Connect to work/schook network from home

Is there a way to connect to my school network from home? I'm a grad student and need to have access to journal articles while at home. When I go to sciencedirect.com to look-up an article at home, it asks for a user-name and password. It doesn't ask that when I'm at school. So this means they verify the IP address to see if I have subscription to the website.

I'm not sure if it would help, but I have a Win7 PC connected to the school network in my lab. I don't want to use LMI because it is painfully slow.

Thanks.
AME

Thanks Nigel for the help.

Its not really a server. It's just a desktop PC connected to the school network through LAN connection so no login credentials are required. I did a google search and it seems it can be done through VPN/Hamachi. All I need is to figure out how to share my school network with Hamachi and configure Firefox at home to use that network instead. Do you or anyone else on the forum know how to do that?

Thanks :)

Hi There

Most Universities / High Schools / Tech colleges have remote logon facilities - I can't think of many Students who DON'T have this type of facility.
I would have thought you'll have somewhere in your Graduate conditions a "Computer Use" policy that you either have to sign or at least will be given to cover remote usage.

Just check out with other students. IMO must be a pretty hopeless educational establishment that DOESN'T have remote access. - I am assuming that this is normal "High School" / Higher education / Adult education College type stuff -- where students are generally over 17 years old or so.

If it's a normal "School" as defined by European Terms ( I know in the US even places of learning such as M.I.T or JPL Pasadena are often called "Schools") then you probably won't get remote access - Head teacher will have info on that --depends on the education authority etc etc).

If the computer you are connecting to doesn't run RDP or the ports are blocked then no go.

On your school computer see if RDP connections are enabled. If it's running XP HOME then no go without "Hacking". XP Pro you should be able to enable RDP (control panel ==> accessories==>remote).

If it's a SERVER (W2K3) for example then the server admin should be able to fix it for you.

If access is via a VPN then the school will have client software -- ask the admin.

Hi Nigel

Teamviwer is not always possible in some situations - an increasing number of work places are blocking these type of sites and Ports -- since people often try and logon to HOME / REMOTE computers to access the Internet bypassing any controls the office server has like "Un-acceptable sites" or "Usage" policies in force.

For example accessing "Porno" or on-line Gambling sites in Office Hours etc etc.

Cheers
jimbo

jimbo and Nigel: Thank you both for the help.

True, sometimes we refer to places of higher education (universities) as schools.

I asked the admin and yes the school does offer free VPN access to the network. Since I couldn't wait for the approval from our department chair, I gave Hamachi another try. I finally was able to figure everything out and it works beautifully! I found the instructions here:
Re: How to route all internet traffic through Hamachi? - Hamachi² User to User Support - LogMeIn Community

Here's how I did it. Keep in mind that this is routing everything in your web browser thru the VPN and Proxy, not ALL internet traffic.

1. Make sure Hamachi is installed on your client (we'll call it laptop) as well as your server (we'll call it home computer) and that Hamachi can see the other machine.

2. Download and install FreeProxy on the home computer. You can find it here: :: Downloads

3. Open FreeProxy and double click on the "ports" line item. Name can be anything, Protocol must be HTTP Proxy, Client Port is any port you wish to use (I use 8080 but it's up to you since nobody else will be able to connect to this proxy server anyways). Now here's the important stuff: Local Binding should be set to your home computers Hamachi adapter, and the IP address should be the home computers Hamachi IP. Remote Binding can be set to "use any adapter" and IP can be set to "use any IP".

4. On your client computer configure your web browser to use the home computer Hamachi IP as the Proxy Server and make sure the port matches what you put in FreeProxy for your HTTP Proxy Server port.

Notes:
-Port 8080 might be reserved for another application. Try to use another port.
-Although not mentioned above, you need to configure your firewall and allow inbound and outbound communications for the port you have selected. Also, make sure that "freeproxy" is added to the exception list.
-Make sure you click on "start/stop" button in freeproxy to establish the service.
-I use "QuickProxy"; a Firefox add-on to switch the proxy on/off.


Cheers
AME

It has been two weeks and my setup is solid. I get access to the school network from any place in the world with no problem what so ever.

I have noticed that my download and upload speeds are about ~10% of that of the school PC connected directly to the network.

School PC: 20 Mb/s download - 10 Mb/s upload (Direct)
Home PC: 2 Mb/s download - 1Mb/s upload (VPN)

Is this normal? How can I improve the speed of a VPN connection?

Thanks,
AME