How to connect computers over the Internet
There is a way to setup a private connection to your computer at the office/ home from your laptop, the way to do this is to use a Virtual Private Network, or VPN. A VPN is a secure, private network connection or “tunnel” that runs between two or more PC, across the Internet. Even though a VPN’s data travels across a public network like the Internet, it is secure because generally VPN products will make use of very strong encryption.
There are several ways of setting up such a VPN. You can either make use of a specialised consumer VPN router, or install VPN software, which is the more widely used method. There have been some outstanding advances in DIY VPN software over the years, with the entire process being greatly simplified.
LogMeIn Hamachi is one of the better VPN clients I’ve seen. You can get up and running very quickly with almost no configuration needed. This product will let you connect to an entire network and share network drives. Free for non-commercial use.
RealVNC means Virtual Network Computing. It is remote control software which allows you to access a server computer from another one named viewer. The two computers do not even have to be the same type. VNC is freely and publicly available and is in widespread active use by millions throughout industry, academia and privately.
