To start, what is a VPN? VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. In terms of file sharing, it is essentially like a LAN (Local Area Network) formed between 2 or more PCs over the Internet - but in a private environment.

There are many advantages of using a VPN for a variety of things. I'd like to cover a couple of these in this article.

First, and foremost, there is an advantage when transferring files between PCs. The advantage of speed.
This speed boost is caused by having a much lower amount of traffic on your connection. When transferring files over the Internet you will have a lot of other incoming and outgoing packets between you and the source - whereas over a VPN this number is reduced. This speed up makes it feel like a LAN (Local Area Network). The advantage to file sharing with this extra speed over VPN is quite obvious.

Another advantage to using VPN is that it can connect directly to a PC behind a router. For example, if I have my computer connected to another computer with a router attached to it, when I type in the external IP address of PC\Router-combo it will often come up as a blank page or, depending on open ports and forwarded ports, the routers configuration page asking me to login. When using a VPN, others will be connected directly to my PC through the router. This means I can use a program like apache to provide access to a certain, controlled, portion of my files - or none at all. You can learn how to setup apache with support for PHP, MySQL and Perl using XAMPP HERE. To access this subset of my files all users must do is type in my IP address - provided by the VPN software. If you don't want users to view your files just don't install apache and it will usually bring up a blank page. If you already have apache on your machine but don't want others viewing your files you can place an index page in your web-root so that users cannot see, and more importantly access, your files and folders.

Interested in using a VPN?
Installing VPN software

Couldn't be easier. I will recommend to anybody using Hamachi which was developed by LogMeIn. You can get Hamachi here.

What does Hamachi do?
Hamachi allows you to connect to others virtual private networks or create your own for others to access. Of course you can't just go connecting to anybody's VPN - you need a name and password for every network! Installing and using Hamachi is really quite easy as the the program does most of the configuration for you; though you may have to open a port or two if they aren't already open (Look out for an article on this in the future). As an added bonus, when you first launch the program it provides you with a tutorial on how to use the program. You can get the installer software here and see the basics of using it here

I hope my article has helped you on your way to speedier file-transfer. Look out for an article on opening and forwarding ports on Daily Tip in the future.