As I write this, there are 2 days left until the beginning of that major winter sporting event which tends to be very protective of its’ name. Traffic closures have happened, and with more to come, along with a true crush of visitors and athletes, the worst is yet to happen I think.

So if you’re planning to do some remote access or teleworking over the next 3 weeks, heere are some tips on how you can get it done easily, and with minimal expense.

Firstly, we have the free remote access tools. One of the most popular along this line is a program called LogMeIn. This is a free application, although you have to be careful that you’re getting the free personal version instead of the other paid versions (whcih only offer trials). The upside to this application is that it’s free. The downside to it is that there tends to be a noticeable hit to your computer performance with this application; it’s pretty beefy. Of course you can also ask your local IT support to clean up your machine to help make it faster, resulting in a net zero change. The other downside is that although there are some passwords involved, it’s not the most secure option. There’s no serious encryption on any of the communications, which means anyone who’s deliberately listening in (what we geeks call ‘sniffing’) can get much, if not all, of what gets sent.

The next option is to use Remote Desktop, or Terminal Services (two names for the same thing), which is included by default on every Windows machine from Windows 2000 onward. By making the tiniest of changes to your network gateway device such as your internet router, your computer network people can make it so that you can work from a computer at home, and it will look and feel like you’re sitting in front of your work computer. Upside: ease of deployment, and low cost, also one of the best performance experiences you’ll get. Downsides include hardware requirements (which are easily met) and slightly increased complexity. It’s not a huge change in complexity, but there is some, so you need to be aware of it.

The last option I’ll cover here is what’s called a VPN, which stands for Virtual Private Network (see this article for more info on VPN’s). This is far and away the most secure option available. The communications happening over a VPN are blocked from all but the most determined of sniffers, and in a few cases things are virtually impregnable. If you have very sensitive data, this is certainly the option you should most strongly consider. Upsides are security, and speed; as with the Terminal Services option, things are much faster than they are with LogMeIn. Downside is cost and complexity. There are specific hardware and/or software requirements (depending on the type of VPN you want) and this option does introduce more complexity to your environment.

But realistically, what is it worth to not have to sit in traffic for 2 hours for the next 3 weeks? Or during the next major event? Or if we ever get another snow storm that closes most of the city’s roads? So talk to your computer services people and find out which option is the right one for you, and your organization.