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The software environment for remote access to computers has blossomed in the last few years. Using one of the many solutions now available, you could, for example, from any broadband Internet connection in the world, log on to your home/office computer and access the computer as if you were sitting right in front of it. Need to work on a document that sits on your computer at work, from home? Remote Access. Want to view your email that sits on your home/office computer in Outlook or Outlook Express and you’re half-way around the world? Remote Access. Lots of possibilities.

The two serious contenders in this category are Citrix’ GoToMyPC and LogMeIn from LogMeIn.

The two go back and forth in terms of features offered and quality of connections. Generally, LogMeIn is less expensive. Better yet, LogMeIn has an absolutely FREE version. We like free. Hence, our pick is LogMeIn.

SETUP

Here’s what you do to set up your free LogMeIn account:

From the computer you will want to access remotely, visit www.logmein.com

On the home page, there’s a big green button that reads ‘Get LogMeIn Free Click Here’. Click the link

On the next page, toward the bottom, you are asked for your email address, zip code, and a password to create an account. Answer a couple of quick questions, and Go

You’ll then be asked to Download software and run it on your computer. When the setup is done, you’re just about ready.

View your email inbox for the account you just set up with LogMeIn. There will be a message from them, asking you to verify your email address. Click the link in the message

Setup is done!

REMOTE ACCESS

To access your computer from literally any computer that has a broadband Internet connection:

1. From the local computer, open a browser and go to www.logmein.com
2. At the top of the page, enter your email address and password that you used to establish your LogMeIn account
3. Once you’ve signed in, you’ll be presented with a list of computers to which you could connect. Select the computer you set up
4. After a plug-in download for your browser, a window – your ‘target’ computer’s window – will appear. You’ve got connection, and you’ve got control.

At this point, you can do just about anything you could normally do if you were actually sitting in front of the computer itself.

With the free version of LogMeIn, there are two limitations:

1. You cannot transfer files between your ‘local’ and ‘target’ computers
2. You cannot print something that’s on your ‘target’ computer to your ‘local’ computer

For that, you’d need to sign up for their paid version, LogMeIn Pro, which is currently $12.95 per month, or, if you prepay, $70 per year ( a deal!). This compares to GoToMyPC which will set you back either $19.95 per month or $180 per year, prepaid.

FYI, LogMeIn has a bunch of other products, two of which we use quite often: LogMeIn Rescue, which allows 123 Technology engineers to quickly access a customer’s PC to remotely troubleshoot problems, and LogMeIn IT Reach, which allows us to monitor and receive automatic alerts from remote computers.

Randy Garland

123 Technology