How To Remotely Access Your PC

Windows XP Professional includes a basic PC remote control tool which lets you log onto your PC remotely from anywhere. Do you know how to use it?

It’s called Remote Desktop Connection, and when you’ve properly configured your PC, this handy utility will let you log into your computer from anywhere in the world and control it as if you were sitting in front of it instead of half a world away.

If you’re running Windows XP Professional, you already have all the software you need to connect remotely to your PC. Whether you’d like to monitor a server, grab files from your home PC at work, or just keep an eye on your machines when you’re out, connecting remotely is easy to do. However, due to the vagaries of network configurations and various other quirks beyond your control, you may not be able to actually connect. Until now.

Prepping your system

First, you need to know the IP address of the computer you want to connect to. The only sure-fire way to always be able to connect to your PC’s is to use an ISP that provides you with a static IP address. Most ISPs give customers dynamic IP addresses, which can change every few days or even hours. Because your IP address is the way you’ll locate your computer on the net, you’ll need to know what your IP address is and monitor it as it changes.

The good news is that there are loads of programs that will notify you of IP address changes, whenever they occur. We like IP Address Monster
Code:

www.ipmonster.com

It’s a small program that runs in your system tray and can be configured to e-mail you whenever your IP address changes.