How many times have you left your office only to remember you have forgotten some important file on the computer? Something that you could have worked on from home, saving you a trip to the office? It happens to me at least twice a week.

For such situations tech-savvy folks use what is called remote control software -- allowing you to access your office files from another computer. For years, the dominant product has been Symantec PCAnywhere (now up to version 10), which is installed in the PCs that you want to connect to one another.

For several weeks, I have been testing a newer product, called GoToMyPC and I think it's a real boon to computer users.

Once installed on a PC, that computer can be accessed from any Web browser in the world, as long as that host computer is on and online. You can actually use and do work on programs and files installed on that computer (with no or very little delay) -- it's password-protected, of course.

Here's how I have been able to use it: To work from home when I didn't want to go into the office; to access special software I have at work; to use my computer from an Internet cafe; and at least once to save face. I was giving a presentation downtown, but discovered to my horror that my PowerPoint presentation hadn't been saved properly onto my floppy. No problem. I just went online and accessed my office PC via GoToMyPC and downloaded it. Saved me and my presentation in front of 60 people.

Unlike other kinds of remote control access, including the complicated systems known as VPNs -- Virtual Personal Networks -- this is simple to use, has an easy setup and works from around the world. And a newly released update allows users to print off a host computer to a remote printer.

The system works on a monthly payment plan that comes to about $15 per month for two host computers. You can sign up just for a shorter period, say, two months while you are traveling. There's a free trial that gives you access to one computer for a total of 60 minutes of connect time or 30 days, whichever comes first -- that's a great way to see if this is right for you.

Couple of things to note. There is currently no way to set up a Macintosh computer as a host, though the company is working on it (you can access a PC host via a Mac). This only works on host computers that are connected consistenly to the Internet. So if you are the kind of person who does not leave your office computer connected to the Internet (perhaps you have a dialup connection that you turn off), then this will not work.

Otherwise, this is, I believe, a big step forward in making telecommuting easier.

Resources:
GoToMyPC.com
Symantec's PCAnywhere

If you try this out, do write in to techguru@sree.net and let me know your thoughts.

What you are looking at -- two PCs at once. The outer PC is my home computer. The inside one is my office "host computer."

 

 

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