jamin

I want to buy/find some remote control software so I can control my users computers remotely.
I need to connect from my LAN to their machines via their broadband routers over the internet.

Can anyone recommend anything, I would connect over my companies VPN but seeing as this is sometimes the cause of their problems want to avoid it.

Thanks

stevem2k

Windoze or Unix at the far end ?

smokebelch

We use Dameware ... have had no problems

bioforger

iTrader: (1)

VNC

http://www.realvnc.com/

darlodge

Dameware rocks. Is the best in-view (I.E. you see exactly everything the user sees) Remote Desktop tool I know of.

RDP is good as well but it has it limitations, namily you create a new session and cannot see what your users are seeing.

Darren

mike1210

if you are using xp pro this can be done via remote desktop however the screen their end will lock out so they cant see what youre doing, some people have concerns regarding the safety of remote desktop but it does "come with" and wouldn't need any extra software. With firewall rules this could be made more secure allowing only port 3389 on certain Ip's.

bioforger

iTrader: (1)

VNC allows you to see everything on the desktop as if you're the user to. It's very fast to. Theres also a tightvnc version, which is good for people with low upload speeds.

mike1210

to be fair dameware or VNC may be your best option if you need to interact with them, PC-DUO is another program which does a similar sort of thing

kelvin

We use Dameware at work - another vote from me

darlodge

Dameware also has many other extras that VNC and RDP do not. Granted its not free, but its worth it.

Below is a screen shot of the extras you get per PC.



Darren

ozzy

www.logmein.com is another good one where you don't need to worry about firewall hassles or opening up extra ports. Uses 128-bit encryption so is safe to use.

jamin

Thanks for your help chaps, Im very interested in the logmein stuff if it means I dont have to mess about with users firewalls etc

mike1210

ozzy, doesnt it use port 80 (TCP outgoing) if thats the case surely the remote site would need to open this port up on the router firewall? true though that the site you are going from doesnt to alter firewall rules as port 80 is standard HTTP

Kieran_Burns

iTrader: (1)

Dameware is also considered by many security forums to be tantamount to spyware.

It REALLY opens up the p.c. and as such it's default ports are blocked on our network. If you do insist on using it for Gawds sake configure it to use a different port

RichB

Another alternative but not free is Timbuktu by Netopia.

http://www.netopia.com/software/products/tb2/

You can download an evaluation version.

GaryScoobNCBR

why not use the free remote desktop that comes with XP ?

InvisibleMan

Windows built in Remote Assistance allows interaction between you & users, can see what each other is doing.

RB170

Dameware rocks because you can install the client remotely

Markus

It all depends on what level of control you want over the remote machines.

I've got VNC on the workstations and servers here (Windows 2000, 2003, and Mac OS 9.x.x and OS X 10.x.x) and it's great.

I've used Timbuktu in the past and it's very good as well. Apple's ARD is pretty good for Macintosh (from what I recall it's got VNC at it's heart).

I also use SSH to connect via terminal to the macs, sometimes handy when you need to grab a file and don't need the overkill of a GUI to do it.

Avi

yup .. and the user needn't even know you can see what they're doing

Not that i condone this practice - i'm sure there's some rules someweher that say you shouldn;t

Leagro

Any dameware users use it over a broadband connection? I've used it to connect from my home to office, over broadband but it was really slow (like dialling up over a 56k modem)?

darlodge

My Dameware works fine over our VPN. The NetBios (for machine name lookups) takes a while but its exactly the same after this.

Darren

Iain Young

I'm using remote administrator at the moment...

http://www.famatech.com/

Seems pretty quick and secure. I use it regularly to control machines in our US offices...

ozzy

It uses HTTPS (443), but you don't need that inbound port open on the remote firewall. The client PC needs HTTPS outgoing for it to register with the main website and it works with Proxy servers too.

The main difference is you don't need to open up inbound ports and std NAT masquerading of outbound ports work fine.

Here at work we have a basic deny all rule for inbound and outbound. Our proxy server is masqueraded for outbound HTTPS. That's all that's needed for the software to work and it seems very secure. The Pro version allows file transfer and printing too.

Stefan

mike1210

ah ha, I stand corrected. Cheers for the reply, I get what you mean now and yeah most other remote control software will always need ports opening. That seems a tidy system fair play.

Hanley

Another vote for Dameware here

Hanley

Our users gets a warning box by Dameware telling them "user" has connected via remote control from pc xxxxx and it is also recorded in the Application log.

So there's an audit trail