How To Access Your PC From Anywhere In The World

Remote access: The ability to log onto a network from a distant location. Generally, this implies a computer, a modem, and some remote access software to connect to the network.

{mosgoogle}We live in and increasingly mobile society. We travel more for work, personal pleasure and in some cases we even have jobs where we are expected to work from home. Obviously there are heaps of advantages to this kind of mobile lifestyle, but there are also some challenges. The challenge we want to discuss here is maintaining consistent, secure access to your information.

There are a few ways that you can get access to information from remote servers and personal computers. All of them have their advantages and disadvantages.

What we all want to accomplish is access to information where and when we need it. Here are some ways you can get access to your information remotely;

• Put the information into your own website that has a secure log-in
• Get access through a VPN (virtual private network) on the Internet
• Get some Remote access software that hooks you up to your personal PC
• Use remote control software for managing a PC from another PC
• Keep your data on a secure third party server

There are pro’s and con’s to all of the different methods above. There are other considerations as well. We'll discuss those on the next page.

Here are some of the considerations;

• Is your data secure?
• Is the software you are using to get to your data quick to install on a remote PC?
• Is the PC where the data is stored always hooked to the internet?
• Does your PC have firewall protection to prevent unwanted access?
• Is your PC always powered up and ready to go?
• Does anyone else have access to your PC that could turn it off and cause you to loose access?
• Is your PC or server reliable and always working?
• Is there someone available to reboot your PC or server if it goes down?
• Do you know how to set up and maintain your own VPN?

The above information is not meant to be comprehensive, but rather to give you an idea of some of the issues you face when trying to maintain reliable remote access to your information. As you can see there are a variety of problems that can occur. The biggest single issue is the availability and condition of the PC that stores the data. The challenge is to find a method that assures your access to your information, no matter what!