How To Mirror Files?

Is there a way to see a live mirror image/remote access another PC on the same network (within my house). Both are WinXP's and I've successfully shared files between the 2 with Network Places, SharedDocs, etc, but how can you see Firefox, Photoshop etc?

• Answer:

  From your question I assume you are describing remote controlling another computer on your network where you see the screen of the remote computer on your computer and are able to operate it. You say you have Win XP... the version of Win XP determines how easy this will be... Win XP Pro has Remote Desktop Host and Remote built in which means you need no additional software. In that case, as long as the computer you are trying to control (the host) is running XP Pro you will just need to enable remote access under properties from My Computer and then access the computer from the other machine by accessing the Remote Desktop client program you fill find under Programs->Accessories->Communications. Often it is advisable to assign fixed IP addresses to the computers to be controlled and identify them by the ip address. Now in the case the host computer is not running XP Pro but XP Home, an easy way to get remote access is to download VNC software which is available free on the internet and install it on each machine. A Google search will provide further info and details on all of the above.