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Translating a title of a paper from another language, I’m debating between

  • Remote Access to a Computer System
  • Remote Access of a Computer System

This is a title, so it should stand on its own, without extra context.

Which is correct? If both are valid English, what’s the difference in meaning?

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  • Remote access of the tech support team to the computer system.
  • Remote access of the computer system to data files located in cloud storage.

Of decides who/what gets to access. To says what is to be accessed.

edit: if you want the act of accessing, you can use of, but that creates some ambiguities and sounds awkwardly. The act is best described without any preposition, as

Accessing the Computer System remotely is possible through VNC.

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  • Right, so this is generally wrong: "Team's access of the computer system", and it should be "Team's access to the computer system"?
    – hyde
    Oct 22, 2012 at 7:30
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    I think access of the computer system talks mainly about the act of accessing it, while access to the system talks mainly about the ability to reach the system. For example your access of the computer yesterday was illegal. But our firewall should have prevented your access to the system in the first place.
    – Jim
    Oct 22, 2012 at 8:22
  • @hyde: if you really want to word it like that, it's possible, like Jim said. But that's awkward and creates unnecessary ambiguities. Using to definitely works well both as act of accessing and as ability to access.
    – SF.
    Oct 22, 2012 at 9:05

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