thanks for the reply.

Something I don't quite quite understand about the vnc server part is, can I start it after I logon through ssh or it must be started as a daemon ?

I don't want to open up a computer to the world and only ssh.

What I want to do is only have ssh visible to the rest of the world. When I am on the road, ssh back(either linux or putty on windows) to get a terminal session(as well as port forwarding). From there I start vnc server on my port of choice then connect the vnc client through ssh port forwarding.