Remotely Accessing Systems, Which Software to Use?

DfgDfg Admin
edited September 2011 in Tech & Games
I have been using Remotely Control software's for a while now and IMO not all of them are that great. I started with TightVNC and just VNC to LogMein. If you want to remotely access your system from anywhere than it's better to go for a solution that adds extra features such as web monitoring and wake up features. In my humble opinion it matters a lot which software you're using. Like, you will get better compression and picture on Teamviewer vs UltraVNC with it's mirror driver.

I will list the software's which I used in the past and give my feedback regarding it, keep in mind this thread is the first I created when I woke up, so if things don't go seem fluent... don't get mad.

TightVNC:
I primarily used TightVNC on Windows XP system which were on LAN. I find the software to be pretty decent and not resource intensive. Thanks to the mirror driver, I can pretty decent picture. But it's performance on Windows 7 isn't that great. Plus, I don't think it's the best system to use when you're trying to connect to someone else system. The setup procedure isn't that simple for a layman to follow.

UltraVNC:
It adds supports for Windows 7 but the performance is not nearly anywhere the other solution. I used this to access Raven system on LAN and the results were dull and unresponsive. I mean even on LAN it was lagged. This leads me to believe it wouldn't perform well on the Internet.

Windows Remote Desktop:

Perhaps a pretty decent solution for Windows users but again, you need to know the IP or other details to be able to connect to your system. Connection wise, it's pretty great and preferred method to connect to a Windows system, however it's not as flexible and you can't really connect via Mac.

Teamviewer:
Perhaps the best in the bunch when it comes to the setup. I mostly use TeamViewer for the initial setup. It has the option of running without installation and I only need to ask two bits from the customer. IP and password. After that, it's literally just a matter on clicking connect. Unattended setup is decent but you will need to install the whole system. Also, the compression and response is better than others. You can transfer files, do a VPN! and even do voice chat. These extra features make it more appealing to people who want a constant communication link.

LogMeIn:
Perhaps the most versatile of the bunch. The plus point of LogMeIn is the support for Mac systems. The setup is easy but I highly recommend connecting via Teamspeak and then setting up LogMeIn yourself. Otherwise, things would be complicated. One thing to note is that, you will need to register an account on LogmeIn to download the installation files and the other thing you should note, it's not free. But you can control systems by your browser which makes it awesome and the quality, scaling isn't that bad either.


In short people, I would recommend using Teamviewer and logmein. They're both great and offer much more controls and can easily be installed by layman, especially Teamviewer.

Comments

  • DfgDfg Admin
    edited September 2011
    I forgot about the X Server forwarding, apparently it's pretty good and secure thanks to SHH. TeamViewer and LogMein both encrypt the connection dunno if it includes the datastream which is should in any case.
  • SlartibartfastSlartibartfast Global Moderator -__-
    edited September 2011
    I've only ever used Windows Remote Desktop.

    Nearly all my remote access involves ssh. I've had to telnet into an ancient windows server once :facepalm:
Sign In or Register to comment.