Remote Access To Desktop

GaryC

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I'm going to China for a holiday in 2 weeks, but I'll need remote access to my workstation from my laptop (because I'm a workaholic). It's to run simulations on ANSYS and to do CAD as well, so it's best if I can get full mouse/keyboard emulation. Any good programs to recommend?
 
VNC with port forwarding on your router. Regular Windows RDC again with port forwarding on the router. If you wanna be lazy, Logmein.com free version will give you remote access with no set up.
 
Remote Desktop or TeamViewer. Remote Desktop does not offer DirectX or OpenGL acceleration due to it using a virtual display driver, which may not work with your software.
TeamViewer takes over the physical system, but has quite a bit of input lag and may be difficult for high latency usage such as CN->AU.

Check with your IT group to see if such applications are allowed-- some have corporate policies that block incoming connections, or remote desktop sharing software.. if so, enjoy your vacation.
 
Just enjoy your vacation ;)
 
Bog standard RDP and port forwarding will do you nicely, as will Logmein. The advantage of Logmein would be that if your connection IP changes while you're away it'll still work. Unlikely but it's caught me out once or twice.
 
another advantage is that you can actually reboot the pc if necessary
with rdp, all you can do is log off...

one advice though, make sure UAC is turned off
 
Also, if this is vitally imporant and not just a "it would be nice if I could do work..." I would suggest giving a friend a key to your house so that they can go to your house and start-up your computer in case it shuts form and doesn't start back up again for some reason, like a power outtage.
 
Also, if this is vitally imporant and not just a "it would be nice if I could do work..." I would suggest giving a friend a key to your house so that they can go to your house and start-up your computer in case it shuts form and doesn't start back up again for some reason, like a power outtage.

See whether there is a option to "Resume previous state" in BIOS power options. So if the computer is on and a power cuts out, when the power comes back the computer will boot up.
 
with rdp, all you can do is log off...
That is not correct, by default the shutdown/restart options are hidden.
You can still reboot or shutdown with the "shutdown /r" and "shutdown /s" commands.
I think there is also a way to actually unhide the shutdown/restart options as well.

Also, if this is vitally imporant and not just a "it would be nice if I could do work..." I would suggest giving a friend a key to your house so that they can go to your house and start-up your computer in case it shuts form and doesn't start back up again for some reason, like a power outtage.

See whether there is a option to "Resume previous state" in BIOS power options. So if the computer is on and a power cuts out, when the power comes back the computer will boot up.
Even better is to configure your router so that it can forward wake on lan (WOL) packets to your PC.
I have this set up for my NAS box at home and for my computer at work.
It's damn well ideal, I never have to leave anything on and I can just fire up the PC or NAS whenever I need to.

I do use that "resume previous state" trick for my PC at home though.
I have a wireless X10 box so I can fire up the PC from the TV room with a remote.
The PC is in the computer room which has an HDMI cable connection to the AV receiver in the basement.
The AV receiver in the basement connects via HDMI to the TV in the TV/bedroom.
 
That is not correct, by default the shutdown/restart options are hidden.
You can still reboot or shutdown with the "shutdown /r" and "shutdown /s" commands.
I think there is also a way to actually unhide the shutdown/restart options as well.
You are correct, I'm blanking on it myself but there is a way to do it graphically.
 
I've tried logmein, and it's great! Albeit extremely slow, even from my housemate's computer. Is there a faster way?
 
normally if your internetconnection can handle it, logmein isn't slow at all.
i use it to connect to tablets that are connected to internet over GPRS/3G, and even those work fine
 
All right, let's hope logmein is fast enough from China to do CAD..

Thanks, everyone!
 
Just as an experiment, I tried CAD with the win7 built in remote desktop over my wifi connection (Laptop to PC).

It is unusable. Rotating an object or so is impossible, because the framerate isn't good. It might be ok, if you have to check something or so, but serious work in conditions like that, is impossible.
 
i think remotely executing heavy graphic operations will be slow no matter how you connect
but if you press the start button, and it opens instantly, your connection is fine, if it only opens after 2-3s, something is wrong/connection is to slow
 
Try Splashtop, it is designed for smooth audio and video streaming. There will likely still be input lag though, and it tends to do better at low resolutions.
 
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