Connecting to a friend's PC

[Bobson]

My dad wants some help with his PC (doesn't everyone's?), but he lives 2hrs away and I only see him once every couple of months.

Is there any way I can connect to his PC over the internet? I have used VPN to access my PC at work, but that is running Windows Server. Both our home machines are WinXP. We don't have any special software or hardware. I seem to remember seeing something in Control Panel once, something about giving and getting remote assistance with your PC. Could this be the way to go?

I realise the above message looks extremely suspicious, and most of you will presume I am a would-be hacker, but I assure you this is a genuine request. I would just like to know if I can help my dad out remotely.

Many thanks in advance
Rob

[mediator]

@Bobson...first of all welcome to the forum!! And no, connecting like this is not cracking.
Yea to help ur dada.....u gotta enable the remote connect service from "services.msc"! Next goto startmenu....there's a option of remote connect or assistance.
Next u aint specifie how u wanna help..............u can also enable telnet on dad's pc and help him like that.

[tuxfan]

Hope you have WinXP Professional and not Home

okey its pretty simple (and is not called cracking lol if it were then MS wouldnt have included it with such BIG letters).
just ask your dad to go to HELP there under ASK FOR REMOTE ASSISTANCE ask him to select 'ask a frien to connect.....remote assistance'

now he can create an invitation for you (which will be secured using a password). youll recive the invitation, enter the correct password(your dad must hav told it to you) and you can control his PC's screen from yopur console.
but yes, as tuxfan said, you must have win XP proff, Home will just not work.

happy helping bob

[Bobson]

Oops, I only have XP Home. I can install XP Pro tho.
My dad has XP Home too, does that matter?

Is it as simple as creating a request from his machine, or do we both need to install/set up some stuff first?

Also, what details will he/I need? eg IP addresses etc

Would you believe all this is because he can't work out how to move photos from one folder to another? Still, in 20 years we'll be scowling at our kids' new-fangled machines wondering what the hell is going on too.

Many thanks for your help
Rob