subject: Conntecting To You Computer Remotely [print this page] A useful piece of software for most people who use more than one PC on a regular basis is a remote VNC (Virtual Network Connection) application which allows them access to one machine while using another. Personally I use such a piece of software so that if I'm working from home in the evening then if necessary I can access any files or other information from my office computer. Whilst some would argue that taking your work home with you in this fashion isn't healthy, in some instances it is necessary.
For example, this article is currently being written at 21:30 on Wednesday evening and since I don't have my e-mail account or address book on this machine I will log in to the office computer when complete and send it directly from my regular company e-mail address.
In the past I have covered RealVNC which although being a fantastic little free application is somewhat rough around the edges and is relatively difficult to set up and use. This week I discovered 'WallCooler' which is a little more polished and simple to configure but still free of charge.
The download is a very reasonable 30MB in size and can be found on www.vedivi.com, so start by installing it on machine which you wish to remotely control. From here set up a memorable login name and secure password which will be used to locate the computer when you are connecting from wherever you may be.
The use of login e-mail address to locate the computer rather than a specific IP (Internet Protocol) address is a nice touch as you won't be adversely affected if your unique address on the Internet changes. This is very important for many users as a lot of Internet Service Providers will change your IP address each time you connect to the Internet.
Once this step is completed, you simply download and install the application on the second computer and enter the same login details as you set up previously and immediately you will be able to control the remote machine and transfer files between the two. Since the software automatically configures itself to work around your firewall, you shouldn't have to perform any further set-up than the above, however there more advanced options that can be configured if necessary.
With all this potentially sensitive information flying around you will be glad to know it is SSL encoded, so nobody who shouldn't have access can get their hands on it. As with most things computer related you should ensure that your password is secure. For example, rather than something obvious try to pick a relatively long combination of letters, symbols and numbers that couldn't be easily guessed.
As far as remotely accessing computers it can't get much easier than this. An advanced version of the software is available which includes a few extra features, but the free version should be more than enough for the majority of users.
