Had a great day at work

Worked from Home on Friday.  Here is the setup.

Worked from my new desktop computer.
quad core Phenom II / 8gb ram / 750gb hard drive / 23inch 1920x1080 monitor.  Let's just say that plenty of juice was available.

However, this computer has 3 problems.

1.  It does not have any bluetooth hardware.  This is a problem because I am on a lot of conference calls throughout the day, and I don't want to burn cell phone minutes.  I pay $3 or so per month to skype for free calls to the US/Canada/Mexico and I don't have a USB or analog headset.  I only have my Motorola bluetooth piece that I use with my cell phone.  I figured out how to make it work as a headset on my old laptop from 2003 since this laptop has bluetooth hardware.  So, I can only use skype on that computer.

2.  It does not have all my work files.  I need to use work files for, well, work stuff.  All those spreadsheets, ppts, etc.. are all saved on my work laptop.  How can I access them on my desktop computer?

3.  It runs Windows 7.  In order to connect to my work network, I need windows xp so that I can use the VPN software.

Here is how I solved them.

1 and 2.  Microsoft Live Mesh solved the problem.  <a href="www.mesh.com">Live Mesh</a> is a data syncronization program by microsoft that provides remote desktop support.  If you create a mesh, you can syncronize your files across all your computers in an extremely easy way.  In addition, if any other of your computers are running with the Mesh software running, you get free remote desktop capabilities to that computer.  I have Mesh installed on my desktop, personal laptop, and work laptop.  So to run skype or dial in to a bridge, all I needed to do was remote into my personal laptop (across the room), activate the bluetooth radio and dial into a conference.  In order to use my work files, I used a great feature in Mesh's remote desktop that is not in other remote desktop programs.  That is.... drag and drop of files from one remote desktop window to another.  How easy is that??  Most remote desktop programs have a special process that needs to be done in order to access files on the remote machine.  Kudos to Microsoft on this one.

3.  Installed Virtual PC 2007 and installed Windows XP as a virtual machine on my desktop.  That way, I am able to run Windows XP inside of Windows 7, have my VPN access, and do whatever I need to do.

Technology has erased so many small issues in our lives that it's amazing what can be accomplished with free software and a little understanding of how everything works.