65.046 Options to Remotely Access your office PC from home or any remote location

There are many ways to enable you and your staff to take control of their office computers from home.   They all follow a similar model; the software is installed on the office and home computers and a secure link is made between the two that allows the office machine to be controlled from home.

TeamViewer

TeamViewer (www.teamviewer.com )is a popular one that has a free option for home use but the company are, perversely, choosing now as a good time to crack down on non-personal use.  Pricing is £25-£30 per month.

AnyDesk
AnyDesk (www.anydesk.com ) is a great product with a free tier for home use that can help staff connect to their office machines.  Simply install it on your computer in the office and tell it to allow unattended remote access (We can help with that if you get stuck) and then install the same program on your home computer.  Enter the secure access code and you’re good to go, controlling your office computer at home.  Just remember not to switch off your computer in the office and, if possible, have a dry run to iron out any kinks before you start doing it for real. Again, we can help with this if you need it.  Commercial versions of Anydesk suitable for home working are £7 a month per user.

Google Remote Desktop

This is a free product from Google that installs an extension in Chrome that enables you to take control of your computer from any location.  Simply download and install the Chrome extension on both computers, grant access and you can take control of your desktop.  As long as you don’t close Chrome this is a great, free solution.

VPN

Smaller companies should not discount VPN.  If your router is capable of supporting VPN it can be an effective way of giving your team remote access to their desktops.  There are a few things to consider:

- If you are going to connect a home computer to your office network, ensure the home computer has adequate antivirus and malware protection.  We do not want to introduce the other kind of virus!
-   To connect via Microsoft Remote Desktop, the office computer must be running Windows Professional and be configured to allow remote connections.  If it’s not a Professional version you can use a free tool such as VNC to access the screen instead. 

Remote (Cloud) File Access

Some companies may want to set up remote access to the office so the staff can access the central file share. It may be a good time to consider moving the share to the cloud using a tool such as DropBox, Google Drive or Microsoft SharePoint/OneDrive.  Talk to us and we can advise you.

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