I have posted it before but had no reply. I am still quite concerned. So much that I did not leave my PC running while I went away for a few days. However I would like to use remote desktop.
My question was:
I have a home network through a Netgear DG834G router and XP firewall as well as sygate personal firewall.
Recently I experimented with remote desktop and I have configured port forwarding. As far as I understand anyone could now log on with my IP address, username and password. This is obviously only a fraction of the security of a router firewall and a software firewall. I believe I can specify the IP address which is allowed to connect as client, but without that...?

Sorry a bit unsure of the question 'but without that...?'

I thought if you ONLY allow certain IP addresses to access your computer it is an added security. Others (hackers) are prevented from accessing your computer. However this restricts the accessibility because you have to specify in advance every single IP address you allow to connect. When you are travelling this is obviously not possible. So my question was "How secure is Remote Desktop without this restriction? All you need is someones IP address username and password and you have access!