Staying connected to home with LogMeIn
Via the BBC, of all places, I read yesterday about the free remote desktop utility, LogMeIn. And after giving it a test-drive today, I’m smitten.
Available for both Mac and PC, LogMeIn is a remote control facility for your computers. After registering, you download and install an application on each machine that you want to be able to control. Then, when you suddenly realise you’ve left that important file on your home PC, you can log into the logmein.com site, select the relevant computer name, and take complete remote control of your other machine.
The site works over HTTPS, so even through a corporate firewall I was able to take control of the iMac sitting on my desk at home and blast out some unexpected heavy metal at my wife. It also syncs your clipboard, allowing copy+paste over the remote connection.
The screen updates slowly as you switch between applications—I wouldn’t want to attempt any actual work remotely—but for the kind of things I am likely to want to do (email stuff to myself, retrieve files, or manage downloads) the service is ideal.
They also offer a paid version from $13/month for 1 PC, which adds the ability to sync files, drag and drop files between machines, and share printer connections.
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Comments
- Tim
- 628 days ago
Logmein is one of those programs that has proven itself quite useful though the last few years!
With enough bandwidth, screen updates load fast enough for some real work. I’ve done data entry type work quite extensively with this program.$13 a month is more than I’m willing to pay with what I’m able to do with the free version!
- #2
Nice one. I used it previously and worked gr8. To share folders, you may also try FolderShare from Microsoft which works for both Mac and Windows platforms.
I am also testing the Microsoft Mesh platform which is also quite awesome and provides the same foldershare features.
@ Both – freeware too!