How can I improve my remote desktop connection?

Back in the day, one of the more tantalizing promises of the internet was the ability to shop favorite stores while still wearing jammies. [For those of us living in small college towns, it seems like theres no shame in wearing jammies anywhere shopping, school, out to dinner but I digress]. Were now at the point where the internet wave has also brought the ability for many folks to work a full-time, professional job while still wearing their jammies, via telecommuting.[Seen at right is the Business Bib, a suit-falsie so that jammies-wearing telecommuters can still look professional when in a videoconference.]

Many Windows users are familiar with Remote Desktop, which allows you to access your work computer, say, from your home or elsewhere. Depending on the robustness of your internet connection, however, you may find that Remote Desktop sometimes lags or provides a slow screen refresh, so that moving your mouse results in action on-screen several seconds later. In this post, Ill cover how to change a few settings in order to improve the performance of Remote Desktop so that you can be just as efficient in your jammies as you are when actually at school or work.

Four Steps to a Faster Remote Desktop Experience

For the purposes of this discussion, Ill use the term parent computer to refer to the computer thats initiating the Remote Desktop call into another computer. The computer being remoted into will be referred to as child computer.

• Cut Down On The Multi-Tasking Child Computer
  Remember that Remote Desktop has to transmit all the visual data from the child computer back to the parent computer. Anything you can do to reduce movement, scrolling, or needed screen refreshes on the child computer will probably help Remote Desktops performance.
• Change Your Connection Settings Parent Computer
  You may not have noticed this before, but in the Remote Desktops dialog box, theres a button called Options:
  
  
  Lets see how to change the options in Remote Desktop Connection to provide a better remoting experience.
1. Click Options >>.
   The Options Dialog box appears with the General tab selected:
   
   
   Were going to change settings in other tabs.
2. Click on the Display tab
   In this tab, we can change the size of the Remote Desktop window and the number of colors the child computer will display. Personally, I prefer to work in as large of a window as possible, so I dont usually change the Remote Desktop size setting.What I will do, however, is change the colors from Highest Quality [32 bit] to High Color [15 bit], as seen here:
   
   
   Choosing 15 bit color will diminish the graphic quality you see on the child computer, but unless youre using Photoshop or other graphic intensive programs on the child computer, the difference wont matter. And, the less visual data that has to be streamed back to the parent computer means a snappier remoting experience!
3. Next, click the Local Resources tab:
   
   
   Here, in the Remote computer Sound dialog box, select Do not play. This will prevent the child computer from sending back sound to the parent computer. Under Local Devices and resources, check the Clipboard checkbox. When remoting into another computer, I dont want to print or anything else like that. Occassionally, however, I will want to copy/paste from the child computer to the parent computer and vice-versa.
4. Next, click the Experience tab:
   
   
   My recommendation here is to set the connection drop-down list to Modem [28.8 Kbps]. This de-selects the Themes checkbox below the drop-down list. Windows Themes are used to style the buttons, menu bars, taskbar, and other user interface elements on the child computer. By removing Themes from our Remote Desktop connection, the child computers interface will look uglier, but well improve performance.

Thats it! From here, click the Connect button and youre on your way to a smooth Remote Desktop experience.

Heres what a Remote Desktop connection looks like with the default connection settings:

Heres what a Remote Desktop connection looks like with the connection settings as described in this post:

Not that different, eh? [The most obvious difference is in the taskbar at the bottom of the screen.] But the changed connection settings will provide a smoother, more efficient Remote Desktop experience.