More than a few commenters had questions about the Gbridge tool for Windows we featured last week, which works on top of your Google account to provide file sharing and remote desktop capabilities. Why does it bother using Google accounts? Is it any better or different than LogMeIn or Techinline? Is it secure? We spent some time checking out Gbridge, and came away impressed with its ease of use and nifty features, along with a few answers to your questions and screenshots.

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iPhone/iPod touch only: Mocha VNC Lite, the latest free utility added to the iTunes App Store, is one of those great programs that jailbreak enthusiasts probably thought would never appear in official form. Having arrived, however, it's a simple, easy to use tool for remote-controlling a Windows, Mac, or Linux system from your palm, with full keyboard access, double-click abilities, and support for 32-bit colours. You can flip your phone to landscape for widescreen desktops, and zoom in and scroll just like you would with a Safari web page. The only apparent restrictions on this "Lite" version are a lack of support for right clicks, a QWERTY-only keyboard, and no macros, but for controlling your media centre or desktop from another room, Mocha should work just fine. Mocha VNC Lite is a free download for 2.0 iPhones and iPod touches only.

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When Leopard was released, one of the most enticing new features was Back to My Mac, a tool that made it possible to access your home computer remotely—including remote control of your desktop and access to your files—no matter where you are. The catch: It requires a $100 yearly subscription to the lackluster .Mac service. Right now I'm working from my laptop in Austin, and I've got the same full access to my home PC in Los Angeles as Back to My Mac offers, but I didn't spend a dime on .Mac to get it. That's because all of the tools you need to roll your own Back to My Mac are already built into Leopard for free out of the box—you just need to know how to access them.

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Like a famed race horse or a classic book, you don't just throw away a laptop because it's banged up a little. Even if it seems outdated and underpowered, most any laptop is still small, quiet, and relatively low on power consumption, making it a seriously valuable spare to keep handy—even without a working screen. With some free software, a little know-how and some creative thinking about your home network, nearly any old laptop can find its second wind, and today I'll run through some of the best ways to get it there.Photo by daveynin.

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Macworld has discovered that there's a lot more functionality hidden in Leopard's new Screen Sharing application (yes, it's actually just a normal application and not some obscure service), and unlocking it is just a matter of a couple of simple Terminal commands. First, you'll want to find the Screen Sharing app in /System/Library/CoreServices and drag it into your Dock or copy it to your Applications folder for easier access. Once you do that, fire up Terminal and enter the following (one-line) command, which will provide easy-to-read shortcuts for connecting to any local computer:

defaults write com.apple.ScreenSharing ShowBonjourBrowser_Debug 1

Now run the Screen Sharing app and you should see an interface similar to what you see in the screenshot above. But that's not all. The next Terminal tweak adds toolbar buttons to the Screen Sharing window to control the quality of your session, window control, and a few other useful tweaks.

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Tech site the How-To Geek runs down how to remote control a PC using previously posted CrossLoop, free Windows software that makes VNC dead easy. Like Leopard Screen Sharing, CrossLoop puts a friendly front-end on VNC—as well as an encrypted connection between PC's—for easy remote computing. With CrossLoop there has to be someone on the other end to accept the connection, so it's best for tech support (versus controlling a headless PC, for example.) For more on getting your hands dirty with VNC, see how to remote control your home Mac or PC with VNC.

Mac OS 10.5 only: With VNC built right into Leopard, you can remote control your Mac from any other Mac via iChat or the Screen Sharing client—OR any PC using the right VNC client. Apple doesn't advertise this, but since Screen Sharing is just regular old VNC (albeit with a much more grokable name), our favourite Windows VNC client, TightVNC, works with it just dandy—with one small catch.

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Linux only: The Ubuntu Unleashed blog has a great tutorial on remote controlling your Linux system—even through a Java-enabled browser. Here's the whole deal:

1. Install packages. Code: sudo apt-get install x11vnc vnc-java
2. Set up a password for clients. Code: x11vnc -storepasswd
3. Open up ports 5800 and 5900 on your firewall
4. Run the terminal command: x11vnc -forever -usepw -httpdir /usr/share/vnc-java/ -httpport 5800 and add it for auto-starting in future sessions

That third step isn't quite so simple, but luckily we've covered that ground before. The same warnings and disclaimers about running a VNC server in that link above apply here. While the guide and code are written from an Ubuntu users' perspective, the packages and commands, possibly with a little tweaking, should be available in most distributions. Windows and Mac users can get help setting up their own VNC connections through this guide.