There are certainly cheaper ways to access computers remotely, but for me the dollar cost of using GoToMyPC.com is more than made up by having someone else worry about the details, along with a couple of special features that I haven’t seen in VNC-style applications.
I’ve been using GoToMyPC.com since 2005 to connect to various computers I have in my home and office. Currently I have a 3-PC subscription so I can access my home server, home desktop and work desktop from anywhere. The 3-PC subscription runs $45/month, but most months it saves me far more money than that. In a few cases, it has really saved my ass by allowing me to access important project files and meet project deadlines that otherwise would have not been met and likely result in catastrophic failure (i.e., someone would have been seriously bitching me out on the other side of the phone instead of thanking me for being able to come through under trying circumstances).
I really like the security model that GoToMyPC.Com uses, including its ability to create one-time passwords for each machine. I also like that GoToMyPC.Com takes care of that the security end of things. I know how to use VNC and SSH to create a secure remote connection, but that’s more time and hassle than I want to put up with, especially given the significant risk that I’d screw something up there (or fall behind any updates to security holes found in either of those two applications).
Also, I am a printing fanatic. I print pretty much everything of interest I stumble upon on the Internet for later use. I love the fact that I can call up a file or web page on a remote machine but print that file to whatever local printer is nearby. That’s just huge for me.
The other features of GoToMyPC.Com are fairly standard and work as they should. I use the file transfer option fairly often and it works fine. Occasionally I’ll listen to some audio file on my local machine that is essentially being streamed by GoToMyPC.com from one of my local machines, but frankly I’ve got an iPod for making my audio portable and don’t use that option very often.
Overall, GoToMyPC.Com is a very solid service that has proven its worth many times over for me in.