Windows Remote Desktop - Something Better?

[Raizinman]

We are letting an employee work from home and I'll need to control his computer and such on a frequent basis. I am familiar with Remote Desktop (haven't used it in many years). Is there anything better than Windows Remote Desktop? Perhaps with video or more features? We are both working on fast networks and both using Windows 7 machines.

 

[EXCellR8]

Maybe try TeamViewer or LogMeIn? VNC is another but I'm not familiar with how to set it up.

 

[mxnerd]

Teamviewer + 1

You might need to purchase a license for using it in a business environment.

Other alternatives.

https://alternativeto.net/software/teamviewer/

TightVNC is good & free, just need port forwarding configuration for the router.

 

[Ketchup]

For simplicity Teamviewer is the best. For cost, you can't beat free (as the commercial version of Teamview does have cost). For a little effort and Googling, you should be able to get remote desktop to do the same (but you will need to work with the end user to accept the connection upon first setup).

 

[mxnerd]

Remote Desktop's problem is that user's screen will be locked and he/she won't see what the remote supporter is doing on the PC.

 

[mikeymikec]

Windows Remote Desktop (RDP) isn't really meant for internetworking because its communications aren't well encrypted. I'd recommend tunnelling that data via say ssh if you have to use RDP.

VNC is the worst I'm aware of in terms of security, it doesn't use any form of encryption or encoding last I checked.

TBH I've never researched TeamViewer or LogMeIn in this respect but given their widespread use I'd expect they're reasonable options. - edit - they use reasonable techniques ie. TLS/AES256.

 

[mxnerd]

From TightVNC's website:

TightVNC encrypts VNC passwords sent over the net, the rest of the traffic is sent as is, unencrypted (for password encryption, VNC uses a DES-encrypted challenge-response scheme, where the password is limited by 8 characters, and the effective DES key length is 56 bits)

VNC security is weak, but just wonder how many people will spend time to hack it?

===

NoMachine is another good choice and is feature rich with good encryption. But the software is large, complex and a bit confusing.

NoMachine NX protocol encryption is implemented using OpenSSL TLS/SSL

It uses Windows username/password though. Remote user probably wouldn't give it to technician.

===

join.me is free too. But you need to create an acount.

===

found another program called AeroAdmin, free for personal and business,works very much like TeamViewer.

http://www.aeroadmin.com/en/security.html

*** Tested. Screen quality is terrible and speed is slow.

 

[PliotronX]

AnyDesk with unattended access and a password gets my vote!

 

[vailr]

"Chrome Remote Desktop" is another free alternative.
Google's Chrome browser needs to be installed on both machines to function.