Access local USB devices at Terminal Server

Brief problem description

I am fortunate in that I get to work from home on a fairly regular basis. My job relies on my being able to connect via VPN into the Company intranet. I run a lot of software on my work computer that is bandwidth intensive, and being that my uplink speed from home is rather limited, I have a difficult time running my normal applications from home.

For this reason I run my applications on my work computer (which is at the office) while I am at home via VPN and Remote Desktop. The problem I have with this is not being able to connect my USB devices to my work PC.

For example, I use Siber Systems Roboform2Go to keep track of all of my passwords. Since the company can fully access my work PC, I don't really want to store all of my personal passwords there. I also didn't want to purchase two separate licenses for Roboform, so I decided instead to use the portable version that installs and runs from a USB memory stick. The issue now is that the memory stick is always with me, and when I am working from home I have to manually type in usernames and passwords in the remote session - That defeats the purpose of using the portable version of Roboform!

Another problem to solve: I have several remote employees that live in various places around the country. We use our company's internal IM client to communicate, and we also use company provided web cams - It's much easier dealing with remote employees when you can actually see them while conversing over IM. Since my IM client is on my work machine, I cannot use the web cam I have at home to video chat with my remote employees.

I also have a Blackberry 8830 that I need to occasionally plug into my work PC (via USB) in order for it to access my email account on the company's Exchange server. If I am at home this is simply impossible via VPN and Remote Desktop.

Solution

In trying to figure out a way to solve these problems, I discovered FabulaTech's USB for Remote Desktop software via a Google search. I was very skeptical about performance since I use a VPN connection to my work PC, but I saw that they offered a fully functional 15 day free trial of their software. I installed, configured, and was running it within 10 minutes. I then redirected my Blackberry to my work PC and was truly amazed that it worked flawlessly right out of the gate. I was ecstatic!

Now I am fully functional when I am working from home. I am able to redirect my home web cam and do video chat with my remote employees, I have full use of my password management software, and I even reloaded the software and resynced my Blackberry with my company email account one night when my Blackberry OS bit the dust.

Thanks to FabulaTech's USB for Remote Desktop I can now work from home more often.

Ken Rogers
Little Rock, AR

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