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Ask Slashdot: Best App For Android For Remote Access To Mac Or PC?
An anonymous reader writes "Hi, I need to get remote access to my home Mac and Windows PC. At home, it's basically for watching TV, whereas at the office, I need it to work on files I am not allowed to take out when leaving. I know there's a lot of choice out there, but I need something free and reliable. What do you all recommend?"
TeamViewer. It's free and easy.
Learn something new.
Something something SSH if you don't need remote desktop, something something Dropbox if you need to share files between machines.
Are you saying that you need a remote access app to stream video from your home PC to a work PC?
I don't know if I'd want to use it to watch tv though..
He tried to kill me with a forklift!
I use teamviewer. Free for personal use. Does what you need.
Drive my kids nuts when they're on the computer and Daddy randomly connect to see what the heck they're doing. Keeps them on their toes and off questionable sites. With the help of opendns... I'll eventually put in a proxy when they get older though. Preserving what innocence I can...
Do not meddle in the affairs of sysadmins, for they are subtle, and quick to anger.
I need it to work on files I am not allowed to take out when leaving.
Are your bosses going to be cool with you transmitting all that data over innumerable, unsecured pipes they have no control over? Because if they don't want you sneaker-netting the stuff out...
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
I am a fan of Teamviewer, it is free for personal use and allows for access to both PC's, Mac's, and some Linux distros from other computers or through iOS, Winodws 8 and Android devices
Forward port 3389 to your machine on your router. This won't work with the Home edition of Windows.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microsoft.rdc.android
This space for rent.
> I need it to work on files I am not allowed to take
> out when leaving
Where I used to work, this is grounds for immediate termination. I'm sure there's a reason you can't take those files home in a portable/flash drive (trade secrets, etc) and you want us to help you cirumvent that restriction?
He clearly stated he cant take files off premise. Going off that fact, by accessing his PC remotely i bet he is also violating a few rules in the process.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Microsoft's built-in remote display technology.
The best RDP client for Android is Remote RDP
For the MAC, you could install xrdp which provides the same protocol to access linux/osx.
RDP is a very lightweight protocol, originally created by Citrix way back and bought or licenced by Microsoft, as they do with the bits of Windows that are any good.
Is it me or does that rather sound like you're watching TV while in the office and working on company documents at home? Confusing summary perhaps but if not then my recommendation isn't going to involve an Android app! ;^)
...sounds like it would violate your contract and get you fired but IANAL.
Also...
"...whereas at the office, I need it to work on files I am not allowed to take out when leaving..."
To at least try and provide some useful response however I tried the one and only android implementation of XServer with SSH tunnelling, it sucked. Hard. I'd try a VNC app if there is one.
I use VNC Viewer from REALVNC. It costs a couple bucks, but works wonderfully.
I find 2X Client RDP/Remote Desktop to work very well on the Android. It has full support for RDP in Windows. not sure about Mac, never had to use it.
I have been using Logmein Professional for the past month and it has been awesome, it will steam HD video but I use a Plex Media Server for that (especially with cloud sync).
My god, I've read the "summary" 5 or 6 times and still can't parse wtf the submitter is looking for.
- Android is only mentioned in the title, nowhere in the rest of the submission
- They need to use remote access to their home machines at home to watch TV
- They need to access files at work that can't be taken off-premises? Ignoring the assumed company policy violations, how does remote access to their home machines help that at all?
4 incomprehensible sentences and we're supposed to suggest solutions? Holy shit...
Depending on how your organization has set things up, I installed the Juniper Pulse client on my Android.
The 2X RDP client used to work and then stopped, but I suspect that's more on the VPN side than the RDP side.
For us, since we're already using the Juniper VPN stuff, the Android access was pretty darned easy. Awfully handy for keeping tabs on emails while on vacation.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Watch TV while at home. Work on files while at work.
Splashtop works, but isn't free. I do find it is smoother and less buggy feeling than the free VNCs. There's supposed to be a google chrome RDP plugin too, but I've not played with that yet.
PocketCloud's fake mouse is quite useful, even on a 4.something inch screen. It costs money, but you didn't rule that out.
RealVnc is encrypted and easy to use, you can customize it easily from both Mac or PC side.
I currently run a lab of 40 servers PC and MAC and from the comfort of my couch I have control everyone of them from my Nexus 7 tablet, Ipad mini and my nexus 5 phone if im on the go!
The app is a few dollars but worth every penny for me that is...
if you want something that works and does the job i'd go with RealVnc.
Assuming this is going to be a company official solution, the IT department should look at Citrix Marketplace and XenDesktop. This will allow use of Citrix Receiver on PC Web browsers, Android devices, and iOS devices.
This is up to par with security, it can be configured to whatever security policies a company has, even including a gateway that one uses a SecurID token to get past, and it is a system that is engineered to handle various corporate and governmental regulations.
Yes, there are other ways, but this is an "official" solution that will pass audits and the legal eagles.
NoMachine have finally released their app in beta. For streaming TV from your PC it beats Teamviewer. For access to files, I've used them since they started out and what with servers for mac and pc, I think the other solutions should watch out.
I need to get remote access to my home PC. At home, it's basically for watching TV, whereas at the office, I need it to work on files I am not allowed to take out when leaving.
The best sense I can make of this is that you want to watch TV on the job and work at home on documents you are not cleared to access outside the premises. Security at that level comes with teeth that bite. Hard.
If you think otherwise, you drank too much kool-aid...
Oh wait...
An enterprise solution like Citrix is hardly a solution for a home user. We've been using NoMachine for the past six months and now they've released their Android app, my wife and I are well chuffed for sharing files and doing remote work (we are both architects)
...any good administrator is going to know what you are up to, are there no devices that can filter and monitor outside traffic by port and application?
Jump Desktop is very good and SSH tunneling is built-in.
Only works on tablets though, not smartphones
If your security policy forbids removing files from the workplace, are you sure remote access isn't going to get you hot water as well? From a security standpoint, remote access to the same files you're not allowed to bring home is pretty much one of the same.
That said, the best free way of accessing a remote desktop is going to be VNC running on the localhost endpoint and then an openssh connection of some sort (forward or reverse) to authenticate and tunnel. You could also use FreeNX but configuration has historically be a PITA.
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SSH is what you should be using as your connection core, and then using VNC on top if you want a gui. On windows, I've found the cygwin based SSH servers superior (have tested almost every single windows SSH server that is FOSS).
Side note: Wow it's been a long time since I logged into /.
"It's ok, I'm completely secure as long as my iron is off"
Use MSTSC, built in for Windows
Got my mom a chromebook which is almost perfect for her. There's 3 current problems for the chromebook I have to solve:
1) unlike her old mac, I have no way to remote desktop to her machine to fix her problems. Is there any Remote desktop that lets me view a chromebook's screen. Google's own chrome remote desktop runs on everything except chromebooks it seems. Oh the irony.
2) Chrome books can't print to any USB connected printer. They require a compliant mac or PC to be in the household that they can piggy back off of. Either that or you have to buy one of a very few and not cheap choices of Cloud ready printers google has specified.
3) I need to find an modest priced ~20" external display for this computer that has easy to adjust brightness and tilt. I have an acer screen sh is using but like most screens these days the controlls to ajust brightness are so asinine menu you have to toggle through. The problem I have is that since I don't live near a best buy or a target I have no way to go test drive screens for simple brighness controls. The manufaturer's haven't seen fit to add to their descritpive features the notation: "Does not have jackass menus that old people can't use to do obvious things like brightness controlls". The also should advertise "does not take two hand and two feet dexterity in a standing position to simply adjust the goddamn tilt of the crappy plastic screen stand". Seriously, apple products fit and finish for these little details is seriously underrated. it's so easy to tilt an apple screen with one hand and have no danger of it toppling.
4) the fourth problem I have with chromebooks is not really germain to my mom's needs--- just my own. It appears that despite being a so called cloud computer there's no easy way to mount a local network disk on these things.
I really do like the chrome book idea however so I'm tying to work through this. I tried to go the the Linux route to fix the network issues but Chrombooks are not meant for running linux due to the crippling limitations imposed by having to run in developer mode.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Kind of surprised nobody has mentioned LogMeIn. It's free for personal use on up to 10 computers. There's a LogMeIn app for iOS and Android, which is free*. Then there's LogMeIn Ignition ($30), which lets you do file transfers, printing and other useful things if you're using LogMeIn Pro on the computers, which I think is something like $70 per computer per year. I bought LogMeIn Ignition for my iPad a couple years back and I've been using the free version of LogMeIn to connect remotely to Windows and Macs for years. Seems to work well even on relatively slow connections and on networks with fairly restricted firewall setups on either or both ends. I've even used it over a 3G connection, connecting to a 27" iMac no less.
LogMeIn are the ones who bought Hamachi, which lets you easily set up secure private networks between collections of Macs and PCs. Also free for personal use, up to five computers or something like that. Been using Hamachi to get secure remote access to certain oddball ports/services on remote computers for several years now. Hamachi however seems to have trouble connecting if certain ports are blocked on the network, so I've had much better luck using LogMeIn for remote desktop connections.
Not affiliated, just a satisfied user of both products. I haven't had any significant experience with TeamViewer so I can't make any direct comparisons, but I do know that when I was checking them out I didn't much care for how anal retentive TeamViewer is about licensing.
* I can't find the free LogMeIn app for Android. Maybe there isn't one. So I guess that leaves LogMeIn Ignition for Android, which is $30. It's one of the most expensive apps I ever put on my iPad (1st Gen), but it's been helpful enough and reliable enough that I think I can recommend purchasing it for Android if you like LogMeIn, especially if you want to do easy file transfers between your computer and your device.
Mmm very suspect. The first comment to get up is about Teamviewer. perhaps Teamviewer paid someone to write this question and start a remote access war???? TViewer, Logmein or NoMachine. Take your pick.
Where are you all living??? With your vnc, logmein, security this and nonsensical question hype. Who cares what he's doing with it or wants to do with it. If he wants to stream multimedia to another room
m, maybe he's wheelchair confined,, then he shouldnt have to pay. just use NoMachine - for home users it's free, for selfemployed pros it's free all the same.
VNC will never let you stream what's running on your media center. I use NoMachine. Tried Splashtop but it aint free if you are not on LAN. NoMachine is and they just released their app for Android.
When I was working for a small IT shop, I was using Jump RDP to access clients' computers from my tablet when we already had them set up with RDP access. Now, the cool thing about Jump RDP is, for computers without a static IP address, it has a companion app which you install on the computer which uses your email address to negate the need for the static IP. Further, if you don't have RDP set up on a computer for whatever reason, it can install a VNC server, and Jump RDP will connect by that. When I bought it, it only cost me $1. I think there's a free preview version, and I'm not sure if the price of the paid one is the same now, but I've found it to be pretty useful and effective.
The big problem with most remote access solutions for tablets is the user experience. Jump covers this by having a little handle under the mouse cursor you can drag around, instead of having to poke-and-pray, given the imprecise nature of the finger tip.
Admit it. You post strawman arguments as AC so you get modded Insightful for refuting them, rather than Troll
On a personal level, I have always liked the NX Protocol. It's easily installable on Ubuntu or CentOS. You can choose between the free and open source route, or for an enterprise roadmap, NoMachine reigns supreme in my experience.
NoMachine packages its free client/server solution for what seems to be any gnu/linux distro. Its IOS and Android clients are due for release in the coming months and can solve the original poster's "problem". I have no affiliation with nomachine other than being a bit of a fan due to their community commitments.
In all reality it becomes a matter of servers, clients, and protocols that fit within your network's architecture with varying degrees of comfort and performance.
Success without humility is an indulgence in arrogance
I need to get remote access to my home Mac and Windows PC. At home, it's basically for watching TV
so he has a TV card on a home PC, and while at home, wants to access the TV card data from another PC? aside from some dedicated, proprietary app that works w/ the TV card, forget it. no screen sharing app is going to handle video. perhaps by "TV" he meant video? if that's the case, choose from enumerable ways to share media on your LAN (SMB, DLNA).
a slingbox is probably the best solution for sharing TV to multiple displays.
whereas at the office, I need it to work on files I am not allowed to take out when leaving.
??? is TFA asking about remote access to files on a home PC, or files on a work PC? or, is it really saying that it wants to work on files on a home PC from work that are not allowed to leave the home? is he asking for a way to transfer files from work to a home PC?
sharing files and sharing (live?) video are two very different things. sharing from work to home, home to work, and home to home are also very different. there's different bandwidth and security concerns for each. there's not going to be one solution that handles all of this gracefully.
btw, if you are really asking how to work on files from home that you aren't allowed to remove from work, any sort of remote access violates that, in spirit if not other ways. even if you don't have the file on your computer, the bitmap representation of that data is going over the wire and present in the memory of your computer.
rsync and ssh
B-)
A friend will come and bail you out of jail, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "damn that was fun!"
PocketCloud has a free version for one machine and a Pro version for rdp/vnc to mulitple machines.
This app works very well with the built in vnc server on Macs, and I am sure you can install vnc servers on PCs too.
ssh into the system then tunnel RDP. Access.
that anybody uses Windows 8, but if you did you would hardly need any app band-aids. Access any network or printer anytime, anywhere. Use any browser that you want--EVERY Web site works miraculously--Flash (shudder) and all. Plus, run MS Office 2013 on your tablet and get some fecking work done! I had to buy a cheap Lenovo Win 8 tablet for business purposes and once I acclimated to it, I stopped using my Nexus 7 (I ditched iOS a long time go because iTunes) because everything worked all the time and I never had to run off to my PC in order to get something serious done. The bottom line is that you can't beat remote desktop and whatever the FREE Mac equivalent is (I forgot since I sold off all of my Apple stuff and I need more memory).
VNC.
- fails to auto-refresh correctly, and even has a refresh button to acknowledge this... This has been the way since its birth. Just lazy.
- remote algorithms are not up to speed with the current technologies. By greater at least 10yrs.
- constantly bombs out with various errors related to other running apps, one example is outlook (of all things) can cause the stream to terminate when opening.
My personal faves:
Splashtop
TeamViewer9
Very strange. Every time a remote access question comes up, there's always someone waiting with Teamviewer. Is this a shill marketing scheme they pay for? Are they worried they are not getting enough coverage? Perhaps they are worried that teamviewer is becoming popular with the online porn queens, just check twitter for that.
I wouldn't say the best. I've tried them all and just discovered NoMachine. I recommend this for best multimedia performance if you want access to your media center.
Provocatory topics and deleting user comments about suggested solutions. Hang your geek heads in shame.
Watching your files, and everything else...