Citrix GoToMyPC and GoToMeeting

Online collaboration applications are becoming increasingly popular. We

looked at a couple of such online applications from Citrix, which let you host

online meetings with colleagues or simply access your desktop from anywhere in

the world without worrying about the IP addresses or firewall configurations.

And, most importantly in a secure way, so that even if you log on to your office

PC through an infected cyber-cafe machine, your PC will remain least affected.

The applications we are talking about are GoToMyPC and GoToMeeting. Both are

Java based and load very fast. All you need to have is an Internet-ready PC, on

which you connect through the Web-browser.

1. GoToMyPc: With this application, you can access your desktop from

any PC that's connected to the Internet. To start using the service, you need to

get registered at GoToMyPc.com and have your user-account created. It is a

simple process. Then, you need to install a client on your PC. This process is

also not very cumbersome, as it is menu-driven. Feed in an access code (another

password) to your PC. On the remote end you simply access the GoToMyPC website

from computer with a browser, log in to your account, and after a thin Java Web

client launches, you'll enjoy full access to your PC, remotely. It is

preconfigured at the highest security setting-AES 128-bit end-to-end encryption,

so you don't need to worry about compromising your system or data on a public

terminal.

Through GoToMyPC, you can access your desktop from anywhere around the world with any PC connected to the Internet

Incidentally, there are some freely available solutions like Hamachi, which

also allow secure, remote PC access. They also work pretty well, with the only

drawback being that you need to have it installed on the remote and host

machines. 2. GoToMeeting: It is a solution for online meetings, training

sessions, and collaborative gatherings. Anyone with a PC and an Internet

connection and browser can host, attend, or participate in a matter of few

seconds. GoToMeeting features an advanced secure communication architecture that

uses SSL and highest level of encryption. The Corporate



flavor of the offering, increases the number of attendees per meeting and adds a
secure Administration Center, allowing administrators to rapidly deploy and

manage multiple users and creates robust reports to track meeting and usage

statistics.

Bottom Line: If you don't mind paying, these applications could

effectively be used to work remotely on a PC or to have better collaboration.