No Special Software
Required.
Is Remote Desktop a Blessing, or a Curse?
A Tool- or a Threat?
You CAN get there from here.
Users who once “left their work in the office” are
finding that work can follow them anywhere in the world over
the Internet.
Windows XP Professional (not
the Home verison) includes an interesting new feature- Remote
Desktop. If installed by the user, Remote Desktop permits users
either in the office or on the Internet to watch the screen and
control your computer with the remote machine's mouse and keyboard.
This technology is known as "Telepresence". (Other
popular Telepresence software includes Remotely Anywhere, GoToMyPC, PCAnywhere and WinVNC.)
Telepresence has been the preferred system
for supporting users on company networks. This function may now
be far simpler to manage as it is included with the Windows XP
Professional operating system.
Along with
Remote Desktop, there are two other technologies of interest:
1) Remote Assistance allows an outside technician to observe
or control your computer and to help you with a problem. This
is available for both Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional.
(There are problems with Remote Assistance and standard NAT routers,
however.)
2) Remote Desktop Web Access allows an outside user to interact
with your computer from a Internet Explorer web browser. The
software for this will download automatically to the remote machine;
you don't need any special "client" software before
beginning the connection.
SoftProse Technology,
Inc. is just beginning to work with the Remote Desktop features
of Windows XP Professional. We believe that this feature will
be so compelling that businesses and individuals will insist
on Windows XP Professional over the home version for Remote Access
alone.
What
Can Remote Desktop do TO Companies?
1) Security Holes opening
up unexpectedly. Users who use the Remote Assistance feature
can invite strangers to control their machine. Standard office
routers using NAT must expose specific ports to enable Remote
Assistance for a user, but this may change with the next generation
of routers. In addition, the Remote Assistance Port of 3389 (as
for Remote Desktop, and Terminal Server) can be moved for individual
users.
At this point in time, Windows XP users who
are accessing the Internet from behind a NAT router have some
challenges in their ability to use Remote Assistance.
2) Router replacements. Most popular office routers only
permit the opening of ten or twenty ports to the internal network
through their NAT firewall router. If you have ten or twenty
computers in the office who wish to use Remote Assistance or
Remote Desktop, you will quickly run out of available firewall
resources. Cisco-type routers will look more attractive as companies
try to both block possible security holes yet enable more users
with Remote Access.
Microsoft's new UPnP standard (available in
a few routers, but about to be more popular) automates the exposure
of Remote Assistance clients through a standard NAT router. Still,
many network administrators may not think UPnP is a good idea.
3) Higher expectations from users for literally “hands-on”
support. Many organizations have reduced support requirements
by relying on users to take a little initiative in managing their
equipment. Will users now learn to wait for a technician to take
control instead?
4) New and unusual forms of computer crime. (Part of the
Evolution of Technology...) Much of this may be focused on the
Remote Assistance feature.
The
Remote Desktop Client Software
The
same Remote Desktop client software used for Windows XP can also
be used for Windows Terminal connections. The Remote Desktop
client is included with every copy of Windows XP Professional;
there is no download required.
The below Client is available for Windows 9X,
Me, 2K, etc. Please note that computers running an OS below W2K
or XP cannot change the TCP/IP access port. (3389)
Download the client for older OS's from:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/rdclientdl.asp
Effect
on Established Telepresense Software
Microsoft’s play into personalized telepresence may have
traumatic effects on older products.
The features of Remotely Anywhere are directly duplicated
by Remote Desktop Web Access.
GoToMyPC
faces similar challenges.
Symantec’s PCAnywhere is a much more
mature technology with many more abilities. (We use it for automatic
backups of field offices, among other major functions.) Much
of the PCAnywhere feature set is duplicated by Remote Desktop,
and it is hard to see how this software will remain competitive.
WinVNC still has a role, however. The newest
implementation is quite solid; download it for FREE from http://www.realvnc.com. |
