Where do I check that at?

Open a shell prompt and type "echo $DISPLAY"

:0.0 is what is returned

Then it should display properly... running an application just gives no display at all?

Just a terminal. I can open graphical apps but God forbid I keep them running after I connect. I had 3 days worth of IMs I never knew about.

I am confused. Please describe the situation in more detail. It's probably my own confusion, but I'm just not seeing what's going on.

Ok, some programs like x11vnc, allow you to see the desktop as if you were sitting there at the desk. When I log in using tightvnc I get a tan desktop with a terminal. No gDesklets, wallpaper, icons, or task bar. Just a desktop, and a terminal. With that terminal I can run things like gaim, or xchat, or any GUI application for that matter. But if I don't log out, it contiues to run in lala land where I logged in. Now if I goto the computer than I logged in to, and shut it down, all those applications will turn off.

Like yesterday, I ran Mozilla-firefox using tightvnc. Well I left it up, so when I got home and went to use firefox, I had to make another profile because it was being used already.

Hrrm, I'm not sure having two GUIs open as the same user at the same time works too well, unfortunately. I'm not sure what to say, to be honest.