Software Puts Your Desktop on Web

I travel a lot and whenever I’m about to leave on a trip, I copy my important data files from my desktop PC to my notebook PC so I can access them while I’m away. If I ever lose or break my notebook PC, I’ll be out of luck, so I keep looking for better options.

One appealing idea would be to access my PC’s files remotely from wherever in the world I happen to be. That’s long been possible with remote access software like PC Anywhere and other programs that allow you to access your PC from a remote computer connected by modem or via the Internet.

But that solution also has its limitations.

The “host” machine at your home or office has to be running and connected to a phone line or the Internet, and you must have a copy of PC Anywhere running on both your desktop machine and the remote machine.

Eventually, you won’t have to go to that trouble to access your programs and files from the road. Several companies are working on schemes that will let you create a virtual replica of your home or office machine’s desktop that you can access from any Web browser, anywhere in the world.

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One of the most advanced is San Diego-based @Backup, which is developing a product called SkyDesk that would create a full replica of your desktop on a Web site--including remote access to your application software. That product, which represents true independence from the headaches of synchronizing your desktop and notebook PCs, is unfortunately still in the future.

But last week, @Backup released a more modest service that allows you to access your data files either from the Web or from a remote PC without having to have your home desktop PC running or connected to the Internet.

The concept is pretty simple. You use @Backup’s free software to back up the data files to the company’s servers and if you need to restore your files you can do so from a Web browser on any Windows PC.

Backing up, by the way, is very easy to do. A “wizard” walks you through the process of telling the system what files you want to back up, and from there the process is automatic. Each night, @Backup automatically logs you on to the Internet and backs up new or modified data files to @Backup’s servers.

When you’re at your own PC you can access your files simply by clicking on a “Backup Neighborhood” icon on your desktop that lets you restore files from the Internet in much the same way that you’d copy files from one part of your hard disk to another.

That’s a great way to restore a backed-up file that might have been deleted or corrupted, or to avert disaster if your computer breaks or is stolen. But it’s also a way to access your files when you’re away from your home or office machine.

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But what if you’re in Paris and need a file from your home PC? Just take the Metro, a cab or the 85 bus to Le jardin de l’Internet (https://www.jardin-internet.net) on boulevard Saint-Michel and, for a franc (16 cents) a minute, you can use one of their PCs to access the @Backup Web site.

From there you can download any of your files to the hard disk on the cyber cafe’s PCs or to a floppy disk. Of course, you’ll need the appropriate application program on the PC you’re using to open the file, but if @Backup ever gets around to launching SkyDesk, you’ll be able to open it from within a Web browser.

Unlike many Internet services, @Backup is not free. The company charges $99 a year for 100 megabytes, but you can try it out for free for 30 days. Files are compressed so they take up less space and upload and download faster. They’re also encrypted so that unauthorized people--including @Backup’s staff--can’t read what’s in your files.

Visto (https://www.visto.com) takes a different approach. First, it’s free. You “pay” for the service by viewing ads on the home page. Second, you can only upload 15 megabytes of data--though that’s plenty of space for the files most people work with at any given time.

Visto allows you to create what the company calls a “shared folder” on its server that you can use, via a password, to access files or to share files with other people.

It’s a cheap and easy way to move files between home and office without having to rely on a floppy or carry around a notebook PC. Visto offers several other services, including free e-mail, and it lets you access your calendar, address book, Internet bookmarks and to-do lists from any browser.

FreeDiskSpace (https://www.FreeDiskSpace.com)gives you 20 megabytes of free disk space that you can use to store and share files. Like Visto, you can share files with others or use it to restore your own files from a different computer.

The company gives you an additional 5 megabytes of free space for every friend you refer and, like a multilevel marketing scheme, will give you one additional megabyte for each person your friends sign up. (FreeDiskSpace is also available for the Macintosh, while @Backup and Visto are Windows-only so far.)

These days, megabytes of storage space really are a dime a dozen--or close to it--but that extra margin of safety can be worth a lot more in peace of mind when you’re on the road.

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Lawrence J. Magid can be reached at [email protected]. His Web site is at https://www.larrysworld.com.