Remote Startup

Hi,
I have an ibook that I use in college and I'm planning on accessing a Win XP
desktop that I'm going to leave at home. Problem is, I wanted to know if I
could turn on the computer remotely so I don't have to keep calling my mom
for example to turn the computer on. I've read somewhere about wake-on-lan
but I'm not sure if the RDC can do that.
If I need another program, I'd appreciate if anyone could point me to some
free software, I can't afford big huge name programs right now, and it's not
exactly an extremely crucial thing to have.
Thanks for your attention.