At home, I have a computer with a huge hard drive with lots of useful programs installed on it. At work, my hard drive is small, so I can't install much on it. I was wondering if there was any way I could access that hard drive at work just like a regular hard drive. My network setup: Home: 3 XP Pro boxes Router with many ports forwarded to my box ftp server on my box Keep in mind, I already have an ftp server, so I don't want that. I want to use it just like a networked hard drive. I want to be able to run programs on my work computer without having to install them on my work computer.

Two reasons why it wont work. Not many Windows programmes will work without actually having something installed on the computer it is running on. DLLs registry entries and the like. Unless you have control over the network at work the chances are that their is a firewall in place to stop external applications from being run locally. The potential for disaster in allowing such things is horrendous. You are going to have to set up a VPN to your home and to do that you are going to need the co-operation of the whoever controls the network at work. Stuart

I understand about the problem mentioned in your first paragraph, but: I'm fairly high on the food chain, if you know what I mean. The company trusts me, too, so I can get their cooperation. I am also somewhat of a friend to the network manager. It's also a somewhat small company. I was wondering about setting up a VPN, that I realize that can be fairly expensive (but I hope I'm wrong). If it's software, I can manage to get it fairly cheap, but if it's hardware, I don't have anyone to go to for that. What would I need to set up a VPN? Would it be feasible to set up my home computer as a server? Or would it matter enough to buy a dedicated server?

"I want to be able to run programs on my work computer without having to install them on my work computer." Then what you want to do is setup a vpn to from work to your home pc. You will want to port forward those ports associated with RDP. You would then RDP to your home desktop from work via the secure vpn. Ideally you would have a router at home that supports vpn. You install that routers vpn client on your work computer. By running the client you connect to your router. Then you should be able to run your RDP session. Via your RDP session you can run your programs. Don't ask me how to print under these circumstances. I have no idea. Imagine the power of knowing how to internet search http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/FindInfo.html

RDP is just remote desktop, or am I confused? That is where you actually control (in my case) my home computer from work? If so, I'm already using that, but it does not work well for the applications I use it for (I use TightVNC for remote desktop). For example: if I get an attachment in Word 2007 format, I have to VNC to my home computer, upload the .docx file via ftp, and open it there. I understand that might not be the best example, but it's the easiest to explain, as I MIGHT not be able to run Word 2007 without installing it on the actual work box. Or is RDP different than VNC?

Basically the same but having used both RDP seems faster. "but it does not work well for the applications I use it for" What do you mean? Not enough bandwidth between home and work? "I want to use it just like a networked hard drive." You can do that for files but not programs. "I want to be able to run programs on my work computer without having to install them on my work computer." You can't run the apps on the home pc at work EXCEPT via a remote desktop/vnc session. Make sense? Imagine the power of knowing how to internet search http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/FindInfo.html

For the Office issue, download the 2007 Compatibility pack. If you're fairly high on the food chain, why not just buy a larger capacity hard drive? Life's more painless for the brainless.