VPN help

[coldtoast]

Looking into downloading a VPN program to gain access to a family members PC. I'm new to this so do not know the capabilities/limitations of VPN programs. Heres my situation. I had downloaded a heap of music and programs that i planned to burn to CD, however my the burner has died and was wondering if i installed a VPN program would i be able to burn the selected files from the PC being accessed using my burner on my home PC. My home PC is running Windows XP, and the one which will be accessed is running ME. If any of this is possible, what programs would you reccommend? Are any free? Any assistance in this matter would be greatly appreciated.
Coldtoast

 

[John Lewis]

ME doen't support a native VPN server, don't know that I would try it even if it did. XP can be the server and ME does have a VPN client. That would be a free deal, but the connection would need to be initiated from the other end. See

http://www.onecomputerguy.com/networking/xp_vpn_server.htm

for the server setup,

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;288779

for the client. Sorry, I can't think of one with screen shots for the older client.

Once you get that working, you will not be able to burn the CD directly across the connection. Too slow. You will get underruns before you even get started. You will need to copy all of the files you need to create a CD across the VPN to the computer with the burner, then burn. Make sure you have enogh room on that end.

 

[coldtoast]

So, just to verify that. I would be able to connect, only using the xp as the server. therefore, the PC with ME would be able to view the file on the XP pc, but not the other way round? I need to be able to view files on the ME machine from the XP machine.... possible??
If i could copy files from one pc to another, is it just as quick as downloading them of the net, or does it do it some other way? Cheers mate.

 

[John Lewis]

Once the connection is active, you could be able to view either way. The main point for your situation would be that the ME machine would have to initiate the connection while the XP would have to wait for an incoming connection.

The speed that you are able to copy at will depend upon your connection. If you have broadband on both ends, your 'copy' speed will be significantly less than your best download speed from the internet, as broadband generally provides less upstream bandwidth than downstream. You would be limited by the upstream on the side you are copying from.

 

[coldtoast]

so, in regards to my situation above, if the xp machine is dial up, and the ME is broadband. is it even worth it? or would it be just as quick to download the files from the net. Or because the "sender"? is broadband would that quicken thing up? how does it work? would i be downloading the files from the ME. or is the ME uploading them to me?
Overall do you think that its worth it? if so could you give me instructions on where to start(installation, downloading, setup etc) and what program to download. does it take heaps of configuration, ports etc? is it safe? thanks alot for your help so far.
Coldtoast

 

[John Lewis]

If the files are sitting on the side with the broadband, you should be able to copy them across at about the same speed you would download them with the dialup. You will not gain any speed by using the VPN, you actually loose just a shade due to the extra data that has to go across the wire. On the other hand, if the site you would be downloading from is busy or on a narrow connection, you may pick up some speed. Hard call to make.

You shouldn't need to download any software to make the VPN fly, the XP should already have everything it needs to act as a server. You might need to install software from the ME CD. Configuration should be simple. See the links in my first post for instructions.