I use TightVNC as the application to do this. Works for me!

Doesn't your system have applications->internet->remote desktop viewer?
That's what I've always used. If it's not there, which would be odd,
just go to system->administration->synaptic package manager, search for
remote desktop viewer, and click on your choices to install.

I use tsclient since it's a native windoze thing, but if your
windozepeecee has vnc installed, you could also use tightvncviewer...

remote desktop viewer, which is where you said it would be. I
tried help and a search for remote desktop and didn't get any suggestion
of what I might be looking for so thought I would ask here.

I tested this yesterday at work before I responded, and just to be sure,
I tested again just now.

1. I opened synaptic, clicked the search button (the binocular icon) and
entered "remote desktop viewer" in the text field on the popup widget,
and clicked the search button on the popup widget.

2. The popup closed, and in the main synaptic window, a list of programs
matching my search came up. Out of the 7 programs listed, 3 of them
were desktop clients, and they are:

tsclient
vnc4viewer
tightvncviewer

So at this point, it's a mystery what happened on your end, whether you
somehow removed your repositories, or you're not running ubuntu as I
supposed... The first step in troubleshooting this is to ask, how did
your results differ from mine, above? At what step did things go south?
Once we know that, we can hopefully figure out what the problem is with
your system.

I didn't use Synaptic for help but the Life Preserver on the panel
help. I then searched for remote desktop, no real help, a lot of
responses that didn't relate to remote desktop.
I have looked in the internet portion of Applications and see
remote desktop viewer, and plan to give that a try today and
I bet it will work.

Remote desktop viewer is basically a launcher that lets you choose which
protocol to try, as long as you have the proper programs installed. But
it looks like they changed the default program for that. In ubuntu 8.04
"remote desktop viewer" launched "tsclient" but in later ubuntu releases
it appears to launch "vinagre" which left a sour taste in my mouth.

I prefer tsclient over vinagre because it's more stable, and seems more
reliable. tsclient lets you choose either vnc, rdp, rdpv5, xdmcp or ica
to connect.

I have not used this, but it might do what you need. It is called Teamviewer, it
is free for personal use, and works on Linux, Windows and, I think Mac. It has
been awhile since I read about it.

http://www.teamviewer.com/solutions/support.aspx