Apple Remote Desktop over Separate Remote Wireless Networks

[ShellyFM]

I have just recently switched from windows to mac. During my transition, I convinced my mother to get a MacBook to replace her PC notebook. She's not good with computers and often gets very frustrated with them. I thought the simple interface of the Mac would help. It has seemed to be a good transition, but as always, she gets stuck and needs help. She lives 85 miles away. So, I was considering getting the Apple Remote Desktop (with my student discount) so I could help her when she gets upset with things.

She accesses the internet at her house via a wireless Linksys router. I access the internet via an Apple Airport Express as my router.

I was told by a rep at the Apple store that Apple Remote Desktop doesn't work well over two separate wireless networks and that my Mom would have to hardwire into the ethernet port for me to connect to her.

This just seemed odd to me. Is this true? Has anyone configured Apple Remote Desktop to do what I would like it to?

Hopefully I've explained this situation well enough. If not, feel free to ask me to clarify anything.

Thanks!

-Shelly

P.S. I'm selling a brand new black 4GB iPod Nano on eBay for $179 in case anyone is interested (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:US:31&item=170014767734).

 

[ecksmen]

I use VNC to control all the pc's in the house, and ones that i've built.

One thing, that will need some consideration is the IP address. Not used apple remote desktop (or whatever it's called), but generally you need the IP address of the computer you're trying to connect to.

Unless she's paying for a static IP, then it'll change. This can make remote desktopping a bastard, esp if they're having issues.

My router allows for dyndns.org updates, every time my ip get's changed, dyndns.org updates it's servers and always resolves back to my machine, what that means is, as long as I know my url from dyndns, I can connect to the machine as long as its working enough to provide internet access.

 

[ShellyFM]

The dynamic ip address seems to be the root of the problem. Unfortunately, when I visited my family this weekend, I was unable to look into any of the VNC solutions since my mother's MacBook needed to get shipped to Apple for repairs (logic board failure).

Hopefully, she'll have it back soon, and I'll review the options the next time I visit.

Do you know how secure it is to go with one of the companies that have you install a program on the computer that reports back the ip address to its servers? This just sounds like it has a huge potential for exploitation.