I haven't found a universal solution yet. I use Apple Remote Desktop and OSXvnc for Mac servers, RealVNC for Linux and Windows servers, and Chicken of the VNC, VNCThing and ARD for Mac clients. I try various combinations until finding the best one for a particular server platform). Obviously, I'd recommend trying the free stuff first.
ARD has built-in VNC clients and servers, but they're not as good as some of the free implementations.
Running ARD's native Mac-to-Mac connection in black-and-white mode is the fastest way to run. I don't think VNC supports black-and-white connections yet. ARD is well worth the money if you have several remote Macs to support.
Thanks very much. I did a little more research after reading your reply.
I think I will dive in and try a flavor of PC client (perhaps TightVNC) to OSXvnc server and hope the speed is acceptable and the hassles are fewer - once I get past the installs and firewall configs.
Greatly appreciate your help.