Remote control your Windows or Mac computer, for FREE!

If you've ever wished you had access to a computer that is somewhere else, but haven't had a way to do it, here's your answer. www.logmein.com offers plenty of paid services for remote support/access, but they also offer logmein Free, which I use a lot. It provides a web interface for organizing your LogMeIn accessible computers, plenty of security, and practicaly no additional configuration needed other than installation. There's no need to change your firewall, and I've used it with success on Windows XP, Vista, Server 2003, and OS X 10.3 and 10.4. If you do any remote support, or just need access to your machine when you're away, I highly recommend checking it out. Another nice thing is that it will log you on to the console session, so if you're connecting to a terminal server, you can access it as if you're standing right in front of it. That has come in handy a few times for me.

If you're looking to access someone else's machine to help support them, but don't want to give out your logmein user account info, or create a secondary account, there's another solution out there. www.crossloop.com is my backup for accessing machines remotely. All the user needs to do is download and install the program, then provide you with the 12 digit access code. This provides minimal setup, and can serve as more of a one-time use application. I prefer LogMeIn, and it does work better, but for those times where you just want quick access without any accounts, I tend to use CrossLoop. It's based on the popular VNC remote control protocol.