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With Remote Desktop, you can connect to your Windows XP machine from anywhere on your Local Area Network (LAN). You can even set it up so that you can connect to the machine over the Internet from anywhere in the world. Prior to Windows XP, if you wanted this kind functionality, you had to do some special configuring using Windows Terminal Services. In photo gallery, Stephen Warren walks you through configuring the Remote Desktop Web Connection and using Internet Explorer as a remote client to connect to your XP machine.

If you work with virtual machines on a daily basis, you are quite familiar with the amount of space virtual disks consume. There is a product available today that shrinks virtual disks to more manageable levels; it is a great piece of software called VM Optimizer. This photo gallery shows you how this software works in action.

Nslookup is a DNS lookup and troubleshooting command-line tool included with Windows 2000 and Windows XP. In this The Right Tool for the Job article, Joshua Hoskins explains how to troubleshoot a variety of DNS problems with this extremely useful yet often overlooked tool. View a demonstration of the nslookup tool in this screenshot gallery.

Maintaining pace with break/fix projects, Microsoft updates and other routine responsibilities doesn’t leave network administrators much time to prevent intrusions, battle spyware, fight viruses and protect against other network threats. Fortunately, organizations such as Metavize are creating hardware appliances organizations can deploy that simplify the process. The Metavize EdgeGuard Gateway Security Platform provides a simple solution to the complex challenge of network protection. The 1U rack-mountable appliance provides a buffer between the public Internet and your organization’s systems. Configuration is fairly straightforward. A wide range of protective modules – from antivirus to rogue protocol control – are available. The Gateway Security Platform itself retails for $1,495. The price includes the Clam AntiVirus Scanner, OpenVPN, EdgeReport, Router, Attack Shield and Firewall modules. Additional appliances (programs) are available a la carte and can be purchased at any time. Pricing varies, from PhishNet for $25 a month to Web Content Control for $95 a month. Here’s how it looks and works.

Photos from the Second Annual BlogHer Conference in San Jose, California.

Computer Associates’ Internet Security Suite (ISS) collects four Internet security applications into a single, affordable suite. For approximately $40, small businesses receive the benefit of antivirus, antispam, antispyware and firewall programs. Boasting simple setup and effective protection, there’s a price to be paid when loading CA’s ISS. Plan on spending some time configuring its firewall application, and, as with many other Internet protection programs, expect slightly slower Web response times as the software works to protect systems from unwanted and potentially malicious e-mail and other infected programs.

With an aging homebrew helpdesk system increasingly experiencing speed and usability issues, database admins on a budget ($0) find a simple, affordable, and effective solution by using Microsoft Data Transformation Services (DTS) to migrate the backend Access database to Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE). This gallery shows you the migration process.