Remote Access Usages

Remote Desktop Remote desktop technology makes it possible to view another computer's desktop on your computer. This means you can open folders, move files, and even run programs on the remote computer, right from your own desktop. Both Windows and Macintosh computer support remote desktop connections, though they use different implementations. Windows XP and Vista both include Remote Desktop as part of the operating system. The Remote Desktop program uses Microsoft Terminal Services and the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) to connect to a remote machine. Remote connections can be opened using Windows' Remote Desktop Connection (RDC), which is also referred to as Terminal Services Client (TSC). This program allows users to configure and manage remote connections to other computers. Of course, to connect to another machine, the remote system must be configured to accept incoming RDC connections. A Windows computer can be configured to accept incoming remote desktop connections by opening the Control Panel and selecting "Performance and Maintenance." Then click the "System" icon and select the "Remote" tab in the System Properties window. Next, check the box that says, "Allow users to connect remotely to this computer." Then click OK. This should enable remote desktop connections to your machine. You can then click "Select Remote Users..." to only provide access to specific users. Of course, if you don't want your computer to be accessed by anyone, leave the "Allow users to connect..." box unchecked.

Telnet This is a program that allows you log into a system running some other OS or a different version of Linux system via a text-based interface. If you have an account on a Telnet server, you can access certain resources on the system such your home directory, your account, FTP files, etc. The downside of Telnet is that, to use it, you need to use Linux commands, which can be a challenge. Commands of Telnet: Open open to a site Mode line-by-line or character-at-a-time mode Quit exit telnet Send transmit special characters (send ?) ? help

FTP Stands for "File Transfer Protocol." It is a common method of transferring files via the Internet from one computer to another. Some common FTP programs are "Fetch" for the Mac, and "WS_FTP" for Windows. However, you can also use a Web browser like Netscape or Internet Explorer to access FTP servers. To do this, you need to type the URL of the server into the location field of the browser. For example: "ftp://ftp.servername.com/" will give you a listing of all the directories of the FTP server, "ftp://ftp.servername.com/directory/" will give you a listing of all the files available in that directory, and "ftp://ftp.servername.com/directory/filename" will download the actual file to your computer. Many FTP servers are "anonymous FTP" servers which means you can log in with the user name "anonymous" and your address as the password. Other FTP servers require a specific login in order to access the files. Commands of FTP: Binary Ascii Get Mget Put Mput quit