Remote Desktop software

I'm looking for some ideas on remote desktop software. Symantec's 'PC Anywhere' is well known, but is it worth paying up to $150 for? I'm pretty sure there's got to be some free remote desktop apps out there, or some cheaper ones anyway. I found a thread here at Major Geeks on the topic, but it didn't really go anywhere. And how does it work? Lets say I live in Las Vegas, and I go to Chicago on business. Lets say once I'm in Chicago I realize that a very important Excel sheet is on my home PC and I forgot to copy it to my laptop. Assuming that I have remote desktop apps on both the home PC and the laptop, and assuming the home PC is powered up and hooked into my broadband connection, what is the general procedure to obtain the fictional Excel sheet?
-OR-
I'm still in Chicago and my fictional non-existant kids have somehow royally messed up the video settings on the home PC to the point where my wife can't use the PC with her digital photos. She isn't all that savvy with this type of situation. Could I fix the settings remotely?

Any info will be appreciated. Thanks.

 

A lot of people like this:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/UltrVNC_d4143.html

Some others have rated this one highly:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/CrossLoop_d5800.html

I've had friends use the following:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/TeamViewer_d5911.html

I've used both UltraVNC and PCAnywhere. And they are both okay. Don't really like the user interface for UltraVNC compared to PCAnywhere, but it gets the job done.

At a previous company we used Proxy by Funk Software, which I believe is now:
http://www.proxynetworks.com/

 

Cool! :cool Thanks for the links, I'll be sure to give 'em all a good look. Anyone else have some suggestions?

 

PC Anywhere is nice, it has a lot of options as far as connection types. But you need to install the program on the clients & server. I think you can run a webserver and use your browser to connect. I think the actual interface is a little confusing.

Remotely Anywhere: http://www.remotelyanywhere.com/ has a web interface so you can connect via the browser very simple to use.

Any of the VNC flavors. Very easy to use & FREE Has a host & client app. The client is small and can be carried on a USB key. Lightweight and fast (IMHO) compared to PC Anywhere.

The others I have used are all enterprise: LanDesk & Unicenter Remote...

 

Thanks foogoo.... great info.... it looks like VNC is going to be the way to go here.