Since I often have to connect to Windows servers (or sometimes workstations) from my Mac laptop, CoRD is my RDP client of choice. CoRD is a free and open-source application for Mac that allows me to save multiple servers' connection information in the handy sidebar so that I can quickly start remote desktop connections.

CoRD lets me connect to multiple servers simultaneously while only taking up one window of screen real estate, or I can use windowed mode so that each connection has a dedicated window.

Being able to access one computer from another, via some sort of remote desktop utility is hardly a new development, Windows and Mac OS have included VNC clients with their operating systems for years. Being able to access a Windows computer from your Mac isn't even new -- the Windows Remote Desktop client is available for the Mac, and programs like TightVNC will allow Windows users to connect to a Mac running Tiger or Leopard, assuming the sharing preferences are configured correctly.

However, the downside to using a client-based VNC is that if you are on a trying to connect to a computer from a system that with access restrictions (say, a computer in an Internet cafe or in a school computer lab), you may not be able to access the necessary software to start the remote connection. That's where services like LogMeIn come in.

As long as your target computer has the LogMeIn client installed and is connected to the Internet, you can access that system from a different computer simply using your web browser. And although Mac users have been able to connect to Windows machine via LogMeIn for quite some time, the reverse was not true. Until now. Last week LogMeIn released the first full release of the LogMeIn client for the Mac. Right now, the free version of LogMeIn, which is sufficient for most home users, is available, and as the name implies, free. A free beta is also available for the LogMeIn Rescue (which is aimed at IT professionals or computer technicians, as it makes it easy to take control of a client's machine without having to pre-install software).

Many of us work with people who aren't in the same area code, or even the same country. YuuGuu is a program designed to keep you connected and make sure you and your coworkers on the same page.

On the surface the program looks like your basic messaging client. Users all have to be registered with YuuGuu (there are plans to allow people who haven't downloaded the program), and you can send messages back in forth just as you would on AIM. YuuGuu takes being together a step further however by allowing you to instantly share what's on your desktop with users on your buddy list. You can also set up online meetings with your coworkers where you can all look at and interact with the same documents or applications at the same time. So you can show a client how a new program you're working on is going, or get a friend to check out some photo editing you're doing in PhotoShop.

If you need help with something you're working on you can give others control of your mouse and keyboard so they can work on your PC from wherever they are as if you were sitting beside each other. You can also use YuuGuu to remotely access your own computer, or any computer you've been given permission to access. Priceless for those late night "How do I send email" phone calls from mom.

YuuGuu is free, and is currently in beta.

Microsoft has released an update to its Remote Desktop software, a.k.a. Terminal Services Client. The new version 6.0 contains a number of interesting new features:

• Network Level Authentication
• Server authentication
• Resource redirection
• Terminal Services Gateway (TS Gateway) servers
• TS Remote Programs
• Multiple monitor spanning
• 32-bit color
• Font smoothing

Network Level Authentication allows the user to be authenticated before the server starts up a full-blown Remote Desktop session, thereby saving resources, and "uses remote computer authentication that helps protect users from connecting to remote computers that are set up for malicious purposes," though I'm not entirely sure what that means. Server authentication "verifies that you are connecting to the correct remote computer or server. Resource redirection lets you use Plug and Play devices that support redirection over a Remote Desktop session. TS Gateway support "enables authorized users to connect to remote computers on a corporate network," which means that if you can connect to a remote PC from across the internet over port 443 (SSL), which isn't blocked by most firewalls. TS Remote Programs sounds pretty cool, essentially allowing you to run programs on your local machine that are installed on the remote machine. "The experience," says Microsoft, "is the same as running a program that is installed on the computer." The last three I think are pretty self-explanatory.

Remote Desktop Connection 6.0 is a free download from Microsoft, and doesn't require a WGA check.

Before its final release, Windows XP's Remote Desktop function had a feature it now lacks: multi-user mode, whereby more than one person could log on and control the PC at once. When the final version of XP shipped, though, this feature was disabled, meaning if you log on with remote desktop, any other user must be logged off. Fortunately, there's a way to unlock the original functionality, but as won't surprise you it's a bit of a hack and definitely at-your-own-risk. The process is detailed by Riccardo Raneri in his blog, but basically involves downloading an old pre-release version of termsrv.dll and making some setting changes. XP still has a hard-coded limit of three simultaneous users, but that's still a lot more than one.

Avi Dardik has a quick guide on how to set up a secondary PC using VNC (for multi-platform support) to act like a KVM switch and allow you to switch between active full-screen sessions on your host machine and a client machine at the tap of a hot-key. Although many may argue that using VNC software for this purpose is a pretty ugly hack, the reality is that this scenario is extremely common, and very fast on a local network.

The only thing I would add is that if I was going to set this up with strictly Windows PCs, I'd substitute Remote Desktop for VNC. Remote Desktop is simply so much faster and more efficient between Windows PCs that there's no reason not to. That is, of course, if you have XP Pro or a flavor of Windows Server for your "client" machine. XP Home won't allow you to make a Remote Desktop connection to it unprompted.

[image courtesy of Wikipedia]