If you need to work on programs remotely from a Windows machine, you can do so by installing the following programs:
SSH for windows - Available from the CSE Accessible Software page.
Once these are installed...
Go to start menu => All programs => xming => xming then click OK
Go to start menu => All programs => SSH Secure Shell => Secure Shell Client then
on SSH secure shell window menu Click Edit go to Settings
On the left side of the dialog box, click on Tunnelling. Then check the Tunnel X11 Connections check box and Click OK
Then Click on Quick Connect type “arctic.cse.msu.edu” on the host name and type your username and password
This will bring up a terminal. You can start gedit using the usual gedit &.
Note that the X protocol is very heavy weight. You may not have good performance depending on where you are working from. In particular, off campus locations tend to have poor performance.