Remote connection

[techsev]

What would be the easiest and least complicated for users to connect two computers either direct or internet? Here is the situation. I have a customer who runs quick books pro for his billing. It is set up at the office. He has an employee who is changing to work at home on mondays. She needs to be able to access the quickbooks program to do billing on that day. Now the question is how do I set him up cheap and easy. They both have windows 98 running her at home and him in the office. This is the only computer in the office and it does have internet access. I have no experiance with pc anywhere. would that be best and cheapest? or would a dial up where she dials into the office computer. The computer will need to be used by another employee at times during the day so will it be able to be in use by both of them at the same time or can the one from home lock the other out until she finishes the billing I am sure he wouldnt mind since if she was there it would be the same thing.

[scutterboy]

Had this exact situation. My stepdad setup Laplink on a freind of ours computer so she could work from home. It wouldn't have been my first choice but it has worked really well.

Cheers
Matt

[gtiseb]

I have a similar setup at my office too. I would have to say PC anywhere would be the simplest choice. In My situation, I have pcAnywhere running at my office so that I can connect back from out of the office (either with my laptop or my home PC) to check the network, do some admin stuff and general work. The key with PCanywhere is to set up the proper security (passwords are good, encrypted transmission even better). Now Pcanywhere can be set up to accept connection either thru the net or direct by modem. If's she doing nothing to intensive I would set it up by modem direct (if she's not on too long you can make it share a fax line). You can use the internet but you need a high bandwith connection to get any type of speed (cable, dsl or ISDN)to get some decent speed.

[techsev]

how does laplink work and why wouldn't it have been your first choice? Do you know the pros and cons of it vs pcanywhere? I just picked up a pcanywhere new copy on ebay for 10.00 I figure for that price it would be worth it and the guy lives about 3 miles from my house so I just picked it up. it is version 9.2 i believe. All she is going to be doing is billing on quickbooks and spreadsheets so which is better. I have heard of laplink but never seen it. How slow is an internet connection on pc anywhere vs the dial up? with 56k connections. thanks for the quick responses.

[scutterboy]

Laplink has been around for a while. Longer I think than PC anywhere but they do essentially the same thing.

Laplink wouldn't have been my choice because it's not software I use much, I would have tried to setup remote access to the data, sharing the data remotely. That's just because we would do it that way at work.

Since you already have PC anywhere I recommend you try it.

Cheers Matt.

[Ya_know]

What about Netmeeting 3.01 using Remote Desktop sharing? It is very secure, and free download at Microsoft. If you want to try this, let us know. It is relatively easy to setup. Last I checked, PCAnywhere is still over $300 for a single license. If you got it for $10, i have to wonder...

[techsev]

What about Netmeeting 3.01 using Remote Desktop sharing? It is very secure, and free download at Microsoft. If you want to try this, let us know. It is relatively easy to setup. Last I checked, PCAnywhere is still over $300 for a single license. If you got it for $10, i have to wonder...

I don't know much about that does it run over the internet or modem I have cable internet service they have a 56k at her work I would rather run over the internet. She will be doing billing and payroll through quickbooks so she needs to be able to log on to the computer at work to access the accounts files in quickbooks. She also needs to be able to save it to that computer. I am looking for the cheapest and most reliable way to go here this way we can then make a decision.

[Ya_know]

If you are interested, download 3.01 from MS, install it, and check the Help Topics/Index tab, and type in "Remote Desktop Sharing". There is a very comprehensive overview that will walk you through the settings on both PC's. And oh yes, it works over the Internet. The first time I tried it a friend in Australia showed it to me, I live in the states. It was as crystal clear as our phone conversation. Damn technology rocks! It looks like a PCAW session, the only difference, you can have more than one connection with PCAW, where Netmeeting allows only one.

[gtiseb]

Well netmmeting's remote desktop feature is very slow because netmeeting is also transmitting audio data at the same time. If they are going the with regular modems, I wouldn't use the internet with PCanywhere, I would set it up as a straight dial-in to the computer. It will be much faster that way. AS for accessing and saving data on the computer from her home, With PC anywhere she would be preforming all the work on the office computer from her home in a window that will show office computer's desktop so everything will be saved there.

[henne]

lol. you could've gotten yourself a better, easier, safer, and free program without having to pay $10 for the crappy pcanywhere software. the program is called VNC (Virtual Network Computer) and is available for download at downloads.com (old version) or <a href="http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/" target="_blank">http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/</a> (latest version). the program is as easy as it gets. you install it, run the VNC app mode on the computer that you're gonna access, set the session password, install VNC on the other computer, you run the VNC viewer, enter the host ip (to get the host ip, just put your mouse over the vnc app mode icon under your system tray), it then asks you for the password, then you're in. if you wanna know why it's better than pcanywhere, just compare the reviews on pcanywhere and vnc at downloads.com.