Possible to close or kill an application/process from another machine on the LAN?

[Muse]

There's an application I like to run from any of my machines on my LAN, but if it's still running on one of the other machines opening it can result in corrupted data. It's my email client, Forte Agent 1.93x. To prevent this I've taken to checking for a telltale file in the data, which resides on the LAN's server (which is just one of the machines, which is always on). Better than this arrangement would be a way to close the other instance if possible and then launching anew. Is this at all feasible?

 

[imported_snikt]

Couldn't you just remote into the PC that has the app. running and close it? If not, if these are Windows boxes you can use PsTools. Its takes a little learning to use but works great if you want transparent interaction.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: snikt
Couldn't you just remote into the PC that has the app. running and close it? If not, if these are Windows boxes you can use PsTools. Its takes a little learning to use but works great if you want transparent interaction.

I've remoted across the internet using Timbuktu. How would I remote in a LAN with Windows machines (server right now is running Vista Home Premium, soon Windows 7 Premium, maybe down the line WHS when I move to a dedicated server)?

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: Muse

Originally posted by: snikt
Couldn't you just remote into the PC that has the app. running and close it? If not, if these are Windows boxes you can use PsTools. Its takes a little learning to use but works great if you want transparent interaction.

I've remoted across the internet using Timbuktu. How would I remote in a LAN with Windows machines (server right now is running Vista Home Premium, soon Windows 7 Premium, maybe down the line WHS when I move to a dedicated server)?

remote desktop is, i think, part of windows premium and is a windows service designed for what you want.

shy of that, VNC.

 

[mobly99]

is this windows?

try
tasklist.exe /s computername
to get a list of processes and
taskkill /s computername /F /PID pid#
to kill the process

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: mobly99
is this windows?

try
tasklist.exe /s computername
to get a list of processes and
taskkill /s computername /F /PID pid#
to kill the process

It might be a better idea not to kill this application or there might be data corruption. Closing it is safer. I think if it's killed, a lot of things aren't saved, it reverts even if things aren't corrupted.

 

[JackMDS]

When you run VNC it it like it is Running on the computer that you remote into.

You can then either shut the application, or if the remote computer have this application, http://technet.microsoft.com/e...nternals/bb896653.aspx

You can invoke it through VNC and kill the Process.

Here you can see the idea, the screen shot shows my Vista Work Station while I am dealing with your Post.

The Window to the right is My Windows Home Server connected to with UltraVNC, I can fully control te server from the Vista WorK station as thougH I sit in front of the WHS.

The following example was done locally over my LAN, but the same applies to do it through the Internet from another location.

http://www.ezlan.net/example/VNC_to_WHS.jpg

For VNC, http://www.ezlan.net/vnc.html

 

[RebateMonger]

Does you email client just do email, or does it provide calendars, contacts, and such? If only email, then you could see if your mail server can provide IMAP service. With IMAP you can have multiple mail clients connected to the same mailbox without danger of corruption and fully synchronized to each other.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger
Does you email client just do email, or does it provide calendars, contacts, and such? If only email, then you could see if your mail server can provide IMAP service. With IMAP you can have multiple mail clients connected to the same mailbox without danger of corruption and fully synchronized to each other.

No calendars, contacts, but it does do newsgroups. I'll investigate whether or not it will work with IMAP service. I doubt it since I have put the issues forth in a newsgroup dedicated to this client (in it's several releases, of course). Noone mentioned setting up IMAP as a means of dealing with the problem of running concurrent instances (i.e. on different machines on the LAN). The workaround touted mostly was checking for an instance before launch.

Edit: Searching my posts saved for the alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent newsgroup, I find that even subsequent versions do not support IMAP, so mine obviously doesn't.

 

[yadda]

Just another thought is to use pskill ...

Very reliable tool created by Mark Russinovich

pskill

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: yadda
Just another thought is to use pskill ...

Very reliable tool created by Mark Russinovich

pskill

Don't know if killing my email client is a good idea. I think it doesn't save any data from the current session if closed unexpectedly. I just downloaded and installed TeamViewer on two of my machines, created a password and voila! I can see the display on the other machine, see that the client is open and close it remotely. It's not automatic, but it gets the job done without my having to run up and downstairs. It looks pretty much like Timbuktu, which I used to run from a Windows machine when I was helping my dad with his new Mac. But TeamViewer is free when used for non-commercial purposes.

 

[JackMDS]

TeamViewer is basically an easy subset of UltraVNC.

Ultra VNC is by far the best of its kind and I think they found an idea to make some money and compensate them for the hard work.

TeamViewer is one subset, and this one, "Instant House Call" (the right side of the screen) is another one, http://www.uvnc.com

I usualy build a directory with these few files (no need even to install) and it takes care of every thing needed for the Serevr, or the Client.

MSRC4Plugin_NoReg .dsm - 16 KB (AES Encryption Module).
rc4.key - 87 bytes (Encryption key).
vncviewer.exe - 1.5 MB (VNC Viewer).
winvnc.exe - 1.5 MB (VNC Server).
ultravnc.ini - 760 Bytes (config file).

If a computer needs to be controlled frequently the Server can be loaded as Service at Startup and run in the background.

When used this way the Registry is Not used and thus no residual leftovers.

These five files about 3.5MB ( + configuration of Firewalls ports when needed) is all that is needed to fully control locally or through the Internet and computer running Win200, Vista, Win7.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: JackMDS
TeamViewer is basically an easy subset of UltraVNC.

Ultra VNC is by far the best of its kind and I think they found an idea to make some money and compensate them for the hard work.

TeamViewer is one subset, and this one, "Instant House Call" (the right side of the screen) is another one, http://www.uvnc.com

I usualy build a directory with these few files (no need even to install) and it takes care of every thing needed for the Serevr, or the Client.

MSRC4Plugin_NoReg .dsm - 16 KB (AES Encryption Module).
rc4.key - 87 bytes (Encryption key).
vncviewer.exe - 1.5 MB (VNC Viewer).
winvnc.exe - 1.5 MB (VNC Server).
ultravnc.ini - 760 Bytes (config file).

If a computer needs to be controlled frequently the Server can be loaded as Service at Startup and run in the background.

When used this way the Registry is Not used and thus no residual leftovers.

These five files about 3.5MB ( + configuration of Firewalls ports when needed) is all that is needed to fully control locally or through the Internet and computer running Win200, Vista, Win7.

I assume that includes XP.

How do you have the server loaded as a service at startup and run in the background? Do you just put a shortcu to winvnc in your Startup folder, or is there more to it than that? Any hints how I would make any necessary firewall port settings? I really should take a course in networking!

 

[JackMDS]

When you do a regular full setup you have a choice during the install to set as a service.

When using the slim version (that I mentioned above) you drag an Icon to the StartUp menu.

 

[Muse]

I have been using Teamviewer Free for a few weeks and it works perfectly except that I'm not liking the fact that I can't shut down the session with a single click. There are usually secondary screens on the client or host machines (or both), saying that I'm using the free version, please play "fair," etc. If I do things differently, can I get a leaner setup?

For example, if I do the following?

Originally posted by: JackMDS
TeamViewer is basically an easy subset of UltraVNC.

Ultra VNC is by far the best of its kind and I think they found an idea to make some money and compensate them for the hard work.

TeamViewer is one subset, and this one, "Instant House Call" (the right side of the screen) is another one, http://www.uvnc.com

I usualy build a directory with these few files (no need even to install) and it takes care of every thing needed for the Serevr, or the Client.

MSRC4Plugin_NoReg .dsm - 16 KB (AES Encryption Module).
rc4.key - 87 bytes (Encryption key).
vncviewer.exe - 1.5 MB (VNC Viewer).
winvnc.exe - 1.5 MB (VNC Server).
ultravnc.ini - 760 Bytes (config file).

If a computer needs to be controlled frequently the Server can be loaded as Service at Startup and run in the background.

When used this way the Registry is Not used and thus no residual leftovers.

These five files about 3.5MB ( + configuration of Firewalls ports when needed) is all that is needed to fully control locally or through the Internet and computer running Win200, Vista, Win7.

It is nice having remote access sometimes!

 

[PingSpike]

I wanted something like this. But I had the same concerns about using taskkill or tkill or whatever with data loss. In my case, its a torrent client I want to shut down and it should be fine...but I don't want to kill the task. I just want to close it. I haven't found a command that seems to go that route.

I have UltraVNC to connect to the machine in question, but this is a common procedure that I'd rather have a nice quick double clicked batch file perform.

 

[Nothinman]

If you look at the help output for taskkill it says that you need to use /F to force kill which suggests that by default it does a gracefull exit, although I haven't actually tested it myself.