Remote desktop help

[SuzanG]

I plan to be away from my main computer and would like to set up remote desktop so I do not have to continue to pay for logmein.

I followed the basic instructions that I found for this but it did not work.  It looks like I will have to do some reconfiguring of my modem or IP address etc, to get through to my computer.

Can someone send me a step by step procedure for doing this.  I am pretty familiar with working on computers so should be able to follow them.

I have Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit.

I tried to set up a home network and had trouble with that.  Never had trouble with my XP computers but for some reason this is different.  I am wondering if something I did then is keeping this remote desktop set up from working.

Thanks

[DaveLembke]

I've set this up before and its not too hard to pull off. You will need to set port forwarding for port 3389 and its would be best to give the system a static IP. This way you can set up port forward for 3389 that works for just that IP and so knowing the IP address that your modem has with ISP you can connect via IP to your home computer.

The paid for remote admin software out there use port 80 to pull it off without forwarding usually by use of an intermediary server that serves up the handshaking between the 2 systems. I use to use crossloop when it was free to remotely assist others. The security measure with crossloop was that a pin was generated and via a phone call the person at the other end would give me the pin to get into their system to assist them.

I also used Real VNC for a while, however it required the same amount of config as RDP. The difference between RDP and VNC is that RDP would lock the session at the computer connecting to while VNC allowed you to connect and the user at the other end could see the mouse pointer moving and keystrokes going to the system remotely.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/allow-remote-desktop-connections-from-outside-your-home-network

[JacobRocks12]

Try TeamViewer. It's a free software and is very safe from hackers because the connection is encrypted. You can even access your computer with your phone with the app! The only bad thing is that when you end your remote session, a pop up box pops up on both devices saying: "TeamViewer is completely free." And some other text. Hope this helps. If you don't want to pay money for the Buisness/Comercial edition, use the Private edition, you can even have contacts in it just like a phone that you don't have to enter a password every time you connect to your computer.

[strollin]

Unfortunately, Win 7 Home Premium can not act as a remote host, only a client.  In other words, you could remotely control a computer running Win 7 Pro from your computer running Win 7 HP but you can't remotely control a computer running Win 7 HP from another computer using Windows Remote Desktop Client.  In the link provided by DaveLembke you will see that the article only applies to "Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate, or Enterprise edition".

I second the suggestion by JacobRocks12 to use TeamViewer which has no such restriction.  TeamViewer is dead easy to install and setup without the need to open any ports on your router and stuff like that.  As stated, TeamViewer is free for personal use.

You could use VNC but it's a little more difficult to setup.

[SuzanG]

Thank you for your suggestions.  I was also told since my post that Chrome Remote Desktop is very good.