How can I..........

[Matblack]

control my main PC from my laptop?

I've just purchased a Pinnacle Showcentre so I can stream video and photos to the TV upstairs but sometimes it would be useful to be able to access the PC downstairs without having to turn the projector on. How could one go about doing this?

Thanks

MB

[Haly]

RealVNC is what I always used to use to control my second PC with my main PC. :)
http://www.realvnc.com/
Was a little slow at times though so there may be a better alternative.

[Will]

VNC is good or you can use good old remote desktop on a console session.

[Mark]

Not much of a fan of VNC, though it works. Remote Desktop is much better IMO but it was targetted at XP Pro and I'm not sure if there's a way to get it for non-Pro versions.

There's another one that I think a few here use, but it's name escapes me. :/

[leowyatt]

another vote for VNC use it at work and at home too to control our media centre machine.

[Daz]

RDP > VNC, though VNC is cross platform and just runs on anything. If you can use it then expect a much smoother experience with Remote Desktop.

[Will]

You can download RDP if you haven't got it on your computer - I have it on one of my W2K boxes - works really well.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=80111f21-d48d-426e-96c2-08aa2bd23a49&DisplayLang=en

Oops I just realised that's the client and not the server side of things, yup I don't think you can do it with Home I'm afraid... VNC isn't bad.

PCAnywhere's not bad though.

[Matblack]

I don't have pro on the cellar PC only the laptop :/

Will try VNC tomorrow

MB

[mejinks]

vnc is good but don't rely on it to access your pcs outside your network as its got very weak authentication. Unless you send it over a SSH session.

[Will]

MB only wants to use it internally so it shouldn't be an issue. :)

[mejinks]

MB only wants to use it internally so it shouldn't be an issue. :)

I know, but im pretending to be a geek and sound like I know what im talking about :p

[Daz]

vnc is good but don't rely on it to access your pcs outside your network as its got very weak authentication.
But there are ways to secure it if you need to surface it publicly. UltraVNC can authenticate against a SAM database or AD, and also has a DSM plugin available for it (here (http://msrc4plugin.home.comcast.net/overview.html)).

Though generally I agree with you, I dont make any VNC access available from the web.

[Mark]

Yup - I'd much use something that's designed to be internet facing and tunnel VNC et al through that.

Annoyingly I've never been able to figure out how to tunnel RDP over SSH.