One of the few noticeable changes that SP3 does on windows XP is the upgrade of Remote Desktop Connection from version 5.2 to 6.1. If you are a network administrator you probably spend a great chunk of your time working remotely on servers using remote desktop. In this post I want to highlight some of the new features in Remote Desktop version 6. Read on.
When Microsoft released XP SP3 for beta testers last year, I was one of those that downloaded the pack using the famous hack that circulated in the blogosphere on how to download such pack through a registry hack. One of the few visual changes I noticed on windows XP using SP3 was remote desktop. But there was a small annoyance, Every time I tried to connect to a server I received an error saying that “Remote desktop could not verify the identity of the remote computer” see the image below.
This was mildly annoying for me because I use remote desktop to connect to servers all the time. I was able to disable the warning by going to the advanced tab and select from the drop down menu “connect and don’t warn me” check the image below.
So, what’s new on Remote Desktop 6.1: according to Microsoft these are the new features on remote desktop:
- Server authentication – Security measure that verifies that you are connecting to the correct remote computer or server and helps prevent you from connecting to a different computer or server than you intend to connect to.
- Resource redirection – Redirect Plug and Play devices that support redirection.
- TS Gateway servers – A gateway that enables authorized users to connect to remote computers on a corporate network from any computer by using an Internet connection with secure HTTPS protocol, thus using port 443 instead of default port 3389 for Remote Desktop Connection, allowing RDP connections without a VPN or firewall.
- Terminal Services Remote Programs – Allow client computers connect to a remote computer and use programs that are installed on it.
- Monitor spanning – Supports high-resolution displays that can be spanned across multiple monitors up to a maximum resolution of 4096 x 2048 pixels.
- Visual improvements – Supports 32-bit color and font smoothing.
There you have it. something new in windows XP SP3.
what happens if you are using terminal services and you experience congestion — performance is not acceptable. What are my options