Remote management of PC - best solutions?

[Mark Buckley]

Hi all,

I'm setting up a laptop for my son's use. He lives with his mom in Florida
and I live in California. What would be the best way to remotely
access/administer his PC in order to fix problems and so on. Last I used
(years ago) was PCAnywhere on a dial-up.

His config:
laptop running XP Home
DSL connection
ISP: Bell South

My config:
laptop running XP Pro
cable connection
ISP: Comcast

Suggestions?

Thanks,
Mark

 

[Kenny S]

a free solution is to use VNC
www.realvnc.com

if you use it in combination with no-ip www.no-ip.com
all you have to do is type an internet address (instead of having to know
the other persons IP address) and a password on real vnc, and then you are
connected

 

[Sooner Al [MVP]]

Better yet is to use VNC, any flavor, through a SSH tunnel for a high security data link. The native
VNC data stream is *NOT* encrypted. That is a potential and probable security risk...

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

Personally I prefer UltraVNC because of its file transfer functionality...

--
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...

 

[Mark Buckley]

Hi Al and Kenny,

Would your answer be different if we were using XP Pro on both ends? If so,
what?

Thanks to both of you for your responses.
Mark

 

[Kenny S]

Yes if your son has XP pro you can connect using REMOTE DESKTOP
since pro can be remote controlled from all versions of windows as long as
they
have the remote desktop client installed. This is built into XP home and Pro
and is
a free download from microsoft for win95,98 and Me.

Have in mind though that using remote desktop on your sons machine will make
the
WELCOME screen appear to him (so he will not be watching what you are doing
on his computer while you are working on it).
With VNC or app sharing on netmeeting you both will see what is happening
and
either one can assume control of the mouse.

Hope this info helps.... if you want anything else post here...


kenny

 

[Sooner Al [MVP]]

In addition you could also consider Remote Assistance since your both running XP (Home and/or Pro)
for interactive help sessions...

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/remoteassist/intro.mspx
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;305608

Make sure UPnP is enabled on both PCs and on your routers...

--
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...