Remote Desktop/VNC help needed (Mac OS)

Could somebody or somebodies help me navigate the range of options for controlling my parents' computer from home? They're getting unable to follow even the simplest tech-support instructions over the phone, and it'll save me a 50-mile round trip to their house every time my mom can't print a recipe and can't even coherently explain to me what she did to mess it up.

Apple Remote Desktop is the preferred option I guess, but I'm not spending $300 on it. Are there easy free/cheap options?

GoToMyPC or LogMein

anything else is basically VNC forwarded through the router which may be difficult to set up/insecure.

On Windows you could use Windows Live Messenger (MSN) or LiveMesh for free.

Thanks! LogMeIn looks like it may do the job.

Anyone else with a dissent/alternative?

CoRD is free, i use it @ work
http://cord.sourceforge.net/

Cool. The text seems to indicate that it's for managing a Windows machine from a Mac -- is there anything preventing it from managing one Mac from another?

oh, not sure

prob use logmein or teamviewer (http://www.teamviewer.com/download/)