Remote Access Erases Miles

During the holiday break, I finally got around to a promise I made to my mom and dad: to remotely access their PC to help troubleshoot problems or questions they have about their Dell laptop.

A while ago, I downloaded GoToMyPC on my computer, which allows you to access your computer from any other computer. The other day, my mom logged into my account, which brought her to a "My Computers" page of a three-PC account. She clicked on "enable this computer," to install the GoToMyPC software. Within minutes, I saw her computer listed on the "My Computers" page, clicked on it, and her computer home page popped up in a window on my screen.

They're in Florida, I'm in New Jersey, but I could easily replace a toolbar that disappeared from their screen and desktop icons my mom wished she hadn't cleared away. I'm going to download IE7 this week, despite some of the downsides. I think they will like the zoom feature that will allow them to quickly magnify a web page up to 400 percent. I know they will like printing pages without losing the words on the right side of the page.

I also like that I'll be able to do some basic maintenance on their computer from my home hundreds of miles away. And if my mom has questions, we can be looking at her computer together while on the phone.

GoToMyPC costs $20 a month for one computer, or $179.40 a year. Two PCs cost $30 a month or $279.40. For each additional PC, it's $15 a month or $135 a year. But readers and Chris Null have also recommended a free application, Microsoft Windows Remote Desktop, which is part of Windows XP Professional and Media Center.

You need to manually type in the IP address of the host computer. Here's the Microsoft instructions page if you want to check out this option.

Other readers suggested another free app, LogMeIn, which Chris Null gives high marks for providing remote access to a computer. If you've used either free remote access option, let us know how it's worked out.