Originally posted by MacNewb:
I need to set her up so she can connect remotely to a Server 2k3 machine at her office. I know that there is a Remote Desktop Connection client for OS X, but she needs to be able to send files which are on occasion fairly large, to and from the server remotely. I cant find any documentation that states wether or not you can do this from within the Remote Desktop Connection client. Is this possible?
Here's the remote desktop client site:
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/otherpr...edesktopclient
Even if that isn't able to transfer files between a mac and the server of which it is a client, you ought to be able to do this with just the finder or some other file transfer utility - (since you'll have to dial in or otherwise connect to the server's network in the first place).
Also, when she is at her office she needs to be able to access local shared drives/peripherals on Win2k/XP workstations and and the server which is running Server 2k3. I know about Mac OS X Panther, but she runs a non-profit organization which is just starting up, so funds are obviously very limited. Are there any third party apps that you guys can recommend? Keep in mind that she needs to access the Windows based machines, but the Windows based machines do not need to access her Mac.
Um - Mac OS X Panther is just the name of the system (like saying Win2k3) - Panther = 10.3. You don't have to pay anything more to use it if that's the system she's running. Earlier versions of OS X (10.2 Jaguar, 10.1 Puma) also have the ability to network with Windows machines, though they are not as good at it as 10.3 is. Depending on what you want to do, they may be enough.
If you do need more windows interfacing power than OS X provides natively, you can look into products like "Dave" which provide better interoperability.
The last question is probably a fairly simple one. Whenever she goes to an unfamiliar wireless network, her Airport card can never seem to detect a signal. Is there a way to set up her Airport card so it automatically searches for new wireless networks or does she have to manually add a new network every time she needs to access an unfamiliar network? Keep in mind the solution needs to be as hassle-free as possible because she knows less about Macs than I do.
There's no way to make it *join* unknown networks automatically - BUT, it does *detect* them automatically by default. The best way to set things up for her is to put Airport status in the menu bar (if it's not there already, you can turn it on by checking the box in the "internet Connect" application, or in the "Network" system preferences). She can monitor the strength of the airport signal by looking at this indicator, and if she clicks on it, she can see what other airport networks are available and choose to join them (it will prompt her to enter a password if necessary to join the network).
If the network she's supposed to join however, is one that doesn't broadcast it's name, she'll either have to know its name (and type it in using the connect to "Other..." command in the airport menu) or use a program like iStumbler to discover its name/join the network - but this shouldn't be an issue in most circumstances.
Best of luck!
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