Hi, I'm using Windows XP remote desktop. Speakeasy speed test shows that the host computer (the one I'm connecting to?) has a download speed of 2700KB and upload of 370KB. The client (pc I'm connection from?) has a download speed of only 430KB and upload of 100KB. The games I'm playing on the internet work perfectly fine with my measly 430KB when I connect directly to the internet from my client, but lag a lot when I connect to the host and play from there. Shouldn't the programs run smoothly since my host is uploading the information at 370KB which is similar to the 430KB which is the speed I'm connecting with my client? I already put the color down to 256 colors and got rid of the sound and devices.

Would it help to upgrade the bandwidth of my host or client? Any other ways to make it not lag?

Also, my Internet Provider said I was getting like 6000 download and 750KB upload, but I'm only showing 2700KB and 370KB from the speakeasy test. Is that test reliable? If I have multiple comptuers plugged into that network through a router does that divide the bandwidth into the number of ports that are being used on the router?

Sorry for the rambling questions. I'm not very tech savvy. Any help would be appreciated.

Lag is a fact of life with remote desktop stuff - it's because the entire desktop has to redraw whenever you change/move something. Very resource intensive. In experiments with pcAnywhere at my wife's office - the lag is in the transmission of the redrawn screen rather than on the host PC.

And this is with 2 very good cable internet connections running (6 mbps and 3 mbps).

Speedtests are relative to the distance they are from you (and how many "legs" of the internet that they access). You'll have great download and upload speed where the cable comes out of the computer - but each step along the way puts more restrictions on how fast you can go. Generally when doing a speedtest it's best to select the site closest to you for the best results.

Windows Remote Desktop is particuarily laggy. May I suggest realVNC. Google and you will find it. It is free to use too. You have to install it on both computers and I suggest you put a password.

Thanks for the advice. I'll try realVNC out. Hopefully I will be able to install and set it up through remote desktop.