I am a new user here at CompuForums and posted the following message last night in the "Lounge" forum. I received a very nice welcome and a good piece of advice telling me that I should post a thread in the "General Software" forum which may result in a better response than I might receive in the Lounge. My message is self explanatory and I'm hoping there is someone here that can help.
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I'm new to CompuForums and joined to help advance my knowledge and enjoyment of computing. I also have a 5 year old grandson who is becoming quite the gamer. He loves to sit with my laptop and access his bookmarked sites of free online games where he gets totally engrossed.

I'd like to play a little trick on him if its possible and if anyone is willing to advise me on just how to do it. I have a desk top computer where my wife and I do most of our emailing and document/spreadsheet processing, banking, etc. We also have a laptop which is where we do most of our web surfing and stumbling(upon) around the internet. It is also the machine of choice for my grandson. Both machines share a wireless DSL connection.

I'd love to play a joke on my grandson while he's at the laptop. What I'd like to do is actually take control of the laptop from my desk top model which is in another room while he is using the lap top. I'd like to over ride whatever he's doing and type nefarious messages to him which will totally blow his mind. I can hardly keep from giggling at the thought.

Is there anyone out there that can help me with my diabolical plan? Is it even possible? I'm sure my grandson will never forgive you for helping, but it would be so funny!

Wes Terry[/I]
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One easy way would be to setup a VNC server on the target machine and a VNC viewer on the machine you will be doing the trick from.

Visit Ultra VNC : Remote Support Software, Remote Support tool, Remote Desktop Control, Remote Access Software, PC Remote Control and download the full package on the target machine. When installing it you will have the option to install the server only and/or all components.

Start the server on the target machine, and go into the properties and setup a password (Highly reccomended). Note, the server will not startup on Windows startup. If you want to get it to startup on Windows startup, simply move the server exe to the startup folder situated in the start menu. In the server properties you can also hide the tray bar icon if you want to.

On the machine you will be doing the pranking from, you can simply download the viewer only. This is just a standalone app, no installing needed. Run it and enter the IP adress of the target machine (You will find this if you mouseover the server icon on the target machine, or go to start > run > cmd > ipconfig). The IP will be a 192.168.x.x as your doing it locally. Enter the password that you set and away you go, your remoting

Please test it first as im not sure if you need to open the port for local VNC'ing. If it doesnt connect, you will more than likely need to open the port on your router. The default port for this is 5900, your routers IP adress us nire than likely 192.168.2.1 . If you need help with opening the port please see this website ; PortForward.com - Free Help Setting up Your Router or Firewall

Hope I have helped you.

Let me know how you get on please.

thanks a bunch. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Wes

Agreed, VNC is the best way to go.

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Beat Me, Whip Me, Make Me Use Windows!!

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SAVE THE SMOKE !!

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Old PC:
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Also, teamviewer can be used, but that would require ur grandson to approve ur incoming request to fiddle up his desktop google for "teamviewer"