To Connect Remotely To Your Computer Or Dedicated Server

ATM is great in that you can start it and then go and do other things. Even travel around the world like (at least) one of my customers has done.

The question is then, how do you keep track of what ATM is doing? Or what if you want to change something while you're away?

The answer is to set your computer up so you can access it from wherever you have an internet connection. In other words, access your computer remotely.

There are a number of possible ways to do this. The one I have settled on is described below. You can do some research and decide upon a different method if you like. Just know that with accessing your computer remotely, there are two kinds of differences in the things that the software allows you to do.

1. If you can transfer files between your computer and the one you are using to access it remotely; and
2. If you can use your computer remotely without somebody being physically at that computer to press a button saying it's ok that someone is about to access it remotely ("unattended login").

LifeHacker asked readers what they used and compiled a top 5.

The simplest method is probably the free service provided by LogMeIn. And that's what I use.

That free service allows unattended login, but no file transfer. No file transfer is not really a problem if all you want to do is check on ATM and maybe alter some settings.

To organise file transfer capabilities with LogMeIn, I guess there are 2 choices. First, you could upgrade to their paid version. Second, you could use the free version of LogMeIn in conjunction with another free service called DropBox. DropBox lets you sync files across multiple computers. So you copy the files to a particular directory on your local computer, and DropBox automatically syncs any files in that directory to your remote computer. When the upload/download is complete you have now essentially transferred that file. Their free service allows up to 2Gb of storage, which suits most cases.

I chose the free services above because they are easy to install, and their restrictions don't really bother me. But restrictions there are. If you're looking for free software that does everything, then read this LifeHacker post to install TightVNC. It's a little bit trickier to set up, but if you succeed then it's worthwhile.

We won't be able to help you if you get stuck though. Google is your best friend.