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My home network works fine. How can I access my home network on the road?

P

PepperBreath

Senior member
I've established a rather small home network. With my laptop on WiFi, I can access certain folders I've shared on my main desktop PC.

I'd like to be able to access my home desktop when I'm on the road at wifi spots like at coffee shops and the like. What would be the best way to go about this?
 
I'd just like to have access to the files on my desktop when I'm at school or on the road instead of having to wait until I get home to transfer files. It's not a huge necessity but it would be nice to be able to do this since my laptop only has a 40gb HD and it'd be nice to just transfer files to it on a need basis instead of having to take them with me when I'm not at home. I'm mainly thinking video and music files.

My router does support VPN but I was under the impression that you couldn't use that if you have a dynamic IP which I'm pretty sure I do (Comcast).

FolderShare looks alright. I'm kind of concerned that it's MS Beta though. That kind of implies that it won't be free forever and whenever it comes out of Beta they'll go to a pay service type of deal.

Though I only had transfering files in mind, the remote desktop option looks interesting. Are they pretty secure? I guess that's my main concern about this whole thing.
 
Without starting another thread, I had another question.

I have a Hauppauge WinTV 150 in my Desktop and would like to be able to network it so I could watch TV on my laptop over the LAN. Is this possible?
 
Originally posted by: ivwshane
Look into vlc
Click to expand...

I did actually but could never get it to work. There were a few guides out there but even following step-by-step, I couldn't get it to stream properly.
 
Originally posted by: PepperBreath
I'd just like to have access to the files on my desktop when I'm at school or on the road instead of having to wait until I get home to transfer files. It's not a huge necessity but it would be nice to be able to do this since my laptop only has a 40gb HD and it'd be nice to just transfer files to it on a need basis instead of having to take them with me when I'm not at home. I'm mainly thinking video and music files.

My router does support VPN but I was under the impression that you couldn't use that if you have a dynamic IP which I'm pretty sure I do (Comcast).

FolderShare looks alright. I'm kind of concerned that it's MS Beta though. That kind of implies that it won't be free forever and whenever it comes out of Beta they'll go to a pay service type of deal.

Though I only had transfering files in mind, the remote desktop option looks interesting. Are they pretty secure? I guess that's my main concern about this whole thing.
Click to expand...


I wouldn't worry about your IP changing if you have comcast. You don't technically have a static IP, but i think comcast has been binding MACs to IPs for a while now. I have comcast, and I can't remember the last time my IP changed. Case and point: you can treat it as static.
 
Originally posted by: PepperBreath
Without starting another thread, I had another question.

I have a Hauppauge WinTV 150 in my Desktop and would like to be able to network it so I could watch TV on my laptop over the LAN. Is this possible?
Click to expand...

A stream of this kind would require a lot of bandwidth, much more then just the direct online stream and you are sending a visual uncompressed screen.

Would need insanely fast upload at your server and fast download all around.
I have problems watching videos remotely on a local 100 Mb network. So most likely this will not happen for you. Sorry.
 
Originally posted by: bruceb
Depending on the size & qty of the files you need to acces, why not just carry a USB Thumb Drive ? ?
You can get them uip to 2GB in size currently & bigger ones are coming ... thet are not too costly
I got a Sandisk 1GB with rebates for $39 from Staples about a month ago
Click to expand...

I'd still have to go home every time I needed to transfer file though. That's why I'd like to have access to my desktop remotely, so I could access files if the need arises. Space is just one reason. Having access to all my files on my desktop is the main thing and that's something I can't do with a thumb drive.

Originally posted by: Joemonkey
check out orb too, orb.com
Click to expand...

Actually I have that installed on my home desktop. However, I can't figure out how to just have it share files like that MS FolderShare that someone mentioned before. For music files and video files it should be fine though. For some reason it locks up when I try to get a list of channels for the TV server though. 🙁

Originally posted by: elkinm
A stream of this kind would require a lot of bandwidth, much more then just the direct online stream and you are sending a visual uncompressed screen.

Would need insanely fast upload at your server and fast download all around.
I have problems watching videos remotely on a local 100 Mb network. So most likely this will not happen for you. Sorry.
Click to expand...


Oh, I know about the bandwidth. I was talking about on my LAN and not over the internet. Heh.

I'm not sure it'd be completely uncompressed since the Hauppauge does hardware Mpeg2 encoding. It won't be smooth but probably just fine for casual tv watching while I'm working in a room other than the living room.

Originally posted by: angryswede
I wouldn't worry about your IP changing if you have comcast. You don't technically have a static IP, but i think comcast has been binding MACs to IPs for a while now. I have comcast, and I can't remember the last time my IP changed. Case and point: you can treat it as static.
Click to expand...

I'll keep that in mind if I play around with the VPN option.
 
File sharing should be part of the remote software you use. There should be a setting to bring files locally.

You can view TV on the LAN but it will still be slow. The remote program does not recognize the video picture as a compressed stream but as raw color and audio change which it needs to deliver to the other PC in real time.
Now if there was a good way to create a video stream from the PC through the tuner and some other capture program then you might be able to use like a network resource and not through the other desktop. I don't know if this can be done. It is a cool idea, I have a tuner myself.
 
Yes, Hamachi FT absolute MF W

It's a wonderfully simple system. Just started really using it over hte last few days, have used it to setup a sort of ftp server network with my friends, it's awesome.

Highly recommended.

http://www.hamachi.cc
 
I went ahead and finally tried Orb after having it installed for a while. Couldn't get it to work properly for video or audio. Pictures did show up though.

Not sure which end was at fault. 🙁
 
Will Hamachi work as a Remote Desktop application? Or, does it only function as folder/file sharing?

I'm in need of a Keep It Simple Stupid remote desktop application between two remote PCs running XP Home with a DSL connection (dynamic). The purpose would be in order to run Quicken for Contractors on the host computer to process payroll, bills, etc. from the remote PC. Any ideas?
 
Originally posted by: JackMDS
Two Simple Steps.

1. Get yourself a free DNS account (see here option 3) http://www.ezlan.net/myip.html

2. Configure you systems with Encrypted Free Remote Control Program, http://www.ezlan.net/vnc.html

:sun:
Click to expand...

Is it fairly secure though?

One reason I asked about sharing files instead of remote control is due to the fact that sharing files doesn't seem like as big of a breach of security as a remotely controlled PC.
 
Originally posted by: PepperBreathIs it fairly secure though?
Click to expand...
Breach of security is a matter of stealing info. No one would steal your Windows Applications.

Most of security breaches involve intercepting Files and Data Bases with info.

I think that by now people do not realize that the basic of most methods of security is Encryption even when they are called by other ?Fancy? names like SSH, VPN, WPA, etc.

When you use the encryption add-on of a VNC program you have to put the same Encryption Key on both Remote and local computers.

In many general applications that are used over the Internet (like shopping, logging to secure sites, etc.) you can not functionally get engaged exchanging encryption keys with the other party. Thus you have systems that work with certificates, and or other means of establishing the Encryption base algorithm to be able to encrypt and decrypt with No key exchange. These methods might be called by different names but the basic of their work is Encryption.

All said there are differences in encryption strength and complexity. So if you run a Bank you better hire security consultant rather than solve your problem through public network forum.

:sun:

P.S. I did not try it but VNC can also be used through the Browser instead of the viewer (It needs Java Machine installed for this purpose) the site bellow has free program that let you use the Browser with SSH and VNC. I.e. you get remote control with the same encryption that is used for 99% of web transactions including most banks.

http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=60894&package_id=81645

 
Alright. Have it installed. Any advice on how to set it up? The config window looks pretty complicated.

I'll play with it tomorrow and hopefully I'll be able to get an idea of how to properly manage it.
 
Install the Server on one of you computers, and the viewer on another one.

Change the password and leave every thing else at default. Make sure that if you have software Firewall it does Not block locally.

Use the remote locally between these computers until you learn the ropes including the use of the Encryption.

When it is working and you are Anxiety free you can try different settings

Set a DNS account to be able to work over the Internet.

Make sure that the ports are forward through the Router.

To check if it works over the Internet you must connect from the outside (I.e a computer with the VNC Viewer installed that is on another Internet connection. You can Not type locally on the same connection the External IP to check the connection through the Internet.

:sun:
 
Encryption didn't install properly. When I installed I selected the encryption plugin to be installed but when I went into the setup options, it says one isn't installed.

I grabbed the plugin separately and tried to install it but no dice. Setup doesn't "see" it.
 
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