What Really Is a Remote Desktop Connection and Why Should You Use It?

Ever since it came into existence, the Windows operating system has really been through many changes and innovations. One of the best features that it has is called the Remote Desktop Connections. Now, it may be your first time of hearing about this or you may already have a little bit of idea on how it works or what it can do but just like any other tool, it is always best to know it really well first so that you will know when you can take advantage of it especially when critical situations come into play.

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So what exactly are Remote Desktop Connections? In this tutorial, we will be delving ourselves into explaining its uses in simple words so you can understand what this feature is and know some basic things about it. It really is secret tool just waiting to be discovered so get your Windows machine ready and read this article towards the bottom following any steps that we might require you to execute while we move along.

The Key to Knowing It is Understanding How it Works

In order to have a clearer understanding on what Remote Desktop Connections are, we first need to know what it does and how is it able to do it. In simple words, remote desktop connection means that there are two computers that is capable of communicating with each other. In order to achieve this, the computers need to either be connected to the same network or to the Internet.

With this feature, you can actually control and use another computer or device virtually from your computer. Once your Windows machine is remotely connected to another computer, you can access all of its resources and even control it using the mouse and the keyboard on your computer. Yes! You can even see what is happening on the screen of the computer you’re remotely connected to. Unrestricted access means you can have control over everything and it is like you are actually using the computer from the other end.

To make it even clearer, just imagine that you need to finish some office work but you are already at home and you didn’t bring your office computer with you. Using the Remote Desktop Connection feature in your personal computer, you can actually access your office computer from home and finish the work that you need to accomplish without the need of going to your office and working from there or bringing your office computer with you. How awesome is that? Not only did you save time and effort, you’ve also become even more productive than ever!

The scenario above is possible if you have set Remote Desktop Connection on both your personal/home computer and your office computer. In this case, the computer that you have at home is called the “client” because it is the one that is used to establish the connection while the machine in your office is called the “host” since it is the one that you are working on. Once a remote connection is established, you can actually just sit right in front of your home computer and work on the host computer which is in your office. It really is a very useful tool especially to users who own a number of computers situated in different locations.

What are the Requirements in Setting Up a Remote Desktop Connection?

In order to establish a Remote Desktop Connection between two computers, you will first need to make sure that they are both connected to the same network or if the host computer is located far away from you and it is impossible to have both machines connected to a common network, you will at least need to make sure that both are connected to the Internet and the IP address of the host computer needs to be set to public.

Another important condition is that both computers need to support Remote Desktop Connections out-of-the-box (being one of the features in the operating system installed on both computers), or if this is not possible, both computers need to run a remote desktop connection program/app that is specialized.

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Thankfully for Windows users, Remote Desktop Connection comes as a built-in feature in the recent Windows versions such as Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10. However, not all editions of each version support it. Remote Desktop Connection is only available in the Windows operating system editions that are listed below.

  • Windows 10 Pro and Enterprise Editions
  • Windows 8.1 Pro and Enterprise Editions
  • Windows 7 Pro and Enterprise Editions

If both of the computers that you want to connect remotely using Remote Desktop Connection runs in any of the operating systems that are listed above then you are good to go. The next steps that you will need to go through are very simple and it is explained in further detail in this tutorial.

Other Remote Desktop Connection Scenarios

While Windows is the operating system of choice for different users, businesses and companies, there are others who prefer to use other operating system platforms such as Ubuntu or OS X. If you are using any of these operating systems on your client computer, you can as well download and use the Remote Desktop Connection tool for Mac or Ubuntu or you may also try third party software that allows remote desktop connection.

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Using third party remote desktop programs is very much applicable especially if you need to connect two computers remotely but you don’t know the IP address and other information that are needed to establish remote connection using the Windows Remote Desktop Connection Software or feature. We will be discussing deeper about these scenarios in our next tutorials so don’t miss reading them.

How About Mobile Devices?

Another thing that you need to know is that Remote Desktop Connections doesn’t only involve computers. Yes! You can also use this awesome feature even on other devices such as smartphones and tablets. Others might not be surprised about this since almost everything now that are found in computers are already made into mobile versions but there’s a twist to this because the host device should always be a computer but the client can be any device. In other words, you can actually access your home or office computer from your your smartphone, tablet or a hybrid device.

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In order for this to work, you will need to install an app that would allow Remote Desktop Connection between your mobile device and your computer and we will be discussing this further in one of our future tutorials so  be sure to stay tuned in with us so you can learn how it is done!

A Very Useful Tool for Everyone!

Whether you are working as a technical support personnel, a system administrator, a busy office worker or even an ordinary user, the Remote Desktop Connection tool is really an awesome tool to have with you anywhere. It allows you access to your valuable stuff wherever you are so the next time you want to take some work with you at home or you suddenly need to copy a file from your home computer and you are located somewhere else, just get the Windows Remote Desktop Connection tool fired up and let the magic begin in an instant!