The company that cleaned our computers recommended eMachines as replacements for some of those that were written off. Needless to say, that got changed very quickly.

XP Remote Assistance
 

XP does have Terminal Services and Remote Desktop built in.

It doesn't have PCAnywhere's file transfer, but it is a LOT faster than it over a modem. Their RDP protocol is pretty good, so much so that there's an RDP client for <insert free UNIX clone here>/X.

You have to be dialed into the Net, and send a Remote Assistance Request to the user to get them connected to you.

They can then control your desktop, and do the same thing as PCAnywhere.

It's a good thing they built this in, and that their security policies allow you to turn it off :). Of course Oracle won't work with it.

Mitch

My father's system is a 550 Mhz K62, 128 Meg, 3 Gig, CD system. It's got a basic install of 98 on the C: drive, and all the data and a Ghost image of the C: drive exists on the D: drive. If my Dad ever blows it to hell - and I don't think he will, he's fairly savvy - I just show up with the Ghost bootdisk and restore the image to C:. That's my tech support.

As long as he can use the trip planner software and check Juno for his buddies' nudie-girl emails, he's happy.

I like the used i/eMac or PC from Compgeeks.com idea. When my uncle's ready for one, I'm going the Compgeeks.com route, unless he wants a warranty, in which case I don't support it.