Need some help with Remote Desktop in XP

[Taz]

I've got Remote Desktop working between my laptop and my dad's computer. He's learning about Windows XP and PC's in general and there are times when I want to take control of his computer and set something up or fix something.

Both my laptop and his desktop are running Windows XP Professional and I can log on to his machine. The problem is that it logs him out so he cannot see the steps I am taking to fix a problem or set something up for him. Is there a way to keep his session active to that I have control of the mouse and he can see exactly what I am doing?

I can then disconnect the Remot Desktop connection and he can continue working without having to log on again. I know you can do this with products like pcAnywhere but I was hoping I could do this using the tools built into XP Pro.

[Ant]

As far as I'm aware, there's no option to stop it from logging out the other user...

I think using a third party tool is going to be what you want...

Ant

[Allen]

Have you looked into VNC? It's free and should do the trick, though I don't know how easy/difficult it is to setup.

http://www.realvnc.com/

[directhex]

vnc is exactly the tool for the task.

[Jonny M]

If you're on MSN he can invite you to provide remote assistance.

[Taz]

Thanks for the info, guys. I'll try VNC over the weekend. I'll also try the MSN option as I think i've used that once a while ago on another machine.

[Paul Adams]

If he goes to Help & Support and sends a request for Remote Assistance (via Messenger, email, file copy, whatever) then you process it, I believe he gets a prompt that you wish to control his session and it won't log him out.

[Twigman]

remote assistance is pretty good actually.

[Taz]

If he goes to Help & Support and sends a request for Remote Assistance (via Messenger, email, file copy, whatever) then you process it, I believe he gets a prompt that you wish to control his session and it won't log him out.

Thanks for this suggestion as well. Sounds like exactly what I need.