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GCN Home > 04/19/04 issue

Telecommuting made easy

By David Thang D. Luu, Special to GCN

Remote-host apps keep teleworkers up with the office

When I started telecommuting, I was surprised to find very little software geared to the average federal telecommuter.

All you really need to do basic office work at home is a computer, an Internet connection and an e-mail address. More advanced work such as accessing secure databases, for example, might require costly applications and arrangements outside the scope of this review.

But for the average teleworker who has forgotten to bring home the right files or needs to access others stored at the office, remote PC hosting software is essential.

I undertook this review from the viewpoint of a federal user who wants to start telecommuting with little or no IT support. Although that’s not the case at every agency, I assumed that you’re on your own for maintenance, upgrades and so on.

I tested three hosting applications on two notebook PCs: a Dell Latitude D600 running Windows XP Professional and a Toshiba Tecra 8100 running Win 2000.

Citrix Systems’ GoToMyPC 4.0, acquired with last month’s buy of Expertcity Inc., proved to be a robust Web service for accessing a host computer from any remote computer over the Internet.

The difference between the host and the remote computer is important to remember. The host is the machine with the information you want to access—ordinarily a server at your office. The remote computer is the one at which you are seeking the information—ordinarily your home computer.

No problem

The setup of GoToMyPC was one of the easiest I have encountered. All I had to do was go to the GoToMyPC Web site while I was at my host computer. I created an account and password on the site and downloaded 2M of code. It took less than five minutes.

Then, to access the host from a home computer, or any other Net-connected computer for that matter, I could simply point the browser to the GoToMyPc site and enter my e-mail address and password.

Up would come a window showing my host’s screen layout. So long as that window remained highlighted, I could work with a mouse or keyboard at home just as if I were sitting in front of the host at the office.

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