Configuring Performance Options In Microsoft Windows XP

When you first use Remote Desktop Connection, you might notice that the remote desktop doesn’t display a background. Disabling the background is one of several settings you can make that affect the speed of your remote session. How you set these options depends in large measure on the speed of the connection between the two computers. If you’re using a dial-up connection, you should disable as many features as possible to reduce the amount of information that must be transmitted across the wire. On the other hand, if you’re connecting to another desktop on your local area network, you might as well enable all features to enjoy the full experience of working at the remote computer.

The performance-related options are on the Experience tab of the Remote Desktop Connection dialog box, shown in Figure. To quickly select an appropriate set of options, select the speed of your connection from the list box.

Figure. Remote Desktop Connection has a default collection of settings for each connection speed.

Use those settings or select your own options. The last two options on the Experience tab are not as comprehensible as the others:

● Themes: Clearing the Themes check box disables the Windows XP visual styles, causing everything to display using the Windows Classic visual style—the one used in earlier versions of Windows.

● Bitmap Caching: Unlike the other options on the Experience tab, you get the fastest performance if you select (not clear) Bitmap Caching. Bitmap caching can speed up your connection by storing frequently used images on a local drive.