How can I connect to my home computer from work?

You may have a need or desire to connect to your home computer from work. There are several factors that you must consider before trying to connect. Most importantly, will your work allow it and if it does will they help support it.

Your best method to find access to home would be to approach your IT department and see if they have software that supports access. Many companies realize that employees work at home and offer support to access files at home. Other companies feel that accessing home computers put their networks at risk because they can't control the security of home computers. If home computers are hacked by thieves then they could potentially gain access to the company through the home computer.

Several companies offer commercial software versions that allow you to connect to your home computer remotely. Since these have service departments that can help you with setup and connections, this article will focus on the windows version. If you are looking for a commercial alternative, you can try PC Anywhere or GoToMyPC. Again, check with your IT Department before purchasing software because they may not allow you to use this software.

The rest of this article will discuss the issues using the Remote Desktop application on Windows XP Pro. This application is not found on XP home. The issues you will have to resolve are the following:

1. Your place of work.
2. Your IP address.
3. Your router.
4. Your IP address on your network.

Place of work.
Corporations often restrict what and who is allowed access to the internet. Often they restrict WEB surfing and Email. If you do not currently have access then you need to talk with your IT Department. Unless they give you access to the internet, you shouldn't waste any more time on this project. The IT Department must specifically allow the Remote Desktop protocol on port 3389, unless they have it reassigned to another port, to reach the internet.

Your IP address.
You must know your IP address in order to access your home computer. If you have a static IP address, then your address never changes and you can look it up once enter it into your office computer. However, most computers have a dynamic IP address and that means it can change from time to time. You can still get to your computer, but you will have to know the current IP address when you go to connect. You have a couple of options to get the current address, but the easiest is to Plot IP.

However, if you computer stays connected continuously, then your IP address is not likely to change very often. The reason companies use dynamic IP address is because people are constantly on and off the system.

Your Router.
The next hurdle to overcome is your router. Your router duals as a firewall, and prevents most connections originating from the internet. Most of the time, you connect from your home computer through the router to the internet. You are now attempting to make a reverse connection. Your router needs to be configured to forward port 3389 to your work computer that you want to connect to. You will have to check your specific router documentation in order to configure your router.

Your IP address on your network.
The last hurdle to get over is your IP address assigned on your network by your router. Your IP address on the internet only identifies your router and it is assigned by your internet service provider (ISP). Your router assigns IP address on your network. These IP addresses never leave the network.

Unfortunately, your router most likely assigns these addresses dynamically, meaning they will change. If you leave your network on all the time, they will not change that often. Either way, you will need to configure the router with the current IP address of the computer you want to access remotely.

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