We live in the age of global communication and connectivity. Could you imagine 10 years ago if you’ve been sitting in a coffee shop, connected to a world wide network, with no wires connected to your laptop, reading the latest news or even playing a game with your friends?
They would have suggested that you are mad! Fortunately, that is not the case and we do not have a permanent connection to the Internet via broadband.
What if, via this world-wide communications network, you could not read the latest news or do your grocery shopping online; you could actually remotely control your PC at home! Think about this for a minute, what would this allow you to do? Would it be possible to remotely use any of these applications, such as accountancy applications, spreadsheets or documents? Can you check your downloads at home? Check on emails that only come in to your customer email? The possibilities really are endless. There is a solution, and in this article I will focus on using the inbuilt features of Microsoft Windows XP Professional, namely, Remote Desktop.
If you have never used remote desktop before, do not be worried. It’s a simple feature that does not exist, you’re here with your desktop via a client. If you look in Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> Communications, you will see a Remote Desktop Client application.
Using this application, you can enter a computer name or IP address to connect to. You can even find your home computers hard drives as well, so that they appear in windows explorer, and even print to the printer beside you, from your home computer, over the internet!
Try it at home if you have two computers. You need to make sure that Remote Desktop is enabled first, and that it can be done by selecting a System from Control Panel, by selecting the remote tab, and ensuring that “Allow users to connect remotely to this computer” is enabled. If you plan to do this at home, take note of the “Full computer name”, as this is what you will need to enter into the remote desktop to connect to this computer.
I know you are worried about this point, but do not worry – we will address that later.
Now, if you have two computers at home, try it and see what happens! You should be introduced with the familiar login box, and once logged in – ta-da! You are now on the desktop of the other computer, using the remote desktop application on your local computer!
Now – what if this functionality could be extended; so that you can connect to your home PC from anywhere in the world provided you are connected to the internet? Fortunately, this can be done!