ok, this Xmas I will be upgrading my parents to Windows 7 Proffessional, recently my Dad has been pestering me about how he wants to control the home PC from his laptop over the internet (I think its running windows XP Prof). My Dad knows practically nothing about PCs (Setting Up or Running) so what ever system I use has to be Noob Proof. I think there are a number of ways to do this, but I am concerned about security, my Dad and Mom depend on there PC for their work, and any breaches would be not be good. There are sites that allow remote access to home PCs for monthly fees. Software that allows one PC to connect to another (freeware, shareware). Setting it up manually using the Windows OS. I have very little knoledge of this stuff so when my Dad asked me to set it up I said it prop wont be possible, but to be sure I wanted to ask in the forums. Is there a way of setting this up Simply, Securly and make it as easy to use as Plug and Play, so my dad can use it?
www.logmein.com use it at work, not had very many issues with it. all you have to do is sign up for an account and then "add computers to your list" basically you install a piece of software on the PC you want to be able to access then use firefox or IE to log into account and connect. JOB DONE. all this is free and easy to use.
yeah but that involves port forwarding and configuring and making sure IPs match (unless you use dyndns or have a static IP) alot more hassle to be honest if your not a techy
I wouldnt mind learning that stuff, but my Dad would have no chance in understanding it, so far these 2 websites look like a good choice. How are they on security?
LogMeIn is frightening on security as none of the usual firewall protection applies to it - it just goes straight through over port 80 But you've said your Dad wouldn't anyway be doing firewalling etc. At the end of the day it may be a case of 1) do you trust simple password security and 2)do you trust logmein? Logmein has its own IP-restriction list in the locally installed software, but that doesn't sound like a solution for your Dad Having said that I would happily install it on my Dad's home PC, but he's on ADSL and the PC isn't always on (it would be for me to troubleshoot if I needed it) But either you want it easy like this, or you're straight into static IP's/dynamic DNS etc....
Last time I checked it uses 443 and SSL encryption for both the website and the PC client. I've used logmein for years and have never had a problem with accessing the site, nor a security breach.
Ok, thanks, youve given me alot to think about, my Dads PC is on 24/7 but Im trying to get him to change that with his new build (he doesnt like long start up times). Im going to have a good read of these two websites policies and terms and conditions.
