Short Notice: LogMeIn To Discontinue Free Access

An anonymous reader writes "The remote desktop service LogMeIn sent an email to its users today notifying them that 'LogMeIn Free' will be discontinued — as of today. This is a major shock with minimal warning to the millions of users who have come to rely on their service, made all the more surprising by the fact that 'consensus revenue estimates for LogMeIn in 2014 are $190.3 million,' suggesting that their system of providing both free and paid accounts for what is ultimately a straightforward service that could be duplicated for well under $1 million was already doing quite well." Asks reader k280: "What alternative tools are available for free, and how do they compare to LogMeIn?"

Comments

Uh?

[jawtheshark]

Personally, I just set up two DNS servers, and my own dyndns service (inspired on freedns.afraid.org) and I make sure the people I support have the necessary port forwards for ssh using keys. From there on, it's just an ssh tunnel away for RDP or VNC.

Now, for a nice all-in-one-package, where you don't need to do anything yourself and don't need to prepare the target PC's, I'd say TeamViewer works perfectly fine.

Re:Uh?

[Anonymous Coward]

and I make sure the people I support have the necessary port forwards for ssh using keys.

Yea that compares to Logmein. Did you tip your fedora while you wrote that spew?

Re:Uh?

[Anonymous Coward]

>Uh?
>Personally, I just set up two DNS servers, and my own dyndns service (inspired on freedns.afraid.org) and I make sure the people I support have the necessary port forwards for ssh using keys. From there on, it's just an ssh tunnel away for RDP or VNC.

Clearly, you aren't their target audience. Are you really that clueless?

Re:Uh?

[jawtheshark]

Of course. For me it works. If you read further on, I mentioned the non-IT option.

Re:Uh?

[jawtheshark]

No, but we're on slashdot. Where a nerd is still allowed to be a nerd. You can bet your ass that I'm not the only one doing exactly this.

Re:Uh?

[jawtheshark]

It's not for tech support? A cursory glance at their website told me that. Instead of calling me a fuckwit, what about just telling me why I'm wrong? That would actually be useful, for those like me who thought it's used for remote tech support.

Re:Uh?

[Sarten-X]

Right, because I'm certainly going to set up port forwarding on my grandmother's machine, and my multiple non-server machines in my own home...

Now, let's see... 3390 was the bedroom machine, right? or was that the kid's room?

Re: Uh?

[Anonymous Coward]

Uh. I do exactly that on teamviewer all the time

Re:Uh?

[jawtheshark]

I have a hard time understanding why you would want to access a desktop machine at home. Isn't that by definition a security nightmare, especially with less clued-in users? However, if that's your thing, why not shell out for the Pro version of everyone favourite Windows version? Comes with RDP.

Re:Uh?

[Anonymous Coward]

I have team viewer install on a few client computers. It works great for tech support. So far everything I did with Logmein I could do with TeamViewer. If Logmein has something TeamVierwer don't it was stuff I never used.

Re:Uh?

[Anonymous Coward]

TIL, Euro IT dweebs are just as clued out as their US counter parts.

Re:Uh?

[Anonymous Coward]

I just hit the server, and WakeOnLan / bunnyhop from there if I need to hit another machine. No reason to have multiple machines exposed directly to the net.

Re:Uh?

[jawtheshark]

If you have a server ssh-accessible, you don't need any of that.

ssh -L 3389:wifes-computer:3389 myserver.no-ip.com

Now you have a tunnel going from localhost:3389 to the wifes-computer, going over myserver.no-ip.com. This means you point your RDP client to localhost and you magically connect.

Clients like Reminna can do this all from the interface.

Nothing is exposed, except for the server and only the ssh daemon. Everything is nicely encrypted. My example was for RDP, but you can do VNC too by using 5900 instead.

Re:Uh?

[PatMouser]

Umm... How about because I have a younger son who lives full time with his other parent. 850 miles away from me. And I need to be able to help him out because his other parent is not tech savvy.

Re:Uh?

[jawtheshark]

Of course... That falls under the tech support scenario? From what I understood, the AC was complaining about it not being always-on. If you follow the thread, I never said I didn't understand the tech-support scenario. Hell, I admitted I have my own infrastructure to do such things.

Re:Uh?

[jawtheshark]

... and others have said TeamViewer can do the always-on scenario too. I didn't know. I never used that feature.

Re:Uh?

[Anonymous Coward]

If you think this stuff is too hard then maybe you should just pay someone to do it for you.

Re:Uh?

[Anonymous Coward]

Go back to reddit

Re:Uh?

[Anonymous Coward]

WAH! I can't be bothered to pay for the solution I need, and I can't remember simple CLI commands! WAH! What the heck is Teamviewer and how do you expect me to learn another drop-dead easy FREE service that's even better and easier than LogMeIn!?!? WAH! I got years of easy awesomeness for free and now I feel entitled to whine and complain because everything's too hard for me! WAH!

Why the hell are you on Slashdot if you're complaining about nerd powers? Suck it up and come up with a solution or don't. Just put your big girl panties on and stop whining. Jeez.

Re:Uh?

[jawtheshark]

Easier? That's in the eye of the beholder. I think it's easy, as ssh is part of my daily work routine any way.

If you think remembering port numbers is so hard, you have totally totally overlooked that I said that Remmina does this for you. You don't need to specify a single port in there (assuming you use the default ones). Just fill in your ssh server and the name of the remote machine, set what resolution you like. Done.

Is it a nicely packaged solution? No! Does it work and is it relatively secure. Yes.

Re:Uh?

[Mdk754]

Ummm, I use teamviewer to get into home PCs from work all the time, while no one is home. Have you ever used TeamViewer?

Re:Uh?

[Anonymous Coward]

You people seem to be trying pretty hard to make yourself not be able to do this, or you completely lack reading comprehension. Several posts contained both a nuts and bolts way of doing it for people with minimal but common tools, and a way to do it easier with more specific, less common tools. But if you are so determined to make yourself fail at doing something that could be written down on a single stick note or for which preexisting tools will automate and were even mentioned in the posts you're replying to, there is no helping you. For a site supposed to be for nerds that are self motivated to learn, especially when most people realize a single post won't mention every detail of a topic or every competing brand of tool , don't expect much sympathy for knocking away spoon fed information.

Re:Uh?

[WillyWanker]

Personally I just cross the streams, align my Heisenberg compensators, and make sure my flux capacitor is online and I can tunnel into any machine using a combination of TTFN, IDK, LOL, and h(u)sh. Pretty simple.

But, y'know, if you want to be all lazy and shit you can just use Gbridge.

Re:Uh?

[Anonymous Coward]

``please''

Re:Uh?

[Minwee]

...So now I have to remember the SSH tunneling syntax (and still port numbers), and also be running an SSH server remotely, and also have go through a multi-step process to connect. No thanks.

You do that? All I do is run "go-home.sh" and then pick "RDP-home" off of the start menu.

Do you also negotiate HTTPS connections by hand when you connect to web sites?

Re:Uh?

[Sarten-X]

I think you're the one missing the reading comprehension.

I've been an IT admin for a decade, and a software engineer for about a decade before that. I can build tunnels in my sleep. I learn a new programming language every year or so. I'm not making myself unable to do this.

Sure, I can set up a tunnel by hand, but that's inconvenient at best. One of the benefits of LogMeIn was that it handled all of the routing for me, regardless of skill level. I don't need to have an SSH server on-site, or deal with port forwarding across disparate NAT devices, or figure out how to punch holes in a firewall that I haven't worked on in a year. I don't choose to spend my time that way.

Re:Uh?

[Sarten-X]

At some point, you wrote that script, no? And you had to configure each remote site as well, no?

As for HTTPS, no, I didn't write my own browser from scratch. I use the prepackaged tool that serves my needs. I don't suffer from NIH syndrome

Re:Uh?

[Anonymous Coward]

For a site supposed to be for nerds that are self motivated to learn, especially when most people realize a single post won't mention every detail of a topic or every competing brand of tool , don't expect much sympathy for knocking away spoon fed information.

The general point is that while ssh tunnels are fine, setting them up is like using tar. Just because we can, doesn't mean that we want to. I can use tar when I need to, and have for twenty years, but I go to OS X and right click and say "compress", and it does as good a job for all practical matters, and it's what I prefer.

It's awesome that the details are posted here... gonna be here when I need them next? No?

Re:Uh?

[Phics]

My company has dozens of free logmein systems our techs administer locally. Sure, one or two computers is just a tiny $100, ($50 on promo), but dozens of systems is a game changer. I'm not WAHing, but I think a lot of people were taken off guard. And yes, we do have paid accounts as well.

Re:Uh?

[master_kaos]

Maybe because I dont want to deal with port forwarding, nor dynamic ips (sure I could sign up for a dns service)
Just because we are on a geek website doesn't mean you need to do things in a more complicated manner than necessary. Logmein provided a nice centralized interface that got around those issues that I can use on any computer with a browser without installing any software. With RDP, change a computer? Great now I need to bring my IP/DNS list with me. No Thanks.

Re:Uh?

[jedidiah]

...and now they don't because they decided to dump the leeches.

That's the problem with depending on a "free" service. They were probably spending a lot of money carrying these mooches. Finally they had to cancel the free lunch. Not surprising really.

Now you can pay good money to be an idiot or actually learn how to do for yourself if you're too cheap to pay.

Re:Uh?

[Anonymous Coward]

Let me just stop you right there. Thanks to the simplicity of tools like Log-Me-In, Join.Me,Team-Viewer, and others, I have had to since upgrade my firewall to block based on application specific protocols. That was an expensive upgrade, but when you have the threat of Anonymous looming and digging for information and someone's Log-Me-In session decides it wants to start up without anyone else aware of what's going on, you learn pretty damn quickly to look for answers to resolve the problem at hand.

While Log-Me-In was a nice tool, the easy of use creates an open window that allows for people to jump in. Then you have the session data being scrapped from Team Viewer last year.

All in all, I would consider setting up your own VPN to be your best form of security. Relying on the people to make things easy only means your pants are low and someone could easily drop a coin in the slot.

Re:Uh?

[dreamchaser]

I'd mod you up as well if I had points today. Sadly, the days when this was a site full of resourceful DIY geeks are long gone. It's not quite as bad as reddit yet but it's getting there.

I know a lot of people who do similar home-brew solutions. You shouldn't be getting any heat for your suggestions, especially since you even offered a suggestion that was NOT a DIY.

Re:Uh?

[jawtheshark]

Thanks... I've been shaking my head in disbelief ever since I started reading the replies. Perhaps it's finally time to kick my slashdot habit. Thank you, and every one else who isn't painting me as a raving lunatic.

Re:Uh?

[jawtheshark]

I can totally understand you like the service. It seems it's worth something to you, right? Wouldn't the logical step then to get a LogMeIn subscription and become a happy customer?

Re:Uh?

[certain death]

HOLY JEEZUS MAN! Stop feeding the trolls would ya?

Re:Uh?

[Sarten-X]

Funny thing is, as an admin, I've steered a few clients toward paid subscriptions to LogMeIn, specifically because their free service was so good. By using it personally, I was aware of their features and updates, without needing to spend even more time researching. That's not going to happen any more. Now when I need a remote-control system for Windows beyond basic RDP, they'll get the same examination as their competitors. By getting rid of the "leeches", they also lost a competitive advantage.

actually learn how to do for yourself

I've already learned how to shovel my driveway, but I still chose to buy a snowblower.

Re:Uh?

[oatworm]

RDP? SSH tunnels? Blasphemy. If you're using an SSH tunnel, all you need to do after that is enable WinRM, hit the remote cmd console, download a VNC server using BITSADMIN, and then go from there. Bonus points if you somehow manage to rope PowerShell connection and session objects into the mix.

Seriously though, TeamViewer is fine. The point of LogMeIn was that, if you needed remote access to another user's PC but they weren't technically savvy, you could walk them through it without too much trouble. SSH tunnels and proper VPNs are certainly preferable if you're in charge of both ends of the connection, but if you're not, TeamViewer, Jump Desktop, and the like get the job done without too much fuss.

Re:Uh?

[Anonymous Coward]

TeamViewr is great when you want to show the person you are talking to 100 or a 1000 miles away what you are doing on their machine. RDP is great if you just need to take control of a machine and not actually teach someone.
Logmein was/is used as a tech support tool, allows you to teach your client/customer and walk them through what is being done. RDP does not allow for that.

To both the AC before me and cyborg_monkey fuckwit? how old are you? are we not all hear to learn and benefit from others expertise in certain areas. Why not be a little bit less of a jackass, and think before you reply.

Re:Uh?

[thewolfkin]

you can store a password with TeamViewer, set it up as a service to run in the background leaving it available to connect as long as the computer is powered up. You don't even have to relate to computers as ID number you can store then as names if you sign up for a free account. It runs on a flash drive (not sure if LMI does this or not) Far as I can tell that's everything a LMI user would want

Re:Uh?

[Anonymous Coward]

You still seem to actively trying to fail at reading comprehension considering despite offers of easy ways to do things, you ignore them and complain that the slightly harder ways are harder. Well duh. Despite the fact you could have setup the "hard" way in a script and disseminate it to less skilled people in less time than it would have taken for all of these comments, you seem more interested in complaining than actually getting things done.

Re:Uh?

[Anonymous Coward]

And the point being missed that you are replying to is that not only don't have to use commands, suggestions on how to not use such commands were already made by the same people giving the more complicated command. It is like a story about Winzip playing funny games with their license, so someone replies:

Well, all you need is "tar -zcvf foo.tar.gz mydirectory" or if that is too much to remember, just use 7-zip

Then people flip out over how hard it is to remember how to use tar and that they need a gui or want something easier. Some people seem so dense, that they can't handle being given two options if one of the options is not what they want, despite the other being exactly what they want. If you can't remember the port command, than just read the second half of the first post right above:

Now, for a nice all-in-one-package, where you don't need to do anything yourself and don't need to prepare the target PC's, I'd say TeamViewer works perfectly fine.

Re:Uh?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, like there is any difference between reddit and slashdot when it comes to circlejerking technology, emo fears about government and technology, and fedora wearing.

Re:Uh?

[chipschap]

That's the problem with depending on a "free" service.

Isn't that the most important lesson from all of this? Google cancels stuff willy-nilly (admittedly with decent notice). Other stuff disappears completely. Even paid services get acquired, merged, destroyed.

If you rely on a free web service for personal use, you could be in for a shock. If you rely on a free web service to run a business .... I don't want to buy shares of your company.

That said, I use gmail and Google calendar. I should know better....

What's the answer? I suppose I should say, "do it all yourself" but that can be a tall order, especially if you need to sync mobile devices or multiple operating systems. The truth is, I don't know of an easy answer.

Re:Uh?

[l0n3s0m3phr34k]

I second TeamViewer, it's the only product I found to punch through all my former work-sites firewalls without issue. I got VNC to bring up a java window in a browser, but the connection would just time out. Once I'm inside my home network, I use VNC from there to reach the other internal systems.

Re:Uh?

[Spiridios]

That's the problem with depending on a "free" service.

Isn't that the most important lesson from all of this? Google cancels stuff willy-nilly (admittedly with decent notice). Other stuff disappears completely. Even paid services get acquired, merged, destroyed.

If you rely on a free web service for personal use, you could be in for a shock. If you rely on a free web service to run a business .... I don't want to buy shares of your company.

That said, I use gmail and Google calendar. I should know better....

What's the answer? I suppose I should say, "do it all yourself" but that can be a tall order, especially if you need to sync mobile devices or multiple operating systems. The truth is, I don't know of an easy answer.

I'd say "if you rely on a third-party web service with no alternatives or exit plans, then you're screwed whether you pay for it or not." Relying on a third-party email provider is pretty easy, just point your MX record at the new server, bam, you're migrated. Ok, so there's replication and actual migration, but the point is email is standard and you can pick and choose at will if one service goes away. You were making backups right? When LogMeIn, Google whatever, Facebook, etc, go belly up, get bought out, or just decide to shut off the service you like because it's not profitable, you're sunk because they are not standard.

Re:Uh?

[fwarren]

Really. Geek Card revoked.

I set up a group of rules like 15110, 15111, 15112, 15113 then on my laptop I use a ~/.ssh/config file with entires like

Host HomeWife
  Hostname myhomeip.net
  Port 15111
  User honey
  Compression yes

Then I don't have to remember. BTW I know the external IPs, internal IPs, firewall rules, etc for all my work systems at multiple locations as well as my home systems.

Re:Uh?

[Jawnn]

OK. Fine. Everybody, STFU already with the whining about losing something that did not, ever, cost you a dime. We agree on that, but the decision to pull the plug on such short notice is clearly a shameless attempt at squeezing bucks out of those for whom an alternative solution is not reasonably within their grasp in a few days time. In other words, this company has no integrity. I can and will work out an alternative to LogMeIn, but I will never do business with that company now, because if I did not have that wherewithal, I'd have been forced to pay up, at least until I could figure out something else, and I'd have been doubly pissed in that situation.

Re:Uh?

[Sarten-X]

I've been an IT admin for a decade, blah blah blah, and I agree.

I don't think there is an easy answer, either. Each decision of what to use should have a cost/benefit analysis, which includes the risk of service loss or interruption. You can avoid vulnerability by adding effort, or lower costs by taking on risk. Even for a business, some risk is fine. The cost of a service loss, amortized over the lifetime of the service, may still come out lower than the cost of using a more reliable service*.

In your case (and mine), what are the risks of losing Google Calendar? Well, we'd have to switch to some other free calendar out there. I'd have to re-enter my few recurring appointments, but that's not so bad. To me, the cost of a failure is low enough that any mitigation attempt would cost more than just waiting until failure.

GMail is another story. I have a significant number of emails that I don't want to lose, and the cost of moving wall of my old messages to another server would be quite high if GMail ended its service tomorrow. To lower that cost, I forward important messages to a personal in-house server that's configured to only accept mail from GMail. That mitigation effort cost far less than a service loss, and now such a loss is less damaging itself.

* Off-topic, that reminds me of the incentive to use COTS hardware in high-end systems. It's cheaper to replace a cheap part than to get a rock-solid custom piece

Re:Uh?

[scubamage]

Another option; get a decent firewall. Most support applet VPN access to servers (basically you log into a webpage hosted by the firewall, it lists all of the systems on your network and allows you to launch an RDP/VLC session from there). We used this regularly with Sonicwall years ago, and I find it hard to believe they're the only ones doing it.

Re:Uh?

[Solandri]

The thing is, what he's describing is not pertinent to TFA. I've set up a similar tunnel into my home network for when I'm traveling and need remote access to my file server or virtual machines.

That wasn't what LogMeIn was used for. In fact you couldn't use LogMeIn for this type of remote access because it requires the computer you're trying to access to have a person in front of it to authorize you to access it. For situations where you want to use LogMeIn, the solution he's described is totally inappropriate and a huge security breach (most of my clients are doctors whose networks need to be secured to comply with HIPAA) because the client has now granted you or anyone you share the keys with permanent unilateral access to their network. You've essentially installed a backdoor into their network. LogMeIn was something a client could simply and quickly use to temporarily grant you remote access to their computer. You just send them a download URL, they grab the program and run it, you tell them a number to type in over the phone, and blammo - you have remote access until you or they end the session.

I'm all for describing DIY solutions when they're pertinent. But in this case it comes across as off-topic bragging, with a token mention of an alternative to try to keep his post on-topic.

Re:Uh?

[spire3661]

This is what happens when you rely on third parties to clean up the messy details.

Re:Uh?

[ottothecow]

I suspect you could do this with a WebEx as well.

Don't think its a free solution, but a lot of people have access to through their companies. Easy enough to walk through (just a browser and the occasional confirmation box), and once you get them in the meeting, you can make them a presenter so they can share their screen and pass control.

Not as quick as logmein, but I have yet to see a system (including pretty locked down corporate computers) that can't join a WebEx.

Re:Uh?

[Anonymous Coward]

Reddit has faaaaar better jokes. Slashdot is increasingly filled with pomposity and pretension - the humor here has gone very downhill.

Re:Uh?

[Minwee]

At some point, you wrote that script, no?

echo "ssh -L 3389:wifes-computer:3389 myserver.no-ip.com" > go-home.sh

And you had to configure each remote site as well, no?

The part where I enabled SSH on the gateway and then clicked the "Enable remote desktop on this machine" box was the hardest. It involved spending a minute reading the manual.

I use the prepackaged tool that serves my needs.

And in my case the prepackaged tools are "ssh" and "remote desktop". They're not only prepackaged, they are pre-installed in many cases and that makes their use even easier than installing a third party package. You are always welcome to do things however you like, but arguing that ssh with port forwarding is far more complicated to use than LogMeIn is a bit of a stretch.

Re:Uh?

[Sarten-X]

You say that like every gateway has built-in SSH, and a nice button on the administrative interface to enable it. Last time I checked, cheap DSL modems don't usually do that. Then, of course, if this is a tech support scenario, that gateway setting has to be configured by walking someone through the configuration process over the phone, often with no manual available.

What "a bit of a stretch" is assuming that the highly-manual process that works for one situation is acceptable for other situations.

Re:Uh?

[Anonymous Coward]

i only recently started logmein because i was getting lazy. i've been doing the SSH/RDP method for years, and SSH is only for the paranoid -- isn't even really necessary if you just open port 3389 and have a good password. so logmein turned out to be dickheads, that's fine, i never needed them to begin with. i'm a little surprised by this, because i've had friends recommend their service to me for years and they apparently relied on it, but i'm glad i learned how to do things for myself instead of just using the lazy-man's packaged solution.

Re:Uh?

[Anonymous Coward]

with a token mention of an alternative to try to keep his post on-topic.

That was about 40% of the post, so it seems like the DIY option is about as much of a "token mention" as the almost half of his post that you try to write off. And yet your post is almost completely about the "off-topic" solution, without any effort, token or otherwise, spent mentioning whether TeamViewer is an appropriate replacement.

Re:Uh?

[Anonymous Coward]

use PuTTY and WinSSHD then, you fucking baby. no CLI commands to scare you away..

Re:Uh?

[Anonymous Coward]

Slashdot...where the news is old, and the posters are useless...

Re:Uh?

[Anonymous Coward]

exactly this. if you relied on logmein to support your users, you should have damn well been paying for it. otherwise figure out how to do it yourself, it's not that fucking hard.

Re:Uh?

[rk]

As for me, I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt simply because you said "HIPAA" and not "HIPPA". There seem to be several "HIPPA experts" on Slashdot that I've mixed it up with, but for some strange reason, they don't even know the proper acronym for it.

Re:Uh?

[Anonymous Coward]

and I make sure the people I support have the necessary port forwards for ssh using keys.

Or use reverse ssh tunneling. Then you can just write a script for them to run.

Re:Uh?

[BLKMGK]

I just switched to TeamViewer, thankfully they too have an IOS application and are almost as easy to use as LogMeIn was - time will tell just how well it works when I'm on travel and want to access my home machines. I have in the past turned MANY people on to LogMeIn so that they may help out family members who's computers need occasional maintenance and who aren't local, at least one or two of them recommended the product to their companies for remote access on a paying basis. That will obviously no longer be the case moving forward and I think that this is a huge mistake by LogMeIn. They obviously believe that many people are using their service so heavily they cannot switch - surprise that's NOT the case as I just easily switched. I still like the product LogMeIn provided but this really felt like a betrayal and with the short notice I'm having to scramble a bit and i'm sure many others are even worse off. Why would I trust this company in the future after this? what's to stop them from taking my money and then deciding to bump prices like my cable company? No thanks, plenty of other solutions and I'm happy that this time I'm not rolling my own because sure as heck there's no way to try and get friend's who support their parents to do that. I tried using UltraVNC once upon a time for this and it was a disaster! At least Ultra is cross platform but right now I carry an IOS device and I've found no good client for that.

Re:Uh?

[Anonymous Coward]

Ah yes, lets make sure the barrier to everything is high and arcane just to make sure that we're good and secure. Right? No! If you cannot put in place policies to prevent this from being run on your systems with enough teeth in it to make it stick then the problem isn't that the program is so easy to run the problem is that your management has no balls. Make a policy, fire a few people who ignore it, get on with life. That works way better than complaining that someone has made it easy to circumvent your protections and that it shouldn't happen. You shouldn't be in an arms race with your users...

Re:Uh?

[BLKMGK]

And I may have spoken too soon, I think I see a Linux TeamViewer too! Okay, sorry LogMeIn but this just sealed the deal - I can manage my home desktop and the VMs on my ESX server all from one product. I no longer have top bring up Vsphere to get to my Linux VMs, way way better. Why LogMeIn never created a Linux client is beyond me but they sure just lost a bunch of folks by making them look elsewhere!

Re:Uh?

[mars-nl]

Wouldn't it be nice if we rolled out IPv6 years ago, so we would not have to deal with NAT and port forwarding today?
Instead we would just have all machines in our home/office reachable directly from anywhere (through a firewall of course). And you could set up a nice DNS scheme if can't remember your IP addresses, like livingroom.myhouse.org, kitchen.myhouse.org, mydesk.myoffice.com, etc).

Re:Uh?

[mars-nl]

I don't want to be dependent on some 3rd party software-as-a-service anymore. I still rely on google for my calendar too, but since I run my own server, I plan to move away and host it myself.

These nice (free) services...
- can be changed or terminated at will
- own your data, which can be sold or stolen (by thieves, which include governments)
- can be unreachable due to outages

I hope hosting your own stuff will soon be feasible for non-geeks too. Most people already have a fixed broadband connection and one or more computers in their house. We only need some easy to setup and maintain software package (email, calendar, filesharing, chat, etc).

Re:Uh?

[drooling-dog]

I don't even know what LogMeIn is or why I should need it over SSH for remote login. Maybe I've really been missing out on something big, who knows? But my first thought when I saw the over-the-top reaction to your post was... The astroturf is really flying today...

Re:Uh?

[Anonymous Coward]

IMHO as long as users with mod points (like me) are still modding tech-oriented posts like yours up, the place isn't totally hopeless. Maybe mostly hopeless, but not *totally* quite yet.

(fwiw I first joined back around 2000, maybe earlier.)

Re:Uh?

[router]

Yeah I dunno man, I have pretty much switched to reddit. Their comment sorting makes most of the losers disappear, or something. /. used to cater to people like you, who make excellent posts. Now you are yelled at by trolls. I don't understand it. You even posted the command for fscks sake!

Don't go too far, some of us still appreciate informed posts.

andy

Re:Uh?

[Anonymous Coward]

And as the post that AC replied to said: If you want a nicely packaged solution, use TeamViewer.

Your whole ranting thread is irrelevant.

Pot, meet kettle. It seems like your issue was addressed in the second half of the very first post of this story.

Re:Uh?

[master_kaos]

Nope, too expensive. $50/year/computer is way too much. Ill switch to an alternative.

Re:Uh?

[Anonymous Coward]

Go go gadget dick-measuring contest!

Re:Uh?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes you probably should kick the Slashdot habit. There are smart commenters like yourself here, but it's been mostly overwhelmed by the new generation of commenters who don't understand why anyone who's make their own solution when a perfectly good tool built by a company already exists. Nevermind the tool might have constraints or limitations that a home-brew solution would be able to counter, or simply because you have a novel technique you'd like to implement and prefer to have the resources under your control as much as possible. Sometimes it's just because you can, or as a learning experience.

I understand and appreciate that in this fast-paced world a lot of people don't have the skills, time and effort to learn and implement a solution by hand that can instead be implemented by a COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) solution. Heck it's a common things we do in Defense and the guys who make the gear probably do a better job than we'd ever accomplish. But for something like remote desktop, that's not particularly hard once you do some reading and it's a worthy project. The fact people disparage you and others for wanting to build your own solution that you can completely control instead of some other company, despite the fact you have the time to do so to make it feasible... that ain't right. That ain't right at all for a place like Slashdot.

Re:Uh?

[jawtheshark]

I occasionally use the Linux client to support (very) remote laptop users at our company. I run Linux, they either run Windows or OS X. Works fine. It feels a bit like a wine recompile, but it does the job just fine.

Re:Uh?

[AmiMoJo]

Free services might not cost money but they usually have advertising or some other way of making money from their users. Even the ones that apparently don't usually make their founders plenty of cash when the decide to go IPO.

What I'm saying is that free services only have value because people use them, and we pay either with our eyeballs or through the effort required to move to a new service. There is a relationship and if the company decides to screw its users they have a right to complain about it.

Re:Uh?

[Thumper_SVX]

Welcome to the future :)

Yeah, I've been running TeamViewer for a while. I have my two home servers (one Linux, one Windows) and my two personal laptops (Linux and a Mac) connected to my account. While I'm at work it's sometimes really handy to dial into any one of these and do some stuff (use Windows at work)... particularly when doing online banking or stuff like that.

The only gotcha I've found is versioning; quite often with the Linux client when they update the Windows client the backward compatibility with the Linux client isn't terribly good. It usually works fine for one major version back on Mac, but when they update the major version number you probably need to upgrade your Linux clients first. It's a minor maintenance issue in my opinion, and I just add it to my workflow when I do system updates on the Linux boxes to check for a new version of TeamViewer.

Even free, it's really handy for helping out with technical problems for friends and relatives, too. Just two weeks ago my son had a problem with his laptop and I was able to connect in while I was out of town in Denver and fix his problems. Even if they don't have TeamViewer installed there's a standalone executable version that you can talk someone through downloading through an emailed link or even on the phone. Now obviously if they are having network or Internet problems that's not going to work... but neither is any other solution short of an on-site visit.

Re:Uh?

[Thumper_SVX]

I'll side with you a bit. I do technical remote support for a couple of small companies near me. While I have actually paid for the paid version of TeamViewer for supporting their PC's, I do use SSH -L when I'm doing server-side work more often than not. I don't like putting remote access solutions onto my servers, and having an SSH connection available is really handy... though not on port 22! :)

Honestly, your solution is just fine for the technical... and if you're a little lazy there's nothing stopping you from creating a set of shell scripts for frequent connections. I do this all the time.

Of course, the advantage of a solution like LogMeIn or TeamViewer is simply that you don't need static IP's for it... or even for RDP to be turned on (it isn't at most of the companies I do business with except for servers).

Re:Uh?

[Anonymous Coward]

If you set up a VPN you can RDP over that, it's simpler than any of that other crap.

Re:Uh?

[goozer321]

You're so cool and clever.

Re:Uh?

[goozer321]

Yes, there are lots of tossers like you. Care to put the shovel down?

Re:Uh?

[Samizdata]

Same here. TeamViewer works a treat and lets me support people whether I am in Windows or Linux that day.

Re:Uh?

[Samizdata]

The other nice thing about TeamViewer. NAT traversal WITHOUT leaving a port open.

Well ...

[Anonymous Coward]

That escalated quickly.

Re:Well ...

[NibbleG]

It did, JewTheShark killed a guy...

Re:Well ...

[NibbleG]

Honestly, I didn't mean Jew the shark... that was an honest typo...

Re:Well ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Thank you for making me laugh -- that's the best typo (and "oops ohshit!"disclaimer)I've seen in ages. That it's modded "informative" rather than "funny" only makes it better.

Chrome Remote Desktop

[essbase_nerd]

Chrome Remote Desktop doesn't have all the bells and whistles that LogMeIn has, but it's simple and works well.

Re:Chrome Remote Desktop

[The MAZZTer]

Only thing it's missing, for me, is an Android client app, and that is coming. Until then TeamViewer works pretty good.

Re:Chrome Remote Desktop

[lesincompetent]

Make that very good!

Re:Chrome Remote Desktop

[R3]

Seconded.
Since I am considered to be a go-to IT guy for my friends and family and about 90% of them are using Chrome anyway, the transition from LogMeIn (and VNC for couple of them) was easy.
On their side it was just one plugin to install, per-session passwords (PINs) are nice (nothing to write down and/or remember (forget)), great performance regardless of platform.

Re:Chrome Remote Desktop

[mrbene]

Important note - Chrome Remote Desktop works by default as a screen scraper, so that anyone physically near the computer you've remotely logged in to can see what you're doing on the monitor. However, there's a simple registry key that you can add to enable "curtain" mode, which spins up an instance of Remote Desktop and connects to that, instead.

More information here.

Re:Chrome Remote Desktop

[techybod]

I got the email this morning , and must use Log me in twice a month to support my parents who live some distance from me. A friend recommended Teamviewer after I got the email , so will be trying it tonight to see if it meets my requirements. Dont think I can go back to 1st line support style questions with my mother anymore!

Re:Chrome Remote Desktop

[Nova1313]

I second this. It is good tool and works well. The average user does not need to fiddle with DNS or firewalls to get it to work.

Re:Chrome Remote Desktop

[HerculesMO]

This is excellent -- did not know about this extension, but it's great for my purposes. I use TeamViewer for most things as I can install a client on a remote PC and it does everything, so this is a nice alternative to help out family and friends.

Re:Chrome Remote Desktop

[Tx]

I use logmein for the same purpose, and I must say I might have considered signing up for pro, but the zero-notice cancellation of the free account has left a major bad taste in my mouth. It's a pretty blatant attempt to rush people into signing up for the paid program, because hey, give people a month's notice to evaluate alternatives and the might find something else they like. For that reason, there is zero chance I'll sign up for logmein pro.

Re:Chrome Remote Desktop

[Anonymous Coward]

Who cares if someone can see what you are remoted in to? That's the point isn't it? Remote support. If you're doing questionable things with the computer then yeah, you shouldn't be using an easily trackable service. I cannot think of an instance where I would not want the person to see what you are doing except if you are logging into your own PC remotely and then I wonder about your friends or relatives. Stolen PC? There are better services than a simple remote desktop app, such as Prey.

Re:Chrome Remote Desktop

[jez9999]

Unfortunately, it looks like they have no plans (see "known issues") to allow you to remote into Linux desktops. So this lets you go from Linux -> Windows, but not Anything -> Linux.

Re:Chrome Remote Desktop

[Anonymous Coward]

I would like to echo this comment. I support my elderly parents with LogMeIn and would have considered paying for their service if not for the strong-arm tactics they are using.

Re:Chrome Remote Desktop

[Anonymous Coward]

Or you maybe just accessing my own desktop at home or the office for a file I forgot or some software I don't have where I am and not wanting someone to stare at what I am working on.

Re:Chrome Remote Desktop

[dskoll]

Why do you need a remote management tool for Linux? There's SSH fer cryin' out loud and if you really need desktop access, use VNC.

Re:Chrome Remote Desktop

[chispito]

Important note - Chrome Remote Desktop works by default as a screen scraper, so that anyone physically near the computer you've remotely logged in to can see what you're doing on the monitor.

Just turn the monitor off before leaving the house/office.

Re:Chrome Remote Desktop

[zugmeister]

I received that happy email myself this morning and am considerably less than pleased. However, at the risk of not conforming to a potential lynch mob mentality, it would appear they're giving me 6 months of pro service on my existing account before they turn it off. This is plenty of time to make a change.

That they would make a major change like that which invalidates a previously purchased product, in my case an excellent $130 program called Ignition, with no recourse to continue other than paying them more money, tells me all I need to know about how LMI views their subscribers.

Baaaa!

Re: Chrome Remote Desktop

[Anonymous Coward]

I think some of the biggest linux distris have VNC built in anyway, that could work

Re:Chrome Remote Desktop

[jez9999]

To get through NAT and overly restrictive corporate firewalls? That's why I would use LogMeIn. My boss even recommended I use it.

Re:Chrome Remote Desktop

[Minwee]

Important note - Chrome Remote Desktop works by default as a screen scraper, so that anyone physically near the computer you've remotely logged in to can see what you're doing on the monitor.

Just turn the monitor off before leaving the house/office.

I will be sure to tell the auditors that when they ask how the cleaning staff found out the contents of our quarterly report a week before it was released.

"But I turned off the monitor before I left the buliding! And sprinkled lemon juice on my keyboard! There is NO WAY that anybody could have intercepted that information."

Re:Chrome Remote Desktop

[hawguy]

To get through NAT and overly restrictive corporate firewalls? That's why I would use LogMeIn. My boss even recommended I use it.

If they block outbound SSH through the firewall but allow LogmeIn, I'd say that's an underly restrictive corporate firewall.

Re:Chrome Remote Desktop

[halltk1983]

Put SSH on port 443. Tunnel through for VNC.

Re:Chrome Remote Desktop

[chispito]

I will be sure to tell the auditors that when they ask how the cleaning staff found out the contents of our quarterly report a week before it was released.

"But I turned off the monitor before I left the buliding! And sprinkled lemon juice on my keyboard! There is NO WAY that anybody could have intercepted that information."

If you can afford a cleaning staff you can afford to pay for VPN. I was thinking of the home or home office.

Re:Chrome Remote Desktop

[Chris Mattern]

Firewalls? Set SSH to listen on whatever port the firewall lets in. NAT? How does LogMeIn get through NAT, if it comes to that? If it's through a proxy, SSH can do that. You need to set up the proxy before hand, but that would be the case for LogMeIn, too.

Re:Chrome Remote Desktop

[Anonymous Coward]

Very well.

Re:Chrome Remote Desktop

[jez9999]

I'm guessing that with LogMeIn, both sides connect a central server that has its own IP, and communicate that way. It defeats NAT, but requires an annoying amount of infrastructure to exist for it to work. The best solution is to get rid of NAT.

Re:Chrome Remote Desktop

[Bosconian]

https://www.nomachine.com/

Supports Windows, Linux, OS X, Android, and they claim iOS soon.

Re:Chrome Remote Desktop

[thewolfkin]

you'll be fine. TV has a quick support exe if you need to literally walk them thru how to download. You can install the full version from Ninite. TV also has VOIP support and camera support which is fun. ANd utterly amusing to watch on their end.

Re:Chrome Remote Desktop

[chrisdoen]

Yes, coming soon for iOS. Logmein users might be heading on over to NoMachine pretty soon

Re:Chrome Remote Desktop

[sjames]

That's what ssh tunnels are for.

Re:Chrome Remote Desktop

[luckymutt]

There's an Android app called PocketCloud from Wyse that works well.

Re:Chrome Remote Desktop

[neoform]

There's something sketchy about having google control access to my remote desktop...

Re:Chrome Remote Desktop

[roc97007]

I use logmein for the same purpose, and I must say I might have considered signing up for pro, but the zero-notice cancellation of the free account has left a major bad taste in my mouth. It's a pretty blatant attempt to rush people into signing up for the paid program, because hey, give people a month's notice to evaluate alternatives and the might find something else they like. For that reason, there is zero chance I'll sign up for logmein pro.

Same here. What's really crappy about this (and may be intentional) is that I can't use Logmein Free to log into my remote clients and install an alternative tool. Which means I will have to walk each and every one of them through this by phone. Eesh.

Re:Chrome Remote Desktop

[roc97007]

Aw man I hadn't even thought of that. I'm an Ignition user also, and it's become useless now.

Re:Chrome Remote Desktop

[rjstanford]

Make that very well, even!

Re:Chrome Remote Desktop

[hodagacz]

I use it to tech-support my mom's machine once every couple of months. It's not worth paying for a subscription so I guess I'm shifting to TeamViewer.

Re:Chrome Remote Desktop

[Anonymous Coward]

i briefly considered buying the ignition client for android, since i started using logmein recently. i probably would have, eventually. now.... NOPE! microsoft has a stellar RDP client for android, and it's free. and i don't have to rely on a stupid fucking managed web service that will try to get me to spend money. just open a couple of ports on my router. the only reason i ever started using logmein was laziness, and a recurring monthly fee far outweighs the laziness factor.

Re:Chrome Remote Desktop

[mars-nl]

To get through NAT ...

Some people wonder why we need IPv6. Well, this is a good reason.

Re:Chrome Remote Desktop

[Anonymous Coward]

You're routing sensitive corporate information through a free service offered by the biggest data siphon on the net?

  I think the cleaning staff is the least of their worries.

Re:Chrome Remote Desktop

[Wolfrider]

--I really like nomachine NX, but ended up having to uninstall it in order to watch Blu-Ray movies on my laptop - their custom video driver was interfering with playback.

--Plus, in the latest rev they completely changed how it works; before, you could remote into Linux and it would start a new virtual X session + window manager. Now, it will only connect to an *existing session.* X11vnc already does this, so apart from NX's faster connection speed it's kind of a loss for me. :c

Chrome Remote Desktop

[Anonymous Coward]

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chrome-remote-desktop/gbchcmhmhahfdphkhkmpfmihenigjmpp

Works well for me across linux/osx/windows too, I got my retired mum to run it during a phone call so I could help her out.

rdesktop

[Anonymous Coward]

What more could you need?

Farewell logmein

[Anonymous Coward]

I guess I'll just find another free one...

Re:Farewell logmein

[Anonymous Coward]

And I'm sure that Logmein will be crying that you left.

Re:Farewell logmein

[houstonbofh]

And I'm sure that Logmein will be crying that you left.

I use several free services and never pay for them. However, I also recommend them to clients, and often they do pay for them. I am responsible for quite a few paid no-ip subscriptions, and I personally never pay. I was responsible for a few paid dyn dns subscriptions back in the day when they were free. Now I use and recommend no-ip. See how that works?

Re:Farewell logmein

[Anonymous Coward]

See how that works?
Sure it does, Sparky.

Re:Farewell logmein

[Anonymous Coward]

Even though the bulk of my 2 dozen computers are on the free plan, I have several that I DO pay for Pro for, as well as paying for Hamachi. I also have several clients that use a mix of Pro, Free, Cubby Pro and Hamachi Pro based on my recommendation. When I tell them how LMI went about this and that they will need to pay significantly more for features they don't want or need, they'll be more than happy to listen to my next recommendation.

It's a plus.

[Anonymous Coward]

All of these type services should do this, it's one way scammers get access to clueless user's computers.

"This is Microsoft Support. Your computer has virus, and we need to access it. Please log into this site with this ID."

Total BS.

Re:It's a plus.

[houstonbofh]

All of these type services should do this, it's one way scammers get access to clueless user's computers.

"This is Microsoft Support. Your computer has virus, and we need to access it. Please log into this site with this ID."

Total BS.

Scammers use the Internet too! Ban it! Please...

Re:It's a plus.

[Billly Gates]

All of these type services should do this, it's one way scammers get access to clueless user's computers.

"This is Microsoft Support. Your computer has virus, and we need to access it. Please log into this site with this ID."

Total BS.

Scammers use the Internet too! Ban it! Please...

Actually a very real problem! Arstechnica.com posted a story where in software reviews on amazon these guys got 0 stars with "They are SCAM ARTISTS SHAME ON YOU logmein!!?" etc

After seeing these reviews would you buy it? Or pay for DMWare instead?

The sole reason they are not free is because of granny's not knowing the difference between a product and a company filling better business bureau and writing negative reviews. AV ones got hit too saying avast called and wanted $150 am hour to fix x.

These reps are damaging and can take you under.

Re:It's a plus.

[bwcbwc]

Not banning it, just making it less attractive from an economic perspective. I agree with GP that the "Windows 7 support" scam is probably the primary target of this. A better approach would probably be to limit free accounts to connect to a single IP address and that IP address can only be changed to a new address for a fee. That way the scammers have to pay to redirect the service to their victims, while legit users can still access their home network for free.

An alternative

[Anonymous Coward]

I just checked my account and I have 7 days to decide to purchase. Their pricing really doesn't make it worthwhile. I would recommend Teamviewer. I have used this software for both personal and business needs and I think it does a very good job.

Re:An alternative

[Anonymous Coward]

About two years ago I was using free LogMeIn and plagued by the slow relay issues.

I bought the paid version as their website and tech support insinuated that the paid version would be faster.

After a few days of testing it was very clear that the paid version was no faster.

The good news was that I contacted support and they issued a full refund. Good stuff.

Teamviewer

[Anonymous Coward]

Teamviewer is a similar program with a free and paid option. Free for personal use, paid for commercial use.

Re:Teamviewer

[v1]

TeamViewer recently pushed an "update" that imposes a fairly short time limit on the free connections. This was not mentioned to the users prior to running the update. It also "upgraded your account" online so you can no longer run the older unlimited version of teamviewer.

That, combined with the obsession about not wanting you to install your licensed copy on more than one support computer (despite being totally online and trivially blocked from simultaneous instances) lead me to drop my support for them as well. We even bought a license, but having to bump someone from the machine it's registered on just to remote into someone else here is a hassle. Just another example of making users "regret upgrading". That's a horrible business model.

There really isn't any good free 3rd party alternative out there that I've seen. I can map ports and even have set up remote check-ins to manage changing IP addresses, but being able to automatically traverse routers (uPNP) I haven't managed to replicate yet. The easiest thing for me at this point, since I run mac, is to simply use FaceTime's screen sharing, which provides the auto check-in for dynamic IPs and also does a good job of getting in through routers. The last os upgrade was free even, which makes it a bit cheaper than LogMeIn or TeamViewer ;)

Re:Teamviewer

[wyr_taliesin]

Teamviewer is fine. My biggest gripe is that you can use the free option, or pay £440 for the business version. That's silly pricing for a small business that might use it less than once a month - they need a £50 pricing option as well.

Re:Teamviewer

[CimmerianX]

We've been using teamviewer for a while.... i wasn't aware of that restriction with the new version. Looks like I'll also have to drop them as well.

Re:Teamviewer

[nicholasjay]

I use Teamviewer to help my mother with all her computer issues. It works very well and it's multiplatform.

Re:Teamviewer

[rvw]

Thanks for the tip! Download version 8 and keep those install files backed up for Windows, OSX and Linux. If they disable the servers for these versions, well we'll see what to do then. OpenSSH and port forwarding, plus manuals with good screenshots how to set this up is a good start.

Re:Teamviewer

[v1]

that DOES NOT WORK. After you launch the latest version, it connects online and "upgrades" your account. Once upgraded, if you try to launch an older version of teamviewer and sign in with your account, "you can no longer use this version of teamviewer, please install the latest update".

BS like that, that's why I left. "OK then, so if you're so into using forced online verification, why can't you let me install it on all the machines here so long as I'm only USING it on one at a time?" They refused to answer that. "Money" of course was the correct answer. I can see pulling a stunt like that for the free users, but we paid for a license and they still gave us the shaft. Bad move to do that to a paying customer.

For now I think you're "safe" as long as you keep the old app, and never login (anywhere) with version 9 and allow it to "upgrade" your account. They don't appear to have been planning to do this in 8, so it doesn't force you to upgrade. I'm sure that's been "fixed" in the latest version.

MY account on the other hand, is ruined, sorry to say. I don't think you can make an earlier version account with 8 anymore either. (I should test that)

This sucks

[jez9999]

I used to use LogMeIn Free a lot in my last job for remote desktopping to my work machine, and it worked well. Luckily I no longer currently have that need, but I may do again in future. Trying to ge through a NAT setup to VPN into a box is an utter nightmare, if not downright impossible without admin access to and a full understanding of the company's firewall/NAT setup. What we really need of course is widespread IPv6 (I'm in the UK and IPv6 availability is still fucking abysmal) so we can just directly connect to remote machines using their IP.

Re:This sucks

[pnutjam]

like you won't need firewall access for ipv6.

Re:This sucks

[gigaherz]

Firewall is not the problem, NAT is.

Re:This sucks

[jon3k]

It's more about NAT than the firewall. We won't need private addressing + NAT anymore once we move to IPv6.

Re:This sucks

[jez9999]

Much easier to go to your IT dept. and say "please allow access for IP address X to IP address Y on port Z" than "please do that, and allow a hole to be poked in the NAT setup through port ABC".

Re:This sucks

[fast turtle]

and I'm in the U.S. where IP6 support is worst then absysimal - it doesn't even exhist for my ISP (they're planning to roll it out in 2050 if then.They've got no financial need for it as they have plenty of IP4 spaces to use such with the internal config - multiple NAT for residential users. Annoying as all hell when IP6 would actually simplify the fucking network while allowing them to ensure that you're not Torrenting anything.

Re:This sucks

[swalve]

But then they would have to learn how to do ipv6. And pay Cisco or Juniper for new IOS licenses that support ipv6.

Re:This sucks

[Anonymous Coward]

It's more about NAT than the firewall. We won't need private addressing + NAT anymore once we move to IPv6.

I hear a lot of people say this, but I have yet to see any reasonable explanation of why you would ever want to expose your internal network to the internet.

I realize that the original concept of the internet was that the endpoints would be individual machines. But there were many original concepts which have had to change for various reasons. It's far better to make the edge of your network the endpoint, and handle the internal routing yourself.

I also don't fully understand the hatred of NAT. When it's fully under your control and you know what you're doing, it can work well for simple situations. And for most average home consumers of internet, NAT works just fine. I agree it really sucks when you're behind someone else's NAT'd firewall, especially if it's your ISP, but that's really not how NAT is designed to be used.

LogmeIn.....

[Anonymous Coward]

Why the hell are people ussing it? .....let's not care about security, Let's just provide a backdoor access by will, it is not that you care about privacy (that much has been clear to me about most users these days, they take something serious and analyze it with stupidity and ignorance)?

Re:LogmeIn.....

[houstonbofh]

Why the hell are people ussing it? .....let's not care about security, Let's just provide a backdoor access by will, it is not that you care about privacy (that much has been clear to me about most users these days, they take something serious and analyze it with stupidity and ignorance)?

You know there is a back door on my house. I use it often. Back doors are not bad by definition. Unknown and unsecured back doors are what is bad...

alternatives

[fluffythdestroy]

Although join.me is by logmein this one seems to be free so try to use join.me instead of a connection pc 2 pc is what your looking for. works great for troubleshooting a complete noob that messed is pc up and calls you at midnight to fix his pc.

Theres also teamviewer that works in a similar way like join.me and logmein. You can remotely log in a pc and work on it. Skype also has a share screen function so you might look at that as well

Re:alternatives

[Anonymous Coward]

There is a limited number of uses with participants (at BOTH ends of the connection) having an account. Also many security and administrative tools are disabled for the 'guest' participant.

Re:alternatives

[Anonymous Coward]

UltraVNC for me. There is (or was - a cursory glance over the page and I didn't see it) a version that you could customize to do reverse VNC to a particular IP address - don't know if it supported DNS. I open a single port on my network, run the VNC listener, and the user fires up the UltraVNC server downloaded from my webserver. A heck of a lot less mucking about than opening ports on someone else's router.

Re:alternatives

[Anonymous Coward]

> Skype also has a share screen function so you might look at that as well

Given Skype / Microsoft's recent complicity with the NSA, I wouldn't touch anything of theirs, least of all giving them an open door into my/ my client's PCs.
Of course the NSA probably have other ways to snoop on Teamviewer and others, but there's no point making it easy for them.

Re:alternatives

[PRMan]

We use join.me to meet with a client at work all the time. Works great. Same technology but much better interface than LogMeIn Free.

Re:alternatives

[edwartr]

The biggest problem with Join.Me is that you have to have someone on the remote system to allow you mouse control. This is fine if you are doing 'live' remote desktop tech support or having an online meeting; but if you need to remotely get on a system say at night to do maintenance, repair, etc. then you are out of luck. Also, Join.Me has some problems with multiple monitors, UAC warnings, and some commands. I use Join.Me all the time to help my clients but you have to be aware of its limitations. For example, with Join.Me, you do not even see the UAC warnings; but it will 'drop' your control until someone on the remote system clicks OK on the warning. The limited uses is solved by simply not having an account or not logging in to it - just go to join.me, go to APPS, then download the windows application, install and then click on SHARE. Then give the person remoting in the 9 digit number and wait for them to join. Then wait for them to click on the REQUEST MOUSE CONTROL and click to allow and you're good to go - just don't leave if they do anything to get a UAC pop-up or if you have more than one monitor. Join.Me has been nice legally as they state that you can use it free (limited number of people can connect in at the same time) for personal or commercial use which most free apps are not free for any business use.

Re:alternatives

[kcbnac]

You're describing UltraVNC Single Click: http://www.uvnc.com/products/u...

Re:alternatives

[Bogtha]

Although join.me is by logmein this one seems to be free

LogMeIn just discontinued their free service with zero warning. You'd have to be nuts not to expect the same thing to happen to join.me in the very near future, especially if they aren't trying to migrate people to it.

Re:alternatives

[wonkey_monkey]

a special service that allows you to upload a file on the appropriate creator online and get the program version already compiled.

Well that sounds like a terrible idea - submitting your username/password - even encryption keys (optional) - to a third party so you can get your one-click executable?

At the end ricompattiamo all in a file NomeDiNostroGradimento.zip, carichiamolo online and wait a few seconds.

The rest of the documentation is about as comprehensible as this snippet.

Re:alternatives

[Anonymous Coward]

I sometimes have to remote in to help users on desktops in the middle of BFE who use a "sprint card", which is a little USB-connected cellular data NIC. Sometimes, these are actually from Sprint, other times, they're AT&T. They're universally crap, regardless of the vendor. So, I've done a lot of tests and trials of various screen-sharing methods, trying to find the one with the lowest bandwidth use.

Join.me wins, hands down. I'm surprised by this, since it's an LMI product, and LMI isn't as good for low-bandwidth, high-latency connections.
LMI and TeamViewer are sluggish, but mostly usable.
GoToMeeting and WebEx are extremely sluggish and nearly unusable.
Kaseya, NCentral, and direct RDP are non-functional.

If these weren't Windows boxes, I'd use ssh and have no problems at all. But then, of course, the "sprint card" wouldn't work because there are no non-Windows drivers for most of those damned things.

Re:Alternatives

[Anonymous Coward]

Yo Mark,

Stop spamming the world with your poxy blog, no one fucking cares.

Re:alternatives

[egcagrac0]

Well that sounds like a terrible idea - submitting your username/password - even encryption keys (optional) - to a third party so you can get your one-click executable?

You mean the public keys that aren't used for anything else, would give you access to their computer when they use them, and don't override the requirement that you be on the receiving end to manually accept the connection?

You're right, that sounds like a terrible security hole.

Re:alternatives

[Wolfrider]

--Yep. Join.me worked fine up until a few weeks ago, when I tried logging into my Dad's laptop with him on the phone; join.me would NOT let him share his desktop and wanted him to sign up for an account before he could do anything. Since he's reluctant to give out his info (SPAM, et al) we immediately switched to a different solution (IIRC 99% sure it was Teamviewer since it's on portableapps.)

Re:alternatives

[otslash]

For multi-user sharing of text-only terminal sessions (for example, MacOS Terminal, Linux shell, Windows Command Prompt, etc.), Coterm is free for non-commercial use and is higher performance than full GUI sharing due to the much lower bandwidth requirements: https://www.akirisolutions.com... It's a better solution for software developers (text-based) and IT support for MacOS and Linux. If you need a full Windows GUI, then other products are better.

Re:alternatives

[Anonymous Coward]

I tried Join.me twice, and it hosed up the keyboards on both ends so bad that we had to reboot both machines.
Trying to type in a Word window and it started pulling down commands - almost as if the Alt key was stuck but totally random.
I've also had keyboard trouble with regular LMI - left shift works but right shift doesn't, Caps Lock setting is reversed, etc.

But the latest move is just bait and switch. Previously I had purchased one copy of Pro, for when I needed to transfer files or print remotely, and had about a dozen free accounts among my clients, which was usually all I needed. They allowed you to move the Pro license to where it was needed, and I thought that was fair - there was never more than one user using the Pro version, and it was always me. Then in the fall, they added a limitation of 10 free accounts unless you bought Central. So I bit - also picked up two more Pro licenses, spent about $500 in total. Now this - they say that as a LMI Central user I can still add free accounts but who knows how long that will last, so I'm on the hunt. Trust is hard to earn but easy to lose, and once that happens, almost impossible to regain. Stupid, stupid move.

Team Viewer is looking good, hope to try some of the other suggestions here soon.

Re:alternatives

[Anonymous Coward]

Every VNC version I've tried has two cursors, one about 20% slower than the other, and it's the most annoying fucking thing I've ever experienced, right up there with full screen popup ads that appear just as you're reading the third sentence of an article.

this is all NAT's fault

[Anonymous Coward]

RDP over IPv6 works just fine here. The difficulty of port forwarding is entirely because of IPv4 address scarcity and not giving residential customers a /28 or something.

Re:this is all NAT's fault

[Anonymous Coward]

RDP over IPv6 works just fine here. The difficulty of port forwarding is entirely because of IPv4 address scarcity and not giving residential customers a /28 or something.

Don't forget the (accurate) presumption that securing one device well (the nat device) is a lot easier than securing all the internal devices equally well.

Re:this is all NAT's fault

[TheRaven64]

Don't forget the (accurate) presumption that securing one device well (the nat device) is a lot easier than securing all the internal devices equally well.

Your post was right, except for the word 'accurate'. Perimeter defences on networks really don't work, especially when you have things like Cisco phones, HP printers, and Dell management interfaces, with known and unpatched security vulnerabilities all connected to the network. It just needs one person to bring a compromised machine inside the perimeter and an attacker has full control (and good luck getting rid of them once they've got their botnet control software running on your printer). With a lot of people using mobile phones on their home WiFi, the perimeter isn't even a perimeter anymore, because the phone also allows connections over the mobile network.

Re:this is all NAT's fault

[swalve]

If your firewall and LAN config is good enough, perimeter defense works fine. Unsecured devices should never be able to see anything but the path to the gateway. If they need to access something internally, it should be through some kind of proxy.

Re:this is all NAT's fault

[anatoli]

You will be running a firewall in any case, IPv4 or IPv6, if you have a modicum of common sense. Opening and remapping a port it is no harder than just opening it. You just fill another box in the GUI, or whatever. Not an oh-so-great difficulty.

Re:this is all NAT's fault

[anatoli]

If you are running your IPv6 setup directly connected to the big bad net with no firewall, you are doing it wrong.

Re:this is all NAT's fault

[kasperd]

The difficulty of port forwarding is entirely because of IPv4 address scarcity

I am wondering if an approach similar to what I am doing on this service, could be applied to RDP as well. If anybody with more knowledge about RDP than me would chime in, I'd love to be educated on what is possible with RDP, and what is not. Can it be deduced from the traffic an RDP client sends to an IPv4 address, which machine it wants to communicate with? If that is possible, then a listener on that port could forward it to the intended host.

Re:this is all NAT's fault

[mars-nl]

With IPv6 you only have to remember/use one IP address. With IPv4 you will have to remember/use two, your external AND internal IP address. And like you say, with IPv4 you have to forward it AND make a firewall rule, while with IPv6 you only to deal with the firewall rule. Easier and less error prone.

join.me

[Anonymous Coward]

I've used join.me in a pinch and it works well.

Chrome Remote Desktop

[the_crowbar]

I have tried setting up Tight VNC for relatives, and while it is possible, it is also inconvenient while away from my own home. Now I just use Chrome Remote Desktop You do have to be logged into Chrome.

Cheers,
the_crowbar

Translation...

[Hohlraum]

Logmein loses 99% of their user base. :)

Re:Translation...

[N1AK]

And doesn't care because they weren't paying users ;)

Re:Translation...

[petes_PoV]

... but 0% of it's profitable customers

Re:Translation...

[ericloewe]

They sure won't be upgrading to paid customers now, though. Not after being cut off within a day.

Re:Translation...

[gigaherz]

Assuming that number wasn't bullshit, that means even if just 1% of the free user base becomes paying customers, they would have doubled their paying user base.

Re:Translation...

[houstonbofh]

But more than a few of them may have referred users that became paying users. Now they will not.

Re:Translation...

[PraiseBob]

One distinction here- there are stopping the free version, and giving current users a 6 month trial period of the pro version.

Re:Translation...

[rvw]

They sure won't be upgrading to paid customers now, though. Not after being cut off within a day.

They sure didn't upgrade to paid accounts in the past, though. Not after using those services for years.

Re:Translation...

[Anonymous Coward]

True I was never a paying customer (prices were too high) but I will never use or buy any product from them ever after they've treated me like sh&t.

Re:Translation...

[timeOday]

...and reduced their bandwidth and server costs by about 98%.

Re:Translation...

[psypher69571]

um talking out of your ass eh? I use both paid and free. For family I just use the free service, but I pay pro for my own desktop.

Re:Translation...

[Anonymous Coward]

1.010101 etc. %

Re:Translation...

[Anonymous Coward]

The kicker is that we have 5 paid pro accounts and have had them for years . I clicked through and to add new users $59 vs the new sign up $49.
Just tried teamviewer and they will be losing 5 x$59 of that $190 million revenue. I can see this scenario being repeated many places. Smart move logmein They probably could have put a banner ad on the freebee and actually made more money

Re:Translation...

[sornord]

Originally up to 5 computers was free. When that number went to six - my elderly parents and relatives, plus my accessing my files at home while I'm on the road - I started paying a reasonable annual subscription fee. Now for $49, then $99, for only two computers, it's not worth it. I know several small business owners that were paying this subscription for access to a similar number of computers in their offices. Neither they nor I need/use the "gee whiz" junk of LMI Pro. We're all leaving because LMI is no longer worth the cost.

Re:Translation...

[ericloewe]

Huh, TFS conveniently left that out. In that case, I can't really understand a reaction more extreme than "D'oh!", since it gives people more than enough time to plan ahead.

Re:Translation...

[Anonymous Coward]

Quite likely because they weren't offered a product at a price considered reasonable. Just as they're not being offered that now. At this point, especially after seeing device limits last year, and then this sudden CONSIDERABLE price-hike, it's very likely those users will become paying customers... AT ANOTHER SERVICE.

Re:Translation...

[Anonymous Coward]

I get no '6 month trial', my access has been extended until 1/31/2014 and then cut off completely.

Don't let it die!

[Anonymous Coward]

They should open source it. Let other developers take it over.

Re:Don't let it die!

[fisted]

good that you realize what a dead end proprietary software is.

Why is it so surprising? Also, $1 million?

[wonkey_monkey]

made all the more surprising by the fact that 'consensus revenue estimates for LogMeIn in 2014 are $190.3 million,' suggesting that their system of providing both free and paid accounts for what is ultimately a straightforward service that could be duplicated for well under $1 million was already doing quite well.

Why is it surprising that a company might want to do better than "quite well" when it sees the opportunity?

Also:

what is ultimately a straightforward service that could be duplicated for well under $1 million

Go on then. Or was that number just pulled out of someone's behind?

Re:Why is it so surprising? Also, $1 million?

[petes_PoV]

Go on then. Or was that number just pulled out of someone's behind

Most deinitely, pulled. Also, the guy who wrote that is confused about revenue vs. profit. If logmein was sucha profitable organisation and it was so easy for someone else to offer an alternative service, there would be dozens of them - everywhere. And logmein's founder would have sold out to Google / Farcebook / Oracle / whoever, years ago.

Re:Why is it so surprising? Also, $1 million?

[egcagrac0]

If it was so easy for someone else to offer an alternative service, there would be dozens of them

There are dozens of them. By no means a complete list:

GotoMeeting

Webex

Yuugu

TeamViewer

Mikogo

CrossLoop

Re:Why is it so surprising? Also, $1 million?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, those were bullshit comments which had no place in the summary.
Especially because they distract from the real problem with this story: cancelling the service like that without giving any time to transition is a bullshit move, even if the service was being offered for free.

Re:Why is it so surprising? Also, $1 million?

[MrSome]

That's half a dozen. Keep going. You said dozens, that indicates at least 24. :-)

Re:Why is it so surprising? Also, $1 million?

[egcagrac0]

join.me, chrome remote desktop, screenleap, showmypc ...

This doesn't count the simple-to-set-up-yourself ones, like PC Helpware.

Re:Why is it so surprising? Also, $1 million?

[dubbreak]

Most (none?) of those are not directly comparable. They are primarily screen sharing designed for meetings and light support (i.e. guiding someone through something), not remotely managing computers behind a firewall.

I've used Goto and it's good for screen sharing, but that's about it. With logmein you can even control things like updates, view logs etc without logging into the machine. When you do log in you can share the screen (default) or you can block it from the local user and you have full admin access (if the user you log in as has it.. unlike screen sharing software that borks once you hit UAC). I primarily use the pro version on headless machines behind firewalls (where I have no control of the firewall and am lucky the end user can figure out plugging in a network cable). I'm looking at moving to neorouter or setting up something myself using vnc and vnc reflector for cost savings. That being said, pro is pretty reasonable in a business situation. I definitely wouldn't be using it for home usage though.

Re:Why is it so surprising? Also, $1 million?

[egcagrac0]

I'll agree, most offerings are not directly comparable.

Some users want some features, others want different features.

I'm suggesting that for the free users, one of those alternatives will probably deliver almost everything they're looking for, and that LogMeIn isn't the only player in the field (although they may be the only one playing lacrosse when everyone else is playing soccer).

Re:Why is it so surprising? Also, $1 million?

[dubbreak]

Well put. You are quite correct that most users of the free version could get by with those options. As for direct competitors to LogMeIn I don't think there are many (and would love to be correctly). I checked out TeamViewer and GoToMyPc before settling on LogMeIn. The remote help market seems to be over served while remote management has a lot less options (maybe the market is smaller). The smart thing LogMeIn did was make their service useful for more use cases while keeping it simple to use.

I can understand there being completely user help focussed products like Copilot. In those situations you want something focussed and simple. In the particular case of Copilot I'm surprised that Fog Creek isn't also offering a remote management suite. They have all the pieces there to create a product that competes in remote management, plus their existing users for their main products (FogBugz and Kiln) are the type of users that may need that kind of service. Can't be bothered to roll my own or host an open source bug tracker, I probably don't have the resources to manage remote management.

Re:Why is it so surprising? Also, $1 million?

[dubbreak]

Damn lack of edit. I'd love to be corrected, not correctly. That doesn't even make sense.

Re:Why is it so surprising? Also, $1 million?

[Anonymous Coward]

yeah, crossloop's pricing is much more reasonable.

Re:Why is it so surprising? Also, $1 million?

[MrSome]

That's 11... Only 13 more to go!

what are all the phone scammers going to do now?

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought the main use of LogMeIn was for phone scammers claiming to be from Microsoft to take remote control of your computer. I wonder how many of them were using the free version and what they are going to do now?

Pity, was useful

[jratcliffe]

Used it to control my HTPC from my iPad. I think their pricing is just a wee bit too high, though. If it were, say, $25 a year (rather than $50), I'd probably say that it was worth it to avoid having to find an alternative. As it is, I'll find something else.

Re:Pity, was useful

[Xoltri]

Try hipporemote, it's awesome.

Re:Pity, was useful

[Anonymous Coward]

The $49 price is a discounted price for the first year. It jumps to the full price of $99 the next year and that is only for two computers. As with anything, you have to determine what the service is worth to you. I have other options that make LogMeIn look less desirable as a long-term service for my needs.

Re:Pity, was useful

[bbcisdabomb]

I'm looking for something else as well, but it should be mentioned that $50/year is less than $5/month. Is the service worth more to you than one fast-food lunch a month? That's about how much you're paying. Of course, I'm a cheapskate so I'll be looking for something else, but I'm just trying to put it in perspective.

Re:Pity, was useful

[Stealth Dave]

Used it to control my HTPC from my iPad. I think their pricing is just a wee bit too high, though. If it were, say, $25 a year (rather than $50), I'd probably say that it was worth it to avoid having to find an alternative. As it is, I'll find something else.

If cost is your major concern, you should check out Splashtop. They have servers for Windows, Mac and Linux (all x86 based) and clients for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS and probably a few more. The service is free over LAN, and remote access is only $1.99/month or $16.99/year. And the service is fast! I'm able to do rough edits on Final Cut Pro over my LAN and sometimes over the internet, depending on my connection, and remote gaming is one of their advertised selling points. If you're clever with VPN setups, you can use it remotely as if you were on the LAN.

Re:Pity, was useful

[jratcliffe]

I agree, it's not that much in the grand scheme of things. Somehow, though, $2/month seems more "reasonable" to me than $4/month. Can't give a specific justification, though.

Re:Pity, was useful

[rjstanford]

Check out Mobile Mouse Pro - puts a trackpad and keyboard on your iOS device (paid, cheap) and communicates to servers (free) on one or more computers. I use it on anything that's primarily a display and don't worry about keyboards/mice on those machines at all.

Re:Pity, was useful

[Anonymous Coward]

Teamviewer's interface on tablet and hand-held is the best remote-desktop interface I've had the pleasure of using. Bonus, enable LAN-only mode for additional security.

Re:Torrents are your friend

[jratcliffe]

Or, you could actually pay for the product you use. Just sayin.

I ditched LogMeIn a couple of years ago

[ebbe11]

And have been using NeoRouter Free ever since.

Re:I ditched LogMeIn a couple of years ago

[Anonymous Coward]

And have been using NeoRouter Free ever since.

NeoRouter is interesting, I had never heard of them before.

But, NeoRouter is a networking VPN like LogmeIn's Hamachi product. It is nothing like LogmeIn's remote control product.

Re:I ditched LogMeIn a couple of years ago

[foobar bazbot]

A "networking VPN"? As opposed to some other VPN that has nothing to do with networks? ;)

Anyway, VPN is overkill if all you need is remote control, sure.

But if you do have a VPN running (whether for other uses, or because there's no kill like overkill) you no longer need any special remote control solution -- standard rdp or vnc clients work from there.

Re:I ditched LogMeIn a couple of years ago

[Anonymous Coward]

Once you have a VPN you can just run VNC or RDP or SSH or whatever over it.

It's not quite as conviniant as the one box soloutions but it's certainly workable for remote admin of boxes sitting on neworks that can connect outbound to the internet but where incoming connections are blocked.

Re:I ditched LogMeIn a couple of years ago

[egcagrac0]

A "networking VPN"? As opposed to some other VPN

Sure beats a notworking VPN!

Longest bait and switch ever.

[Anonymous Coward]

According to their blog they're offering a 7 day free trial of the Pro version. While I've been a long term user of Logmein, I'll be looking for a different solution. Not really upset about monetizing their product, but ONE DAY'S NOTICE?! Whomever made that decision had better start updating the `ol resume.

Re:Longest bait and switch ever.

[foobar bazbot]

Not really upset about monetizing their product, but ONE DAY'S NOTICE?! Whomever made that decision had better start updating the `ol resume.

Eh, I'm not sure about that. I suspect the concept here is that by minimizing the notice, users have less time to shop for options, and are thus more likely to convert to the paid product. The flip side is that some (like you) will get mad about the blatantly unreasonable notice and refuse to have further dealings with them no matter how bad the competing options are, but it's not at all obvious that this isn't a net win for them, compared to a more reasonable notice.

The 7 day trial is particularly clever -- all the people who need their current setup to keep working will just go for that, and keep rolling just like before. They have 7 days to look for an alternate solution, but since they're already signed up for LogMeIn Pro, I bet they're substantially more likely to carry on using it than if you gave them 7 days' notice and no free trial.

Re:Torrents are your friend

[wyr_taliesin]

Uncracked free version of Teamviewer available from your favourite Teamviewer site. Without added malware.

Teamviewer

[da_guy2]

I use teamview on all my computer. It's free for non comercial use and works GREAT.

Webbased alternative

[Anonymous Coward]

When you want to limit your session purely to web based applications you should take a look at http://www.surfly.com.

It is free and works even better than Join.Me for the web.

Similar functionality to what?

[MrNemesis]

Perhaps this is just reinforcing my "you're an IT dinosaur, old man!" but for the benefit of us ignoramuses, might it be possible for the submitter or, god forbid, the editors to say what "log me in" actually does?

Re:Similar functionality to what?

[Big Hairy Ian]

Circumvents IT Security by letting people configure a remote desktop connection.

Re:Similar functionality to what?

[N1AK]

Something so simple that some 'totally credible' anonymous user thinks it can be recreated for less than $1,000,000. Obviously we needed to know that because it's clearly accurate and/or worthy of note.

Re:Similar functionality to what?

[sandytaru]

It allows remote login to desktop computers that are online from any other desktop computer. The free version was meant for consumers; the paid version is used by a lot of IT and tech support companies who support remote users because it's a heck of a lot easier than driving over there, and doesn't need to be on the same domain like RDP.

Re:Similar functionality to what?

[Anonymous Coward]

its like vnc, only faster and has a snazzy control panel online. i was using it yesterday to check in on my trading bot that runs on a closed laptop in a closet. now i have to go get it.

Re:Similar functionality to what?

[Anonymous Coward]

"The remote desktop service..."

Re:Similar functionality to what?

[Anonymous Coward]

Come on man!

I know this is /. and it's not cool to RTFA, or even read the whole summary... but it's literally the first part of the first sentence

The remote desktop service LogMeIn..

Re:Similar functionality to what?

[Anonymous Coward]

and if you can't be bothered to google LogMeIn to find their fucking website, you're trully a NOOB and the Horde needs to grief you.

Re:Similar functionality to what?

[phantomfive]

How is it different than VNC?

Re:Similar functionality to what?

[Wookact]

RDP does not need to be on the same domain, you need a routable IP address though.

Re:Similar functionality to what?

[Anonymous Coward]

It handled the routing for you. Basically, it's a service that existed because (1) everyone is stuck on IPv4 and (2) most people don't have DNS pointing to their personal computers.

Re:Similar functionality to what?

[Bacon Bits]

It's the same as GoToMyPC. It allows a web-based client to access a computer remotely by installing a server daemon on the remote computer that connects directly to the central server which serves as a service broker. This bypasses the common problems of NAT traversal by initiating connections on both a VNC client and a VNC server. While net meeting software just uses the central server as a broker, the central server for web-based remote access hosts the web application and service broker. Technically, I think LogMeIn uses Hamachi, which is a virtual private network service they own.

For small installations or for supporting users in a workgroup at remote locations, it works fine. Larger installations tend to get something more enterprise-y like Bomgar.

Re:Similar functionality to what?

[master_kaos]

You don't need to worry about NAT or dynamic ips

Re:Similar functionality to what?

[phantomfive]

Does it route all the video traffic through their main servers? If so, I can kind of see why they are cutting off the free access......

Re:Similar functionality to what?

[wonkey_monkey]

No pissing around with NAT and firewalls, for a start.

Re:Similar functionality to what?

[Anonymous Coward]

From the discussion, I think it's something like "ssh" for systems that don't have a proper operating system.

Re:Similar functionality to what?

[Metabolife]

The Logmein Central service makes it extremely easy to manage multiple clients and users on the same interface. That's biggest difference that I've seen.

Re:Similar functionality to what?

[UberVegeta]

One of LogMeIn's other products, LogMeIn Hamachi, goes beyond bog-standard remote desktop access. Hamachi provides VPNs that are easy to set up, and AFAIK pretty secure out of the box (in relative terms). As a teenager, my friends and I used to use Hamachi to play *ahem* patched copies of games in LAN mode, over the internet. As with any VPN, there are better uses, and clearly you can make your own DIY solution but Hamachi was just so damned convenient. Over time though, previously free features have been dropped, and I imagine free access will stop altogether, if it hasn't already.

Re:Similar functionality to what?

[Bacon Bits]

It traverses NAT seamlessly, even when you're behind NAT, too. The web interface also allows you to track Windows update status and some other security issues on the remote system.

It's also easier to set up and use than VNC. Setup is like installing an IM client on the destination system. Download, double-click, Next, Next, Next, Finish, enter LogMeIn credentials, done. Easier on the other end, too. Log in to LogMeIn website. Double click computer you want to log into from list. Session opens.

Re:Similar functionality to what?

[mars-nl]

Ask your ISP how that IPv6 roll out is coming along. IPv6 means no more NAT.

And not having to deal with a firewall is a feature? It means you have a firewall, but you don't know how to use it and some random software can magically bypass it. Doesn't sound good.

Re:Similar functionality to what?

[phantomfive]

It means you have a firewall, but you don't know how to use it and some random software can magically bypass it. Doesn't sound good.

Easiest way to get through almost every firewall is to go through port 80.

Re:Similar functionality to what?

[Anonymous Coward]

VNC (or VNC over a tunnel/VPN) only allows you to interact with the computer.

This service adds in the useful functionality of giving a third party complete control over your system and passing all of your information through them.

Re:Similar functionality to what?

[wonkey_monkey]

Ask your ISP how that IPv6 roll out is coming along.

The answer, when it comes to most IPs, is "badly."

It means you have a firewall, but you don't know how to use it and some random software can magically bypass it.

It can "magically bypass it" because it makes an outgoing connection to a central server. People, in general, allowing themselves outgoing connections, and connections made on their behalf by software they install. That doesn't mean they don't know how to use their firewalls.

Re:Similar functionality to what?

[mars-nl]

Just wondering.. shouldn't the firewall do what you want and not the other way around? Letting all services use port 80 seems like a hack to avoid configuring the firewall. In the end the only control you have is open port 80 and let everything through or close it and let nothing through.

Re:Similar functionality to what?

[phantomfive]

Because web browsers all use port 80, all your users will complain if you close port 80. As a result, a lot of software has started using port 80 to get through firewalls. Skype is maybe the most popular example.

Logmein is a security threat in many hands

[damn_registrars]

Now, I don't blame logmein themselves, as what users do on their own is beyond the company's control. However, I found that a disturbing number of people who used logmein would setup their account to connect directly to an administrator login on their windows box; hence with one often rather simple password anyone could get full access to that box from anywhere in the world. It seemed to me that it was often used to circumvent security that was set up for good reason, and in so doing created nightmare situations for unsuspecting network administrators.

I suspect many of the people who were using it for free before won't be interested in paying for it, so having the free access go away immediately could be a very, very, good thing.

Re:Logmein is a security threat in many hands

[Anonymous Coward]

Since when is treating potential customers like crap a good thing?

Re:Logmein is a security threat in many hands

[ImprovOmega]

We faced the same issue at my workplace. Users were installing it to access their computers from home, oblivious to the fact that this meant anyone with their password could now access their computer from anywhere in the world and shoot right past our firewall. We ended up blocking the IP ranges used by logmein at the firewall. Now we have the fairly serious issue that Microsoft is exclusively using logmein for their remote tech support calls. Switching it to paid might be enough to let us unblock the service again since a lot of users won't bother to pay for it.

The NSA are gonna be pissed...

[radish]

That's a lot of backdoors being uninstalled!

Momma's gonna be happy to see me

[Anonymous Coward]

She loves it when I come over to fix her computer in person.

And the pay *coughfreehomecookingcough* isn't bad either!

TeamViewer or AMMYY

[Chas]

Teamviewer works fairly well. But it's pricing structure is just crazy.

There's also AMMYY Admin. It's a similar product and, if you wish to pay for it, has a more reasonable pricing structure.

Timbuktu

[bhlowe]

Timbuktu is a good choice if you need something that works only on Windows NT, XP and Mac OS 6 and 7. Just kidding. I I use Team Viewer and I'm happy. Agree the pricing model makes me unlikely to confess to using it for any commercial purpose.

Alternatives

[MDSSolutions]

Here's some free alternatives to LogMeIn, looks like TeamViewer is the best choice: http://mdssolutions.co.uk/blog...

free alternative showmypc

[schneidafunk]

If I need to do some remote tech support, I'll have the person download showmypc . It's not as robust as logmein, but easy for a person to install.

What the hell.

[Anonymous Coward]

"While customers who purchased these apps are impacted by this change, we have taken steps to be especially attentive to these customers. LogMeIn Ignition for iPad/iPhone and Android app purchasers will receive significant discounts, as well as generous terms to ease the transition. Details of these offers are being sent to Ignition mobile users this week, both via email and in-product notifications.

Notification period

Impacted users will be notified via email and in-product messages. While messaging started today, users will be given 7 days to make a purchase decision about LogMeIn Pro. To be clear, the 7-day grace period starts when you next login to the LogMeIn service."

Fuck you logmein. I paid $30 for your app that was supposed to provide for me for LIFE. I paid you. Live up to your fucking deal.

BTW, I got off light. They eventually upgraded ignition to be a $99 product.

Time for a class action. I don't care if it nets me $5 after the lawyers take their fees. This company needs to burn to the ground. There are alternatives and there is no excuse for screwing your customer base.

Re:What the hell.

[houstonbofh]

I am betting that a few loud complainers will be quietly refunded.

Re:What the hell.

[zugmeister]

If you google "IOS Ignition", you'll find Ignition was $130 before it was pulled. You can see the price in the summary. Yeah, I'm somewhat less than happy about this myself...

Windows Remote Assistance

[Anonymous Coward]

Just run a decent OS and it's all built in. It's worked great for me over the years to help solve a problem or two for mom.

Defined.

[Anonymous Coward]

LogMeIn is a webbased remote control services, like GoToMyPC.

It allows remote access from any web browser to your PC's on which you have installed the LogMeIn agent. The connections are through an HTTPS connection and are encrypted.

The paid for version adds numerous features beyond simple remote control including printing, file transfer, inventory and patch management, remote wake up, and more.

At $50 for 2 controlled PCs and $130 for 5 controlled PCs per year, the service is NOT cheap. The free remote control service(previously limited to ~10 controlled PCs) was what set LogMeIn apart from GoToMyPC, not to mention their ability to run the controller form any browser, rather than just Windows.

This sudden announcement is both a shock and very big news. Expect to hear a lot more rable rousing about this development.

Re:Defined.

[MrNemesis]

Thanks AC - from your post it sounds like it's a user-friendly RDP/VNC-alike-over-HTTP(S) VPN, something that I don't think would have been too hard to fit in the summary. I'm guessing from your post you've got some experience with it and indeed it sounds like it would have been useful for non-technical home users and small businesses.

Re:Defined.

[Anonymous Coward]

rabble rabble rabble

Re:Defined.

[fast turtle]

The strangest thing is, Windows XP and later has included the "Invite Remote Assistance" tool/feature that works quite well while using RPD. Haven't used it but it's been there if I absolutely need it to support one of the folks I provide tech support to.

Funny thing is, I've never thought to use one of the remote control tools for that as it's just as easy to simply drive over and fix their problem. I also get a nice cookie or two (great baker) or other goody to share with the family.

Re:Defined.

[Anonymous Coward]

Jeez, would it have been too hard for you to do a 30 second search and not look like an "IT Dinosaur"?

Re:Defined.

[MrNemesis]

Would it have been so hard for an editor to do such and save dozens of other people from doing the same thing? AC's reply was, in any case, more useful than the wikipedia entry.

Hahaha

[Anonymous Coward]

suckers...

Free Alternative

[Anonymous Coward]

https://join.me/

Really simple but does what it needs to.

Entitlement

[nicholasjay]

It's so typical. Someone offers a service/product for free. People use it and like it. They keep using it. Then the service/product gets changed/removed/etc and everyone yells at the owner about how they feel shafted instead of *thanking* the owner for providing such a useful service for free for so long.

Everyone feels entitled to get whatever they want for free.

Re:Entitlement

[Anonymous Coward]

I feel entitled to more than zero days notice. I doesn't surprise me, or irritate me that they withdrew their free service.

Re:Entitlement

[Anonymous Coward]

OK, we do feel entitled. Entitled to at least have some notice about the service we had been using goes away. Imagine what would happen if food stamps were suddenly ("as of today") were no longer issued or accepted? They were free! So you weren't not paying for anything, so what are you missing? LogMeIn Free isn't food stamps, but it was useful and free. Not anymore.

Re:Entitlement

[FireFury03]

It's so typical. Someone offers a service/product for free. People use it and like it. They keep using it. Then the service/product gets changed/removed/etc and everyone yells at the owner about how they feel shafted instead of *thanking* the owner for providing such a useful service for free for so long.

Everyone feels entitled to get whatever they want for free.

No one is entitled to anything above and beyond what the contract says - no contract, no entitlement.

*However*, in just the same way as a customer might be peeved when a supplier sticks rigidly to the contract terms instead of offering some good-will flexibility, a customer of a free service is going to be a bit peeved by this kind of no-notice change to the service... And peeved customers aren't the kind of people to continue to be customers, which is important where you're withdrawing the free service in the hope that many of your "free" customers will move to the paid service - if you pissed them off then they probably won't.

I'll give you a real world example: I have a bunch of servers in datacentres run by Host-It. They are over-priced, but we've been happy with their customer service so haven't switched to a cheaper datacentre. We pay for 12 months of hosting up-front, and about a month after we paid for one of our servers, the server failed and we decided to retire it. Coincidentally, the contract was up for renewal for another of our servers at the same time, so we asked them to transfer the remaining 11 months on the contract for the failed server over to that server. Seemed pretty fair enough to us. They flatly refused - sure, the contract doesn't say they have to do that, but it would seem to be a reasonable thing to do from a good-will perspective. So we had to pay for 11 months of hosting for a server that died (so they haven't actually been hosting it) because they refused to be reasonable and instead stuck rigidly to the contract terms. Now I'm not saying they were in the wrong - far from it, legally speaking they were dead in the right, but their lack of good will has ensured all future servers we commission will be hosted elsewhere.

Re:Entitlement

[RJFerret]

Expectations, not entitlement.

If you provide a service and lead people to believe they'll be able to use it, then yes, they'll be upset if you pull it out from under them (free or not, the free is irrelevant). That's not entitlement, that's having been deceived.

If you provide a service and indicate at some point of time it'll be discontinued/rates raised, informed folks will expect it and be fine. Ignorant folks will be upset initially.

If I'm a paying customer, who is aware you have treated users of your free service to no notice, I expect you'll treat me the same way at some point, and will invest in finding another supplier, because a contract limiting your bad behavior requires going after you when you breach it.

Past behavior is the best indicator of future actions and values.

Re:Entitlement

[Anonymous Coward]

This.
No one's saying they're not in their right to cancel a free service, but the contempt they've just shown for their users would make it really hard for me to trust them with my money.

Sure - maybe they treat their paying users better, but would you risk it?
In a competitive market, I wouldn't.

Re:Entitlement

[zugmeister]

See above. After selling me a $130 program that uses their "free" service, they are discontinuing the service. Just because it's "free" doesn't mean people haven't paid!

Re:Entitlement

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not so much that they took away the free service, it's that they didn't give any sort of notice. They should have spoken about their plans a while ago instead of springing it on everyone. That's the part that ticks me off.

Re:Entitlement

[Anonymous Coward]

Well what if it was Gmail and Google decided to nuke the service without notice? For the most part I agree. Free is free and you generally get what you pay for.

Re:Entitlement

[Anonymous Coward]

Now I'm not saying they were in the wrong - far from it, legally speaking they were dead in the right, but their lack of good will has ensured all future servers we commission will be hosted elsewhere.

I wouldn't be so sure. Unless you agreed to a contract involving a specific machine (and defined explicitly so as to disqualify a mid-contract hardware replacement), you had every right to replace the failed server with the end-of-contract server and discontinue the unneeded contract.

Even if your contract is structured such that you could not replace it, it's unlikely that you can be bound to pay the full contract price unless the termination provisions attempt to define liquidated damages for breach. They can't bill you for services you didn't receive. They can bill you the fixed costs and penalties as defined in the contract, but can't simply charge full freight for 11 months of nothing. That's unjust enrichment.

Re:Entitlement

[Anonymous Coward]

Not entitled; however, I'm so angry about the lack of notice that I'm looking everywhere but Logmein for a comparable paid service.

Re:Torrents are your friend

[gigaherz]

I don't endorse copyright infringement (I refuse to call it piracy), but "added malware" is only a problem if you get the files from untrusted sources, or at least without checking the comments to see if anyone complains about it. But, of course, that applies anywhere. Some seemingly legitimate websites that offer free downloads of software, include bloated adware-loaded "downloaders" that can be bigger than the file you intended to get.

Roll your own

[jon3k]

Everyone should have a dedicated server (or VPS). Find a couple friends, go in on a dedicated server, carve it up with Xen/KVM. Then just setup a reverse ssh session from home to your vps/guest and forward rdp and/or vnc ports.

Re:Roll your own

[Anonymous Coward]

Genuine question here, can you elaborate? I'm very interested as I do have my own server on the net with a permanent domain name (as opposed to something like dyndns). I don't need the KVM information (I own the complete server) just how to do the reverse ssh and what exactly is being forwarded on my server or the client computer etc.

Re:Roll your own

[gradinaruvasile]

I devised a quick support remote server-client. Based on a simple batch script, 7zip self-extractor, stunnel and tightvnc (personal choice, any remote app that uses 1 port and has reverse connection option works). The server is plain stunnel running on my Linux desktop which listens to an external port and forwards it to a localhost port. The client is a 7zip self-extract .exe package, you double-click on it and it connects to my computer (via a dyndns hostname) by launching a tightvnc server, uses its reverse connect feature via the localhost port that is opened by stunnel then connects that port to my computer. It uses 2 way certificate-based authentication and AES 256 bit encryption. So i just send the .exe to my customer who launches it and voila im connected (actually he is connected to my listening vnc client). When im not home, i forward the port via vpn+ssh to my laptop.

request a refund from google, then 1 star the app

[BillyBurly]

If you bought the android app and have a free account try getting google to refund the purchase. Then go and give the app a 1 star review. Maybe that will get them to think this was not a good idea. Or at least get someone there to notice.

Want to send a message? Cancel your account.

[Nuroman]

There is no automatic method of cancelling your account. You have to call the tech support line at https://secure.logmein.com/con... for your locale. All you can do on the site is delete the computers on your account. As of this post, I cannot get through to the US & Canada line, just getting a busy signal. Apparently I'm not the only one following this route. As has been mentioned in other posts there are plenty of free options out there capable of the same features that a free LogMeIn account was capable of doing.

Logmein is the successor of PC Anywhere

[tomer]

Back in the past PC Anywhere was the first choice for every remote technician. Than came similar software such as Remotely Anywhere that are easier to use and can doesn't require software to be installed in order to remote control (they have used a static HTML image map in addition to their Java Applet client). Later, services such as Microsoft Remote Assistant, Skype screen sharing (read only), logmein and TeamViewer started to provide easy access to remote machines, sometimes by proxing requests in order to make it just work without configuring port forwarding on the two sides or manually submitting IP addresses. I've not used logmein too much, because I prefer not to work remotely on Windows computers or Windows at all, but I am not sure if the sunset on logmein free service is bad after all. Soon we will see different products and better technologies (HTML5 WebRTC anyone?), and I've not seen too much innovation in logmein in the recent years. The usage of new technologies will advance us more to the moment we could host a service similar to logmein on our own servers and provide similar service to our own or to technicians in our area.

Re:Logmein is the successor of PC Anywhere

[Lumpy]

VNC has been around for quite a while I remember using the AT&T Labs version back in 1999.

Log Me in was simply a repackaged VNC with aded wrapper software and service.

noVNC

[LoRdTAW]

Classicly I have used SSH to tunnel both RDP and VNC though it can be cumbersome on the client side as you need a VNC viewer and SSH software. Not a big deal if its your personal tablet or laptop as you can easily run ConnectBot on Android or similar on iOS and then use a VNC client. On a laptop use Putty on windows or on OSX, ssh is included by default. But if its a PC out of your control so to speak your options are limited. There is a java applet version of tightvnc which runs inside a browser, though java applets can be cumbersome and you need a web server.

But alas, there is this: https://github.com/kanaka/noVNC, a pure javascript VNC client. NoVNC also includes ssl encryption as well so you can safely connect to your VNC server through an SSL tunnel; https://github.com/kanaka/websockify/wiki/Encrypted-Connections (The link is also on the noVNC page toward the bottom).

Two more: Crossloop and Fog Creek's Copilot

[Fencepost]

I believe both Crossloop and Copilot are VNC-based.

Copilot is free to use on weekends (their "day pass" pricing is $5 on weekdays and free on weekends).

TeamViewer

[Anonymous Coward]

I switched to TeamViewer (free) ages ago, much fast than LogMeIn ever was

No Email from Log Me In

[jamesmeece]

I received no Email from Log Me In. My company pays the yearly fee ($70-80 or so) for Central, and we use the Free version for our clients. The link says we will not be affected, I hope so. If that changes, I'll post an update.

Re:No Email from Log Me In

[jamesmeece]

Digging around, it looks like the Central price has changed to $299.99 per year. I'm trying to find out how much we paid last time, but this seems much higher. Guess I'll be looking to update 27 computers with something other than Log Me In.

Re:No Email from Log Me In

[Anonymous Coward]

yeah that's what I did sometime last year...I have like 400 pc's and it made me pay (anything more than 10)...but it was $199 not $299

Re:No Email from Log Me In

[jamesmeece]

Ok accounting got back with me, we paid $239 last year, so looks like it went up by $60 to $299 We are keeping it for now. But if they go with a per PC thing, we will ditch it.

join.me is still free

[Anonymous Coward]

Just stick with join.me...

Competitive Pressure

[namgge]

This behaviour by LogMeIn makes me suspect that they have got wind of a serious competitor for their service. If so, they will want to get subscriptions off as many potential customers as possible without giving them time to search for alternatives.

The other possibility is that LogMeIn have a cash flow issue and need a some more money to stay in business.

Either way, I'm out.

Crossloop

[Anonymous Coward]

crossloop.com .... dumbasses should have never even used logmein.

No Prior noticed, stuck out of town with a father

[Anonymous Coward]

I just received an email today saying Logmein Free will stop Today!! No prior notice!!! I've been using/referring Logme since they started 10 years ago!! I have paid Hamachi/Pro accounts and over 100 free accounts!! Now I'm screwed with a father who is in rehab from a stroke while I'm out of town and no way to work!! I can't afford the outragous money Logmein is forcing us to pay and the amount of time it will take to convert all my users over to TeamVeiwers will take days if not weeks!! I'm going to have a lot of upset customers!! I hope Logmein goes bankrupt!!

Cloud services = consumer gets rained on.

[Anonymous Coward]

Trust nothing you cannot maintain and administer yourself.

And FUCK a company which behaves like this one, may they
end up starving and homeless.

Re: No Prior noticed, stuck out of town with a fat

[Anonymous Coward]

Yo dawg!!! I herd you like exclaimation points!!! So I put some exclaimation points in your exclaimation points!!! Now you can exclaimation point while you exclaimation point!!!

Good

[Karmashock]

Too many use these systems and getting kicked out into the cold should remind the community that we can and should develop our own VPN solutions free of corporate constraints.

Re:Good

[wonkey_monkey]

we can and should develop our own VPN solutions...

This isn't a VPN solution.

...free of corporate constraints.

Apart from, y'know, the necessity of the central server which is what makes it work so simply and easily for non-technical users.

Re:Good

[Karmashock]

meant VNC... or RDP if you prefer...

As to central servers, there are some very simple ways to make this work for non-technical people. All non-technical people need is a polished system.

Re:Good

[wonkey_monkey]

there are some very simple ways to make this work for non-technical people.

Such as?

Re:Good

[Karmashock]

Check out HFS:
http://www.rejetto.com/hfs/

its a super simple HTTP file server program. You load it up and give people the URL provided by the program and they can directly access files you host on your own computer.

I takes about 2 minutes to set up if you know what you're doing. Not much more if you don't.

All of it can be automated. You do not need a centralized server. Some combination of UPnP and DDNS is all you need.

Re:Good

[wonkey_monkey]

Not a bad start, but it's hardly going to be the "it just works" of Teamviewer or LogMeIn.

Some combination of UPnP and DDNS is all you need.

In a situation where HFS will "just work," so would a standalone VNC server, wouldn't it?

Re:Good

[Karmashock]

We could do that as well.

Its really not that complicated.

Mostly what Logmein does is provide instant DDNS services.

All you have to do is build DDNS into your VNC server and you have the same thing. It is not complicated and it would be just about as simple as Logmein, for free, and beyond the control of rapacious companies trying to milk small time users of unreasonable fees.

Re:Good

[Wolfrider]

--How is that even REMOTELY secure?? I'm not tryna be snarky, I'm genuinely curious. It just sounds like it would be hideously easy to abuse and help others hack into your computer.

Re:Good

[Karmashock]

1. no harder to hack in then any other hack tool that does the same thing. so you're no less safe then you are now.

2. The system could use any port number you wanted so that would be some security... there would of course be password protection and encryption. So I don't really understand your confusion.

Submit complaint to BBB

[Anonymous Coward]

I just posted a negative review on the Better Business Bureau's website. Everyone who is upset about the way Logmein screwed us with same day termination notices, please post your reviews on BBB's website!!

http://www.bbb.org/boston/Business-Reviews/computers-hardware-software-and-services/logmein-inc-in-boston-ma-117143/customer-reviews

Logmein Central Users Still Work With Free

[Anonymous Coward]

I use logmein for a variety of small remote locations and last year I had to buy central in order to have the 10 allotted free installs. I checked my account and everything is working great through logmein central. I haven't read the full release on who did and didn't get to keep free options but mine are still all the same as before.

Re:Torrents are your friend

[swalve]

Fuckin' commie!

How about

[WillyWanker]

Gbridge? I've always liked that one. Works well enough.

OpenSSH

[goldgin]

What ? Nobody's using OpenSSH anymore? What's this double DNS mambo jumbo I'm hearing?

Pocket Cloud

[wiseman133921]

I have been using pocket cloud for a few years from my Android tablets. It supports RDP, VNC, and a companion app setup like LogMeIn. I love their interface and the responsiveness. The only thing I miss is being able to remote into computers I have setup with their companion app from a website as I did with LogMeIn. Oh well time to move all of my other family computers over to PocketCloud.

With notice like that

[scottbomb]

I've been using LogMeIn Free for years. I'm not a heavy user by any means. I used it to remotely control one of the home PCs when I'm out of town (which isn't often). If they want to take away the free access, fine. It's their product, they can do whatever they want with it.

But not giving any notice? That conveys a sense of contempt. It wasn't long ago when they caught hell from their userbase for re-directing their login to a page in India (log.in) without bothering to tell anyone. I'll be sure to recommend against their use for any future employer.

Re:With notice like that

[Anonymous Coward]

If you read the actual article you can see that they are in fact giving notice to existing customers who can still continue to use the free product for some time. They are just simply cancelling and new free accounts and putting existing accounts into the notice period.

outdated?

[Anonymous Coward]

seems like this is out of date...at some point last year they said logmeinfree now only supports 10 clients...anything more than that is $200 annually. I paid it...cause I now have like 400 logmein installs. does this mean I can't even do logmefree 10+ for $200 anymore? or is this what they're talking about?

I don't get any notifications when logging in...

Re:outdated?

[Anonymous Coward]

just did some research...they pushed me into logmein central. seems like they even went up on that...I paid $200 for ~400 users.

you can still have 'logmein free' clients with this model but they changed the tiered pricing

Free computers: 0-100 101-250 251-500 501+
Account subscriptions: $299.00 /year $499.00 /year $799.00 /year $1,499.00 /year

fuck me

Re:outdated?

[scottbomb]

No, it's today. I got the email too:

As of January 21, 2014, LogMeIn Free will no longer be available. To continue using remote access, you will need to purchase an account subscription of LogMeIn Pro. ...

LoMein?

[Anonymous Coward]

I can't be the only one who misread this as a Chinese entree.

I suggest a free/open source alternative called "ChowMeIn." :)

teamviewer free for personal use

[Chirs]

For the "helping out my relatives" usecase teamviewer works fine and is easier for newbies to get up and running than a VNC server.

heard about putty?

[Anonymous Coward]

it doesn't have to be as complicated as you're making it out to be

save the config in putty - once. open putty and select the session no remembering ports and entering commands. This followed by RDP

Surely you can see the point of taking the pain once and not having to worry about a "free" service suddenly going down or asking you for money?

Cisco's Meraki Systems Manager

[BlastfireRS]

This service provided by Cisco seems to be a viable, free alternative:

https://meraki.cisco.com/products/systems-manager

Shame about LogMeIn though; it made troubleshooting my parents' various computer woes over the years a lot easier.

Re:Cisco's Meraki Systems Manager

[atom1c]

What kind of nonsense is this? How is a devices management platform a viable alternative to remote desktop browsing?

Re:Cisco's Meraki Systems Manager

[BlastfireRS]

Never said it wasn't overkill, only that it's fairly straightforward, free, and provides the same functionality (and more). Considering a lot of individuals and businesses have used LogMeIn for remote management and support, it seemed to be worth a mention to me; by all means, feel free to ignore! :)

Re:Cisco's Meraki Systems Manager

[atom1c]

The problem is that it is utterly UNRELATED to the topic of LogMeIn Free being discontinued. The two solutions (LogMeIn v. Cisco Meraki) have literally nothing in common; they don't even compete with each other.

The Meraki solution IS NOT geared towards an end-user logging into a RDP session of their grandmother's computer to troubleshoot why iTunes is not updating properly or to clear her browser's cache. Rather, Meraki's solution IS aimed at corporate IT departments trying to assess the inventory of remote devices (including tablets) that have authenticated into the corporate network for systems access. (This being a simple use-case clearly described on their page.)

If you are remotely familiar with Meraki's portfolio of products, then you would not even consider trying to defend your nonsensical non-suggestion. So, please, do us all a favor and stop trolling unrelated products.

Little misleading...

[Anonymous Coward]

You get a seven-day window from the time you login next to either upgrade or move your clients to another platform. Teamviewer is awesome.

Enter complaints to the BBB

[Anonymous Coward]

I just posted a negative review on the Better Business Bureau's website. Everyone who is upset about the way Logmein screwed us with same day termination notices, please post your reviews on BBB's website!!

http://www.bbb.org/boston/Business-Reviews/computers-hardware-software-and-services/logmein-inc-in-boston-ma-117143/customer-reviews

Tell them how you feel, LogMeIn can we talk?

[NASstorageNinja]

Customers of products regardless if they are "free" (nothing is free, your mother should of told you that) or not should let companies know when they have made poor choices and quit being Lemmings! The Internet and cellphones have given the power/control and surveillance hungry zealots a lot but that cuts BOTH ways when it comes to information. If you don't like what they are doing send them a "love" letter, cancel your account, write them a few "nice" reviews, install a competing product ( I am all for TeamViewer at https://www.teamviewer.com/ for ease of use and cross platform support with features for novices to geeks and nerds) or roll your own. If you bought their app give it one star and write a review why they get 1 star. I understand they need to make a profit that said "Oops you have a week to purchase or find someone else" is just bad PR period. At least SugarSync gave a little more warning when they got rid of "free" than LogMeIn has. You can stand up for yourself and others and not be a jerk.

Use opens source

[sdinfoserv]

I setup an ssh linux server and run port forwarding with putty and remote desktop over an ssh tunnel. Easy, no cost and I've done this for years. http://www.dslreports.com/faq/...

Re:Use opens source

[wonkey_monkey]

Easy

That's entirely subjective, and you're not logmein's target audience. Where's the open source solution that's so simple that your hunt-and-peck-typing grandad can use?

Re:Use opens source

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm not the AC you replied to...but...

How to put this wonkey. The "open source solution" is so damned easy I wrote the basics in about 20 minutes. When I change computers, it's... a private git checkout, and a few shellscripts.

- Five minutes to add a new account on a machine, generate an ssh keypair, and restrict its access to only reverse tunnels
- Five minutes to set up a free dns hostname on same public host with ddclient running.
- Five minutes on the machine I want to remote to: install ssh-keychain, ssh-agent, tightvnc/other RDP software, and autossh
- Five more minutes to configure autossh and an rc script with a monitor for the authentication to automatically construct the reverse tunnel.
- And...a really basic pair of ssh scripts on the final host that pull the remote reverse tunnel/services into localhost host for the RDP software I'm using. Although frankly, I prefer to just dynamically add a forward and launch the desktop server remotely.

(Note, this means my remote machine isn't accessible until I supply a password after reboot. This is also fairly solvable...particularly with an authenticated computer model, or just letting it build the tunnel with a unpassworded key)

I realize you may not have the expertise to write that, and your grandfather almost surely does not. Heck, a lot of "IT types" I know don't even initially understand you can do that with SSH, much less understand how to do the key management parts.

Not my problem.

This is slashdot. For nerds that know WTF they're doing, nerds who want to know, nerds who want to learn. Nerds who can actually do the fucking job they were hired to do without spending their whole fucking day in a stack overflow circlejerk. We are the nerds who say "you're asking the wrong question" or "you're asking the question wrong" on IRC. So really, if you can't throw cygwin on somebody's machine, add a port forward to their router, and give them a batch file they can double click to run it inside of an afternoon... then you should take a day off and learn how to.

I have no desire whatsoever to write, maintain, and try to profit off of this.

But you're free to figure it out how to profit off of it yourself. The hard part is making it 100% platform neutral, bundling the installer, getting the unit tests.... and frankly... coping with the reverse tunnel bandwidth. Which you shouldn't do if you commercialize it, since you should be trying for firewall traversal.

And if you can't do part or all of that... well... go away, I don't care what you think. I really especially don't care if you can't do the easy parts on your own.

I'm not interested in open sourcing it, because I'm not interested in supporting it, answering questions, or using the bandwidth of my own reverse tunnel. So maybe somebody else can solve the already boring and easily solved problem.

You want it hunt-and-peck simple? Do it yourself, pay for it, or pay someone to write it.

Also, hope you're prepared for the hosting costs... public IPV4 is a bitch, and the bandwidth gets doubled...

Re:Use opens source

[Bacon Bits]

I setup an ssh linux server and run port forwarding with putty and remote desktop over an ssh tunnel.

Excellent. Now get your grandmother who lives two states over to do it over the phone.

How well does it interact with screen lock?

[Marrow]

If its screen-scraping, does a screensaver mess it all up?

GoToAssist Mobile Plan

[Anonymous Coward]

GoToAssist Remote Support actually has a free mobile plan. Their site does not make it obvious that it exists, but it's there. It doesn't allow unattended access unless you buy the full plan, but if you just need to do light support it works pretty well. It's what I have used for years to help my mom with random things as they come up without having to drive 300 miles.

Link, because the plan is not in the most obvious place:

http://www.gotoassist.com/remote-support/remote-support/mobile/delivering

alternativeto.net

[gitano_dbs]

http://alternativeto.net/softw...

Join.me is made by the same folks...

[kcbnac]

...and will likely suffer the same fate.

Who cares...

[Lumpy]

Logme in is a has been anyways. I stopped even using their paid service years ago after I started using TeamViewer.

TeamViewer

[thewolfkin]

TeamViewer is what I use. It's easy to install with Ninite. Requires little to no setup. Gives the muggles a password so they can feel secure. Let's you store the password if they don't need to be secure. It's simple, it's easy. The only flaw is a pop up when you close the session. A "thanks for using our free service" sort of thing. Easily X'd.

Not everybody has unlimited disposable income

[Anonymous Coward]

Huh? Even if it's true that LogMeIn can be duplicated for, say, $100,000, that doesn't mean that AC has $100,000 to spend on making it.

Chrome Remote Desktop extension

[Anonymous Coward]

Does everything I need.

NoMachine for free remote access

[chrisdoen]

The only company offering completely free remote access is NoMachine. https://www.nomachine.com/ I am surprised no one has mentioned it.

Re:NoMachine for free remote access

[BillBrains]

Nomachine offers better performance than logmein, and also Teamviewer.

Back to my mac?

[goombah99]

Apple's remote desktop combined with back to my mac seems to be all you need for mac to mac.

Re:Back to my mac?

[L4t3r4lu5]

... Except for the two Apple computers.

UltraVNC SC (one click to connect)

[Pav]

Single click solution? UltraVNC SC. All preconfigured and ready to go - you can skin it with a logo, and the GUI even has a list box where you can click on various names (if you've got more than one person doing phone support) - the config could steer traffic to separate ports in your firewall and different support people. VNC can be clunky on slow connections, but because this is a cousin of TightVNC I believe you can get them to install a display capture driver to optimise things. I've seen another similar one-click solution, but I can't remember it.

What happened to VPN?

[digitalPhant0m]

dydns + openvpn. done.

what about $ from ads?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why not just start making money by showing ads. it's easier to justify a small annoyance than charging people up the ying yang

Why matters

[Kjella]

If LogMeIn had shut down their free service because their main data center had a huge fire and they needed to serve their paying customers I'd have no problems with that, but this sounds like a decision made some time ago in a board room but kept secret until right before the hammer drops. It's not about contracts and obligations, it's about integrity. If I agree with a buddy to go fishing - and no, we don't write contracts for that - and the day before he cancels, that's fine if it's a family/medical emergency. If I learn it's because he's going to a concert that he bought tickets for two weeks ago then you can be damn sure I'd be angry and yelling.

They're often still getting something from you, even if they're delivering a free service. For example I've had a free email account now for 10+ years, seems like they're happy to trade ads for free service. I don't know about you, but I'd consider it very rude if they didn't give me more than 24 hours to let me know that it is coming to an end. I don't expect it to last for ever, but there's nice and less nice ways to end it. Even for a company that's under no legal obligation to be nice.

Does anyone use MeshCentral?

[Anonymous Coward]

It is not quite as convient as logmein was, but it will be my replacement.

Splashtop is good (but not 100% free either)

[Anonymous Coward]

I use Splashtop Remote. It is free within a local LAN but pay for WAN access. Performance is very good and has clients for tablet devices.

SSH and VNC are not a solution

[quietwalker]

My problem is that I need a remote windows access solution that doesn't appear to have required me to go through extra effort to circumvent security restrictions.
While my department and local IT people could care less, and in fact actively enable me to do my job, corporate might have an issue.

We are ~technically~ not allowed to download software and install it (in fact, links to .zip, .exe and a host of other types are denied), and standard RDP, VNC and similar ports are explicitly blocked. Logmein handled everything via the browser and browser dialogs, so I could claim ignorance, and required no special network configuration.

Sorta sad to see it go. I liked having plausible deniability.

Re:SSH and VNC are not a solution

[Anonymous Coward]

use your smartphone, then? bring your own laptop? why do you need to access your personal shit from such a restricted business-only environment?

Re:SSH and VNC are not a solution

[Wolfrider]

Look into Teamviewer Portable - you might be able to extract it and run it off a CD/DVD.

This makes sense

[madprof]

LogMeIn know how many free users there are. They will have seen revenues from converting free users to paid users dwindle. They have decided they do not need them anymore and they can grow their customer base without the "freemium" model.
So now they can off-load bandwidth-leeching free users to TeamViewer and focus on providing an even better experience for their paying customers. TeamViewer must spend more on supporting people who have no intention of spending any money.
Very astute business and the free users got all the professional service they paid for.

Team VIewer

[Anonymous Coward]

Who cares. Move to Team Viewer. Just as good if not better in my anon opinion

That is exactly what Teamview does

[Anonymous Coward]

Teamviewer allows you to connect remotely to a computer - same as LogMeIn. The free version allows you to use on 1 computer. The paid version (that I use for corporate support) allows you to connect to unlimited computers, but only 1 at a time. It works very well and has a much better interface than LogMeIn (IMHO)

they aren't closing the doors

[nobuddy]

All they are doing is ending free access. they have always had a "pro" access level. that will be their main business model now.

They will continue

[nobuddy]

They simply purchase a subscription with your credit card.

Re:Torrents are your friend

[l0n3s0m3phr34k]

like yahoo, serving out malware from official ads? lol

How about this alternative

[Shokac]

I'm using this free product and works fine > http://www.softether.org/

LogMeIn and TeamViewer Alternative

[Anonymous Coward]

As a result of the abrupt actions by LogMeIn and TeamViewe, we are offering 50% off of our industry-leading service. Same features, from $1-$7 per month. Use offer code: LOGMEOFF at checkout.

http://remoteDesktop.eBLVD.com

garbage

[GarretSidzaka]

Log me in is a poor competitor to many other better free alternatives. I quit using that product years ago. And its over priced. Microsoft's new RDC android client was better, as I mainly used log me in for Android

Comodo Unite is still free

[Anonymous Coward]

Not as good as LogmeIn used to be, but good for free.

http://www.comodo.com/home/email-security/vpn-access.php

Chrome Remote Desktop

[brunes69]

Works on any platform with chgrome, which is most all. Free, fast, no firewall port forwarding needed, works fine.

This is an easy one...

[Anonymous Coward]

Teamviewer!!!

It just works (tm)

xkcd did it

[richlv]

well. i know i should not. but it just seems to repeat again and again, and this seems so relevant...

http://xkcd.com/1150/

ChunkVNC

[TheDarkener]

I'm very surprised nobody has mentioned Chunkvnc. It's just like UltraVNC Single-Click - requires no client installation, it's just a single .exe file you download (I provide mine on my support site's front page), double-click, and read a number to the tech connecting to you. The back-end repeater runs on Linux and Windows. Only thing is you have to use UltraVNC viewer to connect, which I use via Wine in Debian. Would be very nice to see ID# support for Linux-based VNC viewers so I could ditch having to use Wine. Also, some antivirus programs detect it as a malicious attempt for someone to gain access to your computer (VNC is an 31337 h4x0r util dontchaknow), but it's easy enough to add an exception in most cases. Also, since it's based on uVNC you can do file transfers, which is awesome.

Oh yeah, and it's F/OSS and free ($$). Donations are accepted on Chunk's website, however. (No, I am not affiliated with the project other than a happy user for about 8 years now, first with uVNC-sc and now Chunk).

Huge Marketing Disaster

[Anonymous Coward]

Huge Marketing Disaster which will be taught to students – on WHAT NOT TO DO. They should have turned Free into “Amatuer” for $49/year with the same features as Free maybe upto 10 computers. The earning potential they have just let go is potentially MILLIONS

Re:Torrents are your friend

[SeaFox]

+1 Irony

LogMeIn: Today it's free, tomorrow you pay up.

[Anonymous Coward]

LogMeIn's management decision is very reminiscent of some cloud start-ups. Generally, it goes through 5 stages:

1. Offer a decent, enticing service for free.
2. Wait for the masses to subscribe to the free service (cloud-based or something else).
3. The masses using the service for free get addicted to it.
4. Management discontinues the free service and begins to charge fees.
5. Profit! Some go through withdrawal, but many people pay up.

This is why I have avoided LogMeIn (and other services like it) when I was doing research for my remote access implementation. Their business practices resemble to that of a drug dealer. Offer something for free, then force the users to pay up later. I got burned once when I was using a free cloud-based Customer Relationship Management program and I did not want a similar situation to occur with my remote access tools. So I selected software that DOES NOT rely on constant connectivity with the vendor's servers or similar "cloud" BS.

I personally use NetOp Remote Control as my primary remote access tool. UltraVNC is nice and open source, but Netop offers far more features that make manageability of remote hosts easy. Also, Terminal Services (now called Remote Desktop) is built into Windows XP, Vista, 7, and 8. With this feature built into Windows, you don't even need a third-party VNC tool in some cases. With RDP, you can remotely connect to your computer and control it much in the same way with VNC. The drawback is that RDP works best if your hosts are only accessed by you and nobody else. If you have remote hosts used by other people, then VNC (or NetOp) is the more appropriate solution. But LogMeIn is also used by consumers to access their home PCs and Window's built-in Remote Desktop (RDP) feature will be suitable in this scenario. For corporate or office settings, VNC and similar tools are better.

And did I mention that some computers have Intel Active Management Technology? Intel also has a VNC-like capability built into some (not all) of its processors and chipsets. With Intel's VNC implementation, you can even remote access hosts when the OS is not booting properly. You can even access the BIOS.

Network Address Translation / Firewalls causing remote access problems? Setup a Virtual Private Network. I use OpenVPN in bridged mode. And I have three layers of fall-back mechanisms if things go wrong. If the proprietary NetOp doesn't work, fall-back to RDP. If the hard drive is corrupt and Windows won't start, fall-back to Intel's Active Management VNC.

Of course such a setup is way too complicated for the regular users not well proficient in IT. That should be a motivation for learning. Learn something new, doesn't have to be about IT, instead of watching more TV. If you remain willfully ignorant, you'll eventually get screwed. That's exactly what happened with everyone who was using LogMeIn for "free." They got screwed and the very short notice may hurt the LogMeIn brand. At least give 30 days notice or something similar. Figuratively speaking, it's like pouring flammable liquid to a fire. If you don't want to get screwed, start by increasing your knowledge about the things you rely on.

Why can't you use Logmein to set up TeamViewer?

[the_rajah]

Free logmein isn't ended yet. You've got until the 28th before you get locked out. I've already set up most of my remote computers I manage for friends and family with TeamViewer.

Free alternative

[MartinAlonso]

Try FREE for home and business use alternative. Aeroadmin http://www.aeroadmin.com/ Hope it helps.

Dear LogMeIn,

[LookIntoTheFuture]

Wow, what a dick move. No more recommendations for you. Buh bye.

Splashtop's free-for-noncommercial-use products

[Maximalist]

I've used Splashtop on my tablet for years very happily. Both on home network and over the internet. Just looked and found that there are free/non-commercial clients that run on PC hardware too... I've tried them and they work as well as they do in the tablet context.

Just $29 a year for LogMeIn Hamachi

[Anonymous Coward]

This is a cheap, but highly workable solution. You can put up to 256 devices on one vpn... You can use RDP or VNC on each computer.

Busy Bee

[DarthVain]

I guess you were too busy being a mad IT admin and software engineer learning almost 20 programming languages that you were late to the whole slashdot thing and scored yourself a million+ ID? Or was it the sleep tunnels (which presumably you actually did while sleeping not to waste any precious daylight time)?

jk really. Not really trying to bust your cred. Only that I don't remember when I joined, but it was likely after I started working in the field, which wasn't until sometime after 2000, which at most is 14 years ago, and I managed to have a 700,000 ID.

Anyway I have found many IT folks boastful and full of BS on a good day, and on Slashdot it is even more common. Claiming to work in IT for almost 20 years, yet having a million+ account ID, means either you arrived late to the show, or you are exaggerating more than a bit... :)

Re:Busy Bee

[Sarten-X]

I arrived really late to the show, around 2005, I think. Prior to that, I read the articles occasionally, but didn't really comment regularly enough to bother getting an account. As my biased memory recalls, it was possible back then to have a reputable conversation as an AC, because the trolling and hivemind hadn't reached the horrible heights they have today. For as rarely as I cared about the discussions, that was good enough.

Re:Busy Bee

[DarthVain]

As I said just giving you a bit of a hard time. Given your reasoned response VS immediate insults and flame I can surmise that indeed you are newer to this forum... ;) Likewise your story seems rational and believable. I guess I was trolling a bit too wasn't I...

NP - I've always preferred Radmin anyhow

[jess_wundring]

>> Asks reader k280: "What alternative tools are available for free, and how do they compare to LogMeIn?" Okay, so its not free, but its a one time $50 per server install and is full of awesome goodness.... radmin http://www.radmin.com/

Free AEROADMIN?

[MartinAlonso]

There is one more solution for remote desktop connection (Aeroadmin). Though it looks not as advacned as logmein or teamviewer it still does what it should - connects remote PCs. http://www.aeroadmin.com/ What vendor says: - No installation and configuration - Parallel sessions - Connects computers in different LAN, behind NAT - Transparent for firewalls - Data encryption - Unattended access - Auxiliary features -- Clipboard synchronization -- Autoscaling -- No admin rights required -- Multilingual interface (17 languages). Have a look, what you think?

sexy wedding dresses

[Luckybridal]

One of the most popular and easy method of buying Weds Dresses is the Lucky Bridal. The Lucky Bridal is a Hong Kong buying wedding dresses. It is specialized in quality and all their staffs are dedicated to providing us with the superlative in full customer service and are a part of creating a very personal and unforgettable experience for your special day. The Lucky Bridal has developed as the hottest selection in the bridal industry at the most competitive and reasonable price. In the Lucky Bridal all wedding dresses are customizable. The Lucky Bridal offer a range of sizes from 2-20W. Wedding dress can be tailored in ivory, white, champagne, red and black, while there are also several other colors are available. The Lucky Bridal hires only the best dressmakers and experienced designer, who use the finest production technique to create your dress. They ship internationally.

Re:alternatives UltraVNC vs. LogMeIn

[Anonymous Coward]

You're describing UltraVNC Single Click: http://www.uvnc.com/products/u...

I used UltraVNC with Single Click to work on my 86 year old Mom's computer (400 miles away from me) for years before I discovered LogMeIn and it worked like a charm. My problem now is that if I want to connect to my various systems remotely I will have to have servers running on each of the systems, which I see as a security risk. An IT guy at work tells me that Logmein operated through port 80 and didn't require exposing additional open ports.

Can someone weigh in on the issue of Security of UltraVNC vs. LogMeIn?