PC sharing software

mrssarahh

Hi, I am hoping someone with a lot more knowledge or experience of these programs can offer me some advice!
I have a PC at work which has software which my boss needs to use and access from his laptop.
He has suggested some software such as PC Anywhere or Go To My PC. I know very little about these programs and how they work!
Does anyone have any experience of any of them? Are some better than others?
Or are there any other options for sharing the software other than this type of thing?
Thanks for looking!

googler

If it's a work PC, and your boss needs to access it, then surely the boss either asks his IT dept, or brings in an IT specialist, to do what he wants. Or are you the IT dept?

mrssarahh

:rotfl:I am the everything department!!! There is only me in the office and him (usually) at home!

He insists that we don't need a specialist - "just find something on the internet and install it, here's my laptop while I'm on holiday" !!

matttye

Do you have a wireless router at work?

If so, you should just be able to enable file sharing for that folder, have your boss connect his laptop to the same network and then access it that way.

What version of Windows do you have and what version does you boss have?

closed

open up file sharing isn't secure, and depending on the program, is unlikely to work

There are many options, for business use, mostly paid for, google vpn, vnc, or remote control software. If there is going to be someone at both ends at the time, avast does it.

matttye

closed wrote: »

open up file sharing isn't secure, and depending on the program, is unlikely to work

There are many options, for business use, mostly paid for, google vpn or remote control

You can share with only specified user accounts, create a user account for each person you want to be able to access the files and password protect each of the user accounts.

Or is there some other reason why it's insecure?

I share many programs in this way at work, and they seem to work fine. We also share documents in this manner, such as spreadsheets that everyone in the office can access.

closed

sharing spreadsheets is different because it's data, most programs, other than portable types can't run just by clicking on the exe across a network, in that scenario, the only way is to remote control the pc.

opening ports up and file sharing on the net without a vpn is asking to get hacked

matttye

closed wrote: »

sharing spreadsheets is different because it's data, most programs, other than portable types can't run just by clicking on the exe across a network, in that scenario, the only way is to remote control the pc.

opening ports up and file sharing on the net without a vpn is asking to get hacked

I am mistaken. I just remembered that I access the program from a terminal server at our other office, rather than over the local network.

I'm talking about sharing with a workgroup not over the net (if by 'net' you mean 'internet').

S0litaire

What OS is the laptop and the boss using?
Are both machines ion the office or does the Boss want to access it from home?

If all machines are in the same office on the same network then:
Easy method is to enable "Desktop sharing" on the machine that has the software and the boss then just needs to use "Remote desktop connection" to access the machine and run the program.

If he needs access outside of the office then:

PC Anywhere or Go-to-my-pc is easier to set up if you don't have a static IP (check with your ISP provider!)

if you do have a Static IP, then you can set up a VPN service on the machine which is a bit more secure:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/6f8fa874-07e0-4c6a-a5b6-22c50e858d3b/do-windows-7-have-vpn-server-build-in

You will have to add in some "Port Redirection" on your broadband router so that the router knows what machine to send the connection to. Most, if not all, routers have a page/tab in the settings for port redirection or services. You just need to tell it to send all VPN to the machine hosting the program.

He then can use remote desktop as if he was in the office. It will be slow but usable.

mrssarahh

Thanks for all your replies. If it helps, the reason for sharing is I have Sage Forecasting linked to Sage 50 accounts. He needs to go into forecasting to enter and amend the budgets and I do the book keeping on Sage 50. Because they are hotlinked to update actual figures we can't just backup and share the data, he actually needs to access my machine.
Hope that helps explain a bit!

mrssarahh

And we are both on Windows 7!