Remote Access

[OUMike]

I am currently going to school at Univeristy of Houston, and I am there quite a bit. I have a very large hard drive at home with a great deal of information that I would like to be able to access at any given moment.

 

A buddy of mine has tried to talk me out of the FTP kinda thing, by telling me that its really insecure (a big concern of mine) and more trouble than its actually worth.

 

How difficult is it to set up Remote Desktop or something of the likes on a public computer; like one in a lab? Is it safe to do this?

 

I've tried to play with remote desktop a little bit at home between my computer and my fathers computer across the room and have been pretty unsuccessful. I have no problems doing it through the network, but when I try to go through the internet I run into problems.

 

Thanks for any advice!

[Ted_Grevers]

If you run remote desktop, make sure you set it to listen on some strange obscure port number, for example, 31004. If you use an obscure port number, you'll be less likely to be discovered by someone scanning port numbers. Set up your firewall / router to pass traffic to your PC's IP address over that obscure port. You pick your own number, that's safest.

 

-t

[OUMike]

If you run remote desktop, make sure you set it to listen on some strange obscure port number, for example, 31004. If you use an obscure port number, you'll be less likely to be discovered by someone scanning port numbers. Set up your firewall / router to pass traffic to your PC's IP address over that obscure port. You pick your own number, that's safest.

 

-t

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

 

Thanks alot. Another thing I was thinking about was I use local DSL. My father and I share a router and don't have the extra IP. Which number would I use?

[billcar9999]

Any time you open up a computer to the Internet you're asking for trouble. I'd recommend something you carry with you like a thumb drive. You can get them in 5GB sizes. Larger USB drives are available up to 200GB. HP makes a good one that I use. They can be pricey but you aren't opening up your network to everyone.

[OUMike]

Any time you open up a computer to the Internet you're asking for trouble.  I'd recommend something you carry with you like a thumb drive.  You can get them in 5GB sizes.  Larger USB drives are available up to 200GB.  HP makes a good one that I use.  They can be pricey but you aren't opening up your network to everyone.

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

 

Yea....my fallback is a 1 gig flash drive I saw on Newegg.com

 

Thanks a lot everyone.

[Wingnut]

Dude...Stop asking us how to stream your porn to the big screen in your dorm, this is a family site.

 

 

Remote Desktop or Terminal Services Client (they're pretty much the same thing)...Heck, even PCAnywhere (it's pretty slow though) are all pretty easy to set up and use...And are secure enough for most purposes. Remote Desktop comes built in to XP, and it's easy to set up and use.

[OUMike]

Dude...Stop asking us how to stream your porn to the big screen in your dorm, this is a family site.

 

 

Remote Desktop or Terminal Services Client (they're pretty much the same thing)...Heck, even PCAnywhere (it's pretty slow though) are all pretty easy to set up and use...And are secure enough for most purposes. Remote Desktop comes built in to XP, and it's easy to set up and use.

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

 

hahahah. No porn on my computer. Even if I was interested I'm sure the girlfriend would not approve.

 

Yea...I think I'm gonna play with Remote Desktop a little more.

[ZZebes]

There are a few different options including the Remote desktop route, and the "go to my pc" route. If you need any help i am usually floating around UC Satelite in the mornings.

 

I have a copy of PC anywhere you can have to use since i run my own VPN now.

[6Burgh]

This is what I used till XP came with remote desktop. I still use it for older machines I work on to save me trips to peoples houses.

 

http://ultravnc.sourceforge.net/