How can I remote into my home computer?

[Sureshot324]

Basically I want to remote into my home computer from work and have full control over it. My home computer is behind a router and at work I'm behind a firewall.

I know there's several ways to do this, but what are the best and most popular?

 

[mundane]

Dyndns + (Remote Desktop | VNC )

 

[MegaVovaN]

Originally posted by: diegoalcatraz
Dyndns + (Remote Desktop | VNC )

^^ What he said.

Dynamic DNS or No-IP
your router may be able to update dynamic IPs by itself. or you can use their software

I dont know how to use windows remote desktop, but you can use Ultra VNC (free) or Real VNC (paid).

Open VNC/ remote desktop port in your router.
Then, at work, use either client or, for VNC, you can even use a regular browser, UkltraVNC can make a java interface.

 

[eelw]

And add Hamachi into the mix.

 

[Supermercado]

I use all three of the above programs and it works flawlessly. I just use the Remote Desktop and No-IP with the IP updater running on my machine to access the machine to do stuff and Hamachi if I need to get any of the files.

 

[mugs]

You're going to need to go into your router settings and forward the remote desktop port to your PC's internal IP address.

 

[Aikouka]

To help answer how to use Remote Desktop, turning it on is very easy. Just right click My Computer and left click on Properties to open the "System Properties" dialog. Click on the "Remote" tab. Check the box saying something like "Allow computers to connect to this computer remotely". In that same general area you can select which users or type of users can connect.

Also, if you have trouble finding the Remote Desktop program at work, it's called "mstsc" or Microsoft Terminal Services Client.

 

[Sureshot324]

Originally posted by: Aikouka
To help answer how to use Remote Desktop, turning it on is very easy. Just right click My Computer and left click on Properties to open the "System Properties" dialog. Click on the "Remote" tab. Check the box saying something like "Allow computers to connect to this computer remotely". In that same general area you can select which users or type of users can connect.

Also, if you have trouble finding the Remote Desktop program at work, it's called "mstsc" or Microsoft Terminal Services Client.

Do you know which port this uses so I can forward it on my router? Is this likely to be blocked by my firewall at work?

 

[TheoPetro]

Not to hijack the thread but is there anything wrong with using window's built in remote desktop?

 

[Aikouka]

Originally posted by: Sureshot324

Originally posted by: Aikouka
To help answer how to use Remote Desktop, turning it on is very easy. Just right click My Computer and left click on Properties to open the "System Properties" dialog. Click on the "Remote" tab. Check the box saying something like "Allow computers to connect to this computer remotely". In that same general area you can select which users or type of users can connect.

Also, if you have trouble finding the Remote Desktop program at work, it's called "mstsc" or Microsoft Terminal Services Client.

Do you know which port this uses so I can forward it on my router? Is this likely to be blocked by my firewall at work?

TCP/IP Port: 3389

Source:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/expert/northrup_03may16.mspx
&
http://theillustratednetwork.mvps.org/R...oteDesktopSetupandTroubleshooting.html

Also, there's nothing really wrong with using Remote Desktop; however, if you want to access a user account that's currently logged in, you will log that user out on the machine itself. VNC simply allows control of the PC without having to log anyone out, but I've always found it much slower (even without encryption on a 100 MBIT ethernet network). For me, I use VNC with my File/Media Server as I can't be logging myself out when I use this PC for it's Multimedia capabilities as it's connected to my HDTV via VGA.

 

[Alienwho]

for the easy way out, simply use www.logmein.com. I use it just fine on a daily basis. It isn't the fastest, but for my needs of transferring files back and forth and what not, it works great.

 

[sswingle]

Originally posted by: Alienwho
for the easy way out, simply use www.logmein.com. I use it just fine on a daily basis. It isn't the fastest, but for my needs of transferring files back and forth and what not, it works great.

Agreed. No need to worry about firewalls, easy to use, and I think its plenty fast.

 

[ArchAngel777]

You need XP Professional or Media Center Edition on the host to remote desktop, Home Edition will not work. So if you have Home Edition on that host PC, you cannot use Remote Desktop..

However, VNC works great as well. For Remote Desktop or VNC, you will either need to enable DMZ on the router and point it to the local ip address that your machine has been assigned, or you will need to forward the ports (3389 - Remote Desktop, 5900 - VNC - Default Ports) to that IP address under port forwarding. Once you have the ports forwarded correctly, you need to get the Public IP Address. This can be done by either going into your router and finding it, or simply by going to www.ipchicken.com or www.whatismyip.com. Then you simply need to find another PC and use the RDP or VNC client and connect to it. Keep in mind that if you have both options as your disposel, Remote Desktop is superior to VNC.