I have just discovered something very, VERY upsetting.
Having not used Windows 2000 for a number of years, it took a bit of getting used to at this job. But no matter. I keep plugging along on the inferior OS because I’m stoic like that.
But I just came to a startling realization: Windows 2000 does not have the functionality to act as a Remote Desktop host. This just made my plans to work from home about a frillion times less likely.
BASTAGE!
If I can’t get Windows XP up in this hizzy, I’m going to start expensing the vodka at the bottom of the filing cabinet, since I’ll be needing a LOT more of it than originally anticipated!
(Dear bosses and people who know them: I kid! No Vodka in here! I prefer Scotch….)
VNC is your friend.
What is this VNC of which you speak? Am I to be saved after all?
How about PC Anywhere? That works well, if you don’t get XP loaded.
VNC is essentially PC Anywhere, but free!
http://www.realvnc.com/
The handy thing about it is that you can access it through a web browser, as it has a built in java version. So, even if you’re not at a computer where you can start installing crazy software, you can still access your desktop.
It’s not quite as speedy as remote desktop, but it works pretty darn well. My roommate was using it for a while to work remotely from her girlfriends place (she was working from home at the time.) I used to run it on my parents old piece of crap computer so that when my mother called me for tech support, I could get frustrated with her and say “Look, turn off the freaking monitor, and walk away. I’ll fix it.” rather than walking her through it. Walking her through it was painful at best.
Yeah, VNC is the way to go.
Nothing beats the command line though ;). Not really an option for Windows people, but I can’t wait till my parents get a Mac. Then if they have a problem, I can ssh and fix it pretty quickly. Mel quite enjoys it when I fix problems on her linux box while she’s still using it.
Nerd Alert…
Go with UltraVNC, that’s my fav flavour of the various VNC’s. one nice feature of it is you can easily encrpyt traffic between the VNC server and client through the use of plugins. it was orginally built on Realvnc, but also allows such things as file transfers.
instead of using the encryption plugin, or if you use a flavour of VNC that doesn’t offer encryption, setup a vpn to secure the connection between your work pc and your home pc.
This product rocks.
http://www.hamachi.cc/
Point to Point VPN negotiator that works behind a NAT’d connection
without the need to adjust firewall ports. So, you configure it to connect only to your home pc from the work pc and vice versa. then on either side you can initiate a secure connection.
It’s very cool tech and from Vancouver too. 🙂
Tan sent me btw.
At first I thought that the remote connection to work was a great idea. I could check on processes, work from home if I needed to, and be able to fix things without having to go in to work itself.
And then I discovered that my free time was leeching away…
Al you rock. I’ve been using realVNC but have bemoaning the lack of filetransfer goodness!
yay!