You Need a Vacation…And A VPN
August 10th, 2017 by admin
The bags are packed, the tickets are purchased, and you’re on your way to your dream vacation leaving work and worries behind. If that is your story go and enjoy it. If you are anything like the rest of us, then work often gets in the way of those dream vacations. VPN’s and Remote Access may provide just the accessibility you need to slip away from the office for a while and enjoy the sunshine.Boost Your Accessibility and Security with a VPN
A Virtual Private Network (or VPN) typically comes as a part of your firewall or an additional add-on. A VPN allows you and your users to securely access your private cloud from a public network. This means that whether you are vacationing in a hotel, sick at home, or working at a location outside the office, you can hop on and securely access your work files. That does not however, mean that you will be able to access those files quickly. Unless you are geographically close to the office AND have an amazing internet connection, things are going to lag. Your VPN will be sending and encrypting entire files across the network and believe it or not, that can take a little time. Simple tasks may be okay if you are a very patient person, but there is a way to make things easier (and much faster)…The Most Powerful Remote Control You’ll Ever Meet: Your Laptop
Remote Desktop is a nifty little piece of software that works with your VPN and can speed up your connection. After accessing the secure VPN, you will be allowed to “remote in” to your office computer. This basically turns your laptop into a giant remote control for your computer at work. Instead of seeing your laptop’s regular desktop, you will see the desktop of your work computer with all the same icons, wallpaper, and shortcuts that you have at work. Your connection is able to function much faster because instead of transferring entire files across the network (like you would with just a VPN) you are now only transferring mouse clicks and keyboard strokes. All of the files stay on your work computer which you are remotely controlling from the location of your choice. It sounds kind of like magic (and it is kind of like magic) but it works. For those sick days where you are still feeling good enough to work but don’t want to infect the whole office, or for the telecommuters and road warriors constantly working outside the office, or for those vacationers who just need to get a couple of things done, remote desktop can be a lifesaver (or maybe the more appropriate term here is job-saver).Troubleshooting Common Problems
If your company works with a BYOD policy, then many of your users may not have workstations in the office that they can remote into. This doesn’t mean that you need to go out and purchase two dozen workstations to sit in the office so your employees can have remote access. Instead you can install a bunch of virtual workstations onto a server and have it perform the same task. A remote connection will still lag if you are working extremely far away (the other side of the country or internationally) but if you’re working relatively close and your VPN and Remote Access connection is lagging on a regular basis, you’ll want to troubleshoot the problem. Bad internet connections and old firewalls can often get in the way.The Most Important Tip of All
Now that you’re able to take those dream vacations and still have all the access and security you need, don’t forget the most important tip of all: put your laptop down (don’t forget the sunscreen!) and go have fun.Posted in: Protection, Security, Tech Tips