All these are good methods to carry information with you as you go however they have a few disadvantages. They are physical devices prone to accidents and subject to demands of physical transportation. They can be lost or stolen and can end up placing information into unauthorized hands. They may also require special drivers or slots installed on the machines before the information can be seen. Collaboration and versioning can be difficult unless if additional transportation methods are implemented.

• The alternative to carrying physical storage devices with you is to store the information in a secure online facilities. Depending on the online facility, this can have the following advantages:
• Its accessible everywhere as long as you have access to the internet.
• It is safe and secure (provided the online facility has good authentication and authorization practice).
• It may be possible to edit your documents online directly on the online facility’s site. Alternatively, some facilities offer offline editing with automatic synchronization back to the online document.
• It is possible to share documents with selected or public audience.
• Some online facilities provide for collaborative editing of document.
• Lastly, its possible to keep physical stores synchronized across multiple devices

Here are a few applications and services that can provide for online document storage, collaboration and remote synchronization:

1. Windows Live Mesh 

A popular product that gives you 5 gigs of online storage space as well as file synchronization across devices. It has additional functionality around remote access and ability to add many “devices” to your Mesh. I’m actually using this quite extensively to connect to my home machine. I’ll write up a post about getting this working on your machine soon.

Links: Windows Live Mesh

2. Adobe Buzzword

A service that supports document storage and collaborative editing of these documents. Its limited to document types only but has a flashy interface and once you got used to it, it can quickly become a tool that you can use everywhere.

Links: NewbTech Review, Adobe Buzzword

3. Windows Live SkyDrive

Another excellent file storage system that gives the user a whopping 25 gigs of storage space and is not limited to document types, so you can store all manner of files here.

Popular file types (such as images) are recognized automatically and SkyDrive will adjust its presentation of these files accordingly.

Links: NewbTech Review, Windows Live SkyDrive

4. Google Docs

An online document management system that allows for storage and editing of documents straight from their user interface. There are limitations on file sizes and functionality if editing through their applications, but, its suitable for everyday needs. The online applications are provided via Google Apps.

Links: Google Docs

5. Zoho Office Suite

A free online office suite similar to Google Apps and includes a variety of collaborative ready applications. It includes versioning and online storage (I believe its 1gig for document storage space)

Links: NewbTech Review, Zoho Office Suite 

6. DropBox

Has functionality that allows for users to create shared folders and drop all manner of files in them. The free version allows for 3gigs of online space and its perfect for quick storage requirements.

Links: DropBox

7. MozyHome

An online backup service that gives you free 2gigs of back up space and you can dictate which folders you wish to automatically back up.

Additional space costs more. It is widely used and highly recommended especially amongst small businesses who may or may not have a robust backup strategy.

Links: MozyHome

8. Spideroak

A cross OS service that allows for online backup, synchronization, sharing and storage solutions. Its available for Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems and gives the user 2gigs of space for free.

Links: Spideroak 

9. RapidShare

A file hosting service that allows you to upload a file and get a download link that you can send to anyone to download. This service allows for very large file sizes and is popular around gaming and media sites.

Links: RapidShare 

10. drop.io

Allows for private sharing of files and real time collaboration. It creates a virtual folder up to 100megs and supports all file types. You can specify a name to call the “folder” and share this as part of the drop.io URL.

It allows for password protection and other users can drop their files into this folder.

Links: Drop.io

11. GBridge

Offers file synchronization across your devices over the Google GTalk network. It can go through most network firewalls and can allow you to create “shares” on your machines that can be opened to other authenticated users.

Links: NewbTech Guide, GBridge

Conclusion

A lot of online storage services can be made to integrate seamlessly into your desktop using products such as Gladinet so that they appear just as another folder on your computer. In actuality, the documents are stored on the online facilities servers.

The above are just some of the huge variety of options you may have in terms of online storage, synchronization and collaboration. If you use or recommend a similar service, feel free to comment below :)

The types of files that can be accessible is varied and includes popular media files such as mp3, flash video, images and even provides functionality to show the images as a slideshow :) The cool thing about this method of sharing is that because the files are not stored in a central server, you are accessing them directly from your shared PC. This means that your documents/files never stored on machines unless you authorize them :)

Right, so lets begin by creating a simple share that can be accessed from your “work” machine.

Assumptions

1. You have already set up two connections (follow my earlier guide if you need a refresher).
2. You have a folder on your home pc which contains the files you wish to access from work.

Step 1

 In my case, i created a folder called “Shared” on one of my home drives. Now personally, i create subfolders in there to hold the different types of files. This is simply so that its easier to read as well as i can now selectively allow others to get access to my files (eg, I may not want to share my mp3’s with anyone, but share the photos with family members).

Step 2

Open up GBridge by double clicking the icon on your task bar. The GBridge window will open up.

Now, to create the share, simply drag the folder you want to share onto the GBridge window. Its as easy as that :)

Dragging the folder into your GBridge will give you the “Copy” icon.

Step 3

When you release the mouse button on the GBridge window, the following window will pop up:

You will see a list of all your friends (so that you can selectively select who can see your files). For now, because I want to be the only one to see these, i select the first checkbox (so that my “other pc” can see my files).

Setting up Secureshares does not require a password as authorization is checked against your friends list. However, it is recommended to put in a password for sensitive secureshares. Sharing a root directory will always require a password.

For our purposes here, we’ll put in a password. If you do choose a password, ensure ITS NOT THE SAME AS YOUR GMAIL OR GBRIDGE PASSWORD!

Hit OK. You may get a message that looks like the following:

But that is ok, in this case, we don’t want to share these photos with the world. Rather, its for my own purposes, so I go ahead and hit Yes to this. If you have selected one or more friends, than you won’t get this dialog box.

Step 4

At this point, two things may happen simultaneously:

1. Your default web browser (eg, Internet Explorer) will open and ask you for a username and password. Hit Cancel here to close the window (we will get to this later :) ). When you hit cancel, you’ll get a HTTP Error 401. That’s because we have not put in a username or password yet. So don’t worry about it :)

2. Your GBridge window will change to the “SecureShares” tab and list your brand new share in there (see image).

Thats pretty much it to create a share for yourself :). Repeat this with the other folders if you wish. At the end, you should have a window with your secureshares listed along with the "sample" one. Personally, i get rid of the "sample" one soon as possible by selecting it and right clicking to get the menu to remove it.

Now for the magic…

 Click back to the “Friends” tab in GBridge.. and right click on your computer.. You’ll see some options in a menu, and select “Browse GBridge SecureShares…” from the options. This will bring up an web browser window.

Its not the prettiest html in the world.. but it should show you the list of shares you have on that pc. When you click on one of the folders, a dialog box as below will appear. Here you put the password you chose for the share

This password is *not* your gbridge or gmail account password. This is the same password you set in Step 4.

Also, the User Name field can be left blank as all we need is the password.

Hit Ok.

And there you have it. An ability to browse to your secure share. Now, you can do exactly the same thing from your work machine and browse to your home machines SecureShares in a similar manner :-)

The interface while slightly confusing is actually quite functional. You can view details about file and folder sizes and most importantly (if you have many files in the folder), you can filter to "search" for files. This is done by starting to type in the textbox under the "Name" column and as you type, the files meeting the name will immediately get filtered and shown. As an example, you may have a range of photos starting with 2008 and others with 2009. By typing 2009, you’ll immediately only show the files that have 2009 in them. Handy when viewing a lot of files and avoiding the "scroll and squint" syndrome :)

Other things include the ability to sort and play media directly from within the browser. If you followed the above exercise and have some mp3′s "shared", now would be a good time to click on one of them and check out what i mean :)

Some more cool things about secure shares:

• If you have all your images in one folder, you and have them play as a slideshow or access individual ones if you like. Thumbnails and previews are sorted by GBridge by default, so there is no need to fiddle with anything. Quick and easy gallery to share amongst your friends :)
  
• Any media files such as MP3′s when clicked on, will play directly within the browser (from work!)  
• You can play with the permissions to allow other people to see your SecureShares. I do this often with photos of my daughter to be shared with her grandparents :)
  
• Lastly, when you are browsing your share, you can copy the URL (address bar on your browser that gives the address of the share) and fire that through to others and as long as they are authorized (via step 4) and know the password, they should be able to see the shares.
  
• Finally, by keeping things organized in multiple folders, the actual interface becomes less confusing and actually looks a little prettier too. Though i must say, the UI could do with a wee bit of a clean up ;)

Last Tip: (promise!).. for those of us who torrent a lot and constantly download music (legally of course!) even when at work, I would suggest adding the folder where the music is being downloaded to as a secure share. That way you can sit at work and have immediate access to the progress of the downloads as well as possibility of playing the music soon as its come in. note: I do not condone downloading copyrighted music, but was trying to illustrate a use for GBridge that others may not have thought of.

There are many reasons to connect to your home pc while you are at work. And there are many methods. As a lot of people have Windows Vista or XP at home, methods such are Remote Desktop Connections may work well, but can require fiddling with firewalls, and configuration knowledge that most of us technology newbies may not know much about.

Connecting via RDP (Remote Desktop) also “takes over” the PC at home so its not suitable for desktop sharing (ie, there is someone at home looking at what you are doing). The PC is effectively “locked out” while you are connected remotely to it. This is frequently the case when my wife needs a little help in doing something and I just can’t talk her through on the phone.

This is also valuable when “assisting” people such as parents or grandparents. Have you tried talking your grandparents through setting up their email application at home? If you have, then you may understand the pain heh.

So what is GBridge? Its an application that sits on both your work pc and home pc and allows you to remotely control one or the other. It has many other uses such as file sharing etc, but the purpose of this article is to detail out how to get the remote desktop sharing working. You can go here for additional information about its functions if you are interested.

Anyway, lets begin.

On the Home PC

Step 1

Navigate to http://www.gbridge.com/ and download and install the application. I’m assuming you know how to install applications. Feel free to email me if you need further details.

Step 2

Once installed, run the application. It should come up with a dialog box similar to below:

 
Enter your Gmail user id and password as well as a "Hostname" – the hostname will be used to identify your "pc". Set it to "remember me" and "auto start" so that its always connected when your pc is switched on. You can always move your mouse over the text boxes to see a full explanation of each field.

Click on "Log On" to log onto GBridge.

Step 3

Once you are connected, you will then need to set up your VNC settings. Click on DesktopShare and a menu such as below will pop up:

  
Click on "Configure Gbridge DesktopShare (VNC)… to see the following window:

 
Select the options as per the screenshot above. Also, set up a DesktopShare Password. Now, this will be the password you’ll be entering at work when you want to remote into your home pc. As per the recommendation, I’d make sure that this password is different from your Gmail password.

That’s pretty much it for configuring it at home. As a last step, ensure that DesktopShare works by clicking on DesktopShare button and selecting "Test Gbridge DesktopShare On this Computer…". This will display the following window:

 
Hit Ok and be prepared for a whole bunch of windows opening up one within the other. If you get a warning on your Firewall, now is the time to "Allow" the application and ensure that it is not blocked by your firewall. Once finished, it will tell you that the self-test is done and you are basically sorted for your Home PC 8-)

On your Work PC

Follow steps 1 to 3 for your work PC ensuring the following:

• you must be logged onto your work pc with the same Gmail user id. This will not work if you have a different Gmail user id at work!.
• On Step 2, on your work machine, ensure the host-name is set to what you want to call your work machine. In my case, I chose “dee-work” as my work machine host-name.

  
Put your password in and hit OK.

Tips

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