I use Microsoft Remote Desktop between Windows machines and it is very convenient to logon and see the screen of another computer. For Apple, they have something called Share Screen which is the same thing and is based on “VNC”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VNC protocol that lets you control one computer from another. But what if you want to do this between a Mac to a Windows machine. Very useful if some application only run on a PC and you don’t like the overhead of running Parallels or having to reboot with Basecamp. Just have a Windows machine somewhere and use VNC.

Here is how:

# Use an open source free VNC server and viewer like “RealVNC”:http://realvnc.com. They have paid version, but the free one works for Windows and includes a client and a server.
# On the “Mac”:http://the.taoofmac.com/space/VNC, there is already a VNC server built in. Go to System Preferences/Sharing and turn on Screen Sharing. It nicely gives you the IP address you use if you have Windows, otherwise if you are controlling this computer from another Mac, you can just see it as a button when you go to the sharing section of finder.
# You still need a Mac client to complete the picture, so you can control a PC. And Tao of Mac recommends “JollysFastVNC”:http://the.taoofmac.com/space/apps/JollysFastVNC although “Chicken of the VNC”:http://sourceforge.net/projects/cotvnc/ comes up first in google:”mac vnc client”

The Tao of Mac – Virtual Network Computing (VNC)

Mac OS X includes a VNC server (check the Sharing preference pane, it’s part of Apple Remote Desktop).