Connecting to work, faster way?

[Lozza]

I currently use www.gotmypc.com to connect to my computer at work so that I can work from home.

It is however incredibly painful and slow. Is there another way and what would I need to do, in simple language please!

[Dymetrie]

I've been using Team Viewer (http://www.teamviewer.com/en/index.aspx) to control my desktop PC and Media PC from my iPhone, or each other :)

It's nice and quick, secure, free, and has some nice features (which you can ignore if you don't want to use them).

All it should need is for you to install the software and set up an account :)

[Blighter]

logmein.com > *

[Kitten]

^ditto

[Stan_Lite]

I've been using Team Viewer (http://www.teamviewer.com/en/index.aspx) to control my desktop PC and Media PC from my iPhone, or each other :)

It's nice and quick, secure, free, and has some nice features (which you can ignore if you don't want to use them).

All it should need is for you to install the software and set up an account :)

I agree with Dym. Teamviewer is easy to use and works with Windows, Mac, Linux and has apps for iPad, iPhone and Android - all completely free of charge (including file transfer).

[Lozza]

Thanks for the suggestions, would they not be along similar lines to what I'm already using? and in essence work the same way?

I don't really know much about how all this works so excuse my ignorance!

My internet connection at home is quick, at work it's quick but together they are very sluggish and often there are connection problems... is this just down to the software?

I will give them both a try and see which I prefer/gives the best performance.

[Toby]

We use Teamviewer at work for support as the client can connect their end via a webpage without having to install any software.

For personal use I use Logmein as it's free and you don't need anyone at the other end to initiate the connection.

[Rich_L]

Don't forget that both internets may be 'quick' in terms of download speed but it is upload speed that is the major limiting factor on programs like this so whilst it may be quick to download stuff, the upload speed likely isn't as spectacular.

Still, I always had very good experiences with Logmein, excellent connection quality and you can tweak things like the resolution or graphics quality to get a decent refresh speed on lower connections.

[Stan_Lite]

you can tweak things like the resolution or graphics quality to get a decent refresh speed on lower connections.

I was going to mention this too. Make sure you've got it set up for optimum speed by doing the above. You can do the same with Teamviewer (and I presume with gotmypc too).

[Blighter]

Most apps will be the same sort of speed in that respect.
I hate using LogMeIn/etc as there is always a lag with what you are doing. It's sort of like using Vista on a machine designed for 2000/XP!

The only other way is a VPN style thing so you can access the filesystem, and use your local machine's programs to do the editing/etc.
The problem with that is its normally a bigger security risk and IT network guys reallllyyy dont like it ;D

[Lozza]

Most apps will be the same sort of speed in that respect.
I hate using LogMeIn/etc as there is always a lag with what you are doing. It's sort of like using Vista on a machine designed for 2000/XP!

The only other way is a VPN style thing so you can access the filesystem, and use your local machine's programs to do the editing/etc.
The problem with that is its normally a bigger security risk and IT network guys reallllyyy dont like it ;D

There are no IT guys only me!
Any real easy step by step for this so I have another option.

[Blighter]

There are no IT guys only me!
Any real easy step by step for this so I have another option.

No idea I'm afraid :( Only time I did it was at school to muck around with network shares and that was using SecureCRT and VSHell.... no idea how I did it now though :/ :D

[Mark]

To do VPN, you'll need a 'server' at work to accept the incoming connection. There are software options (e.g. Windows Server 2008, though I don't recall off-hand which versions support it), and hardware options (e.g. Cisco).

Some, maybe most, professional/semi-pro routers can accept incoming VPN (e.g. my old Draytek did), but almost all domestic routers that claim to support VPN actually just do 'VPN passthrough', which isn't really supporting VPN at all.

For a single system set-up, VPN is unnecessarily complex overkill, and for a point-to-point solution like you're using, unlikely to improve things very much over LogMeIn and their ilk.

[Desmo]

What type of work is it you need to do? Do you have to log in to a works machine? I used to use dropbox to easy ship files back home to work on and once saved they'd be waiting for me back at work. Ma not be an ideal solution depending on what you need to actually do though.

[Lozza]

Several things, quoting using a software which has a data base on one of the network machines. Artwork, if I'm using illustrator I can just USB stick it and work on the home pc however if its artwork in the sign making software then I need to work remotely as that requires a hardware key.

I haven't had chance to try the suggested software yet, but will look at them and see if they are any good.

[Rich_L]

I think for the first task any of the remote login software options should work fine as you can tweak the resolution/quality to the bare minimum to maximise the speed plus a bit of lag isn't the end of the world. For the artwork though unless both your work and your home connections have excellent upload speeds the experience is likely going to suck - I imagine the business upload speed is probably only around 500kb/s to 1Mb/s, maybe next time you're in work do one of the speedtest sites to see what it is - if it's fairly low then almost certainly that's where your issue is.