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PC Remote Access

I may have found a great solution for remote access on the PC side.

I have tried using WebDrive by Riverfront Software. It lets you map a remote drive as if it were a drive on your local computer. The office computer requires a freeware called "u-drive" that turns the computer into an FTP server. Now I can select our database file on the office computer at home, on "drive x". So far this has been convenient and error-free; working happily with my office staff.

I notice the following. When opening the database for the first time, I have to wait for my 3 MB database file to download - approx 15 seconds. Throughout my use of the program, all posts, saves, etc. are instant. Then when I exit the program, the database file - all 3 MB - is uploading back to the office server - again, taking about 15 seconds.

I am concerned however - what if the upload is interrupted - have I just trashed the entire database? Other than this concern, (and what happens when our database grows to 50 MB?), this system is working very well.

Anyone have any experience with this?

Joseph Notovitz Notovitz Communications

I have the same concerns as you about doing something like this. Will an interrupted transfer trash the database? Will a broadband connection make an interrupted transfer less likely?

Also, since our network is behind a firewall, I would need to set up IP port forwarding rules for the PC being accessed. Does that have an adverse affect on the reliability of the transfer? It also creates a small hole in network security - not anything horrific, but still, I wouldn't want to give a hacker even the slightest opportunity to worm his/her way into our network.

We've only been using C&P since September 2000 and already our DB is sitting at about 17MB, so I'm not so sure we could rely on a remote access option such as this. Although it is enticing, I'd be more inclined to set up a VPN before attempting remote updates.

Scot Robnett K.W. Powell & Associates