If  you want to access your windows home computer when you are away from home, then there is no better way than with Remote Desktop.  There is a problem, if you are using a home edition of XP or Vista then the server is not installed and is not available for you.  The RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) server is only available on XP Professional, XP Media Center, Vista Business, and Vista Ultimate.  If you want to remote control your windows home edition computer then you will need to use an alternate product, like RealVNC (more soon).  You CAN however download the viewer software for the home editions for XP and I believe it’s already installed for Vista.  XP also gives you the chance to host RDP so it is accessible by web-browser, this requires a little know-how and to have IIS (Internet Information Services) up and running on your box.  I’m not running a Vista box right now, but in XP RDP is defaulted to off.  To turn it on you: 

1. Right-click on the My Computer Icon 
2. Select Properties
3. Click the Remote Tab
4. Check the “Allow users …” box
5. Add any users you want, although your main Admin account will already have access.

To access your local computer from the outside world you will need to know your IP address or setup a DynDNS account and will need to forward port 3389 to your local box.