Ok, I'm very, very familiar with this subject.  I use reverse VNC connections everyday and even multiple times a day. Years ago, I started a wiki page on the subject.  <a href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RemoteAccessAndSupport">https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RemoteAccessAndSupport</a> Ultimately, the solution I use is "x11vnc" and I tell the person who needs help to type "x11vnc -connect <a href="http://123.45.67.89">123.45.67.89</a>" where that address is my WAN IP (which you can find by <a href="http://www.ipchicken.com">www.ipchicken.com</a>).  On my end, I forward port 5500 to my computer and run "vncviewer -listen" prior to them running x11vnc. Then one night, Gerber and I made gitso as a nice way to learn a little about Python and GTK.  <a href="http://code.google.com/p/gitso/">http://code.google.com/p/gitso/</a> In any event, using x11vnc means that the person who needs help doesn't have to do anything special other than be on the internet.  They don't have to login to their router.  They don't have to set up port forwarding.  It's very painless to them! Good luck with it. -Derek