Remote Assistance vs. Remote Desktop Connection

Remote Assistance in Windows 7 uses some of the same underlying technology as Remote Desktop Connection, a program that allows you to connect to your computer from a remote location and use it as if you were sitting right in front of it. Here are some of the key differences that set these programs apart:

• In a Remote Assistance session, both users must be present at their respective computers and must agree to establish the connection. Remote Desktop Connection can be initiated from one computer without the assent of someone at the remote target computer.
• With Remote Assistance, you can connect to a computer running any edition of Windows 7. The target (host) computer for a Remote Desktop Connection session must be running the Professional, Enterprise, or Ultimate edition. (You can initiate the connection from any Windows 7 edition. You can even initiate the connection from a web browser, which is not possible with Remote Assistance.)
• Remote Assistance provides a shared view into an existing session (that is, the users at each end see the same screen and can share control), whereas Remote Desktop Connection starts a new session on the remote computer. The remote session takes over completely, and the local user loses interactive access, seeing instead a logon screen with a label indicating the user account that is logged on from a remote location.
• In a Remote Assistance session, the remote user has the same rights and privileges as the local user. With Remote Desktop Connection, remote users can do whatever their account credentials allow them to do.
• Remote Assistance connections can be established over the internet, even when each computer is behind a different router that uses NAT. With Remote Desktop Connection, the target computer must be on the same network (including a virtual private network, or VPN) and it cannot be behind a NAT router.

These two programs, of course, are intended to serve very different needs. But their similarities sometimes make it possible to use one in place of the other.