Think you need to get these programs from the internet such as goto meeting, logmein, or team viewer? You don’t, provided that you are running a professional version of Windows or Ultimate. These editions of Windows come equiped with Remote Desktop Server software that allows you to connect to them from any computer or device in the world that has the Remote Desktop Client on it. The program uses RDP protocol and uses port 3389 for communication. So you will need to configure your firewall to allow that communication.
First, enable remote control by going to remote settings and enabling Remote Desktop. Then select “Allow connection from computers running any version of remote deskop(less secure). I prefer to use this setting because you can use any mobile device, or older copy of Windows to connect.
On your router you will need to create an exception for RDP. In this example I used the routing page to create the exception. Other routers will have the setting in a Port Forwarding page.
Also you will need to create a Windows Firewall exception.
Once this is done you can connect to Windows Desktop from another computer or device using the Remote Desktop Client which is installed on all editions of Windows XP and higher. You can also download a client for your mobile device.
If you are connecting to your desktop from the internet you will need to know your ISP assigned IP address, or use Dynamic DNS to resolve the IP address. Using Remote Destktop is safer than those other programs because they envolve only the two computers in question, your client, and your server.