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Easy Remote Access?

Posted by Cliff on from the for-those-of-us-that-tech-support dept.

TinyApps asks: "How do Slashdot readers make remote connections through firewalls and NAT routers when assisting friends/family/customers? Reverse VNC connection are relatively easy to setup, but there is also the free LogMeIn and WebEx's new free service that startstarted, this week. Do you all have any other ideas?"

3 of 99 comments (clear)

  1. Remote assistance by Dr.Opveter · · Score: 3, Informative

    On XP Remote assistance works well, you instruct them to go Start -> Help & Support -> Ask for assistance.
    On other windows platforms i've been able to help people out with Netmeeting as well.
    Otherwise VNC works fine..

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    Sample this!
    1. Re:Remote assistance by Cyberop5 · · Score: 4, Informative

      If you have Windows XP Professional, Microsoft Terminal Services is awesome, even over some slower connections. You can map the drives and printers to the computer you're on you can access any of your local files remotely or print remote files to a closer printer.

      You can activate it by enabling remote desktop from the System Properties dialog and adding whichever users you want to be able to use it. It uses port 3389 so you'll need to open it with whatever firewall you're using. Any windows XP machine has the client by default. Simply go to start, run, and type mstsc. Linux has a client called rdesktop, although its not as great as Microsoft's last I checked. Other Windows versions can run the client off the XP install CD or downloadable from microsoft. I keep a copy on my thumb drive.

      Also, netmeeting is still avaible on windows XP by running the program conf.exe. It'll start the netmeeting wizard then launch the program subsequently.

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  2. Run VNC over a VPN. (Acronyms!) by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 3, Informative


    Set up a VPN, which you need anyway to automate the transfer of files and do automated registry maintenance on Windows computers.

    Then run VNC, such as TightVNC or UltraVNC over the VPN. If the VPN is secure, and remote network is not suspect, then VNC over the VPN is secure.

    Beware, however, of Netgear's VPN routers. In my experience they are quirky and the technical support is very, very poor.

    I have questions myself. What is the best way to form a VPN? What is the best VNC?