Volume 1 Issue 5 5-7-06
Remotely Accessing Your Home Computer
Many on us have to travel on our jobs or we may have to do so in the future. Being able to access your home computer is very important if you are going to be gone for any time since working on the Internet is our life blood. If your primary computer is a laptop, you do not have to worry about this, but I am a desktop/tower person, and I use a laptop only when I go on the road. There are several software packages on the market that will enable you to access your computer as though you were sitting in front of it at home. Some of the better known ones are www.GoToMyPC.com and LogMeIn.com. These have a price tag. GoToMyPC.com costs $49.95 for the initial setup and between $18.95 and $24.95 per month depending on the plan you choose. LogMeIn.com has a limited feature free version which you might investigate. The full version costs $12.95 per month for a single PC.
The great news is that Microsoft has created a package that is included in the XP Windows operating system. It can also be downloaded from the XP System CD onto other operating systems. This will allow the computer to access the remote computer. This software uses the Terminal Server package which only transmits mouse, keyboard, and display information so it is fairly effective over a slow bandwidth connection. I am running this on my home computer and the laptop that I use for going on the road. The road laptop is running Windows 2000 Professional so I loaded the software on it from my Windows XP system disk and it works very well. When you are traveling, you will be able to use any computer running Windows XP if the Remote Desktop software is installed on it. Most of the hotel business centers and Internet cafes have this set up. All you will need is the IP address of your home computer.
If you want to set this up, click the Start button and select Help and Support. Search on "remote desktop". You will get the information that you need to set up the connection. One note on this, you need to have a fixed IP address to which to connect. Some Internet Service Providers (ISP) do not assign a fixed IP, but rather give you a variable IP address. My ISP fixed my IP address for a one time fee of $25 so I can always connect to that address when the connection is configured. Check with yours to see what your situation is.
If you have a firewall/router on your system and have a home network, you will also need to make your own computer IP address fixed within your network. This is done by clicking Start/Control Panel/Network Connections. Right click on the icon of the connection that takes you to the Internet and select Properties. In the scroll down window, highlight Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and click the properties button below the scroll down window. Click the radio button. "Use the Following IP Address". Enter the IP address to be assigned to the computer. Most computers are in the 192.168.1.??? number range. Usually, the lower numbers are assigned first by the software so skip to 101 for the rightmost address in the IP string (192.168.1.101). The subnet mask is 255.255.255.0. The default gateway is usually 192.168.1.1. Leave the DNS server information alone. Click OK twice. Now try to access the Internet to make certain that nothing has been changed that will prevent you from operating your computer. If you cannot access the Internet, go back through the process above and turn on the radio button that says "Obtain an IP Address Automatically" and it will reset back to your old processes. At that point, I suggest you use your software support guru to help you do the job.
If you have a router, you will need to direct the input from port 3389 to your fixed IP address (192.168.1.101). This is done by logging onto your router and setting up the port routing settings. This is not as difficult as it sounds. Read the router instructions and you can do it. As a precaution, write down the router settings before you change them so you can reset to the original values if something does not work properly.
To log on, go to Start/Programs/Accessories/Communications/Remote Desktop Connection. Enter your Internet IP in the box and click Connect. If all is well, you should see the logon box for your user and password. Caution: If you have someone sharing your computer at home, warn them that the display may suddenly show the login screen. When you are on the remote connection, no one can use the home computer until you finish. Sometimes we are careless about passwords on our home computers. Since you will be accessing your computer over the network, create a strong password for your login. Make it at least eight characters long and make it a mix of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and special characters.
Try it and see how it works. Good computing.
John is now a Published Author
In Boomer-eZine, Volume 1, Issue 3 4-26-06, John wrote an article "Learning About Business Opportunities on the Internet". In the article, he used the expression "drinking from the fire hose" to describe trying to learn all the information about the Internet as fast as you can. He modified that article and submitted it to www.ezinearticles.com for acceptance. For three days, he checked his email and lo and behold, it was accepted and published at http://EzineArticles.com/?id=186258. We can now display the Expert Author logo from EzineArticles.com on the website.
Google Adwords Experiment
When I was checking through a list of some of the top searches for March, I noticed that Britney Spears was one of the top searches (1,570,756). I did a search and there were only three Adword ads on the page. I thought that this was odd so I did a keyword search to see what information I could find. Unfortunately, most of the associated keywords had to do with various parts of her anatomy. I decided to try an experiment, and I set up an ad for Britney's CD's on eBay. I set the limit on the budget to about $20 so I would not wake up in the morning owing Google a gazillion dollars. The keyword cost me $.05 per click, and I turned the ad on.
When I checked back in about 12 hours, the ad had received 169,720 impressions and only 45 clicks. The click through rate was so bad that Google inactivated the key word and raised the click rate for Britney Spears to $5.00 per click. The whole experiment cost me $16.25.
The lesson learned is some of the extremely high volume keywords for celebrities are not good because you cannot offer on the Internet what many people are seeking (porn). As I finished this article, I check on Google for Britney Spears and there were zero Adword ads on the page.
Remember Mother's Day
For those men who are absorbed by learning the Internet, remember to take a break and celebrate Mother's Day with your Mother, your wife, or someone who had made a real difference in your life. Linda and I are going to San Antonio, TX to spend the weekend and have a Mother's Day brunch with Justin, our second son, and Mary, his beautiful and talented wife, and with our exquisite grand daughter, Allison. Linda and I wish all of you the very best for Mother's Day.
Well, that's it. The old brain won't produce any thing else worthy of putting on this page at this time. Stay tuned!
John V. W. Howe
www.boomer-eZine.com
www.boomer-entrepreneur.com
Many on us have to travel on our jobs or we may have to do so in the future. Being able to access your home computer is very important if you are going to be gone for any time since working on the Internet is our life blood. If your primary computer is a laptop, you do not have to worry about this, but I am a desktop/tower person, and I use a laptop only when I go on the road. There are several software packages on the market that will enable you to access your computer as though you were sitting in front of it at home. Some of the better known ones are www.GoToMyPC.com and LogMeIn.com. These have a price tag. GoToMyPC.com costs $49.95 for the initial setup and between $18.95 and $24.95 per month depending on the plan you choose. LogMeIn.com has a limited feature free version which you might investigate. The full version costs $12.95 per month for a single PC.
The great news is that Microsoft has created a package that is included in the XP Windows operating system. It can also be downloaded from the XP System CD onto other operating systems. This will allow the computer to access the remote computer. This software uses the Terminal Server package which only transmits mouse, keyboard, and display information so it is fairly effective over a slow bandwidth connection. I am running this on my home computer and the laptop that I use for going on the road. The road laptop is running Windows 2000 Professional so I loaded the software on it from my Windows XP system disk and it works very well. When you are traveling, you will be able to use any computer running Windows XP if the Remote Desktop software is installed on it. Most of the hotel business centers and Internet cafes have this set up. All you will need is the IP address of your home computer.
If you want to set this up, click the Start button and select Help and Support. Search on "remote desktop". You will get the information that you need to set up the connection. One note on this, you need to have a fixed IP address to which to connect. Some Internet Service Providers (ISP) do not assign a fixed IP, but rather give you a variable IP address. My ISP fixed my IP address for a one time fee of $25 so I can always connect to that address when the connection is configured. Check with yours to see what your situation is.
If you have a firewall/router on your system and have a home network, you will also need to make your own computer IP address fixed within your network. This is done by clicking Start/Control Panel/Network Connections. Right click on the icon of the connection that takes you to the Internet and select Properties. In the scroll down window, highlight Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and click the properties button below the scroll down window. Click the radio button. "Use the Following IP Address". Enter the IP address to be assigned to the computer. Most computers are in the 192.168.1.??? number range. Usually, the lower numbers are assigned first by the software so skip to 101 for the rightmost address in the IP string (192.168.1.101). The subnet mask is 255.255.255.0. The default gateway is usually 192.168.1.1. Leave the DNS server information alone. Click OK twice. Now try to access the Internet to make certain that nothing has been changed that will prevent you from operating your computer. If you cannot access the Internet, go back through the process above and turn on the radio button that says "Obtain an IP Address Automatically" and it will reset back to your old processes. At that point, I suggest you use your software support guru to help you do the job.
If you have a router, you will need to direct the input from port 3389 to your fixed IP address (192.168.1.101). This is done by logging onto your router and setting up the port routing settings. This is not as difficult as it sounds. Read the router instructions and you can do it. As a precaution, write down the router settings before you change them so you can reset to the original values if something does not work properly.
To log on, go to Start/Programs/Accessories/Communications/Remote Desktop Connection. Enter your Internet IP in the box and click Connect. If all is well, you should see the logon box for your user and password. Caution: If you have someone sharing your computer at home, warn them that the display may suddenly show the login screen. When you are on the remote connection, no one can use the home computer until you finish. Sometimes we are careless about passwords on our home computers. Since you will be accessing your computer over the network, create a strong password for your login. Make it at least eight characters long and make it a mix of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and special characters.
Try it and see how it works. Good computing.
John is now a Published Author
In Boomer-eZine, Volume 1, Issue 3 4-26-06, John wrote an article "Learning About Business Opportunities on the Internet". In the article, he used the expression "drinking from the fire hose" to describe trying to learn all the information about the Internet as fast as you can. He modified that article and submitted it to www.ezinearticles.com for acceptance. For three days, he checked his email and lo and behold, it was accepted and published at http://EzineArticles.com/?id=186258. We can now display the Expert Author logo from EzineArticles.com on the website.
Google Adwords Experiment
When I was checking through a list of some of the top searches for March, I noticed that Britney Spears was one of the top searches (1,570,756). I did a search and there were only three Adword ads on the page. I thought that this was odd so I did a keyword search to see what information I could find. Unfortunately, most of the associated keywords had to do with various parts of her anatomy. I decided to try an experiment, and I set up an ad for Britney's CD's on eBay. I set the limit on the budget to about $20 so I would not wake up in the morning owing Google a gazillion dollars. The keyword cost me $.05 per click, and I turned the ad on.
When I checked back in about 12 hours, the ad had received 169,720 impressions and only 45 clicks. The click through rate was so bad that Google inactivated the key word and raised the click rate for Britney Spears to $5.00 per click. The whole experiment cost me $16.25.
The lesson learned is some of the extremely high volume keywords for celebrities are not good because you cannot offer on the Internet what many people are seeking (porn). As I finished this article, I check on Google for Britney Spears and there were zero Adword ads on the page.
Remember Mother's Day
For those men who are absorbed by learning the Internet, remember to take a break and celebrate Mother's Day with your Mother, your wife, or someone who had made a real difference in your life. Linda and I are going to San Antonio, TX to spend the weekend and have a Mother's Day brunch with Justin, our second son, and Mary, his beautiful and talented wife, and with our exquisite grand daughter, Allison. Linda and I wish all of you the very best for Mother's Day.
Well, that's it. The old brain won't produce any thing else worthy of putting on this page at this time. Stay tuned!
John V. W. Howe
www.boomer-eZine.com
www.boomer-entrepreneur.com
posted by John & Linda Howe at 5:37 PM
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