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What happens, then, if your connection is hijacked or if your machine is otherwise infiltrated or compromised? If your RDP offers anything less than top-of-the-line encryption, this can be easy to do – and even then, the host machine won’t be 100% protected. Unless your sysadmin implements certain restriction, you can use the host machine as if you were its admin.
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Another drawback to RDP is that it can potentially render the host machine highly vulnerable. After all, you’re sending more than just files – you’re sending mouse movements, app commands, and tons of other information back and forth between your device and the host. Unless you’re using a very localized RDP (like connecting to a powerful central computer elsewhere in the same building), the connection is likely to be frustratingly slow. Remote Desktop speed and security is in favor of the former. You can be using a laptop and still command the power of a supercomputer. If there’s special software that you can only have on the host machine or if the host machine is more capable of performing computationally difficult tasks like detailed renders, then RDP can be a powerful tool. The advantage of RDP over a VPN is that all of the power of the remote host machine is at your disposal. You can use the files, programs, and computing power on the host computer from a client computer that’s potentially thousands of miles away.
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Have you ever watched a live stream or a video where someone broadcasts what they’re doing on their screen? With an RDP, the computer broadcasts its screen to you and allows you to control it. An RDP works by creating a virtual connection between you and a remote computer.
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