Getting Started

  • How does Hosted Desktop work?

    The Hosted Desktop runs from a central location, usually a secure data center with high quality resilient connections to the internet. You can connect to a Hosted Desktop via remote browser, thin client and other handheld devices. This service is offered by us from a SSAE-16 Type II certified data centers which has resilient internet connections and secure access.

    Many applications are pre-configured for the user and these applications are updated regularly, thereby saving time that a user has to spend in updating/upgrading his Operating System or applications. Apps4Rent takes care of everything from support, operations, and maintenance.

  • How long will it take Apps4Rent to set up my Hosted Desktop once I place my order?

    All desktops are provisioned within the first few hours of signup. However in some cases, it may take upto 1 business day.

  • From which devices and operating systems can Hosted Desktop be accessed?

    You can access your Hosted Desktop from almost all devices that have the ability to connect to the internet. Some prerequisites and some example of devices that can connect have been provided below.

    Some examples of devices:

    Laptops and desktop computers – Supported Operating Systems:

    • Windows XP
    • Windows Vista
    • Windows 7
    • Windows 2003
    • Windows 8
    • Windows 10
    • Mac OS
    • Linux and its variants

    Mobile Devices:

    • iPhones
    • Andriod Devices
    • BlackBerry

    Tablet Devices:

    • iPads
    • Android devices
    • iOS devices

    Thin clients:

    • HP
    • Wyse
    • Ncomputing

    NOTE: Except for thin clients all other devices/computers must have either a Remote Desktop Tool to or IE 6 or high browser supporting ActiveX components.

  • Is it possible to move/copy my data from my existing computer to my Hosted Desktop?

    Yes you will be able to copy/move your data from your existing computer to the Hosted Desktop. To move/copy the data there are various methods. For Copy/Paste function, you simply need to copy the data as you do within your desktop and paste it into the Hosted Desktop Environment.

    To move files; either you can drag / drop the files when connected via RDP to your Hosted Desktop or when you connect via Remote Desktop Tool, your local drives are also displayed as drives in the Hosted Desktop environment and you can simply move files like you do in your local desktop.

  • What support options does Apps4Rent offer?

    We offer 24/7 support via chat, email and phone.

  • Do you support my local desktop as well as my Hosted Desktop?

    We only support the desktop that we host for you. We will support those issues on your local desktop that prevent you from accessing our hosted desktop service. Apps4Rent will host and manage the hosted desktop for you on its own infrastructure. If you have any issues with the local physical PC/device that you have locally, then that needs to be addressed by the local in-house technician.

  • Can I access via Apple Mac and/or Linux?

    Yes. You will be able to access your Hosted Desktop via Mac and Linux systems by using the Remote Desktop Tool.

  • What is the minimum connection speed for accessing Hosting Desktop?

    There are various factors that will determine your bandwidth requirement. Hosted Desktop as a technology does not use much bandwidth. The only data that is actually transmitted between your local device/computer and Hosted Desktop Grid are few keystrokes and some simple screens. Generally, ordinary high speed connection with data transfer speeds greater than 128kbps would be sufficient.

  • What happens if my internet is down?

    Your Hosted Desktop will never be down from data center at any time. However, your connectivity to the Hosted Desktop depends upon your Internet connection. If your ISP or your Internet Connection is down, you will not be able to access the Hosted Desktop. You will only be able to access the Hosted Desktop when you have a working Internet connection.

    If you were working on a file and you lost internet or power; you file will be in the same state as when you lost internet/power.

  • What kind of IP address is attached to my Virtual Desktops?

    All Apps4Rent Virtual Desktops have IPs that belong to the US region, hosted on our New Jersey Data center.
    We offer two types of Virtual Desktops:

    • Hosted Desktop (session –based)
    • Dedicated Desktop

    In a hosted environment multiple users share the same IP. Whereas in case of dedicated desktops, every desktop is assigned a IP which is not shared with any other customers.
    However, with a dedicated desktop, if you add multiple users, the IP is shared amongst all the users.

    If you want a country-specific IP address or a fluctuating IP address every time you log in through a browser from your virtual machine hosted with us, we can provide you that as well. Speak to our Virtual Desktop experts available 24×7, for any customized IP address requirements that you may have.

Environment

Absolutely. You will be able to add additional space to your hosted desktop or to team’s shared space at any point. 10 GB of Space is priced at $15 per month per desktop. These charges will be over and above your existing charges. Also, you can decide which user needs additional space and which users don’t need to be upgraded.

Yes. You will be able to switch plans anytime or buy space without any loss of data.

We now offer hosted virtual desktops built with Nvidia GPU technologies to enable superior rendering and accelerated processing than traditional virtual desktop services. Users requiring enhanced desktop resources for design, engineering or other resource-intensive applications such as AutoCAD, Revit, and Adobe Suite can benefit from this environment. Chat with our sales staff to find out more.

Hardware & Software

Yes. When you connect a USB device; or a pen drive; it will be automatically visible in your Hosted Desktop. There is a setting which is available in the remote tool on your local computer. This setting by default is enabled for such actions. If for any reason the setting is disabled, we will help you in enabling the setting. Here is the procedure to enable the setting:

https://apps4rent.com/support/kb/article/sharing-printersusb-devices-and-local-resources-between-hosted-desktop-and-your-computer

Yes. When you connect to the hosted desktop, by default a “connection” is made to route all the print commands from your Hosted Desktop session to the local printer. There is a setting which is enabled by default on your local computer. If for any reason the setting is disabled, we will help you in enabling the setting. Here is the procedure to enable the setting:

https://apps4rent.com/support/kb/article/sharing-printersusb-devices-and-local-resources-between-hosted-desktop-and-your-computer

Your Hosted Desktop will display the time which is on your local device.

In almost all cases the applications will run faster than it has been running on your local desktop. This is simply because – with your PC, the resources at the applications disposal are fairly limited and is upto your PC. However, with Hosted Desktop all the processing takes place on our High Performance servers and the resources available are enormous due to the infrastructure and the grid that we offer for use for your Hosted Desktop users.

We compared the speeds between MS Access on desktop and on the Hosted Desktop. The application ran up to 10x times faster on the hosted desktop than on the local desktop. This is significantly due to the resources on the server side which is at applications disposal. We follow and adhere to Microsoft’s recommendations for the number of Hosted Desktop that a server should hold. This in turn ensures that the overall performance of the Hosted Desktop is not degraded at any time.

Yes. This is possible. All you need to do is inform us of the applications that you don’t need by sending an e-mail to support from your registered e-mail address.

We use Windows Terminal Services to provide Hosted Desktop Services. If your application is compatible with Windows Terminal Services or can be installed via Terminal Services, then we will be glad to install them for you at an additional cost. Most of the applications that work in in Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 are compatible even under Terminal Server environment. In such cases, all licenses needs to be provided by you.

For example, almost all applications that work with Windows 7 under Terminal Services will work within the Hosted Desktop environment. If we are provided with the application name then we will be able to check it and see how it can be used / installed in Terminal Server environment.

Here are some general guidelines:

  • Almost all Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 based applications that work on your local PC will work in the Hosted Desktop environment.
  • Generic Applications like Java based applications will Run in most cases.
  • Popular Office Suites can also run in our environment.
  • Many of the freewares that are known to work on your desktop will work on most cases.

Hosted Desktop can support up to 16 monitors for a session.

Hosted Desktop can support up to 16 monitors for a session.

Yes, of course. We are an Intuit QuickBooks authorized host and have separate plans for QuickBooks hosting. Please see our QuickBooks offering here.

Unfortunately, due to various licensing restrictions you will need to use our licenses of MS Office.

Security

Hosted Desktop is very secure.

Have you ever wondered about the security of the data when you send an Excel Sheet from your local computer to someone else? The fact is in most cases the files can be “sniffed” and contents read. This is simply due to the fact that the connection from your ISP is not encrypted.

With Hosted Desktop the connection is always going to be encrypted even between your ISP and the Hosted Desktop that you would have with us. When a user connects to the Hosted Desktop the connection is established via a 2048 bit RSA encryption method. Apps4Rent has deployed an SSL so as to ensure that the connection is secure from the users location to Hosted Desktop servers.

Apps4Rent employs advanced security systems in place to safeguard data. The entire infrastructure is hosted in SSAE-16 Type II certified data centers in New York and New Jersey. The entire network in encapsulated under enterprise grade firewall with CISCO ASA and along with IPS system in place to thwart any intrusion.

Data backup is automatically performed once per day.
https://apps4rent.com/backup-policy.html

Apps4Rent employs various methods to safeguard data. Your data will be accessible to users who have your password. We request our users to not share the password with others. User passwords are not visible to Apps4Rent as they as encrypted.

Anti-Virus and Firewall are installed on each virtual desktop. You will not be able to disable them.

Apps4Rent takes weekly full and daily incremental backups. These backups run nightly. During any Disaster scenario, we will be able to provide you with our backups.

Others

SaaS and Hosted Desktop are provided from a data center, that is the only similarity between them. With SaaS there is specific software on the cloud which is used by many organizations and users for various purposes. With Hosted Desktop; your desktop is hosted within a data center with many pre-defined application applications that you need, which you can access from any part of the world.

There are no long term contracts with Apps4Rent. The contract is month to month and is renewed automatically every month. You may cancel at any time by following our cancelation procedure.

Yes. You will be able to custom brand the Hosted Desktop.

Hosted desktops work just like regular desktops but are more accessible and powerful.
Access your virtual desktop through RDP which is included in Windows OS. RDP equivalents are available for Macs. Or just use an internet browser on your favorite device.
Save as much as 40% for add-on users on your virtual desktop!

Case Studies

Accounting Practice

Accounting Practice

Denver, Colorado Denver, Colorado

The partners faced several IT challenges with the regular desktops, which made the CPAs select Apps4Rent as their partner for virtual desktops to be used in their Accounting/Tax business.

View Case Study

Family Medical Center

Family Medical Center

Rochester, NY Rochester, NY

The Center needed a solution that would comply with HIPAA and HITECH regulations while providing the staff with the latest hardware and software and keep costs under control within their tight IT budgets.

View Case Study

Law Firm

Law Firm

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson, Mississippi

The law firm was looking for virtual desktops optimized to handle the rigors and demands of integrated legal applications. Plus they needed a Cloud partner who knew how law firms operate.

View Case Study

Web Developers

Web Developers

Bay Area, SFO Bay Area, SFO

ApexSparx is a web development solutions and services company operating out of Bay Area, SFO and caters to SMB clients. The 25-seat company offers end-to-end services that include planning,..

View Case Study

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