Whether you're missing a crucial file at work or home, or you just need to tweak one little setting to get Mom's email working again, having remote control of another desktop can be seriously handy. But not everybody can walk the less-tech-inclined through installing a VNC server and opening up their router ports, or have the time to create their own SingleClick tech support tool (cool as it may be). Today, we're looking at the best solutions for getting into a computer remotely, whether you're helping out Uncle Bif, grabbing files from home, or controlling your media server from the lounger. Photo by miguelb.

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In response to our recent post on retrieving files on your Mac via email, Lifehacker reader and blogger Shantanu Goel built a Microsoft Outlook macro to perform the same function for the Windows crowd. Like the original AppleScript, Shantanu's macro requires a "magic word" in the subject of the email to trigger the macro; then you need to know the full path to the file you want to retrieve. If you're not that familiar with your filesystem, it's probably not the solution for you. If you are familiar with the paths to your important files, though, this macro offers a great way to retrieve the file you forgot, and you can retrieve it anywhere you have email access.

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The Murphy Mac weblog steps through how to retrieve any file on your Mac using a simple AppleScript in conjunction with Mail.app. When you've finished configuring the script, you can send an email to your home computer with a keyword subject and the full path to the file you forgot—say your homework or that big Keynote presentation—and the script will automatically email the file to you. Of course there are tonnes of other ways you could go about accessing your home files remotely, but Murphy Mac's slick solution is a good option to add to the list.

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