are popping up which now make file transfer on the fly or wireless access a breeze. 

With some of the options you don’t even need to use your own computer--if you can find an Internet café while vacationing in France, you can access your home or office computer. Even if you don’t travel, remote access is becoming the rule rather than the exception, especially if you’re one of those office workers who takes work home or spends weekends playing catch-up.

Your options include using a special software which talks to the same software on your host computer, making a wireless connection to a home computer or office network, or using a Web-based service which acts as a go-between for host and remote systems. Here’s how they stack up.

Dump Your Laptop
For the traveler who hates lugging a laptop, or getting caught with one in long airport security lines, your best choice could be a service called GoToMyPC. (www.GoToMyPC.com). For as little as $14.95 a month, you can remotely control your home or office system from any computer anywhere in the world, as long as it has Internet access. Using this service, you no longer have to worry about keeping a laptop synched with your desktop—or even carrying the laptop at all.

Here’s how it works. After registering with GoToMyPC (they have both personal and business plans), download a small program onto the PC which will serve as the host machine. If you work from both a office and home system, download to each. The program installs itself, and places a MYPC icon in your toolbar. The program must be running at all times for the remote access to work.

Next, using any computer with Internet access, log into your GoToMyPC account,  then type in your access code and select which PC you want to control. Instantly, you’ll see the screen of your host system displayed on the remote system’s display. Then, use the remote’s mouse and keyboard to operate any program, function, or network resource on your own PC. The service is based on a screen-sharing technology which compresses the image on a monitor and streams it to another computer.

One of the handy functions of the service is the ability to send or retrieve files from the host system. For example, if you were on a business trip and realized you’d left a critical file at your office, you could just log into your account and have the file sent directly to the remote machine. If you want to collaborate remotely—like those times you need to troubleshoot a system or do an update—use the Invite Guest to PC function.

GoToMyPC has several levels of security, beginning with the user selecting both an account and access password of at least eight characters long and including both letters and numbers. The two passwords should not be the same. There’s also a screen blanking feature which prevents someone in your office or home from viewing your activities. This feature is easily enabled from the remote system—but don’t forget to disable it when you end your session, or the screen on your host computer will be blank when you get home. You can also lock the keyboard and mouse on your host computer to keep anyone from using it when you are remotely connected.

Guest access is a one-time only deal, so you don’t have to worry about guests getting back into the system and accessing your computer. You can also choose which level of access to grant a guest, from view-only to full control of your keyboard and mouse.

GoToMyPC uses 128-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) to secure data, including your chat sessions, keyboard strokes and file transfers. In addition, their SSL-protected Web site protects your passwords from being intercepted. As an additional security precautions, the GoToMyPC servers themselves are kept in a secure area with access limited to authorized personnel.

We tried the system using Windows 98, ME and XP without a hitch. There was a slight lag between keyboard input on the remote and viewing on the host, but it wasn’t a major problem. You will need an always-on, high-speed Internet connection on both ends for the system to work at its best. You can connect via a dial-up but that means your host system must always be dialed into a phone line, and the keyboard response time will be slower.

Another Web-based option is I’m InTouch (www.01com.com), a similar service starting at $9.95 a month.

If you’re not sure where to find an Internet-enabled computer while traveling, CyberCafes (www.cybercafes.com) contains a database of 4212 internet cafes in 149 countries. Search the database by city or country.

The Software Solution
If your company’s policies requires secure data transmission over a virtual private network (VPN), you can opt for using a host/remote software package like pcAnywhere. Briefly, VPN allows secure point-to-point data transfer using a “tunneling” technology—a safe conduit for data. VPNs allow companies to expand their own secure network onto the Internet and ensure that only authorized users can access the network. For companies transmitting sensitive data, like financial information, using a VPN means the data is never out of the company’s control, as it might be when going through a third-party Web site.

Using pcAnywhere, (www.symantec.com), $179,  you can access a host computer from anywhere, as long as the software is installed on both the host and remote (client) machines . pcAnywhere is the top-cop of data security, thanks in part to its mandatory password authentication and nine new authentication methods. Authentication options include FTP, HTTP, HTTPS, generic LDAP, ADS, NDS, Novell Bindery, and NT domains.

Privacy is further ensured by serialization—the use of an embedded security code at both ends of the connection. It  does require a fair amount of fiddling for pcAnywhere to work through network firewalls when connecting via an IP.

pcAnywhere allows three kinds of remote connections:  Cable, network or modem. Once the connection has been established, you can control the host machine via the mouse and keyboard at the remote. Like GoToMyPC, once a connection is made, you can run programs from the remote, print, and transfer files to and from the host.
A modem connection requires both machines to use a modem; with a network connection you can access data via  wireless, cable or modem. 

Once pcAnywhere is installed, talking to your office machine is just a matter of opening the program, clicking Remote, then choosing your connection type. To ensure that only authorized personnel can access the host, you can  specify computer names or IP addresses that will be allowed to make the connection. If a remote wants to connect to the host, but they aren’t on the “allow” list, the connection is refused. 

Users who routinely transfer files between host and remote machines will love pcAnywhere’s SpeedSend. This spiffy utility reduces transfer time by detecting and sending only the data that’s been changed. In addition, to send a file, just drag and drop it from your directory into pcAnywhere’s file transfer window. In addition, you don’t have to worry about your desktop and laptop having different versions of a file. Just use the synchronization feature on the toolbar to match files on the remote and host computers. 

If your connection seems slower than it should, run the optimization wizard to optimize your desktop for remote control. This is done by disabling the host computer’s wallpaper, screen saver, and idle power-down options. Other optimization choices include the number of colors displayed, file compression on transfer, and matching screen resolution on host and remote machines.

Other software solutions include Laplink Gold (www.laplink.com), $179  and Timbuktu Pro (www.netopia.com), from $99.95.

Get Wired
Out of the office and need to remain connected to e-mail, calendar or contact info?  Many companies now offer a wireless solution for all your handheld devices. Wireless Knowledge (www.wirelessknowledge.com), for example, recently introduced Workstyle Desktop Edition for accessing corporate e-mail, calendar and contacts located in your desktop Microsoft Outlook.

To use Workstyle Desktop, first download their software onto your PC, then access the Internet via your wireless device and launch your browser. You’ll then surf to a pre-assigned URL (www.workstyle.com) where you can pick up your e-mail or access your calendar and contacts. Worried about wirelessly retrieving sensitive e-mail?  Don’t be--all e-mail is encrypted as it is sent across the Internet, then reformatted when it arrives at your URL so you can easily read it on your browser. Workstyle will also work through your company’s firewall.

You can access Workstyle Desktop via wireless synchronization using popular Palm OS and PocketPC devices with wireless capability. Log on too with smartphones like the Samsung I300 (www.samsung.com) or the Handspring Treo (www.handspring.com). Currently, you can use this service if you have Microsoft Outlook or Exchange on your desktop. Support for Lotus Domino, POP3 mail and Outlook Express will be available in the near future.

E-mail features include the ability to read, compose, delete, forward or even respond via voice mail. Workstyle also lets you accept or decline meeting invitations, create, view, edit or cancel appointments, and compose meeting notes. If you’re using a Web-ready phone, you can click on a contact’s name to place a phone call. The features all add up to creating a efficient workplace, even if that workplace if hundreds of miles from your office.

Setting up the synch process is a snap. Users can define what messages or meeting notifications get delivered to their wireless device, and schedule when new data is delivered. Options include the ability to synch on a set schedule or synch only when you receive new information.
   
For those times when you can’t go wireless, you can use Workstyle Desktop’s browser mode from any Internet-enabled computer running Internet Explorer. This means you can retrieve your e-mail, contact or calendar from home, an Internet-ready mobile phone, an Internet café, or at a client’s office. 

Download the software and take it for a free 30-day spin. If you decide to purchase, the cost is $69.95 for a one-year service agreement. At press time, Wireless Knowledge was offering a free Kyocera 6035 smartphone with purchase of Workstyle Desktop Edition. (Note: Kyocera 6035 can only be used on the Verizon network, and offer does not include a wireless carrier.)

Aren’t wired yet but want the efficiency of long-distance meeting, contact and e-mail access? Your choices are many, and include wireless-ready devices like the Blackberry (www.blackberry.net) handheld or Motorola Two-Way pager (www.motorola.com), a cell phone with Internet access, or a PDA like the Palm i705 (www.palm.com). 

If you want to go wireless on your laptop you’ll need a PC card. A popular choice is Sierra’s AirCard® (sierrawireless.com), a Type II PC card which lets you connect to the Internet, corporate e-mail or other corporate applications without needing a wireless phone or landline. Just plug the card into your PC slot and launch Sierra’s Watcher software over the Sprint network. 

In addition to a wireless device, you’ll also need an wireless carrier provider like Sprint PCS (www.sprintpcs.com), Verizon (www.verizon.com), GoAmerica (www.goamerica.com) or Earthlink Wireless (www.earthlink.net/mobile). Plans vary depending on your usage, but run from $10 to $100 a month. Lower priced plans limit the number of e-mails you can receive. If your business is e-mail dependent, an unlimited usage plan is the way to go. 

If you’re not sure where to find wireless coverage in your area, search the Wireless Advisor  (wireless
advisor.com) database by zip code. 

Making the Mobile Connection
Hooray! The days of crawling around hotel rooms in search of a phone jack are long gone. In fact, it’s rare in major cities to check into a hotel that doesn’t have an Internet-connected computer in the lobby or an in-room data port.

That means the biggest decision you have to make is picking an option that meets your needs. If you’re the “less is more” type, a Web-based service like GoToMyPC or wireless will fit you to a T. If a high level of security is paramount--and you can count on using your own computer--it’s hard to beat pcAnywhere. For those files you never want out of your control, nab a Go Anywhere or Cruzer portable drive. Whether working remotely from across town or across the water, there is a solution.