Dell said:
Both my sister and parents live out of state, and occasionally call me with
their computer problems. I'm interested in a good recommendation for a
remote access app.
I've been using ShowMyPC, but I don't like how it constantly disconnects in
Windows 7 machines (I'm guessing it's something to do with User Account
Control). Is there a better solution, especially one where I don't spend 10
minutes just walking someone through the process of launching the app and
letting me in?
Remote apps that don't require punching holes in firewalls, setting up
static IP addresses or using DNS redirect services (DynDNS, NoIP), and
are simple as loading a web browser to a site.
LogMeIn Free
- Free only for home use, 14-day trial business use.
- Limited to 16 hosts.
- Reduced features from Pro version: no file management, file sharing,
remote printing, remote sound, HD remote control, desktop sharing,
remote Dashboard, or management of Windows/MS updates.
TeamViewer
- No "free" service is mentioned at their site, just the 7-day trial and
paid business plans. In fact, they seem to deliberately hide their free
service. You find random mention of the free service at places like
http://www.teamviewer.com/en/download/currentversion.aspx where there's
a line that says "TeamViewer is free for all non-commercial users" but
says nothing about the limitations, like a max number of remote hosts,
for a free account versus a business or paid account.
Mikogo
- Business or home use (no restriction).
- Max of up to 3 hosts in a session in free account: controller + 2
remote hosts.
- All features (no crippling).
Why are you walking the remote users through anything? You send them an
e-mail invite (or tell them) and they click on a link to visit the site.
To install the local client is just like they've done with any other
site that asked how to install an AX control (e.g., Flash Player,
Windows Genuine Advantage at the WU site). They see notice that the
site requires the client program to install on their host so it's their
choice whether to do it or not. They enter the login credentials to
establish the remote session to which you invited them. These are
invite scheme, not dictator schemes. You ASK someone else to
participate in a session, you don't force them.
If you want a method of wresting control of a remote host without using
an invite or gaining permission by the other user (like when they won't
be around or for your own host when travelling with your laptop), then
look at using some variant of VNC. I believe LogMeIn and TeamViewer can
also setup a "server" on the remote host to accept connections to it (I
haven't used Mikogo to know for sure). Of course, if it's someone
else's host, they proabably won't appreciate you taking control when
they are trying to use their own host.
VNC will require you punch holes in your firewall and use a DNS redirect
service (DynDNS, NoIP) if your remote hosts have dynamically assigned IP
addresses. If there's a router in the remote setup, you'll have to
configure it to port-forward the external connection to the appropriate
intranet host (using different ports lets you punch through to different
intranet hosts). LogMeIn, TeamView, and Mikogo do the same as VNC
except no firewall punching is required (because their client makes an
outbound connect to their server using HTTP just like a web browser so
there's no unsolicited inbound connection to protect against) while also
providing the DNS redirect service (the controller and remote hosts
connect to their server to find each other and thereafter connect
directly to each other).
Regarding the disconnects, is any of the remote hosts (the one you want
to control) using DSL or dial-up for Internet access?
