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What's my best bet for a remote desktop solution?

geno

geno

Lifer
My father has been asking me to help him with his computer more and more lately. Making it by his house is difficult due to my work schedule, but I have time while at home to work on his system and install the programs he needs. I need to be able to remote into his system, but I want to be sure it's secure and convenient from both sides.

The setup on his end is basic, he has two PC's (WinXP on both) wired to a router, behind a cable modem. I'd like to be able to remotely administer them both.

My intial thought is this :

Set static IPs on his LAN and do away with DHCP so I can know which box I'm remoting into
Set up port forwarding so I can map his local machines to a public IP
Proceed to remote into his public ip/port and do what I need to.

I have a couple of concerns, of course :

-Is there a more secure way of doing what I need to do while keeping it somewhat simple? I can't be running back and forth to his house tweaking settings, and I can't talk him through anything intricate.
-What solution do I have for his dynamic cable modem IP? How can I keep track of this when it changes? Again, I can't call my father up and ask him check his current public IP every time I need to remote in, this will be counter-productive to what I hope to achieve 😛
-Lastly, am I barking up the wrong tree? Should I be looking at Ultra VNC for security? VPN? Anything else which will help eliminate my concerns without giving up the benefits I need?
 
You can install UltraVNC and configure it to Run as service. I.e. it automatically starts and stay in the back round when the computer is boot.

UltraVNC has a AES encryption module so it is very safe.

As for the External IP.

Depending on the client Either set it with free DNS service, or download and install this little proggie, and drag an Icon to the Desktop.

http://keir.net/ip2.html

When the person need help he is instructed to double click on the Icon and read the local and external IP.

Since it shows the local IP too it is an additional indication to the status of the computer (No valid local IP no point to waste time to try through the Internet).

More about the configuration here.

http://www.ezlan.net/vnc.html

http://www.ezlan.net/myip.html
 
Originally posted by: JackMDS
When the person need help he is instructed to double click on the Icon and read the local and external IP.
Click to expand...

The only trouble is, I need a solution which will let me in the system with no activity required on the far-end since I'll likely need to work on the system while he is nowhere near it. I believe UVNC will still allow that, though, correct?

Thanks for the suggestions everyone 🙂
 
Not sure about UVNC or LogMeIn cause I haven't used either. But Teamviewer is what I use a lot. All you have to do is install it on your cousin's computer and you can add it to your "Partner's List". Then you can load up Teamviewer on your computer login to your account and as long as your cousin's computer is on you can access it all you want. It's what I use to access my home computer from school. You can also get to his computer via your internet browser. It's all encrypted and secure as well.
 
Originally posted by: geno
I believe UVNC will still allow that, though, correct?
Click to expand...

From VNC perspective it does not matter.

The IP2 component is related to the method of obtaining the external IP of the remote computer. I sometime deliberately prefer the Manual method.

Otherwise open a free DNS account (this is a very good free service http://www.No-IP.com )

Install the DNS client on your father computer and make it start Auto at the computer boot.

Few other options are mentioned here ( http://www.ezlan.net/myip.html ).

Let say that you opened a DNS account establishing a URL myfather.no-ip.com

When you need start your VNCViewer you type at the addressbar myfather.no-ip.com:5800

5800 is the default port for VNC it has to be typed because DNS services default to port 80.

That it you are remotely Connected.

---------------------
Yeah, Setting up VNC takes few minutes more than Logmein

However the Free version is not as flexible as UVNC.

In general UVNC offer much better control of the Remote than Logmein.

---------------------

The one short coming of people posting short entries like "Use xx it works for me" is that I do not know what work for them means, and if it is what I functionally need.

Personally (when possible) I like to set my systems as much as possible with my resources rather than over the Internet external services.

As usually each one Millage might vary, and if One does not have the Patient, or and the Intellectual capacity to set UVNC, yeah Logmein is an alternative.
 
With LogMeIn, the background service is always active when the machine is on, and the central LogMeIn server can tell you if the machine is online or not.

There is no need to memorize IP addresses or deal with separate DNS accounts because all the info is maintained by the LogMeIn central server. You just log-in through LogMeIn.com. Your account page lists all the available machines registered to your account, and you simply click on the one you want remote access to. The main problem with LogMeIn is speed.

A couple of my colleagues switched to alternate VNC software because it was a bit faster. It's just more annoying to set up. However, if all you're doing is tweaking some Windows settings, etc. most likely you're not all that concerned about speed.
 
Another vote for LogMeIn.

I like UVNC too. But UVNC also gives me a lot of problems, since it constantly lost connection, or no response with any mouse click or typing. Today I tried to connect to 2 remote servers, both will show the initial screen, but neither would accept any further mouse clicks or keyboard input, or the CTRL-ALT-DEL command available on the UVNC toolbar . But LogMeIn works perfectly fine (almost everytime)

The other way is, use UltraVNC SingleClick client the other way arount. That is, you run UltraVNC viewer in listen mode, and ask the remote user to run SingleClick client and connect to you, it seems a bit more more stable than the UVNC server mode.

However, it seems SingleClick client doesn't work properly in Vista properly if I remember correctly.

 
I like CrossLoop for a free one-off solution. With Logmein, you have to manually set up the client to begin with. CrossLoop doesn't need to be set up.
 
Another vote for logmein I use the free version for all of my family's PCs. If they have problems I can just get in remotely with nothing needed on their end. Have had for...3 years now. I have about 12 PC's in my account for various family's members. Works without any configuration on their end other than the initial install.
 
When I do remote I use a lot the keyboard on the remote computer.

Should I use Logmein?
 
Originally posted by: JackMDS
When I do remote I use a lot the keyboard on the remote computer.

Should I use Logmein?
Click to expand...

Give it a try, it has an awesome free version, can't hurt. I tried it one time just because a guy wanted me to see it and from then I started installing it on all of my family's PCs for remote troubleshooting. No lag at all that I've seen and as long as the PC has internet, it'll work
 
Today I tried CrossLoop and I like it! It's pretty good for one time session. It's based on TightVNC and speed is good. You do have to install it, but you don't have to create account. The one needs help has to give his/her access code to the helper. The access code is good for one session only. Thumbs up!
 
While many of us are using Remoter Control through the Internet for years, these days there are many new solutions for remote control.
As usually, it is accompanied by a lot of Marketing and attempts to ?Bilk? ignorant consumers.

There are differences between the methods that mainly apply to how knowledgeable are the users in installing and configuring remoter control software and in what way the Through Internet Connection is maintained.

Next assignment is to write a page that explains the differences between the solutions and thus which Remote Control scheme to use under which circumstances.
Otherwise, it is left to the Hallucinatory "What is the best?".
 
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