Is there some way that I can use remote desktop without it locking the user's screen? As if i'm trying to troubleshoot a problem over the network i want them to be able to see what i'm doing to their machine so they can learn, but I can't figure out how to do it. I don't need it to have dual keyboard and mouse input, I just need the monitor on their end to be enabled as well as mine. Possibly a third-party program is available for this?

try RealVNC, it's free and works like a charm

Yes, you can try realvnc or any of it's derivative.

http://www.realvnc.com/
http://www.tightvnc.com/
http://www.uvnc.com/

All are as good, and comes with their own customize feature. You can try out one by one or read their webpage to see which one suites you better. Some also allows you to remote from browser, like tightvnc.

For commercial software, i would recommend RemotelyAnywhere
http://www.remotelyanywhere.com/products/w...ion_edition.asp

If you need to do frequent remote control and also monitor and do file transfer, RA is definitely the right tools. I've been using it for my customers, so it can take full control of their pc/server from my desk. It works via browser. So I can be on-call anywhere, can even work in a cybercafe.

For less critical client, i use filezilla ftp server + realvnc. That should be enough to do the job.

I would actually recommend VNC over any commercial solutions out there. Its free and open source, did I mention it is free? I use tightVNC on all of the computers in my LAN.

UltraVNC has an excellent and easy server control panel, password, web java client and a lot more.

well... win xp comes with an remote control option... if u want to use this... i dont know how is it.. i never used...
if u want another option u can try the UltraVNC... some friends tested it and aproved... again i will say.. i never used this too.. so..

You want to use remote assistance, not remote desktop. Just get the 2 of you onto msn messenger and have your friend send you a remote assistance invitation...he'll be able to see what you're doing and interact with it.

VNC is actually a great program for most remote access issues. The ports have to be forwarded properly though if you are using a router. I also recommend using Symantec's PCAnywhere, but that's a paid program.

The best among them all is LogMeIn. You can get it at:

https://secure.logmein.com/home.asp

They have a free version and paid version. The free version does everything that I want already, so there's no need to go pro on this one

Most of us should be using a router my now, since the wide spread of broadband. Remote access through a dial up is a painful process.

Anyway, VNC does allow you to connect the other way around. Normally, the client(the side to remote control) connects to the server(the side being remotely controlled). You can also set your client to listen, and have the server connect to you. That way, you can avoid the problem of teaching the server side user how to port forward, which is really troublesome if the user is a less technical guy, and with so many brand of router around, it's really a tough job. Even if they manage to port forward, any other problem that happen to the connection, they might not be able to troubleshoot and fix. I've done that many times, and really piss me off. Until i realized that the client can actually listen for the server.

I even recompile my copy of tightVNC to use a diff port number to avoid attacks. The default port number is fixed.

RealVNC solved my problem. though I'm still finding out how it works, so far it's been what I need.
I also have logmein accounts set up, but over the slow connection here it doesn't quite work so well. even though both my computers are in the same building and connected via lan, the logmein connection seems to go out through the internet connection and back in, which isn't a useful thing due to low quality of bandwidth here.