Sure you can use the default desktop sharing application (vino-server) - although it is not enabled by default: you will need to open the Desktop Sharing dialog from the dash, or type
in a terminal, and then check the boxes for "Allow others to view your desktop" and (if desired) "Allow others to control your desktop"
Screenshot - 15-08-18 - 07:52:29 AM.png
To connect from a Windows VNC client, you may also need to disable encryption: this is a fairly recent change (post 12.04 IIRC) and AFAIK cannot be done through the preferences GUI, only through gsettings or dconf e.g.
Code:
gsettings set org.gnome.Vino require-encryption 'false'
You can check the current status using
Code:
gsettings get org.gnome.Vino require-encryption
or (to see all the settings)
Code:
gsettings list-recursively org.gnome.Vino
You can check that Vino is using the default port 5900 using
Code:
sudo netstat -nlp | grep vino
On the client (PuTTY) side, I always specify the "Destination" using "localhost" rather than an explicit IP address
Code:
L5900 localhost:5900