Hi, I am putting a computer in one room in my house and want to be able to control and access my main computer in another room as if I was using it (remote desktop?). My house is wired with cat5e all connected to a router. how do I go about this? Both computers will likely run xp pro, however I might put vista on the newer computer. I want to keep this only within my network. As an example, even if my internet was down I could still remote desktop the main computer. Your advice is greatly appreciated.

Either Microsoft Remote Desktop or VNC would work as long as the router is up.

thanks wizard-fred. Could you provide a little more detail on how to do this? Also which of these would you say is better, safer, quicker? Thanks!

I use several of distributions of VNC. My OS's are Vista, XP and Win98SE.

Easier and quicker and better performing is Remote Desktop. Do a search on how to enable remote desktop on XP Pro. If you use Vista, it has to be Vista Business or better. Make sure the computer firewalls are either turned off (your router acts as a firewall), or if you prefer to leave them on, read this article on how to permit Remote Desktop through the Windows firewall. http://www.windowsnetworking.com/ar... Assume that I already did an Internet search.