Non-Profit Tools

Whether you are administering a network of computers or you just need to access your work/home computer from another location it was previously hard to do so from a remote location. In order to use Window’s built in Remote Desktop you need to have a version of Windows which supports Remote Desktop, specifically you needed to be remotely connecting to a computer running Windows XP Professional, and in many cases you need to be within your company’s network either on-site or through a VPN connection.

LogMeIn has a set of tools which can help make this process easier. I will mainly focus on their free edition which should suffice for most applications but will take a brief look at their paid-for services as well.

The free version of LogMeIn allows you to remotely control a computer through your web browser. I have tested it out using Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Internet Explorer. Personally I like using Mozilla Firefox for the connection because they have a nice plugin for the browser which works seamlessly and very fast.

The process for setting up the free version of LogMeIn is very simple; you create a user account on their website http://www.logmein.com. From the computer you want to allow remote access to you just go in to the dashboard and click add computer. This installs a small piece of software which runs in the taskbar and connects to the LogMeIn server whenever you are online. From another computer you can just log in to your dashboard and you will see the computer which you have set up and begin a remote control session by clicking on the computer name.

Once you have connected to the computer you will be presented with the standard login screen. If someone is on the computer you are remotely logging in to then they will be told that someone is trying to connect to their computer, ensuring that this program cannot be used to spy on employees. You can either blank the remote screen to hide what you are working on or you can leave it up if you are helping someone fix a problem.

I have installed the free version of LogMeIn on all of the computers on our network which gives me easy access from anywhere to help fix problems, as long as they have an internet connection. You can organize computers in to groups to keep work and personal computers separate.

I spent a good amount of time working remotely with a computer in our research lab and I was able to run three pieces of data analysis software along with Microsoft Word without any slowdown. This is nice when you want to take advantage of the power of another computer if, for example, you are using a netbook on the road and want to connect to your computer in the office.

It is also possible to give access to computers to other users of LogMeIn. For instance, you might add a computer so that you can provide technical support and give the user access as well so that they can connect to their computer from a remote location.

As a network administrator I have found this tool invaluable for administering both servers and workstations. Currently it is only supported for computers running Windows or Mac OS but for most non-profits that would be sufficient.

There are a number of paid versions of LogMeIn which provide additional functionality. Of particular interest is the Pro version which gives the remote user the ability to print, transfer files, listen to music remotely, and some other nice features. After trying out the free version if there are features that you feel are missing chances are that there is a version of LogMeIn which offers those features.

There is also an iPhone app which allows you to remotely access computers using your iPhone or iPod Touch. The app is called LogMeIn Ignition and costs $29.99 and I haven’t had a chance to try it yet but it will definitely be something I will consider in the future. If I do purchase it I will post a review once I have had a chance to play with it some more.

Overall I think that LogMeIn have done a great job of setting up a system for remote access and administration. Their program is very unobtrusive, taking up very little memory while running in the background, and automatically connects to the internet when available. It can also be set to only start upon user request so if you want to just use it in a support role it will not be taking up resources at other times.