27.1. Remote Access Basics: All VersionsThe two most common scenarios for using these remote access features are: (a) controlling your home PC remotely using a laptop, and (b) connecting to your office network from your PC at home. To help you keep the roles of these various computers straight, the computer industry has done you the favor of introducing specialized terminology:
The remaining pages of this chapter cover three systems of connecting:
Tip: For added protection against snoopers, you should use Remote Desktop with a VPN connection. To make Remote Desktop work, you have to connect to a computer running Windows Vista, XP Pro, or Windows Server. But the machine you're connecting from can be any relatively recent Windows PC, a Macintosh (to get a free copy of Remote Desktop Connection for Mac, visit www.microsoft.com/mac/), or even a computer running Linux (you'll need the free rdesktop client, available from www.rdesktop.org). Tip: The world is filled with more powerful, more flexible products that let you accomplish the same things as these Windows Vista features, from software programs like LapLink, Carbon Copy, and PC Anywhere to Web sites like www.gotomypc.com.On the other hand, Remote Desktop is free. Note, by the way, that these are all methods of connecting to an unattended machine. If somebody is sitting at the PC back home, you might find it far more convenient to connect using Windows Meeting Space, described in Chapter 26. It's easier to set up and works even with Windows Vista Home Basic on either end, yet offers the same kind of "screen sharing" as Remote Desktop. |