Remote Access

Remote access is a necessary part of small & mid-sized business today. However, it is important that remote access is done in a secure manner. Below are a couple excellent options.

Traditional VPN Client (IPsec)

I am a big fan of shareware, freeware & GNU-licensed software whenever possible. If you click on the link above you'll be taken to Shrew Soft, my favorite VPN client. One thing I like is it's ability to accept a .VPN file as a preconfigured VPN link which can be imported into the client with little or no knowledge by the end user. Very slick.

SSL-VPN Client

I am also a big fan of newer SSL-VPN's which run on the firewall and require little or no traditional VPN client. Be advised Windows Vista & Windows 7 users, you must be running a 64-bit version of Internet Explorer (IE) if you are running a 64-bit version of Windows.

Netgear SSL-VPN users with 64-bit Windows need to download and install this software update from Microsoft also:

MS Visual C++ x64 Redistributable

This will allow the Netgear SSL-VPN to find all the local routines it requires on 64-bit machines to connect.