"One of the annoying facts of life for a Linux user is that one's immediate circle of family and friends know that you are the most knowledgeable computer user they know and will frequently get volunteered to get them out of the trouble they got themselves into with their Windows environment. Having a way to remote-control their computers can save you a lot of drive time.
"What is RDP?
RDP is a remote access protocol for PCs developed by MS as an addition to an ITU standard, RDP's purpose is similar to the popular Open Source VNC protocol.
"Why rdp instead of the better known vnc? The rdp protocol is encrypted by default - no activation of a second program like stunnel to provide ssh is necessary. While rdp is a microsoft extension of an ITU standard, the Linux Open Source rdesktop client is available to work with it. It also works with Virtualbox. An rdp server is also built into or available for all Windows versions from Windows 2000 onward."
