Setting up my VPS recently was similar to my previous experience, but there’s a few options out there so I thought I’d tell you about what I did and the spec I’ve gone for.

My previous set ups – Tagadab 2016 which I updated to cloud, and followed up with Another VPS update

When I opened my new VPS for 2025 I went for the basic VPS1 Windows package from Hostworld – 1x vCPU 1gd ram. I was immediately underwhelmed. Everything was slow. Response of mouse and clicks was delayed, opening apps took a while. I was surprised as previously I found the performance of this spec level ok. The difference may be due to the Hostworld server set up, the Windows Server version, or something else. Maybe at this point I should have tried another provider.

Anyway, I upgraded to the 4x virtual core 4gb ram VPS3 option, which works a treat and should be good for multiple bots. It feels as fast as my laptop OS. The price of this is similar to Simply Cloud’s 2x vCPU 4gb option which  may have been suitable, but I haven’t tried it so I don’t know.

After sign up, you get a link to connect to the VPS and it creates a desktop shortcut. Once the connection is made the VPS appears like a standard desktop, which you navigate in the usual way. If you have the new Windows App on your phone (it used to be called Remote Desktop) and open the email link sent to you at sign up, you can connect directly to the VPS. The window that opens is a standard desktop. Swiping moves the cursor, tapping to left click.

Back on the laptop and logged into the VPS, downloading Gruss was simple – open browser, go to Gruss Betting Assistant download, and download. Then open and sign in. For info – you can be signed in on the VPS and your home computer at the same time.

A note here regarding the Windows Server option. I initially chose 2019, but Gruss wouldn’t open due to requiring a specific .NET version. I think it was v4.1 or higher. Although all my Google searches said upgrading Server 2019 was possible, I struggled to do so. I reset my VPS with server 2022 OS and it worked fine. Again, this may be to do with Hostworld’s settings, I don’t know. It works now though.

Getting excel was also easy, although slightly unbelievable. I searched for an Office key, and purchased one for 84p – yes £0.84 – for office 2019! Which is perfectly fine. At that price it doesn’t matter that it’s a one use key. Activating required using the phone method, entering the product key and a very long verification code. Nothing difficult though.

Getting my excel file to the VPS was done by copy/paste from my laptop file explorer to VPS file explorer.

If you haven’t set up a VPS and are thinking about it, I’d say give it a go, it really is doable. And once it’s up and running, there’s very little maintenance needed. I had a couple of updates to do in the first 24 hours and nothing else since. Do remember to change automatic updates to ask before doing, you don’t want the VPS restarting mid trade.