Even though they've been providing the same great service for ten years, I had never used DynDNS before (ah, the joys of working from home and having a dynamic IP that stays fairly stable), but I just signed up and it's sweet. Just register a subdomain at DynDNS.com for free, which will then map itself to your dynamic external IP address automatically in one of two ways: by logging into your DynDNS account on a router that supports it (many do) or downloading a free update client for your computer that can also keep everything synced.

Then you don't have to remember a nasty number when you want to access your network from an external computer. Nice!

Please keep the constructive comments coming in our Saturday How To guides—they're a great resource for everyone involved. Also thanks to twonjosh for sharing his method of dealing with dynamic IPs. [DynDNS]

VNC (virtual network computing) is one of those tricks that never gets old, and having it set up can often save your ass—whether you left some info on your home computer that you need at work, want to check on your massive BitTorrent queue to schedule the evening's entertainments, or help your poor parents use clip art in Microsoft Word, having remote access can be handy dandy.

So let's get started:

What You'll Need
• A VNC Server. Mac OS X 10.4 and higher and Windows Vista Ultimate and higher have them built in—but for Windows we find it's easier to use the excellent standalone software TightVNC. Try OSXvnc (Vine) if you're in pre-10.4 territory. For this tutorial, we're using OS X's built-in services, and TightVNC for Windows.

• A VNC client that you will use to access the server running on your home computer. Again, OS X and Windows have built-in clients, or you can use standalones like Chicken of the VNC for Mac or TightVNC for Windows. You can also install these external clients to a thumbdrive for use on computers that aren't yours.

The process is a little different depending on which platforms you're using on each end, but the first thing you'll need to do regardless is set up your home router to forward all VNC network traffic to the computer you wan to control. You may recall we had to do this exact same thing to get BitTorrent working properly—so for a primer on port forwarding, check out last week's Torrent guide or Portforward.com.

And note: any time you're opening up a port to your home network for access from the greater internet, you're taking a bit of risk. Make sure you choose good passwords, change them often, and don't proceed if you're feeling skittish.

Set Up Your Home Machine

1. In your router's admin pages, set up a new port forwarding service for port 5900—the default for VNC screen sharing. Make sure assign it to both UDP and TCP ports, and for the IP address, enter in the IP of your machine on the local network.

Again, just like for Torrenting, make sure your machine has a static local IP address on your network so this info won't change. This is easy to set up on both Windows and Mac—for OS X simply choose "Using DHCP with manual address" under "Configure IPv4" in the TCP/IP section of the Networking preferences, and follow this guide for Windows.

2. Activate VNC sharing on your home machine:

Windows: Download TightVNC and install it. Launch the server, and set a password. Everything else should be good to go, so save settings and the server will continue to run in the background.

Mac: Activate "Remote Management" in the Sharing preferences. Here you can also set which user accounts can access your computer and how. And under "Computer Settings" choose a good password in the "VNC viewers may control screen with password" field.

3. And finally, figure out your home's external IP with whatismyip.com. This can also change from time to time if you're on a big ISP without a static IP, so check it frequently. You'll need this number to connect.

Update: Setting up DynDNS makes connecting with your external IP even easier. Read more here.

Connect to Your Home Computer
This is slightly different depending on which computers you're using. But we're here to hold your hand!

Windows -> Mac:
Start the TightVNC Viewer. Type in the external IP, enter your VNC password, and you're connected.

Mac -> Mac:
In Finder, go to Go -> Connect to Server and type in vnc://xxx.xx.xx.x (enter in your EXTERNAL IP from whatismyip.com. Type in your account user name and password for the active account on your home machine, and boom. Remote control. Note: if you're doing Mac to Mac connections, you'll use the username and password for an account on the Mac, not the VNC password you set in the preferences.

Mac -> Windows
Use the exact same process as above, only use the VNC password you specified in TightVNC.

Windows -> Windows
Same as Windows -> Mac.

More Fun: Connecting With an iPhone
Mocha VNC is a great client for the iPhone that lets you control from your phone. It's a pretty amazing feeling, and the free lite version works fine for basic stuff.

And you're done!

If you have more tips and tools to share, please drop some links in the comments-your feedback is hugely important to our Saturday How To guides. And if you have any topics you'd like to see covered here, please let me know. Have a good weekend remote controlling, everyone!

[Photo By Theis Kofoed Hjorth/Flickr]

The guys at TUAW gave the LogMeIn Ignition app a thorough test and discovered that it was stable and worked exceedingly well on Wi-Fi and 3G. You can even use EDGE in a pinch. And it was a lot easier to configure than other free or low priced VNC solutions. However, there is one very big downside. The $30 price tag makes it one of the more expensive apps in the store—a small price to pay for support pros that could make use of the anytime, anywhere access, but probably a bit pricey for the casual user. [LogMeIn and TUAW]

There are nearly endless ways to bring a USB stick out of retirement, and they're not just gimmicks: virtually all USB sticks, 32MB USB 1.1 dinosaurs included, can be repurposed into anything from a lifesaving troubleshooting tool to an entire portable OS. Here are your best options:

Turn it into a physical "key" for your computer
For security freaks or the extraordinarily literal-minded, Vista has built-in software to convert your USB key into an actual key, such that your PC won't boot without having it inserted. It might not be ideal if your key may be old enough that it is likely to fail on you, if you have a propensity to lose tiny things, or if your laptop only has one or two USB ports to begin with, but it definitely offers a special kind of peace of mind. For Macs, Rohos essentially does the same thing, but at $30, it's not particularly recession-friendly.

Install a portable OS
This is actually simpler and less esoteric than it sounds—installing a wide array of Linux systems is pretty easy nowadays, and will more importantly net you a fully functional desktop that you can take with you wherever you go. Lifehacker recently assembled a useful comparison of popular USB-able Linux distributions, in which they recommend the fantastic UNetbootin or creating the bootable keys in the first place. It's worth noting that two of these distros will work on keys at less than 128MB capacity (DSL is just 50MB, total) and all carry a legitimately useful range of apps.

Use portable apps to create a pocketable user profile
Most free software now comes in a portable variety, meaning that at least under Windows, programs that normally extend their tentacles into your user profile and registry can be installed completely—user data included—onto a USB stick. All you do is insert the stick and find the desired .exe, and you're good to go.

The most obvious advantage to this is profile portability—in other words, your portable Firefox (or Opera or Chrome) isn't just the app, it's your favorites, history, user preferences and cookies too. The portable version of Pidgin, a multiprotocol IM program, can hold your account data, transcripts and settings. Most of these installations are quite small—Firefox is just 8MB, for example—so you can build an extensive user profile on all but the oldest keys.

The very best one-stop shop for portable apps is the, well, aptly named PortableApps.com.

Create a powerful troubleshooting toolbelt
Portable antivirus and file recovery apps are convenient, but a USB key can be loaded up with much more powerful software. Ultimate Boot CD for Windows is a sort of software panacea which, in addition to including a selection of Windows maintenance apps, carries a veritable treasure trove of low-level troubleshooting programs, made accessible by booting into a sort of temporary "Windows Lite" desktop. It can manage disk deletion and partitioning, software and hardware diagnostics and a huge variety of lifesaving recovery functions. Despite the "CD" part of its name, Ultimate Boot CD for Windows can be loaded onto a USB key, though it requires a Windows installation disc from which to build the aforementioned "Windows Lite" environment. If you don't run Windows but still want a basic DOS-based suite of hardware diagnostics and disk tools, the vanilla Ultimate Boot CD has you covered.

Convert it into a tiny SNES, Genesis, MAME, etc.
Emulators are tiny, and most ROMs are even tinier; a USB key, no matter the size or speed, can probably hold more vintage console games than you can find the time to play. Many popular emulators come in a portable flavor, so your display settings, saved games and cheats will follow you everywhere. Without the need to install anything, this potentially opens up work, school or other public PCs to most pre-PlayStation gaming. Popular portable NES, SNES, Game Boy, Genesis, and arcade emulators. As for ROMs, that's on you. (Pro tip: GOOGLE).

Carry a portal to your home computer
Virtual Network Computing (VNC) sounds more complicated than it is—it simply lets you see and control your computer screen remotely. Whatever OS you run (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux), VNC servers are simple to set up and, if configured correctly, plenty secure. While many provide web interfaces to be accessed through a browser, they're almost always clunky, Java-based monstrosities. A simple VNC client (download the binary archive version) will carry your settings, run responsively and offer more quality, speed and transfer options than its bastard HTTP brother, transporting a home computer's desktop to wherever you happen to be.

Donate it to charity
If you're some kind of ingrate who doesn't see the potential in any of the above options (or you're just a good, charitable person), InVineo, a non-profit tech outreach organization will find someone who does. They'll gladly take your 64MB Cruzers and send them to developing countries to be used in schools or local governments.

Hat tip to Lifehacker and Portable Apps.

Dealzmodo Hacks are intended to help you sustain your crippling gadget addiction through tighter times. If you come across any on your own that are particularly useful, send it to our tips line (Subject: Dealzmodo Hack). Check back every other Thursday for free DIY tricks to breathe new life into hardware that you already own.

It was kind of frustrating because he was mostly using it to watch porn. I couldn't get any information on him.

Finally, the suspect wrote his name and address to register to a website. José Cáceres, the victim, called the police, who arrested the man within a few hours. [AP — Thanks jagslive]

PointyRemote release 0.000015a [1emulation via NewLaunches]

Nintendo DS for $129 [Amazon]