Remoting in to pc from work

[rob4001]

Hi I have windows 8.1 at home and xp in work. What software will allow me to wake my PC on lan and remote in?

Thanks

[Dooms]

I've used a few options for remoting to my PC at home.

Logmein
Teamviewer
Chrome Remote Desktop
Splashtop HD (from tablets).

Logmein used to be my go to one, it seemed the best and it was the only one that would ever wake my computer up when I tried to connect. As its no longer free I no longer use it.

Splashtop is still my fave one to connect from my tablet but again they added a monthly fee to connect from non-local connections. I don't use it enough to justify the cost.

Now I mainly use Chrome Remote Desktop - Its quick, easy and works like a charm 95% of the time, the only issue I've found is that it doesn't get through some clients proxy/firewall so thats when I fall back to TeamViewer.

[shaithis]

The WOL part may be the tricky part. You will need to open and forward ports on the router and use something like Magic Packet Sender.....although I have always found it hit and miss over routed connections.

[cheesemp]

I'd recommend teamviewer. I've never had to worry about port forwarding with it. It just works. I guess they must maintain a connection with their servers, and just route the remote desktop through that to save an incoming connection. It also handles multi monitors very well (You can just flick between them using a button if you have less screens).

[Splash]

Also bear in mind that unless your network admins are slacking harder than I do then they'll be blocking the connection, and you may well leave yourself open to disciplinary action.

[unospace]

I like to keep work and home life seperate completely and only access emails if I'm expecting something urgent. That being said though.. Am sat behind a pretty hefty county council multi-level firewall. Even as a network admin. That'd take some getting round!

[Bonebreaker777]

Unless your system admin is a power crazy "unnamed German officer during WWII" using Fortinet firewalls on the highest settings (like mine) you shouldn't have a problem with Teamviewer. Because he does block nearly everything, yet Teamviewer still works.

I suspect he uses it as well, but he would never discuss IT with a "nonprofessional".

[Splash]

TBH most companies will have some sort of web filtering on their proxy, and as Teamviewer is routed through your proxy I'd be very surprised if the web filtering didn't kibosh it.

[Dooms]

I've found the reason why teamviewer is 'allowed' through proxy/firewalls at a lot of client places as its used in either an official (external companies connecting) or unofficial (IT tech wants to connect to home) capacity so has been left open

[Spud1]

Teamviewer is one of the best out there for simple access, and its good for everything but motion. It also tends to work on almost any network configuration with HTTP access on port 80.

If you want to play games/watch videos/moving content then I can't find anything better than splashtop - I can sit there at lunch and remote in to my home PC, and have a game of hearthstone or log on to WoW..or watch a video - all streaming over the web. If you don't want to pay their £2 monthly fee for remote access you can just setup a VPN (network permitting).

[peterb]

I suspect the problem won't so much be technical, as loading software onto a corporate network, which may be locked down, or at least have policies in place prohibiting the use of unauthorised software (and if they haven't, they deserve all the IT problems they get)

That then limits you to using tools that are available, which in practice may limit you to a web browser, so you need something that will allow you to access your PC through that application. At its simplest, you could install Apache on your home PC and careful conguration would give you remote access to files. You do need to be careful with configuration, and use some form of authentication method as you are degrading the security of your home PC.

[ik9000]

Some routers can be set up to allow protected log-in access to a specific port for remote in. If you can find one that uses a web interface to remote in would that be less of a security issue?