How to access computer remotely?

Discussion in 'other software & services' started by Luxeon, Apr 4, 2009.

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  1. Luxeon

    Luxeon Registered Member

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    I hope this is the correct forum for this post.

    Anyway, my wife likes to work on the computer while I am at work: e-mail, picture editing, creating scrapbooks, etc.

    We have a 10-month-old baby, and our office is not baby-friendly at all, so I am trying to figure out a way that she can do her work remotely.

    I figure we can get an inexpensive laptop and use it as a literal remote control for the main computer. This way, she can sit in the living or dining room, where our 10-month-old can be watched.
    I would like it to be just like she is sitting at the main computer--but with some mobility.

    I have read about programs that allow access remotely, but they appear to work via the internet. Though this is a consideration, I would prefer to use a wireless connection (or wired, if necessary) directly to the main computer. She will not be more than 20-25' away from the main computer.

    I know that Vista (and XP?) allow remote access somehow...but, I'm not sure if it would allow "remote control."

    Has anyone ever done this? Any ideas as to how to achieve my goal?

    Many thanks,
    Bob
     
  2. ratchet

    ratchet Registered Member

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    TeamViewer is your answer! Free for personal use and no setup involved, it does it all.
     
  3. fce

    fce Registered Member

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    +1

    i'm using teamviewer everytime my mother have problem on her laptop.....USA to Asia :thumb:
     
  4. Raza0007

    Raza0007 Registered Member

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  5. ThunderZ

    ThunderZ Registered Member

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    Native Remote Desktop should do the trick.

    Had the Wife set-up via wireless XP laptop to XP tower. Worked flawlessly.

    If you are running Vista then this LINK may help.
     
  6. Sully

    Sully Registered Member

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    I have not used TeamViewer much at all. It seems nice what I have played with though.

    For your situation, using built in remote desktop works. Only downside IMO is that there can be no user logged on that machine while you are remote controlling.

    I myself use TightVNC a lot. It is very fast on a local network. And allows the user to stay logged in. Don't know if that is a concern or not.

    Whatever you do, speed is most important when remote controlling. So on the remote machine, turn the eye candy off if possible. And when connecting to remote machines, the program connecting with should hopefully have options like bringing in sound or wallpaper etc. Turn those off. This helps to minimize that laggy feeling when working remotely as you may not need to have those features remotely. Anything you don't have to have 'sent' to the laptop should make it faster.

    Sul.
     
  7. LenC

    LenC Registered Member

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    Teamviewer has worked flawlessly for me (nonexpert) allowing me to check status of my son's computer at college. It's as if I am sitting in front of his computer - amazing!

    BTW, Teamviewer turns off all the eye-candy automatically as Sully suggested you should do. Temporarily puts computer in vista-basic display mode and removes wallpaper. When I sign off, the remote computer goes back to normal.
     
  8. Sully

    Sully Registered Member

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    I really am going to have to find a use for TeamViewer sometime soon and play with it a lot more. It sounds very inviting.

    Sul.
     
  9. YeOldeStonecat

    YeOldeStonecat Registered Member

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    I use Teamviewer for remote support. For remote access, you may find LogMeIn free is a bit "smoother". Windows native Remote Desktop is the smoothest.
     
  10. Fontaine

    Fontaine Registered Member

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    Logmein is my personal choice, but using it from a laptop can be a pain because the text on the screen is so small. If I enlarge the screen, then I have to scroll across and up/down too much...it's really annoying...but it's still my preferred choice for remote logins.
     
  11. yashau

    yashau Registered Member

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    UltraVNC is faster on a LAN connection than TeamViewer. :)
     
  12. pwr

    pwr Registered Member

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    Although it will disconnect you as random intervals and display a message saying that this was a sponsored session. At least it does this to me when I use it from work. Could be anything from 5 to 15 mins into a session.
     
  13. Luxeon

    Luxeon Registered Member

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    This is excellent first-hand info, something that is hard to find via an internet search.

    I think I found a nice little netbook that will suit her needs, and I also found a neat site which describes how to set up a home network using various methods. I am leaning toward a wireless router setup for security reasons. The "ad hoc" wifi setup seems like it might be somewhat insecure.

    I obviously have a LOT more research to do...:)
     
  14. philby

    philby Registered Member

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    Hi Luxeon

    Bear in mind that if you want your wife to be able to restart the main PC remotely, the full version of Teamviewer will need to be installed on that machine and run as a Windows service - you can choose this option when running the installer.

    This will save her having to go to the machine, restart it and mess around with adding a new password to the notebook to start a new session.

    philby
     
  15. Threedog

    Threedog Registered Member

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    I use Crossloops all the time to remote with my mothers computer to fix up her mistakes. Works good for me.
     
  16. Sully

    Sully Registered Member

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    I just found out that the latest version of tightVnc you can use some driver called dfmirage, supposed to be very quick screen grabs over normal tightVnc. I will be testing shortly and post back.

    Sul.
     
  17. MrBrian

    MrBrian Registered Member

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    Has anyone tried Gbridge? It's on my to-do list of programs to try.

    Some reviews: http://lifehacker.com/5056356/share-files-and-remote-control-desktops-with-gbridge and http://www.ghacks.net/2008/10/05/gbridge-share-sync-vpn-and-backup-extension-for-google-talk/.

    An advantage over some of the other software mentioned here is that Gbridge should be secure, and also allows you to use Microsoft Remote Desktop, which should be fast.
     
  18. hossie

    hossie Registered Member

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    How about DMware or simple Remote desktop in Windows. I think simple remote desktop should be fine.
     
  19. philby

    philby Registered Member

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    Hello hossie

    I tried to set up remote desktop between my two Vista machines but continually received the message "The domain/workgroup does not contain any terminal servers" even though the relevant services were auto. in services.msc and no firewalls were active.

    I googled a little and it seems that a registry change is required if you're on a home network to get your boxes to present themselves as terminal servers.
    Is this correct?

    See here

    (I assume this XP-related article applies to the issue I had with Vista)

    Should RD really be so inconvenient to get going?

    I didn't bother with the change in the end as Teamviewer worked straight off.

    philby
     
    Last edited: Apr 8, 2009
  20. Sully

    Sully Registered Member

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    Indeed, using this driver on the server machine does make an appreciable difference in how 'smooth' the actions are on the client. However, it is not to be used really on a machine that might play games or other video related things. I put it on my kids machines, and while the difference was noticable, some games refused to play in full screen mode. Removing the driver fixed the problem. I will be putting this on my servers though. The nice thing about tightVnc for me, is one router rule to state that port (normally 5900) to machine (insert machine IP here) is all that is needed. Unless you want to allow remote sessions via browser, in which case port 5800 is used. This way, with a strong password, I can hit my server from any computer anywhere with no special software. Makes a strong case over having to have specialized software on the client.

    Sul.
     
  21. pwr

    pwr Registered Member

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    Another thing about Team Viewer: the handling of the mouse could have been more elegant. What I mean by this, is the way that your movements and clicks are handled. If the connection is jerky, then the mouse where you are physically sitting and controlling it - will reflect the jerkiness of the remote mouse. This should not have to be so, as mouse movements and clicks do not have to be syncronized.

    For example: lets say that on the pc where you are physically sitting, you have a connection to your pc at home. In the teamviewer window on the work pc, you are moving the mouse to click on an icon. But because the connection is jerky - so is the "remote mouse" as reflected in the teamviewer window. If instead, you didn't even see the remote mouse but information about what the LOCAL mouse's position is, and the status of the buttons - are sent as "one packet" as soon as the LOCAL side notices a change in the buttons. This would be like client-server prediction without "prediction" kind of. It would be 10000% smoother over jerky connections.

    The only use I could think of where this is a problem, are if you are drawing something and actually need the movements of the mouse to draw a shape.
     
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