Question Access current computer and home and online

[jdmoet]

Hi everyone,
I cant find a straight answer to this.
I have and i5 pc running win10.
1 - Is there a way to access all the features (applications and files) on this computer on a home network.
2 - Can I do the above externally on the internet.

If the answer is no to No.2, what is the best (budget) cheapest option to be able to achieve this?
Other than 100gb of music files, I not to concerned with backing up files (I have them backed up elsewhere).
I just want o be able to use my computer around the house (and very occasionally from the internet).

NB. I do have an old spare pc with 8gb ram running an Intel Celeron processor (cant remember full specs), and an old Rasberry Pi2

Alternatively, could I use my current computer as a server and build a new PC?

Sorry for so many questions, but I cant get firm answers on any of the above.

Many Thanks
Jay

 

[USAFRet]

1 - Is there a way to access all the features (applications and files) on this computer on a home network.
2 - Can I do the above externally on the internet.

Unclear what you're wanting to do.

Access this system from a different system?
Either on the house LAN, or outside the house LAN?

 

[lantis3]

Remote Desktop if you have Windows Pro 10/11 on a LAN

Use AnyDesk remotely from internet. Home or Pro.

If you have Chrome, Chrome Remote Desktop also works.
https://remotedesktop.google.com/?pli=1

Search tutorials on youtube.

 

[jdmoet]

Unclear what you're wanting to do.

Access this system from a different system?
Either on the house LAN, or outside the house LAN?

Thanks for the reply.
Both really. Firstly objective is house LAN. Then if possible, extend to access from anywhere with any internet connection.
I hope thats clearer
Jay

 

[jdmoet]

Remote Desktop if you have Windows Pro 10/11 on a LAN

Use AnyDesk remotely from internet. Home or Pro.

If you have Chrome, Chrome Remote Desktop also works.
https://remotedesktop.google.com/?pli=1

Search tutorials on youtube.

Thanks, very helpful.
WiN10 pro vs Chrome Remote Desktop. Any preference based on security?
Jay

 

[USAFRet]

Thanks for the reply.
Both really. Firstly objective is house LAN. Then if possible, extend to access from anywhere with any internet connection.
I hope thats clearer
Jay

Internal LAN, I use TightVNC to manipulate my HTPC from my main system.
Using it right now.

But this depends on exactly what you're wanting to do.
From what (a different system?), via what (LAN?) and to do what, specifically?

Externally, from outside your LAN?
That is a whole other can of worms. Very nasty worms.

 

[Ralston18]

Regarding:

"Is there a way to access all the features (applications and files) on this computer on a home network."

As in the above posts - yes.

However, I trust that there is the basic understanding that no matter where the remote location the person accessing the files and apps needs to have all of the necessary permissions and access rights to host computers, files, and apps.

And that you may also need to strengthen existing security measures - especially to allow external access.

 

[lantis3]

WiN10 pro vs Chrome Remote Desktop. Any preference based on security?

RDP in a LAN, no issues. Via Internet/WAN, you have to open a static TCP port 3389, so there are some issues. Better use a VPN. (Tailscale, ZeroTier, OpenVPN, Hamachi, etc)

For home router (not firewall), you shouldn't have to open ports manually for Chrome RDP or Anydesk
https://community.spiceworks.com/t/...at-specific-udp-port-ranges-need-to-be-opened
https://support.anydesk.com/knowledge/firewall

No idea which one is more secure. You decide.

 

[NedSmelly]

From within home LAN: run main PC as server using Win10/11 Pro, then access from other devices using Windows Remote Desktop.

What do you need to do offsite that warrants remote desktop? Because a cloud service might be all you need, in combo with an external storage device. Latency with virtual desktops over internet/WAN can be a productivity killer.

 

[kanewolf]

Hi everyone,
I cant find a straight answer to this.
I have and i5 pc running win10.
1 - Is there a way to access all the features (applications and files) on this computer on a home network.
2 - Can I do the above externally on the internet.

If the answer is no to No.2, what is the best (budget) cheapest option to be able to achieve this?
Other than 100gb of music files, I not to concerned with backing up files (I have them backed up elsewhere).
I just want o be able to use my computer around the house (and very occasionally from the internet).

NB. I do have an old spare pc with 8gb ram running an Intel Celeron processor (cant remember full specs), and an old Rasberry Pi2

Alternatively, could I use my current computer as a server and build a new PC?

Sorry for so many questions, but I cant get firm answers on any of the above.

Many Thanks
Jay

ALL features? No. For example you can't take advantage of a powerful graphics card remotely.

 

[jdmoet]

Internal LAN, I use TightVNC to manipulate my HTPC from my main system.
Using it right now.

But this depends on exactly what you're wanting to do.
From what (a different system?), via what (LAN?) and to do what, specifically?

Externally, from outside your LAN?
That is a whole other can of worms. Very nasty worms.

Thanks for the response. I hadn't realised things had become so simple to create and use a home LAN. I got feed up of installing the same programs on different computers and using USB's, I thought I should try something else.

Will I be able to access and my applications with TightVNC or just access files?
I am also going to look at Anydesk and Chrome Remote Desktop.
Jay

 

[jdmoet]

Regarding:

"Is there a way to access all the features (applications and files) on this computer on a home network."

As in the above posts - yes.

However, I trust that there is the basic understanding that no matter where the remote location the person accessing the files and apps needs to have all of the necessary permissions and access rights to host computers, files, and apps.

And that you may also need to strengthen existing security measures - especially to allow external access.

Its becoming apparent that creating a home network without external access is much easier to setup and manage. So I will get thism up and running before attempting accessing over he internet WAN.

If access is only internal, permissions and access rights can be setup via the remote desktop application?

 

[jdmoet]

ALL features? No. For example you can't take advantage of a powerful graphics card remotely.

OK. Thanks. But applications and files will be accessible?

 

[jdmoet]

From within home LAN: run main PC as server using Win10/11 Pro, then access from other devices using Windows Remote Desktop.

What do you need to do offsite that warrants remote desktop? Because a cloud service might be all you need, in combo with an external storage device. Latency with virtual desktops over internet/WAN can be a productivity killer.

Great. Thanks for the response.
If I run main PC as server using Win10 Pro must I use Windows Remote Desktop or will any Remote Desktop application be suitable?

What do you need to do offsite...?
Only my music and videos files (100g+) really.

 

[NedSmelly]

What do you need to do offsite...?
Only my music and videos files (100g+) really.

If it was me, I’d just mirror the files to a cloud host such as Google Drive or OneDrive. 100GB isn’t much these days.

 

[kanewolf]

OK. Thanks. But applications and files will be accessible?

Generally, yes. Applications will run on the remote host with the display transmitted to, and handled by your local device. That means that network bandwidth between the devices is important to the performance of your applications.

 

[CodeConnoisseur]

As for access over the Internet (or, really just in general as this will also work from within your LAN), you can run an OpenSSH server in parallel with remote desktop on the Windows 10/11 Pro machine that you are accessing.

By doing this, you can configure public key authentication and TCP forwarding to eliminate the risk of opening RDP to the whole world and the associated concerns with username/password strength. You'll then just need to port forward SSH to the device as normal.

I do think RDP is the best solution here in terms of actually interfacing with the PC though considering that it's native; I personally don't like installing tons of third-party software if it's not absolutely necessary. OpenSSH Server should also be included as an optional feature in Windows.