VPN Logmein takes on GotomyPc
Written: Nov 07 '05 (Updated Apr 26 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Cheaper than Gotomypc.com, no firewall problems
Cons: NONE
The Bottom Line: Access your home PC from anywhere for less than the leading competitor. No worries about firewalls blocking your work. A great program. PERIOD
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| jckatz's Full Review: 3amlabs LogMeIn Pro Remote Access Software for PC |
You may have heard of Gotomypc.com or Go2mypc.com, not only have I heard of it, I used it for nearly a year. At $19.95 a month for me to be able to access my computer at home from work was a G-d send. Programs that I owned at home, could be accessed from work with out having to request my employer purchase a license. (A nearly impossible task).
Not only could I access my own personal desktop and software from the comfort of my office, I was able to print my results to the printers at work, a truly useful option when working in Word Perfect or Photoshop.
But as time went by me need to access my computer diminished projects were completed and I let my subscription drop, after all no one was reimbursing me for my account with gotomypc.com
Along came another project, this one requiring my old college copy of SPSS 6.0 (I think they are up to 10 now). I wasn’t looking forward to paying another $19.95 for what most likely would be a 2 day project, so I tried some open source VPN (Virtual Private Networks). Either none of them were good, or I wasn’t smart enough to trick the local firewall, I never got it to work.
Then one day, I discovered LOGMEIN.COM some person a lot smarter than me, because I googled, I yahooed, I even ASK Jeeved but I never found LOGMEIN.COM, wrote about it at FARK.COM. I don’t remember who it was, but I love him.
Logmein.com PRO does everything Gotomypc.com does for $12.95 a month
Remote Printing The ability to print from your home PC to a printer at your current location
Multiple user accounts Give your friend a private username a password so he can log in
256 bit encryption Makes sure your files are safe and secure
File Transfer Finished a 300 Meg Photoshop project transfer it to your work PC, no problem
Guest Invite Having a problem? Send an e-mail invite a friend to visit your PC and fix it for you
Full Remote access to your desktop Your home desktop appears on your work PC all mouse commands all keyboard commands effect your HOME desktop.
It’s cheaper and it does all the same things
Not only is LOGMEIN.COM PRO cheaper than GOTOMYPC.com and not only does it do all the same things as GOTOMYPC does. It does something GOTOMYPC doesn’t do, and this come in a FREE version.
LOGMEIN FREE
After 30 days, LOGMEIN PRO becomes LOGMEIN FREE. Some of the nice features that Gotomypc has are lost in the FREE version. Such a printing remotely and file transfer.
Neither of these are a big deal for me, while remote printing is useful Adobe PDF files remove the need for direct printing. Create an PDF and e-mail it to yourself, problem solved.
File Transfers are a bigger hassle, the other day I needed to transfer a 90 MEG MP3 file and built in file transfer would have been a g-d send, but a nice free large file e-mail service solved my problem fairly quickly.
I am a big fan of http://www.yousendit.com/
FIREFOX and IE and POCKET PC compatible
The way VPN’s work is by displaying your desktop as a program inside a web browser using the JAVA engine. Logmein claims to work with PocketPC’s also, but I don’t have one so haven’t tried. But it does work wonderfully with Firefox and even has a plug in. The plugin is new and I really didn’t notice a change after I install it.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Who needs a VPN, almost anyone will have the need for a VPN from time to time. Having trouble with your computer and your geek friend is out of town, a VPN is a great way to let your GEEK fix your problems for you. Just the other day, my GEEK friend in Wisconsin used LOGMEIN.com to uninstall a program that I couldn’t uninstall.
So since Logmein.com free is free, you don’t have to use it every day to make it worthwhile, just having it wait there incase you need it is a nice feeling.
UPDATE
I have a friend that uses both the free version and the pro version. At work he uses the pro-version so he can work from home or on the road. When we were on a trip we went driving around with his PocketPC looking for an open WI-FI spot so he could access his work computer and fix a problem.
While this ability ruined my trip, I guess he loves never being away from his precious computers.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
jckatz
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Member: Joe Katz
Location: Springfield, IL
Reviews written: 152
Trusted by: 73 members
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