There are two different methods that you can use to access your computer at the University of Otago from off–campus. You can either acess your desktop or your electronic files remotely.
Planning and testing of your chosen method of access is essential, as remote access cannot be easily set up once you have left your workplace.
UOW staff access files from either Pandora (if they are still on the UOW domain), HCS shares, or OneDrive instead of office desktops.
Accessing your desktop remotely
This allows you to interact with your office computer as if you were sitting in front of it. The internet connection at your remote location needs to be fast and reliable for remote desktop access to work properly as images of your computer screen will need to be transmitted to your remote location. Video, audio, and microphone use may be unreliable
For Windows computers, ITS recommends that you use Remote Desktop (installed with Windows) and the University of Otago VPN Service to access your desktop remotely from off–campus. VPN can be used to connect directly to on–campus–only services, such as:
- Business Objects reporting
- Central file storage
- Finance One
If you use macOS, you can use an application such as LogMeIn or TeamViewer to access your desktop remotely from off–campus (the free versions of these programs work well but may contain ads):
Accessing your files remotely
This allows you to download and upload any files saved on your office computer to view or modify them. You can use slower and less reliable internet connections to access your electronic files with this method.
Most applications will not work correctly if copied in this way, so you need to have the right software installed on your off–campus computer or mobile device to work with any files that you download.
There is a range of programs you can use for file transfers and synchronisation (which makes sure the modifications you make remotely are updated in the original file).
Contact AskOtago for advice about the best file transfer software to use.
You should access your files remotely if:
- The software is available on your remote computer for you to open your files
- You prefer to work "offline" then synchronise any changes with your work computer
- You work on small files (typically documents) that are not confidential
This is often the only option if the internet connection at your remote location is slow, unreliable, and/or intermittent.
Whether you are using Windows or macOS on your work computer, ITS suggests you should use a secure data–sharing application to access your files remotely from off–campus. The recommended service for this is Microsoft OneDrive, which can also be used to synchronise files from Microsoft Teams.