DIY VPN - Connecting computers over the Internet

I have been asked the following question, or a variation of it, many times over the years I've written NetSmart. The question being "At home (or my office) I have a desktop computer that is my main computer. When I travel, or am away from my computer I take a notebook with me. The problem is I don't always have all the files I need on my notebook. Is there a way to set up a private connection so I can connect into my home (or office) computer and access my files?" The answer to this is that there is definitely a way to do this, and that is to use a Virtual Private Network, or VPN for short. So what is a VPN? A VPN is a secure, private network connection or "tunnel" that runs between two or more computers across the Internet. One example is connecting to your work computer, or even your whole work network, from home. Another is connecting to your home computer from a hotspot in a coffee shop, or connecting to a family member in a different house, or friends connecting their computers. In my opinion the home or SME VPN is one of the greatest enabling tools made possible by the growth of consumer broadband. 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. If anyone were to listen in on the VPN communications, they should not be able to understand it because all the data is encrypted. In addition, VPN's will monitor their traffic in very sophisticated ways that ensure traffic packets don't get altered while travelling across the Internet. There are several ways of setting up such a VPN. The two most common in these scenarios though are to use a specialised consumer VPN router, and the more widely used method is to make use of VPN software. There have been some outstanding advances in DIY VPN software, with the entire process being greatly simplified. Here are some examples for you to try.

• Hamachi - http://tinyurl.com/NetSmart-Hamachi

  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.

• Leaf Networks - http://www.leafnetworks.net/download.html

  This product is excellent for home users or friends who want to connect. It is a lightweight, simple to use product and will let you share all of network devices including gaming consoles (Xbox, PlayStation) and media servers with their playlists.

• Trispen @TheOffice - http://attheoffice.trispen.com/

  Trispen are a South African company with a great product. The @TheOffice product set is focused more on the SME market than on home users. Not only are these excellent products, but you also have the advantage of getting local support if needed.

• OpenVPN - http://openvpn.net/

  OpenVPN is an open source product, and as such is free. This product is very powerful and you can do quite a lot with it, but it can be a little intimidating to setup. This is definitely better suited to more technically knowledgeable users.

• WallCooler VPN - http://www.vedivi.com/

  The Personal Edition of WallCooler is great for home users. While you can't use it to connect to an entire network, and only to a single computer, it also has a remote desktop facility. In this way you can choose to access your files remotely, or actually work on your home computer remotely as if you were sitting in front of it.