Need remote networking solution

[Chris Falner]

(Not sure if this is the correct newsgroup for my question)

I have 2 PCs, each running XP Home, in two different locations, one at my
workshop and one at home.
They both have dial-up internet access.
I would like to be able to access the one at the workshop from the one at
home.
I would prefer to be able to run applications remotely, but even file
sharing would be a good start.
I have been told that XP Home doesn't have something called "remote
desktop", so I don't think I can use that. Is this correct?
Can I use something called VPN in my situation, or would I need a dedicated
server or something like that to use VPN?
A friend has a copy of "PC Anywhere" (From Symantec, I think) that he
doesn't want. Would "PC Anywhere" be a good solution?

Thanks very much,

Chris

 

[Guest]

something like pc anywhere would work in theory, however
thare are a number of issues that would need to be
addressed.
As both PC's are on dial up, they would have to be
configured to accept incoming connections (I assume this
can be done in XP home but don't know for sure - maybe
someone can clarify)If it can, you need to go into
network connections and create a new advanced connection.

Also if you are on dial up, chances are that your IP
address changes regularly. As you need to have a fixed
reference point to dial in to, you would have to use a
service like dyndns.org to give your connections
permanent names instead of addresses.

Even if you are able to set things up like this, you
should consider security as you are accessing the
machines via the internet. Normally you would use a vpn
for this, but I don't know if the home edition supports
this or not