Hard-Drive Headaches

After installing the remote-control software on both computers, leave the office machine hooked up to a modem or to your computer network. When you call in, just enter a password, and the software will display a mirror image of the other computer's screen. You can run programs stored on the remote machine, copy files to it, or download the files you left behind.

On the downside, the ease of working on a remote machine depends on the speed of your Internet connection. If you use the software over a fast Internet link, the performance can be quite good. But if you rely on a standard telephone modem, you'll find yourself doing a lot of thumb-twiddling as you wait for files to make their way onscreen. Still, even a time sink is better than a professional black hole.

How do you keep up with mission-critical email and other urgent messages when you're on the road? Using a service called JFAX, you can forward CompuServe or AOL faxes and voice-mail messages to your computer. JFAX delivers faxes and voice mail as email attachments, displaying the faxes onscreen and playing back the voice mail through speakers or a headset. Basic service costs $12.50 per month and provides up to 100 messages or fax pages. Unfortunately, JFAX does not have a universal reach: It serves about 22 major U.S. cities and a smattering of foreign destinations, including Sydney, Paris, and London.

If you subscribe to a local or regional Internet Service Provider (ISP), you might have to place long-distance calls to get your email - very-long-distance calls, if you're traveling overseas. Before you depart, check to see if your service provider offers Internet roaming, a new arrangement that's helping small ISPs compete with the global giants. These providers form a compact and agree to act as local connection points for all of the group's members. You pay a little extra for roaming, but far less than you would to dial in from Tokyo.

The leading Internet roaming service is iPass, which claims 1,850 access points in 150 countries. The service also offers corporate connections that enable remote workers to dial directly into their company's intranet.

If your ISP is an iPass member, you can get special software that contains a directory of local phone connections for cities throughout the world. Just punch in the name of the city you're working in, and dial in to log on. To find out if your provider offers this service, visit the iPass Web site.

Coordinates: Symantec Corp., http://www.symantec.com; Netopia Inc., http://www.netopia.com; JFAX Personal Telecom Inc., http:ffff jfax.com; iPass Inc., http://www.ipass.com

Pain Relievers, Glitch Reducers

If Dante had written the inferno on a personal computer, he may well have dreamed up a circle of hell where damned souls clasp red-hot telephones to their ears, eternally waiting for technical support to help them fix their computers.

Contending with tech support is a misery that every computer user endures sooner or later, and it's especially painful when you're on a tight deadline. Even so, there's relief at hand for those who plan ahead.

Think of all the times you've fixed a computer problem by switching off the machine and then starting it up again. That's the CyberDiety's way of telling you that many computer glitches have a simple cause - an outdated device driver or an incorrect software setting, for example. You can save considerable time and money by using diagnostic software that discovers these minor ailments before they infect your entire machine.

CyberMedia's First Aid 98 ($59) and Quarterdeck's Fix-It ($79) offer such help. They come on CD-ROMs that include a "knowledge base" - an electronic library of malfunctions commonly found on computers running Windows 95 or 3.1. In some cases, the product will tell you how to overcome the mishap. In others, it'll fix the glitch for you, at the touch of a button.

Printer not printing? The cause could be anything from a loose cable to a missing printer driver. Repair software localizes the problem - and tells you how to fix it. If you can't manage the fix yourself, the program generates a diagnostic printout that you can show to an expert.

There's a bounty of tech-support resources on the Internet, including hundreds of Web sites devoted to specific products. Start looking for them at SupportHelp http://www.supporthelp.com, which features a searchable index of sites that provide technical assistance. Type in a product name, and SupportHelp serves up the manufacturer's email address and a Web link.

For a richer helping of information, try HealthyPC (www.zdhelp.com). Here too you'll find a searchable index of products - plus thousands of repair tips, available at no charge.