Various Problems

[beforeverlost]

I actually have quite a few issues I've been trying to remedy but haven't been able to. First, some background information.

We've got.. 5 computers up and running currently in this house. None of them really new or spectacular.

There's an old IBM Aptiva approx. 330Mhz, 256 ram.. running Windows XP Professional.

A Compaq Presario, 1.2Ghz, 256 ram.. running windows XP Pro..

A laptop of some sort (we inherited it.. I haven't been able to mess with it much), 1.5Ghz, 224 ram. running windows XP Home

A pretty much stock E-machines system (not sure of the speed/ram) Win XP Home

And a pretty much stock HP something-or-another.. (also inherited, haven't messed with Win XP Pro

Problem Number One..

All of these computers are running through a Linksys Wireless G router, either wirelessly or through the ethernet ports in the back of the router. I've tried on various occasions to network the computers by running the windows networking wizard, creating the netsetup disk, and running it on the other computers.. and for the life of me, they cannot seem to find each other in the network. It's set up exactly the way it's said i should have them set up, but to no avail. If anyone has any tips on how to attempt to remedy this.. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Problem Number Two..

I've been messing around with the Remote Desktop Connection thing that XP allows you to do, and I've had some fun with it.. but I was wondering if there were any way to log into a computer remotely without forcing whoever is logged in at the time to log out. Whether it be into the account they're currently logged in to, or another user account. (Though being able to see what they're doing exactly would be kinda nifty.. I'd like to know how to do that too.) I really like the remote desktop connection for being able to log into my home computer at work, but it's annoying if you're trying to log into a computer that someone's already on.. and forcing them to log out.. then they force you to log out.. ad nauseum.. Again.. any suggestions are appreciated.

If anyone would like exact specs on the computers, just tell me what you want and i'll reply back with it.. i'm not really sure what's relevent to the problems or not.

[Yong Chee Wai]

For problem 1, you may want to start by looking at any firewall on your machines, be it the XP SP2 firewall or your antivirus programs.

For problem 2, if you are using the same account to login, I am not sure if there is a way to RDP without logging out another user. Perhaps you can consider using Remote Assistance.

[beforeverlost]

For problem 2, if you are using the same account to login, I am not sure if there is a way to RDP without logging out another user. Perhaps you can consider using Remote Assistance.

Even when i try to log into a different user account on the same computer, it forces whoever is logged in to the computer locally at the time to log out. And when they log in locally, it forces the remote connection to close.

[Idontwantspam]

for #1, make sure they all have an IP address. If the router doesn't have a DHCP router built in, then you need to either get a server set up with DHCP, or else assign IP addresses manually to each computer. If you don't know how, I can tell you.

[cluberti]

Problem Number Two..

I've been messing around with the Remote Desktop Connection thing that XP allows you to do, and I've had some fun with it.. but I was wondering if there were any way to log into a computer remotely without forcing whoever is logged in at the time to log out. Whether it be into the account they're currently logged in to, or another user account. (Though being able to see what they're doing exactly would be kinda nifty.. I'd like to know how to do that too.) I really like the remote desktop connection for being able to log into my home computer at work, but it's annoying if you're trying to log into a computer that someone's already on.. and forcing them to log out.. then they force you to log out.. ad nauseum.. Again.. any suggestions are appreciated.

XP only allows one interactive logon at a time, unline Server 2003, and that one logon includes RDP connections (not remote assistance, but actual RDP inbound connections). If you try to connect via RDP to a computer someone is logged onto, one of you will have to be locked out to meet the requirement of only one interactive logon at a time.

There are likely ways around this which skirt the EULA, but I won't post links to them here.