When a small business begins looking into Remote IT Support and Remote IT Support Services for satellite offices it can be a technical minefield.
There are a plethora of methods for remote IT support, most use secure channel to access using RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) which listens on Port 3389 (though this default port can be changed when using PC's running Windows XP Professional SP3, MAC however can ONLY use Port 3389).
Microsoft currently refers to their official RDP server software as Remote Desktop Services, formerly "Terminal Services".
Their official client software is currently referred to as Remote Desktop Connection, formerly "Terminal Services Client".
Remote IT support can also be provided using browser based technology, which is a more generic form and less secure than the RDP protocol and uses Port 80.
Windows Vista and Windows 7 (professional, business or ultimate editions only) have an in-built Remote IT Support feature which can be activated by following the following simple instructions - Right click on "My Computer", select "Properties" and select the "Remote" tab and select the security options applicable to your personal security requirements.
To connect from another Vista / Win7 PC on the same network, click the bottom radio button "Allow connections only from computers running Remote Desktop with Network Level Authentication".
If you need to connect from an XP/2000 machine, click the "Allow connections from computers running any version of Remote Desktop" radio button.
Don't worry about setting up firewall rules, Vista or Windows 7 does that for you automatically.
In conclusion - the newer releases of Windows should make Remote IT Support issues and problems arising from firewalls blocking remote requests and Router Port forwarding errors a thing of the past, and something most people even with limited IT knowledge should be able to set-up themselves, thus empowering the IT helpless to help themselves in the future.
There are a plethora of methods for remote IT support, most use secure channel to access using RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) which listens on Port 3389 (though this default port can be changed when using PC's running Windows XP Professional SP3, MAC however can ONLY use Port 3389).
Microsoft currently refers to their official RDP server software as Remote Desktop Services, formerly "Terminal Services".
Their official client software is currently referred to as Remote Desktop Connection, formerly "Terminal Services Client".
Remote IT support can also be provided using browser based technology, which is a more generic form and less secure than the RDP protocol and uses Port 80.
Windows Vista and Windows 7 (professional, business or ultimate editions only) have an in-built Remote IT Support feature which can be activated by following the following simple instructions - Right click on "My Computer", select "Properties" and select the "Remote" tab and select the security options applicable to your personal security requirements.
To connect from another Vista / Win7 PC on the same network, click the bottom radio button "Allow connections only from computers running Remote Desktop with Network Level Authentication".
If you need to connect from an XP/2000 machine, click the "Allow connections from computers running any version of Remote Desktop" radio button.
Don't worry about setting up firewall rules, Vista or Windows 7 does that for you automatically.
In conclusion - the newer releases of Windows should make Remote IT Support issues and problems arising from firewalls blocking remote requests and Router Port forwarding errors a thing of the past, and something most people even with limited IT knowledge should be able to set-up themselves, thus empowering the IT helpless to help themselves in the future.
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