Hi -
Son is going to college in September, and living in term-time accommodation there. I need a simple, reliable way for him to connect to our family LAN, where we share vast amounts of media & photos etc. The main file server on the home LAN is XP Pro, and files are currently served from 8 'themed' hard drives by simple file-sharing, shared folders (read only).
The home LAN is behind an ADSL NAT router with the usual port-mapping & firewall capabilities. Internet service is generic ADSL without a fixed IP address, but the router has a DynDNS updater so a consistent host name can be maintained.
He will be using a Windows 7 laptop via academic network (pretty fast & reliable, apparently). I don't want him, or any of his room-mates, to be able to move or delete anything, and I'd prefer not to give them a desktop access (eg VNC or LogMeIn) which could lead to experimentation. I would prefer not to have complex client software installed at his end, it'll inevitably stop working the day after he arrives. Better to have a LAN/Server based host which can accept generic connections, I think.
My perfect solution would be an FTP Folder-style view via web browser or Windows Explorer - just seeing the shared folders and contents, with the options only to view or copy to his laptop. It doesn't need a lot of security, maybe just a password to stop casual port-scanners from wasting my uploading bandwidth (although they're welcome to see our Christmas 2006 photos!). Would be nice to have it as a shared access which other friends or family members could view.
If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, I'd appreciate them ---
Thanks! Steve