VNC

VNC will always be slow, ARD isn't much better. Changing the resolution on the target computer will also change the VNC window, although ARD will resize windows to fit your screen. ...

if you change th res of the laptop screen from the system preferences, like you were sitting in front of it, it will change the size of the vnc window. thats the same client i use, and it works for me. but i don't think you'll ever find anything anywhere near as fast as the mac itself. ...

works, but it's slow overall, I have to go 8bit color to make up for the redraw. Also how do I change the resolution without going full screen on the VNC client? ...

Our Mac HelpMate software can do this, but there's also no reason you should become familiar with the command line. Running VNC over an SSH tunnel is a standard practice, but it is complex and 99% of end users can't accomplish that task. VPNs can certainly help, but it's a real trick to make it as simple as a single - click.

I use VNC to connect to the computer graphically, but sometimes don't want to leave it logged in at home, so I leave it on the login screen. ...

There are some exports for Windows desktops as well; VNC, and others which works pretty well; when I come to think of it. I also remember a Linux picture archiver, which seemed to be fast, gkview or something. It was pretty fast when I last used it in 2002 or something, when I changed jobs and ended up using Windows at my new employment. I do have a central server at home...

I need to create an ssh session to a server at work through which I will run VNC to control a server there. ...

Try Chicken of the VNC, that works well.

Have a look at VNC and see if that does what you want it to do. ...

well you could get a fancy VNC server that runs multiple instances. ...