Best remote desktop solution? XP/Timbuktu/others?

[Mael5trom]

I am setting up remote networking for a client of mine and need to know what the best solution is:
He needs to be able to access and manipulate his QuickBooks Pro data from halfway accross the state, and I thought that using remote desktop software would be the way to go. Am I right there or should I be looking into VPN or such?

Anyways, of the remote access software, what have you used or what can you recommend?

Windows XP (which he has) has remote desktop builtin, but I've read that its slow, and that is his complaint with the program currenty installed (Timbuktu Pro). The host computer is connected to the Internet via satellite, while he will be connected via cable modem at his home. I'm wondering if the satellite modem (which has high ping times) is the cause of the slowness, or if it is just the nature of connecting over the internet. Anyways, can anyone tell me the benefits of using XP's remote desktop vs. Timbuktu/PC Anywhere/Other? Any experiances with XP remote desktop?

I have no monetary interest in selling him the software (I pass that along at very close to cost) so it doesn't matter to me which software program he uses, as long as he is happy.

Thanks for any help!
Mike

 

[vi edit]

I've used XP remote and PC anywhere. I've found the built in functionality of remote control in the XP O/S to be superior to PC anywhere in the areas of speed, reliability, and ease of use.

PC Anywhere has some cool stuff to it, and the file transfer is a lot easier to do, but it just seems slower than the RDP client in XP. Another bonus is that RDP is free if you already have XP installed. And, you don't have to have software installed at both the client and host end of things.

PC Anywhere 10 is outrageously expensive. I've seen it retailing for $150 a pop. Take that times the fact that you have to have it at both locations and it adds up FAST.

I use XP remote to write crystal reports and manage company intranet from home. Haven't had it drop a connection or crash on me yet. *knocks on desk*

 

[gaidin123]

RDP/Terminal Services is the fastest way to remotely connect to a Windows workstation graphically. A satellite connection will definitely introduce a lot of lag into the connection. Have him ping the host machine and see what his average ping times are. If they're a couple hundred ms he's going to notice the lag.

RDP under XP doesn't let you reboot the computer by default. Timbuktu is a great program but it is slower than the MS solution. Having him RDP in and map local drives to the remote server will let him share files and all that. Also make sure that he's setting the RDP connection settings to the absolute lowest possible: 16bit or lower color depth unless higher is necessary, no sound, no desktop background, no window contents while dragging, no window/menu animations, maybe no themes, and definitely do bitmap caching. Other than that it's probably the lag time due to one or both of the net connections...

Gaidin

 

[Relayer]

VNV and Radmin work very well. VNC is free, but Radmin has more features.

 

[Mael5trom]

Ok, RDP sounds great. Now, how hard is it to set up and use? I am still learning remote networking.

Also, is it included with Windows 2000? XP? Where should I go for more information?

Mike

 

[blstriker]

I vote for VNC. Works very well. Kinda confusing to configure though.

 

[m2kewl]

If you are going to use VNC, try TightVNC - it has compression features optimized for slow-speed traffic connections. Click for link.

 

[vi edit]

RDP comes as an additional component to XP Pro. Right click on "my computer" and do a properties. There will be a remote tab that you can click on that will show you what you need to do to set it up.

2000 Server has terminal services that are basically RDP before it was called RPD. 2000 Pro does not have any native remote control software bundled with it that I am aware of. I do know that it does come with a license to hook up to a terminal service session so ther is no need for purchasing a seperate client license.

As far as actually connecting to an RDP session, there are two ways.

1. Terminal service client. It's a two floppy disk client that you create from the XP Pro cd. Take it to any workstation that you will be connecting from and install it. You enter the ip address/computer name of the computer you are connecting to as well as the username and password you'll be connecting with. Just click on the application and it will connect automatically and give you a log in screen just as if you were sitting at the computer.

2. Web interface. There is a small applet that you can install on the machine that you want to remote control. It basically sets up a RDP web server to accept RDP trasmissions over a web browser. All you need to do is install it on the remote(host) PC. Then, pull up Internet Explorer on a client PC and type in the address with a special pathname of the machine you want to connect to. You'll then get a user login like normal. This method is handy because you don't need to haul around any client disks to install on a computer you want to connect with. Down fall I would guess, would be security.

 

[spyordie007]

Originally posted by: gaidin123

RDP under XP doesn't let you reboot the computer by default.

You can easily reboot/shutdown from taskmgr.

VNC is also very nice, however if he is doing quickbooks administration he is going to want something more secure (I dont believe that any VNC network traffic is encrypted, whereas with terminial services some things are (correct me if I'm wrong anyone) such as your windows password.

Plus I would be more inclined to go with XP's Terminal services because it's very easy to setup, and hard for either of you to mess up (which makes you look good).

-Spy

 

[vi edit]

I guess I forgot to mention this, but one thing that I really like about XP RDP vs. any other form remote controll is that it actually treats the connection as a windows session/login. When you connect to an XP machine, it actually logs the computer off of the current session, and blanks out the screen preventing peeping toms from seeing what you are doing. Some may see it as a disadvantage, I do not.

Makes it nice so that when I log into my machine from home to run some admin tools, I don't have some end user at work looking at my screen as the mouse points to all the pathways to certain things that they shouldn't be seeing.

 

[gaidin123]

spyordie007, Thanks for the tip.

TightVNC is great program. With the fact that VNC works on almost every platform out there, it is the most universal solution. However it is slower than RDP in Windows, and spyordie007 is correct that VNC does not encrypt in any way it's network traffic. The standard VNC setup for unix boxes is to tunnel it over SSH which, while reasonably easy in windows, is still more complex, and slower than RDP.

With Win2k you can stick in the WinXP CD and install the Remote Desktop Connection software that will allow you to RDP in to XP Pro boxes or Terminal Services servers.

Gaidin

 

[Relayer]

1. Terminal service client. It's a two floppy disk client that you create from the XP Pro cd. Take it to any workstation that you will be connecting from and install it. You enter the ip address/computer name of the computer you are connecting to as well as the username and password you'll be connecting with. Just click on the application and it will connect automatically and give you a log in screen just as if you were sitting at the computer.

Can you use it on a Pocket PC device such as an iPaq?

 

[spyordie007]

Originally posted by: Relayer
Can you use it on a Pocket PC device such as an iPaq?

Yes, I have an iPaq and part of the Pocket PC 2002 install is a terminal services client (it's there by default from Compaq).

I use it sometimes with my wireless NIC, however dont use it often because I find the tiny screen annoying when accessing my desktop display because I'm constantly scrolling.

-Spy