secure link btwn 2 ISP's for novice users

[xchefpeter]

I'm trying to help out a physically challanged client and her elderly mother. They live about 10 miles apart. They both have Win 98 boxes. Not sure what browser they are using. They are sending email attachments back and forth and the attachments ae getting large. Also She is having difficulties in opening the attachment without creating a duplicate file.
I would like to creat a share on each system that they could access and make changes to the files for each to see. And make it secure. In my experience in setting up VPN's I have always had static IP"s and a server to tunnel thru. In this case I don't. Any suggestions?


xchefpeter

 

[mattjurado]

Static IP is the way to go, either by accessing files through VPN, or through PC Anywhere. Let me tell you, from the description of the 2 users you have, and the fact that they are 98 boxes, I wouldn't even touch VPN. You can try giving them a winipcfg icon on their desktops, and try to use PC Anywhere off that, but it would really simplify things to get static ips and pcanywhere.

Matt J.

 

[tviman]

It sounds to me like their replying to each others email, which would account for the file size getting larger each time. Creating a new email each time would solve this. However, if they're collaborating on a document and sending it back and forth to each other then there are a couple of things to try...

* Buy a web site name and host it on a server that allows FTP uploads/downloads. Outfit each machine with a simpe FTP program and they can upload or download the file(s) at will from the web site.

* Purchase a program like LapLink. Then, one or the other could dial in to the other PC and work on the file. This is not as desirable as the first.

There's always a better way. The fun is trying to find it!

 

[mattjurado]

There's even a better solution, FTP. Heck, they could use Yahoo, but they might have to pay a fee to get a decent amount of storage.

Matt J.

 

[xchefpeter]

Thanks for all the great suggestions. I agrree the best way to go is thru static IP. But givetn the budget constraints ($0)and that I'm doing this pro bono. None of the solutions apply. However I will look into that maybe they are replying to each other's email and solve one issue that way (thanks tviman ). Once they can afford it I'm definately going for the static IP.
Once again thanks for the suggestions and any others that you may think of.

xchefpeter mcp

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