A Short Guide to Remote Connections

It is a fact that more and more individuals are working from home. With this trend, there is a growing need for access to a work computer while at home and vice versa. Remote desktop software allows individuals to work on two different computers. When saving work on one computer, a person will have access to that work from a remote computer. A remote connection offers an employee the chance to work from home as needed. For businesses, this allows the opportunity to boost morale of their employees by not requiring individuals to stay late in the office, or come in to work on the weekends.

What is Remote Access?

Remote access is the ability to connect with another computer that you may not be near at the time. Remote connections are set up through the host computer, which allows a person to access the information from another computer wherever it may be located. If a person is in the middle of a big project and needs to work on it from home, they will be able to go to the office the next day and have access to all of the work that was accomplished the night before. A remote connection offers more flexibility in the work environment.

Remote Connection Set Up

The first step of any remote connection is to set up the host computer. This is the computer that the person wishes to access from a remote location. Installing remote desktop software can be done in a few simple steps. In the control panel, a person will click on the “add or remove Windows components.” From there, click on details under internet information services. Open the sub-component of the web service list, and simply tic “allow remote access,” and a setup wizard will begin. After installation is complete, it is important to update the security of your system.

Using Your Remote Connection

After setting up the host computer, it will be important to test the remote connection. It is recommended that this be done at a computer that is near the host computer if possible. Simply log-on to the remote computer and enter the site of the remote connection software that is being used. From there, enter the specific IP address of the host computer. A password will need to be entered. After entering the password, access to your host computer should pop-up on the screen, allowing access to any file that is needed from the host computer. When using this type of software it is important to remember to always log out of the remote computer once the task has been completed.

There are several ways to set up remote connections for your computer. In order to keep all of your information secure it is critical to update all security features as soon as they become available. Password protection is also important; if your current computer does not have a password, it will be important to do so before setting up any type of remote access software.