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Free Remote Access Tools For Windows and Mac Compared

Posted by timothy on from the wish-you-were-here-printing dept.

snydeq writes "InfoWorld's Keith Schultz provides an in-depth comparison of seven free remote access tools for Windows, four of which offer compatibility with the Mac. 'As you read about each tool, you'll notice that I put a lot of emphasis on remote printing. I rely on remote access tools on a daily basis, and in most cases I need to be able to print to my remote PC. For someone that just wants to check their home/office email account or view documents from outside the office, all of the utilities here will work fine. But for those trying to get some serious work done, remote printing may be the deal breaker.' Many of the free tools under review offer paid or licensed versions for access to additional features."

15 of 152 comments (clear)

  1. They're all free! by ProdigyPuNk · · Score: 4, Informative
    ...Unless you want something besides a demo version.

    Many of the free tools listed here also have paid versions that offer additional features (such as support for remote printing) or licensing (extra host computers or clients). For some users, the paid version will be the only true option.

    ...and I was getting all excited, too. TBH, I switched to Linux a few months ago and remote administration/printing/etc is one of the pluses. It's great to be at school, think "Uh-oh, forgot that term paper," and be able to grab it off the desktop at home.

    1. Re:They're all free! by je+ne+sais+quoi · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The whole reason I use macs at work is that it's underpinnings are unix so I can use all those great tools that I use on linux at home and on my computing clusters on the mac. So, my remote computing solution is fuse, sshfs, fink and X11.app on the mac side, and ssh. Works like a charm. I even have konqueror installed on my desktop mac so I can have a remote gui file browser.

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    2. Re:They're all free! by Sancho · · Score: 3, Informative

      If you can make it work at home, you can make it work at work.
      Plus you'll likely be more productive if you keep using the same environment all day.

      If I have to spend a lot of time making something work, that's not productive. On my own time, I'm allowed to be unproductive. At work, if I'm spending time fiddling around making my OS run, I'm not doing real work.

    3. Re:They're all free! by T-Bone-T · · Score: 3, Informative

      Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection is free for all Windows and Apple users and is the full version. You don't even have to install it on Windows, it already is installed(provided you have the right versions of Windows).

  2. lpr by Hatta · · Score: 4, Funny

    You shouldn't need any extra software to print remotely in OS X. Just cat a postscript file over SSH and into lpr on the remote machine.

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  3. Teamviewer is the bane of the computer guy by alen · · Score: 5, Funny

    i used to tell my mom who lives 2000 miles away "i don't know" or "I need to be there"

    now i can have desktop access to her laptop over the internet. and for free

  4. RDP, NX vs VNC by FrenZon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'd be interested to know how good these are at actually doing UI updates - I'm assuming they're all similar in implementation to VNC, which is a shame as you cannot really compare VNC-based systems to the speed of more integrated solutions like RDP and NX.

  5. SSH X forwarding for Mac/Windows by 0racle · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Honestly, what I would really love to see would be something like SSH X forwarding to run a single remote app from a Mac or WIndows machine. I have a MacBook, it has a 13 inch screen. My Linux desktop at home has a much larger screen. I wish I could just forward individual Cocoa apps the same way you can run remote X apps over SSH and run them on the larger screen without having to hook the monitor, a keyboard and mouse to the Mac.

    --
    "I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
  6. UltraVNC - Single Click by ka9dgx · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I highly recommend using UltraVNC-SC. You configure it for your needs as a support person. The person you support has to run a small single EXE file, and you then have control over their machine. Quick and efficient access to someone's desktop to see what they see has made a vast improvement in my ability to support people for the past 5 years or so.

    1. Re:UltraVNC - Single Click by ducomputergeek · · Score: 3, Informative

      The only problem is that it's windows only. There is no UltraVNC SC for Mac/Linux users.

      Also, if your dealing with a shop that has to be PCI-DSS or as part of a PA-DSS application, the PCI folks want to see at least 256bit AES encryption. The 128-bit solution isn't enough. So far the closest we've found is Logmein and we only support clients on Windows or OSX.

      But we're looking at an NX based solution to deploy later this year or early next year which will allow us to do remote administration/maintenance for Windows, OSX, and Linux boxes.

      --
      "The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money" - Thatcher.
  7. There is support for Mac Remote Desktop by www.sorehands.com · · Score: 3, Interesting

    They talk about RDP for Mac, but they are only talking about the client. There is a
    beta version of Mac Remote Desktop that allows an RDP client to connect to a Mac.

    It is called Mac Remote Desktop (surprised?) There is some information about it at http://www.aquaconnect.net/mac-remote-desktop.php

    Aqua Connect also has a version for Mac Server, called Aqua Connect Terminal Server. More information is at http://www.aquaconnect.net/

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  8. Missing: Obvious Windows Remote Access Tools by Nova+Express · · Score: 4, Funny

    This article seems to be missing some of the most common, well-known remote access tools for Windows:

    • Storm
    • Conficker
    • GUMBLAR
    • Renos
    • etc.

    These are just a few of the very common tools used to remotely access Windows systems every day!

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    http://www.lawrenceperson.com/

  9. "Screen Sharing" for the Mac by Concerned+Onlooker · · Score: 3, Informative

    For those Mac users connecting to another Mac there is always the "Screen Sharing" app located at /System/Library/CoreServices/. It's already there. It's free.

    --
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  10. Speed is the deal-breaker by h00manist · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The only things I have used that had reasonable speed for real work were RDP, Citrix, and LTSP. I used vnc, tightvnc and ultravnc many times, but never found it to be usable for day-to-day stuff.

    --
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    1. Re:Speed is the deal-breaker by StuartHankins · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The only things I have used that had reasonable speed for real work were RDP, Citrix, and LTSP.

      For GUI work, yes you have it nailed. But it depends on your needs I guess. Most of my work can be done via ssh, so PuTTY works great for my tasks. I use TouchTerm on my iPhone to check on things during meetings as needed... it makes quite an impression when they ask how many parts or customers we have or how much in sales over some period for some group of items and I just login and check instead of getting back to them later.

      I'm not against using a GUI, but most of my work is SQL or bash scripting or shell commands or whatever, and text works just fine for that.