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Introduction
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| Remote Access Software (RAS) allows a user to remotely administer another computer through a GUI (Graphical User Interface). RAS software usually falls into three categories: attended (someone must be present on the remote machine), unattended, and self-hosted RPC proxy servers (middleware for accessing firewall-protected networks). In this review, we are interested in the first and second categories. |
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Discussion
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RAS software usually works by installing a program to act as a server on the host (remote) machine, and then running a client application on your local machine to handle the connection, authentication, and any encryption to the remote PC. One of the original RAS programs was AT&T's “VNC” and many of the programs available today are derivations of that. A short-list of those worthy of consideration would include RealVNC, TightVNC, EsVNC and UltraVNC. While each program has its merits, our top pick would go to UltraVNC because of its active development, good forum support and excellent encryption plug-in. UltraVNC is a client/server package that allows remote control of another PC using any TCP/IP connection. The stable release works with Windows 2000 through Vista. UltraVNC offers all the features you need, including auto-configuration, easy user interface, extensive hotkeys and embedded file transfer. Add to that the fact that it's free, secure, reliable and reasonably speedy and you have a winner. Just the thing for accessing your home PC while traveling, off-site troubleshooting, or general network administration. UltraVNC can run as an attended or unattended remote access system. Anyone looking for an even smaller or stand-alone version of UltraVNC should consider UltraVNC SC. The SC stands for Single Click; the software package can be pre-configured for customization and does not require an install, which makes it perfect for supporting machines where you don't have Administrator rights. This feature obviously comes at a cost; the software doesn't run as a service and therefore doesn't support restarts of Ctrl-Alt-Del.The customization can be difficult but is worth the persistence and there are some good how-to guides around. All the VNC variants offer an interesting way of getting around firewalls. Suppose you want to login from home to your computer at work, but there's a firewall installed at work. They've locked out the incoming ports. You can use the VNC Viewer in Listening mode to defeat that by triggering an outgoing connection from work to home using, say an email filter to run the command "winvnc.exe" -connect <your home IP number>" and having the VNC viewer listen on your home computer (vncviewer.exe -listen or similar). All you do is send the triggering email to yourself at work which activates the vnc server to connect to your home computer. Perhaps the easiest way yet to remotely control a distant PC is CrossLoop – just install it on your machine and have someone do the same thing at the other end and you are away. Before you get your hopes up, let us say that it is no substitute for the products above that allow you to login to a remote PC without anyone in attendance. By contrast, CrossLoop requires someone at the other end. If you can live with that limitation, CrossLoop may just what you have been looking for. It works like this: The user on the remote PC runs CrossLoop and generates a random 12 digit key which they send to you by email, phone, whatever. You plug this key into a copy of CrossLoop running on your own PC and request a connection with the remote. If the remote user accepts the connection you can then take control of the remote PC. At all times the user at the remote sees on his screen exactly what is happening. That's pretty much standard remote computing, but it is the ease of use that makes CrossLoop different. No complex commands or firewall configuration are needed, just the ability to follow simple on-screen instructions. It supports 128-bit Blowfish encrypted connections and allows for two-way file transfers between the client and host PCs. Unlike Windows Remote Desktop, it will run on any PC from Windows 98 onwards. Just the thing for helping a friend with a PC problem, remote support or remote user training. Version 2 adds creation of a free CrossLoop accounts to create a dynamic public profile page, reserve your custom CrossLoop URL, view your session history, as well as widgets to promote yourself as a tech support specialist. An alternative to VNC-based products is the free version of the commercial remote access product LogMeIn. This is a web-based service that's extremely easy to set up and use and can be accessed from any PC with a browser. The free version won't allow file transfer or remote printing but is a great solution for accessing your remote data as well as file sharing. Registration is required. |
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1.0.6.4 
Open Source Freeware (includes program code) 
Windows 2000 - Vista
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Please rate this article
Please stop mentioning TeamViewer in this review. It is NOT a free option for commerical use. Many of us would like to see a review for a version that is FREE and can be used for commercial use. Connecting to your friends pc or whatever is great but that isn't what this review is about. Knocking the article/review is kind of ignorant on your part as it was about products to use that are FREE and for COMMERCIAL use.
What about home/personal users? They do not deserve to know about a good software for remote access? I think they need to know more than the people who want softwares for commercial use. If you want to use a software for commercial use, then most probably you should be in a position to buy a good software, in order to provide quality service to the customers.
There are many people who want to remotely access the PC for personal use, to give help, or to get help. TeamViewer free does a great job of that, and is very very simple to use. It deserves a honorable mention in the review, since its good in what it does, and it is a very popular product.
Maybe subcategories can be made within the review, or can be indicated duly, for softwares free for personal/home use, and for softwares free for commercial use. That should serve the purpose.
But, keeping a product like TeamViewer out of the review, just because its not free for commercial use, is not a good move. Not on Gizmo's site atleast.
Anupam
My vote goes to TeamViewer, its awesome and I use it everyday. Check it out!
The program i like THE BEST is a little known one called Ammyy Admin. Its great, and you can even install it as a service...
http://www.ammyy.com/en/
Out of all the ones i have tried (logmein, TeamViewer, UltraVNC to name a few), i have found Ammyy Admin THE BEST! It mite not offer alot in terms of features, but it works...100% of the time!
It's so wired someone who talk about remote access don't know RDC or teamviewer...
Another vote for Zolved http://www.zolved.com/remote_control
It's fast, easy, just one executable for the viewer and one for the remote.
Unlike some of the others, with a little patience, it even works nicely on slow dialup connections.
The only downside is I believe it cannot be run as a service.
wow, if teamview is not on this list... i can't trust reviews from gizmo...
I agree, I have used several, and teamviewer and logmein is my favorites, I give teamviewer the edge now as logmein is making their platform inconvenient in a attempt to get money.
TeamViewer is the bet and easiest. It's like free NetworkStreaming.
Did anyone used TeamViewer 4
Teamviewer 4 is great and free for non commercial use
yeah its good but its has time limit and trial period
Yes, I have used TeamViewer before, although I confess, not very extensively. But, I will confirm that its very very easy to use, even kids can use it :).. and works really well.
Anupam Shriwatri
Hi!
Have you tried Gbridge? This is based on the Gtalk Jabber protocol and can tunnel VNC or Remote desktop through XMPP... very good an no NAT issues..
http://www.gbridge.com/
I have only tried TeamViewer, and being my mom is over 3,000 miles away, on XP Home with DSL, and I am on Vista Ultimate with Cable, it went without a hitch. My drunk brother had a little trouble figuring things out, but we got it set up once his gf got home. :) I was able to upload files to her computer, install them, reboot and continue, all without anyone on the other end. It is free and fast and since it is the only remote software I have tried, well, I can only vouche for it's reliability and functionality. Will try some others mentioned here (free of course) and relate comparisons.
Is there any of those solutions that would also allow the user of the controlled computer to view on the screen the image of the controller (assuming the controller user has a web cam of course)?
www.proxynetworks.com is the best
Teamviewer is my choice!
I second that. Its really easy to use. Deserves a mention in here.
Anupam Shriwatri
Just FYI, if you go to download the "LogMeIn Rescue" version, not only does it require you to set up an account, but it also tries to install software onto your computer! Now since the concept is that you can control other peoples' computers without them having to install the package, gee, I wonder what they're trying to pop into your system through your web browser?! COuld it be something that allows them to look at yours and control yours?! Gee, I wonder!
I don't care what they, nor anyone else says. There is no reason at all to be installing software on my machine, just to allow me to download a file from you! And just FYI, no, it was not a simple ActiveX control, but an actual software install that they were trying to accomplish on my system!
What gall these people have, to think that they have the right to demand that they can install software onto your computer, just for the privilege of paying them your money!!! I wrote them an email that trust me, they won't soon forget and no, I do not believe for a second that it would have been a harmless install! Thank God FireFox blocked it!!!
Anyway, this is just a warning to everyone. I'm not shouting at anyone here, but rather, at them.
The recommendation was for using the "Free" product not the "Rescue" product and although I understand your concern there is no reason to assume that there is some kind of intent on violating your security. I have used Logmein Free for more than 8 years and I can assure you that they have never done anything that causes me to question their integrity.
There is always going to be some kind of installation if the intent is to be able to remotely control, send files, evaluate their system, etc... That cannot be accomplished without installing something. The "Rescue" product from Logmein simply installs it when the user requests the help and then it prompts them to uninstall it and it completely removes all remnants of the program.
I'm sorry that you disagree with the recommendation but it is still the best free method I have found to reliably and securely remote control a system. They are a large company that stands nothing to gain from invading people's privacy. You could always use a free firewall solution like those found in the Best Free Firewall artilce (http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-firewall.htm) to block any activity you deem a violation until you need it.
-Jason
Not knocking either product, but just something to be aware of: While helping my dad we installed Crossloops, which worked really well but kept getting disconnected. I finally realized my brother had installed one of the VNC versions (wish I had known!) and Crossloops is incompatible with it. Too bad - Crossloops is very easy to use.
Since Crossloop is built on VNC it will not work if the host computer is already running a VNC server. I would bet that if the service had been stopped or the process running the other VNC server was terminated then Crossloop would have worked. If you bring up the Task Manager and click on the "Processes" tab you could look for anything with 'VNC' in the name of the process like 'vncserver.exe' and then click 'End Process'.
-Jason
I use Zolved where it does not require any installation and just runs when the user double-clicks it. It does have two slightly different programs: one for viewing a computer and one for accepting someone to view your screen. It generates a random serial number for the person needing support to give to the providing the support. I have found this a lot easier in the sense of not relying at all for the person on the other end to be able to install/setup their software correctly. This just starts!
http://www.zolved.com/remote_control
I will take a look at this one and test drive it and report back on it. Thanks for the submission.
-Jason
I would like to point out this free script I wrote with AutoHotKey that has become a useful, simple program to complement VNC clients like RealVNC Free, TightVNC, or UltraVNC. You can read a lot more about it and download it from the blog post I'm linking to, but I want to explain quickly what it is here.
It's called Virtual KVM, and it's made to be just that. It's not a remote access client itself, but it manages clients like RealVNC (should work with any VNC client with a little configuration) to create a sort of fake KVM setup. Instead of having a real KVM switch, you set the configuration file to point to your .VNC configurations for different remote hosts, and then you use hotkeys to switch between those hosts. Virtual KVM handles loading the client to connect to each host, etc. See the link for much more info.
VNC clients tend to be slow, so a real KVM switch is usually a better option if you can afford it, but it's definitely worth taking a look at. Thanks! I hope this helps somebody out.
http://www.compeek.net/justthis/2008/12/23/virtual-kvm/
Compeek,
Interesting idea and for some this will be a real help but this may require more configuration than most will want to or be able to complete. I work with UltraVNC quite a bit and will try the script and let you know the result.
Thanks for your willingness to share with the community your hard work.
-Jason
I do have to agree about the configuration part. If people show interest in using the script, I'll be motivated to create a GUI for it so configuring it is a breeze, but so far I've only ever had one person contact me about it, so it's not really worth it for me to put the work in to do so unless people will use it.
Thanks for giving it a try, and I await your thoughts. If you would like to contact me about it, there's a Contact Me page on my blog that I linked to where you can send me an email. I'd really appreciate your feedback, whether it's negative or positive.
I have updated this category to the new format and included more detail on each option.
I am reviewing a few of the recommendations in the comments and hope to have any good ones included in the next week.
Please keep the suggestions coming and I will take a look at them and include them if they are easy to use and work reasonably well.
Thanks,
Jason
I'm using Comodo's EasyVPN. It's really easy to use, however, it does require someone at the other end to click "accept" I use it to help my grandparents when they are stuck. http://easy-vpn.comodo.com/
Comodo's EasyVPN is free for personal use and requires the installation of the VPN software on both sides. If you just needed to access a computer once for a friend then this software might not be what you are looking for.
It is mostly intented to 'extend' your home network to the computer at the office or something similar.
-JHand
My personal favorite in this category is definitely UltraVNC Single Click. I use it to support everyone from friends to my customers. I have it setup for two different machines one at my office and one is my laptop, use a dynamic dns service for the laptop, and have static ip at my office. For the EU, the program is simple, download, run, double click which tech I want them to connect to and that is it, and once i'm done and exit the program it completely removes itself, no installs, no registry files, nothing.
http://www.uvnc.com/pchelpware/sc/index.html
Total Tech
Nice Find, I was unaware of this one!
LMAO, just use the up to date remote desktop for your xp windows.
The only problem with relying on remote desktop is that you have to configure the end users side if a router is in use. You also need to know their username and password. Remote Desktop is limited in that sense.
ntrconnect.com
*This site offers a free version similar to Logmein. -JHand
Andrew, I would like to cite your article at my remote access software solutions web-site http://remote-access-software.net
Teddy Bennett
Hi all,
there is one issue that I would like to add. I use remote access software to support others, like family and friends. Usually the person on the other side is a computer literate and the easier it is for him to let me access his PC, the better for me as a supporter. That's why I prefer those tools that are easy to use for the other person. And Crossloop is my top choice in regards to that requirement. One file to download, it installs easy (W2K or higher) and with a few clicks it works. It surely beats Microsoft's own Windows Remote Assistance in that matter.
Best regards,
George
That is interesting as I tried crossloop and it was pitifully slow , logmein was much faster
That is true, crossloop was horrible when I ran the demo, it would even disconnect and hang, the easiest and fastest is teamviewer hands down, i have able 75 pc's with logme in free installed and will be converting them to teamviewer.
LogMeIn scared me when I tried to download it. You have to create an account, enter an email address, then it asks whether this computer is the one you want to share, some Java app starts,... at that point I closed my browser.
So my trust in that service is gone since it seems that it "phones home" with my personal data. I don't like that. Maybe that's wrong, but then why all the hassle in order to download something?
Regards,
George
For the record, logmein is a legitimate company, there is nothing to worry about as far as malicous activity with them, they are huge probably the largest remote access company right now, I own a computer franchise and our whole organization has an agreement with logmein to use their products, I just think they are over proced and chose to use the free product.
Has anyone used DESKTRA Yet??
www.desktra.com?
Bless
Annie
Yeah, but that requires Win XP Pro. I Have home...
TeamViewer is a nice one... quite simple to use
Anupam Shriwatri, India
Gencontrol is also useful...
* Gencontrol is not Vista compatible and appears to only work in a LAN environment. I was unable to access the Gensortium.com website so it is possible that it is down or offline. -JHand
ive found teamviewer very good as well because you dont need a user to answer and let you get onto the remote desktop, you obviously only need the password to let you get onto the remote desktop.
I also use a freeware voice communication program called 'Walkie Talkie' that needs to be answered on the remote desktop, However you can answer the call yourself on the remote desktop by using teamviewer :)
Oh yeah before i finish this post another nice thing about teamviewer is i can open the webcam software and see who in my lounge and kitchen area using my webcam and even record every thing the camera see's and play sound files to get my wifes attention and even shutdown my main computer, all from my laptop :)
unfortunately ive only tested it on lan. It should work the same way on internet.
:(
yep, for the end-user TV is excellent. you don't even have to install anything, creates a temp folder in my doc folder, and it can bypass firewall at ease (just don't forget to delete TV firewall rules in the end of session).
By the way, I'm using 64 bit Vista.
Thanks,
Ariel
Do I need a VPN before I can use VNC? If not, please let me know what I need to do.
Thanks,
Ariel
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