Access computer from home to comouter at work remotely question.

annamaria · May 30, 2014

I am going to install Team Viewer or other free similar software on the computer at home and on the computer at work so I can access the files, do transfers and other tasks. This may sound silly, but does the computer at work need to be on for me to access it from home? Typo on the title sorry.

mmaria · May 30, 2014

yes, it needs to be on

Msteelio91 · May 30, 2014

Yes it does

annamaria · May 30, 2014

mmaria said:
yes, it needs to be on

Thank you Maria.

annamaria · May 30, 2014

Msteelio91 said:
Yes it does

Thanks Msteelio

lambertpix · May 30, 2014

FWIW, I tried TeamViewer when LogMeIn went commercial. Since TeamViewer is free only for non-commercial use, and since my work PC is connected to an AD domain, it wouldn't work as a "free" install. I contacted help about this, and they were able to set my account to free after I explained that I was using it only for non-commercial purposes, but I figured I was close enough to a gray area to look at other solutions. In the end, I wound up opening ports on my firewall to connect Remote Desktop to my home PC from my work PC.

In any event, keep an eye open for that if you use TeamViewer.

annamaria · May 30, 2014

lambertpix said:
FWIW, I tried TeamViewer when LogMeIn went commercial. Since TeamViewer is free only for non-commercial use, and since my work PC is connected to an AD domain, it wouldn't work as a "free" install. I contacted help about this, and they were able to set my account to free after I explained that I was using it only for non-commercial purposes, but I figured I was close enough to a gray area to look at other solutions. In the end, I wound up opening ports on my firewall to connect Remote Desktop to my home PC from my work PC. In any event, keep an eye open for that if you use TeamViewer.

Thanks for letting me know. I work for a small private Christian school and would only be using it to do some work from home nothing commercial. I wish that there was a software that I could turn the computer on and off from home since I will not be there as much in the summer.

Light Guru · May 30, 2014

Why not just use dropbox to sync the files back and forth?

annamaria · May 30, 2014

Light Guru said:
Why not just use dropbox to sync the files back and forth?

I could but I also wanted to be able to create open office docs from home.

480sparky · May 30, 2014

spanishgirleyes said:
Light Guru said:

Why not just use dropbox to sync the files back and forth?

Click to expand...

I could but I also wanted to be able to create open office docs from home.

You can't create files at home?

annamaria · May 30, 2014

480sparky said:
You can't create files at home?

Yes I can just did not want to fool with transferring it to Dropbox, email or usb flash drive. Also I have lots of files at the school's computer that I sometimes have to edit, etc.

manaheim · May 30, 2014

You should check with your IT department and make sure they're ok with you doing that. As an IT person, I grind my teeth when I see things like this.

There may also be a perfectly good way for you to get to the machine without third party software. VPN in (if you have a VPN) and then RDP to the desktop.

Light Guru · May 30, 2014

spanishgirleyes said:
480sparky said:

You can't create files at home?

Click to expand...

Yes I can just did not want to fool with transferring it to Dropbox, email or usb flash drive. Also I have lots of files at the school's computer that I sometimes have to edit, etc.

Apperintly you don't understand how dropbox works. When you install it and sign in it crests a Dropbox folder on your computer. ANY file you save in that folder is automatically synced with Dropbox. All you have to do after you install it on your work computer is move all those files into the Dropbox folder and save new files to the Dropbox folder. Dropbox will keep them synced between the computers, NO NEED FOR TRANSFERRING FILES.

annamaria · May 30, 2014

Light Guru said:
Apperintly you don't understand how dropbox works. When you install it and sign in it crests a Dropbox folder on your computer. ANY file you save in that folder is automatically synced with Dropbox. All you have to do after you install it on your work computer is move all those files into the Dropbox folder and save new files to the Dropbox folder. Dropbox will keep them synced between the computers, NO NEED FOR TRANSFERRING FILES. Video Link: http://youtu.be/OFb0NaeRmdg

Thanks for the info, I will give it a try. Oh and thanks for the video too

480sparky · May 30, 2014

spanishgirleyes said:
480sparky said:

You can't create files at home?

Click to expand...

Yes I can just did not want to fool with transferring it to Dropbox, email or usb flash drive. Also I have lots of files at the school's computer that I sometimes have to edit, etc.

Once you save a file to the Dropbox folder, it will be on their servers. Then you merely open it from any computer, work on it, and click "Save". It will save the updated file to Dropbox automatically.