How to control Windows with Apple Remote Desktop

If you do not want to use the Microsoft Remote Desktop application as detailed here. You can do the following to allow you to control Windows via Apple’s Remote Desktop application.

Install RealVNC Server (www.realvnc.com or www.tightvnc.com) on your Windows PC.

Once installed it will appear in the tray area of the taskbar or in your program files, select options and set a password, and adjust any necessary settings.

Now on Apple Remote Desktop you can connect to the Windows PC via the IP address. You will have remote control and view capabilities but no other Apple Remote Desktop features such as remote install.

Remote Control Windows XP from a MAC

There are other ways to do this but this is the simplest and only requires installing 1 application.

1. Download and install the Remote Desktop Connection application for MAC.
2. On your XP machine, right click My Computer and select properties.
3. Select ‘Allow users to connect remotely to this computer’
4. Get the IP address of your XP machine, open a command prompt and type ipconfig)
5. Back on your MAC, launch the Remote Desktop Connection program and connect using the IP found in step.

Read the rest of this entry »

OpenOffice 3.0.1 Has Been Released

OpenOffice 3.0.1 has come out 2 days earlier than expected. You can get it on the P2P portion of the OpenOffice website, or you can download the torrent here here.

For those that do not know what OpenOffice is, read more about it here. OpenOffice could do to Microsoft Office what Firefox has done to Internet Explorer. It has come a long way from being a bloated java application to a more than suitable alternative to Microsoft Office. About the only thing OpenOffice is still not great at is spreadsheets, it will not replace Excel for the power spreadsheet user or so I have been told.

4 Ways to Launch the Task Manager

The simplest and fastest way to launch the Windows Task Manager is to hit:

CTRL+SHIFT+ESC

The second way is:

CTRL+ALT+DELETE

Then select Task Manager from there.
Read the rest of this entry »

Run a Batch File as a Scheduled Task

Sometimes the most mundane daily tasks can be simplified with a simple batchfile. Say you have a USB drive that you keep your files on that you copy files to several times a day. You could invest in synchronization software, or you could just create a batch file that will copy the files for you. I am paranoid so I like to backup files at least once a day, this is how you setup a scheduled task to run a batch file. If you need help writing a batch file, just leave a comment.




Read the rest of this entry »