You must first enable the Remote Desktop feature on your office computer so that you can control it remotely from another computer. You must be logged on as an administrator or a member of the Administrators group to enable Remote Desktop on your Windows XP Professional-based computer.

To setup your office computer to use Remote Desktop

1. Open the System folder in Control Panel. Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click the System icon.

2. On the Remote tab, select the Allow users to connect remotely to this computer check box, as shown below.

3. Ensure that you have the proper permissions to connect to your computer remotely, and click OK.

4. Leave your computer running and connected to the company network with Internet access. Lock your computer, and leave your office.

Note If you're running Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) and you enable Remote Desktop, Windows Firewall will be automatically configured to allow Remote Desktop connections to your computer. However, Remote Desktop will not work if you have Windows Firewall configured to allow no exceptions. To allow exceptions in Windows Firewall, in the control panel open the Security Center, click Windows Firewall and clear the check box next to Don't allow exceptions.