The Top 3 Options for Remote Access
What a crazy moment in time – each day brings new news and more changes. This is an amazing time – with computers as part of our daily lives, we are in a unique moment in history where a large part of the population can truly ‘isolate’ themselves for their own protection and the protection of those around them, and still work!
Many of our clients are part of our cloud hosting environment and can work remotely from any computer that has internet. However, there are some circumstances where someone would like to remote into their office computer and work from there. There are ways to do this, and as you might have guessed, some are more secure than others!
So here are the Top 3 in the order of recommendation:
First, our top favorite, the best for security and user experience, log into a Terminal Server with Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) using your regular network log on credentials. The server has additional security, it’s backed up, it has all the user profiles and permissions, and it has all the software programs and data you need.
The second option is to use our Take Control feature! It’s a monthly service with a one-time setup fee that allows you to remotely connect to your office computer or laptop. When you Take Control, you take over your computer and you can see everything on your computer. The monthly fee is $9.95 and a one-time $50 setup fee. The monthly fee allows you to scale up or down as needed. BTW – for our clients in our hosted or fully managed services, we’re waiving the setup fee through May 31st.
The third option is also very secure. You purchase an SSL VPN license, we configure access through the Sonicwall firewall, then you sign in through the internet to remotely access the computer. Each license is a one-time $50 purchase and a $90 one-time setup fee. There’s no monthly charge since you now own these licenses. To scale up, you can purchase more licenses; you can transfer a license between users. If you no longer need a license, it can be saved for the future.
To Recap – Log into the server using Remote Desktop Connection. If you need to work remotely on your computer, sign up for our Take Control monthly subscription. Another option is to purchase an SSL VPN license, log in through an internet browser, then connect to the machine. Through May 31st, we’re waiving the setup fee for our Take Control offering, and we’re waiving the setup fee for the SSL VPN license configurations. We’re ready to help! – CMW