Home v. Pro...still confused about Remote Desktop/Assistance

[Fr@nk]

Hi. I'm about to buy a new machine, and am confused about the differences
between XP Pro and Home when it comes to Remote Assistance and/or Desktop. I
need to decide which OS I need. My question is pretty simple:

If I'm running XP Home, can I connect to and remotely control a
friend/relative's computer (running Win 2k or XP, right?) to help them with
a problem they're having?

Or, do I need XP Pro to do this?

If I have XP Pro, does that enable me to do any additional
remote-control-type things that XP Home can't do?

Just trying to narrow down my decision on which OS to buy with my new
machine. I don't need to join a domain here at home. I really would like to
be able to connect to friends/relatives' computers if the need arises, and
want to make sure I don't waste money/resources on Pro if I don't need it.
Thanks.


Fr@nk

 

[Nepatsfan]

Hi. I'm about to buy a new machine, and am confused about
the differences between XP Pro and Home when it comes to
Remote Assistance and/or Desktop. I need to decide which OS
I need. My question is pretty simple:

If I'm running XP Home, can I connect to and remotely
control a friend/relative's computer (running Win 2k or XP,
right?) to help them with a problem they're having?

Or, do I need XP Pro to do this?

If I have XP Pro, does that enable me to do any additional
remote-control-type things that XP Home can't do?

Just trying to narrow down my decision on which OS to buy
with my new machine. I don't need to join a domain here at
home. I really would like to be able to connect to
friends/relatives' computers if the need arises, and want to
make sure I don't waste money/resources on Pro if I don't
need it. Thanks.


Fr@nk

Remote Assistance is available in all editions of Windows XP.
That means you can provide Remote Assistance to another user as
long as both computers are running Windows XP. It won't work
with earlier versions such as Win 2K or Win98SE.

Note: Windows XP Professional also has the ability to offer
Remote Assistance to a remote user. With XP Home, you would
only be able to respond to invitations initiated by the remote
user. In other words, with XP Pro you can start the process
while with XP Home the person seeking assistance has to make
the first move.

Remote Desktop is a feature that is only available with Windows
XP Professional. Remote Desktop allows another user running
most versions of Windows to take control of your PC as if they
were sitting at the keyboard. For example, let's say I have a
PC at my office running Windows XP Professional. I could, as
long as I've installed the remote desktop client software,
connect to that computer from another location with a machine
running Windows 98, 2000 and all versions of XP.

Here are a few articles you may find helpful in making your
decision:

Remote Assistance
http://www.wown.com/j_helmig/wxprmass.htm

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/remoteassist/intro.mspx

http://www.scscc.com/smnr/Remote Assistance4.pdf

Remote Desktop

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en;315328

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/mobility/getstarted/remoteintro.mspx

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/mobility/getstarted/russel_may18.mspx

It sounds as if XP Home Edition would be fine for you. The only
reason you might want to consider getting Pro would be if you
anticipate having to do any of the following sometime in the
future:
1. Connect from a remote location to your home PC.
2. Offer Remote Assistance to other XP users because they can't
figure out how to initiate the invitation.
3. Increase file security using features such as Encryption and
NTFS permissions.

Nepatsfan

 

[Fr@nk]

Remote Assistance is available in all editions of Windows XP.
That means you can provide Remote Assistance to another user as
long as both computers are running Windows XP. It won't work
with earlier versions such as Win 2K or Win98SE.

Note: Windows XP Professional also has the ability to offer
Remote Assistance to a remote user. With XP Home, you would
only be able to respond to invitations initiated by the remote
user. In other words, with XP Pro you can start the process
while with XP Home the person seeking assistance has to make
the first move.

The ability to "initiate the invitation" doesn't sound like enough of a
reason for me to go with Pro. Especially since reading some of the articles
from your links (Thanks!) showed me one can also use NetMeeting or simply
Windows Messenger to establish some sort of remote assistance connection
(well, I'm not sure about Messenger, but it looks like NetMeeting will do
that, and with most Windows versions, not just XP).

Remote Desktop is a feature that is only available with Windows
XP Professional. Remote Desktop allows another user running
most versions of Windows to take control of your PC as if they
were sitting at the keyboard. For example, let's say I have a
PC at my office running Windows XP Professional. I could, as
long as I've installed the remote desktop client software,
connect to that computer from another location with a machine
running Windows 98, 2000 and all versions of XP.

Here are a few articles you may find helpful in making your
decision:

Remote Assistance
http://www.wown.com/j_helmig/wxprmass.htm

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/remoteassist/intro.mspx

http://www.scscc.com/smnr/Remote Assistance4.pdf

Remote Desktop

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en;315328

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/mobility/getstarted/remoteintro.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/mobility/getstarted/russel_may18.mspx

It sounds as if XP Home Edition would be fine for you. The only
reason you might want to consider getting Pro would be if you
anticipate having to do any of the following sometime in the
future:
1. Connect from a remote location to your home PC.
2. Offer Remote Assistance to other XP users because they can't
figure out how to initiate the invitation.
3. Increase file security using features such as Encryption and
NTFS permissions.

Nepatsfan

Yah, I doubt I'll need to use Remote Desktop. Remote Assistance (or anything
like it) is what I'm looking for.

Now, I know this is not the right group, but since the question popped into
my mind now here in mid-thread, I'll ask: what's the difference in
resource/memory/hardware requirements between Pro and Home? Does Pro chomp
up more RAM? More hard disk space? Does Pro run more Services, thereby
putting more of a load on the hardware in general?

Thanks very much for your earlier response!


Fr@nk

 

[Nepatsfan]

The ability to "initiate the invitation" doesn't sound like
enough of a reason for me to go with Pro. Especially since
reading some of the articles from your links (Thanks!)
showed me one can also use NetMeeting or simply Windows
Messenger to establish some sort of remote assistance
connection (well, I'm not sure about Messenger, but it looks
like NetMeeting will do that, and with most Windows
versions, not just XP).



Yah, I doubt I'll need to use Remote Desktop. Remote
Assistance (or anything like it) is what I'm looking for.

Now, I know this is not the right group, but since the
question popped into my mind now here in mid-thread, I'll
ask: what's the difference in resource/memory/hardware
requirements between Pro and Home? Does Pro chomp up more
RAM? More hard disk space? Does Pro run more Services,
thereby putting more of a load on the hardware in general?

Thanks very much for your earlier response!


Fr@nk

Posting your question in another newsgroup, such as
windowsxp.general or windowsxp.help_and_support, would probably
be a good idea. It will probably draw responses from people who
are far more knowledgable about the inner workings of Windows
XP than I am.

That said, here's my take on your question: Initially, there is
no difference. A standard installation of both versions uses
the same amount of resources. It's when you start using the
"Pro only" features that you see a difference in performance.

Nepatsfan

 

[Joe]

I searched these archives and discovered I cannot use Remote Desktop with
Windows XP home edition - however am I to understand that I could use
Netmeeting?

I need to connect to the work computers (they use XP Home) from home
sometimes and currently use Go2MyPC. However; when I connect to my home
computer running xp pr - Remote Desktop works great.

 

[Sooner Al [MVP]]

To remotely access/control an XP Home box I would use UltraVNC with its
encryption plug-in or run it through a VPN or SSH tunnel before I would use
NetMeeting...

http://ultravnc.sourceforge.net/

http://theillustratednetwork.mvps.org/RemoteDesktop/SSH-RDP-VNC/RemoteDesktopVNCandSSH.html

--

Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows Networking)

Please post *ALL* questions and replies to the news group for the mutual
benefit of all of us...
The MS-MVP Program - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights...

 

[Joe]

How Dangergous am I being by not using the VPN or SSH?

 

[Sooner Al [MVP]]

Personally I run UltraVNC with its encryption plug-in so I can remotely
maintain a few Windows Me boxes around town. I feel perfectly safe doing
that since I use a "strong password". Its just more secure running through a
SSH tunnel, which I do to access my home LAN, with a private/public key pair
versus a password for authentication.

--

Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows Networking)

Please post *ALL* questions and replies to the news group for the mutual
benefit of all of us...
The MS-MVP Program - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights...