How To Control Someone Else's Computer

Have you ever had this experience? Someone connects a mouse to your computer and then moves the cursor around the screen, just to mess with you. One of my goal this week was studying various forms of remotely accessing a computer. Simply put, one computer controls another computer from a different location. On PCs and Macs, typing in "Remote Desktop Connection" in Spotlight or some type of computer search box will allow you to do this. Though if it were as simple as it sounds, I wouldn't be writing a blog post about it. I hope by the end of this post you will learn some form of remote access. I spent about 3-4 hours in front of my PC and my Dad's MacBook trying to make it work. Your computer needs to allow remote access. That is the first setting that needs to be changed. If you are on a PC, go to Control Panel --> System and Security --> System --> Remote settings. You should see this: 

Next, open "Remote Desktop Connection." After opening "Remote Desktop Connection," it will ask for the computer's name you are trying to access. Upon clicking "Connect," hold your breath and find a four leaf clover, otherwise you'll happen upon this: 

I didn't put much thought into this because I was trying to connect a PC to a Mac, not a PC to a PC. 

I continued to download other programs which were also unsuccessful. Around the half way point, Google came to the rescue and introduced Chrome Remote Desktop. 

This is simple to use, but it requires another user to be on the other side. You must exchanges codes to access the other's computer. I was able to control the Macbook from a different network. This is a handy, and something I will be using when my mother calls from the other side of the house asking how to fix her website. 

At that point, I was 2 hours in and still unsuccessful. After consulting Google and some forums, I found VNC Viewer. 

With this program, I was able to connect remotely from my PC to my Dad's MacBook without having to exchange codes (there was a point that required a password), but it said there was not an encrypted connection. I don't know whether that will be a problem in terms of third party interception. Additionally, I was on the same network. 

I'm on my way to learning the art of remote accessing! I hope that this post allows you to be too.

A Test of Patience but a Rather Exciting Feat

Codes are ubiquitous in our society. We see fast paced action films trying to defuse a bomb or hack into a computer system before some catastrophic event occurs. We see error pages on our web browsers filled with random sequences of letters and numbers. It's a different language. My first week consisted of "learning to program." Now, I put this in quotations because people devote their lives to doing this. One week is certainly not enough time to fully comprehend the ins and outs of programming. My first week was attempting to learning the basics of C programming.

I started off with explanations of how to read code. The above #include function has directions telling the compiler, which converts code into something that the computer can understand, to put code from the header <stdio.h> into our program before continuing. In this case, the compiler changes the code into a program. The next line says that the function main returns an integer. After understanding the basic written code, the next step was to introduce inputs and outputs. In the case above, the printf is what the user will see, and the scanf reads the input. %d tells the scanf to read the input as an integer. This is what the program will look like executed:

At this point, my learning has consisted of the above simple codes, if statements, loops, switch case and pointers. I've used several different sources, but Cprogramming.com has been my most helpful resource.

Teaching myself how to program, with the help of Mr. B answering some frantic emails, has been a fulfilling task. There were several times when I thought I understood something and then realized I had no idea what I was try to write. The fulfillment and excitement comes when even the simplest of programs works. I am certainly not at the point where I can be fully confident in what I am doing, but I know that I am on the right track.   

What is This All About?

As my title suggests, this will be a short summary about what this blog is all about. The basis of The Intriguing Connection is to find a link between bionics and bacteria. I first became interested in bionics after watching Hugh Herr's TED talk "The new bionics that let us run, climb and dance." It was inspiring to see just how technology changes the human experience and how each intricate movement is critical to the balance and poise of the user. Hugh Herr has an incredible life story which propelled me to reading his biography Second Ascent.   

I'm Helena Hurbon, a senior at BASIS Tucson North utilizing my third trimester to study relationships between bionics and bacteria. I am so blessed to have the opportunity to explore my interests at the University of Arizona engineering department. Ultimately, I hope to relate my research at the U of A to my overall goal of studying how bacterial growth could potentially affect prosthetic usage. Unfortunately, my research is to be kept confidentially until research is publishable, therefore, I will not be blogging about my day-to-day internship tasks. My blog will consist mainly of my independent research revelations and current progress I am making on my goal. I am so excited to share the work I will be doing, so stay tuned as I uncover The Intriguing Connection.