Like many people I have more than one computer, one a Windows Vista Premium desktop, the other an Apple MacBook. I recently wanted to be able to control my Windows desktop from my Mac over my home network. While this is possible with Windows Remote Desktop connection, the ability to run a server (ie. the computer being connected to) is only enabled in the Business and Ultimate editions of Vista. While there are quite a few other solutions out there, the best free one I have found is UltraVNC.
The download is fairly small at only a few megabytes and installation is fairly quick and straightforward. In most cases the default settings will be fine but there is a great guide for both installation and configuration on the site.
Once your server is running the only thing left to do is download a viewer to access your computer. I am currently trying out two but am leaning towards RealVNC for its speed and range of settings. Set-up is simple; download the file, run the application, type in the network address of your server (this can be found by hovering over the UltraVNC system tray icon) and then enter your password if you have set one. You may want to manually set the quality setting as the default tends to be a little high. There is a trade off between colour depth and refresh rate of the display but this will depend on your network speed.
Now you can shecdule recordings, open applications, access files that aren't shared on your network and anything else you may want to do remotely.
UltraVNC - Windows VNC Server
RealVNC Viewer - Cross-Platform Viewer
Chicken of the VNC - Lightweight OSX Viewer
While this currently only works over a local network (ie. both computers are connected to the same router) it is possible to remotely access your computer over the internet with the use of a VPN (Virtual Private Network). While I have not extensively looked into this I have heard good things about Hamachi which is free for personal use and may well be useful to you. More on this soon.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment