Remote Desktop into a non-technical family member's PC

Question

My parents use several PCs (desktops/laptops running Windows 7) in the house. They are not tech-savvy. I'm the administrator on their PCs, and they are standard users. I do maintenance every so often, such as run Windows Update and update various programs when I am at home.

I will be moving out of the house soon and would like to be able to remote-desktop into their PCs from outside the home network, from my Mac (or even Windows VM via Parallels).

How can I do so with the following restrictions:

1. The WAN IP address is dynamic.
2. The members of the household do not need to figure out any IP address whatsoever. All they need to know how to do, is ensure that the PCs/router/cable-modem are all turned on.
3. It should be a secure connection.
4. The members of the household do not need to be present in front of the PC for me to remote into it.

What options are there for this? How can I set this up?

Answer 1

The WAN IP address is dynamic.

Use a dynamic DNS (DDNS) service like Dyn or No-IP. By installing a client or configuring a DDNS-enabled modem/router, the WAN IP can be periodically updated to a domain name.

The members of the household do not need to figure out any IP address whatsoever. All they need to know how to do, is ensure that the PCs/router/cable-modem are all turned on.

Solved with DDNS.

It should be a secure connection.

Other than Microsoft's own Remote Desktop Connection, TeamViewer is a popular solution for screen-sharing and remote desktop. It uses AES256 for encryption and RSA private/public key exchange. More here. Additionally, there is no need for DDNS because IDs are used to initiate sessions. Extracted from the TeamViewer manual [PDF], these are the steps for remote support.

There are also various VNC solutions, but VNC is not a secure protocol by itself, and needs to be paired with SSH or VPN for additional security.

The members of the household do not need to be present in front of the PC for me to remote into it.

For TeamViewer, you will have to do some initial configurations for unattended access. After that, they just need to power the computers on :)