Our customers often ask about the best ways to maintain productivity when they or their staff are away from office, whether they are traveling, working at home, or visiting a customer or construction site. This article cover methods to access files or programs at the office, and the previous article listed essential gadgets.
- USB Drives and Email Attachments – If you only need to work on one or two files, a USB drive (‘thumb drive’) can likely hold what you need-and it fits conveniently in your purse or pocket. Alternatively, or to play it safe, you can also email yourself a copy to the address on your PDA, BlackBerry, or laptop. Just make sure that that everything transferred as anticipated so you’re ready to work without an unpleasant surprise.
- File Syncing Software – For people who work remotely on a regular basis, like an executive with a busy travel schedule, syncing files may be the best option. This creates a mirror image of the files, folders and directories on your office machine directly onto your laptop. Note that it only syncs files and does not copy programs from one computer to another. Therefore, ensure that your laptop computer has all of the software you need, or otherwise you may find yourself with the file you need to work on, but no method of working on it.
- Virtual Private Networks – A VPN (virtual private network) is a secure connection directly between your laptop and the network in your office, giving you access to files, contacts and applications, as if you were actually there. If you have a program installed on your work computer but not your laptop, you can actually work on the files on the desktop computer. Note that working via a VPN is never as fast as working on the actual computer. Memory intensive tasks like graphics or video applications are likely to be especially slow.
- Remote Access Software Systems – Like a VPN, GoToMyPC, terminal server, and other remote access software allows you to access files, applications and even printers. Because the software connects to the specific machine rather than the office network, users who are planning on accessing their computers remotely must ensure that their work computer is left on or they won’t be able to make a connection.
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