Connecting to Home Computer Remotely

I'd just use Logmein free, it's free easy and you don't have to configure a lot of firewall options.

Neil,

The port forward article didn't help a lot so I'm just playing on the uverse 2wire router. Can you tell from the attached if I'm in the right place and what I need to do from there?

Harel,

With logmein I can get to my home computer from my laptop but they are both in the same network right now. If I have my laptop with me in a hotel, will I have problems? I don't have a static ip.

Teamviewer is your answer. Install the application on both your machines and connect from outside to your home machine by providing ID and password and you are done. No changes required on firewall. Same goes for LogMeIn. Tis like you are sitted right infront of your machine.

I'm not sure I like the teamviewer solution that much. Screen quality is poor. My preference is to use Windows remote desktop. So back to the original questions:

How do I RDP into my home computer from my laptop when I am away from home? When I am home and my laptop is connected to my home network, RDP works fine. I just start remote desktop on my laptop, enter the computer name or ip address of my home computer, provide a user name and password, and away I go. That doesn't work when I'm in a hotel with my laptop. Because the IP address of my home network is dynamic, I can't use the IP address. I have to have something, like DYNDNS, to help. I'm just not technical enough to understand all of the steps involved.

logmein works most anyplace unless it's specifically blocked.

Logmein, or teamveiwer. Super easy. Yes you could do rdp over VPN or a port forward and register with dyndns or someone but there is no point undoing all that work when there are two great free apps.

I just tried both logmein and teamviewer. In fact, I've used them both before. I just find that the screen resolution isn't very good inside the browser. I don't have that problem with RDP / DynDns combination.

The screen res problem is the only thing that makes me want to use the RDP variety

If you are going to use RDP, make sure you have the latest service packs installed and switch to a non-standard port to increase security.  Yes, this is security through obscurity, but it will prevent all automated worms from picking up the RDP port.

Logmein is a good product, but i personally prefer Citrix's GoToMyPC.
Using Logmein and GoToMyPC eliminates the need to configure port forwarding on your router/firewall.  Those products have a client running on your host computer which opens a session with their Internet based servers.  This opens a connection to your computer through your router/firewall.  As long as stateful sessions are supported by your edge device, you should be good to go.

Can someone assist me in setting the RDP up? I would like to change the normal port from 3389 to something else for security reasons. I've already set up an account with dyndns. I have no idea how to set up port forwarding with my 2wire uverse router. I'm kind of lost in all of this. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

After you do the registry thing, reboot. Then use Netstat to make sure the right port is open

Changing the port number won't help if someone targets you specifically.  What it does help is with is defending against the automated worms. For example, slammer would not have affected an SQL server is it used non-standard ports.

That is why I prefer the LogMeIn and GoToMyPC options.  They do not require an open port and port forwarding to function.

i would suggest you use team viewer...

easy, no port forwarding, free

http://www.teamviewer.com/en/index.aspx?cdsplit=D

apart from above i would like to clerify few things,

1) if you want to RDP you have to open ports in your router + you have to fwd traffic to your host/desktop.

2) you dont have to change reg value from 3389 to any other as you can have any other port on external and internal will be 3389.

3) if you are home user i would sugest to be simple and secure.... logmein or teamviewer will ge fine...

watch this video , I hope you have same router page similar to this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuci6mplva4   OR you can watch video which already given by Harel66 above.

If you have same page then do the following  :-
application profile name = remote desktop
make two rule udp and tcp both
port range 3389 to 3389
tcp timeout leave it blank
port mapped to host = same as above 3389
choose application name

then open remote desktop service by My computer > properties > remote settings > remote > allow computers of any version.

Now test if the port is working or not via http://www.t1shopper.com/tools/port-scan/

If not working then may be you have installed any internet security. in which inbuilt firewall prevent the connection. Disable the internet security then check again.

If you have a server OS then you need to use a paid version of Teamviewer.

Logmein works well for me because I use Windows Server at home.

Syed, many home routers don't allow port forwarding with a different port. That's why I suggest the reg entry. But yes, that is an easier solution if the router is capable

I need to put this aside for now and get back to it in the future. Thanks for the help.

I've requested that this question be closed as follows:

Accepted answer: 0 points for cbridgman's comment #37834960

for the following reason:

Don't have time to work on this now. Will reopen or re-ask in the future as time permits.

There are several methods posted to resolve the initial question.

7 experts and 20 comments are in this thread.  I believe there should be some reward for the time and effort put forth to help.