VPN stands for Virtual Private Network and is a way of remotely accessing a secure network at another site via the internet, while not exposing the contents of the secure network to the rest of the web. For most users, this will simply allow a computer at a remote location (ie, your house) to connect to the network at the office as if it were present on site, including access to things like fileservers, shared directories, and network printers. Metaphorically, VPN Is a really, really long network cable that you’re plugging into the office network. Using VPN in conjunction with another tool native to windows called RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) will allow you to share the sceen of your work computer and control it remotely. This is just one function enabled by VPN- there are more- and is outside the scope of this particular document.

You can VPN from any computer set up with a VPN client. In general, it’s recommended that you only VPN into a work network with hardware owned by that employer- it protects both them and you legally. However, these instructions will work with any Windows machine and depending on your individual employer’s guidelines, you may be able to install them on a personally-owned computer. In order to use a VPN client, you must have a good, reasonably fast high-speed internet connection. Satellite connections (such as DirectTV’s internet service, Hughesnet, or BlueSky) and some lowerquality DSL connections may be slower or laggy to the point of being difficult to use, especially for applications that involve screen sharing. Things like accessing the fileserver or sending a document to a remote printer will generally work, if potentially slowly. In short? If your home internet goes down, the VPN will not work.

If you need help with any part of this process, you can call Daily Data (214-289-9297, extension 0 for the duty tech) for help and troubleshooting, or email a support ticket.