Multi-State Family Networking?

Valley Redneck asks: "The last few members of my extended family just entered the 20th century and went to broadband. Now that we're all on-line with small home LANs in place, we'd like to start sharing stuff via a VPN. The only problem is I'm the only marginally tech savvy one in the bunch, and I'd rather not have to hop a plane to configure everyone's box. Any recommendations for a broadband router that supports VPN to use on the mother-ship network that will play nice with all versions of Windows XP SP 2 (Pro, Home and Media Center) and its VPN client?"

What is the itch this scratches?

[patio11]

If you're just sharing files, there is no reason to go with the hassle and expense of setting up a VPN, with its associated security risks. There are any number of options which will work just as well, from using AIM, a traditional file-transfer application, or any number of web services (available free or cheap at your option). Sure, "drag and drop directly in the Windows interface" is an awfully nice feature when you're talking about Mom's digital camera stuff, but there are a few services that even replicate this feature (I once used one which did it via ActiveX control, but don't remember the name -- there are probably a gazillion though).

Froget VPN - Go Web

[pjay_dml]

If you're the only one with technical expertise, then forget VPN completely, and think about a web based solution. Just set up a site, that only family members have access to, and provide them with web apps that fulfill your "sharing needs" (e.g. Galleria [slashdot.org] for displaying and sharing photos).

Though, no matter what you will do, I can garentee you "support-headaches", I know from experience ...