Author Topic: Easy remote access to my home pc? (Read 53989 times)

alivingspirit · « **on:** September 03, 2008, 02:19 PM »

I am in college in NY and my parents live in Chicago. My Mother has a problem with her computer that I cant explain to her over the phone, so somehow I need gain remote access to my computer. The real problem is my mother is severely computer illiterate so I need to do it with the fewest possible steps on her part. What is the best way to accomplish this?

Josh · « **Reply #1 on:** September 03, 2008, 02:34 PM »

If she has windows xp, you can setup Remote desktop. It is the easiest and FASTEST solution available. Also, remote assistance works well if you don't want RDP ports open all the time.

kartal · « **Reply #2 on:** September 03, 2008, 02:57 PM »

http://www.teamviewe...m/index.aspx?split=A

I use Ultravnc but that can be harder to setup

wr975 · « **Reply #3 on:** September 03, 2008, 04:13 PM »

My steps to setup a remote access to computers

0.) Go to http://www.logmein.com and create an account (free)

1.) Call on phone and through installing Crossloop, start it and tell me the number on screen, click on connect and accept an incoming connection request. Takes some minutes only.

2.) Once I have a remote connection (which is usually dead slow in Crossloop (using VNC) I go to http://www.logmein, log into my account and download + install "LogMe In Free" + set a password.

Now I can connect to the PC whenever I want, from any computer as LogMeIn runs in a browser. I see when they're online. I can log into remote computers if they're in the log on screen, so even if I restart a computer, I don't need remote assistance to log in again. The speed is excellent. On slow lines I can reduce the color depth down to grayscale.

The free version of LogMeIn doesn't allow any extra features, like file transfer or printer sharing, but it's still very, very useful. I hope they'll continue to offer the free version for a long time, as I know no substitute and the pro version is way too expensive (for me). As you can see, I'm using it quite often in remote assisting friends.

Easy remote access to my home pc?

40hz · « **Reply #4 on:** September 03, 2008, 05:38 PM »

I'm a big fan of CrossLoop. Easiest IMHO.

http://www.crossloop.com/

It's what I use when my Mom calls with a problem.

BTW: Never experienced this where I live:

Once I have a remote connection (which is usually dead slow in Crossloop (using VNC)

Your mileage may vary. Up her in New England/NY CrossLoop is very fast and responsive.

f0dder · « **Reply #5 on:** September 03, 2008, 05:46 PM »

If she has XP Pro, then what Josh said. It's pretty easy to use, and it's the remoting solution that has the best performance. Even UltraVNC with it's GDI mirror driver can't keep up. You do need a user on the box that has a password (you can't connect with empty passwords, that'd be insane) and the logged-on user will be disconnected (although iirc there might be a way around this).

mwb1100 · « **Reply #6 on:** September 03, 2008, 06:10 PM »

Using RDP/Remote Assistance often runs into a problem that Crossloop and logmein solve - NAT routers. I know that Remote Assistance can work around NAT routers to a certain degree, but it has real problems if both ends have a router between them and the Internet.

I like LogMeIn fine for remote access to my machine, but the free version doesn't work too well for assisting someone else (at least the last time I tried it).

I have not tried Crossloop.

I have used Fog Creek Copilot (https://www.copilot.com/) to provide assistance for some relatives and it worked nicely except that it does not support dual monitor systems very well. Copilot is free on the weekends or $5 for a 24 hour 'ticket' through the week. The other nice thing about Copilot is that the person you're assisting doesn't need to be computer savvy - a link gets sent in email (or the URL and/or connection code can be read over the phone if email's not working) and everything else pretty much just works with maybe a few clicks on a 'yes' button in a dialog.

I think that Copilot is built upon VNC, but I'm not sure.

Armando · « **Reply #7 on:** September 03, 2008, 06:21 PM »

LogMeIn works perfectly. I just helped my mom last week. She had nothing to do. Only fired up her computer and made sure that the logmein tray app was on.

wr975 · « **Reply #8 on:** September 03, 2008, 06:27 PM »

> Up her in New England/NY CrossLoop is very fast and responsive.

I guess LogMeIn spoilt me. I've never seen a fast CrossLoops session. $:-\$ Especially with slow upload speeds Crossloop is almost unuseable. At least that's my impression. (I'm living in Austria. My sister in law in Ireland. She has a terrible slow upload. Using Crossloops it took ages to get LogMeIn installed. Once I could access the computer via LogMeIn + switched to grayscale mode everything was fine.)

With good uploads Crossloops is useable, but I still install LogMeIn. It's very easy to lose connection in Crossloops (just log off or restart) and then I can't connect at my own.

>I like LogMeIn fine for remote access to my machine, but the free version doesn't work too well for assisting someone else (at least the last time I tried it).

A drawback of the free version is, it's not that easy to install on remote computers. Using the $$$ pro version I could send just an e-mail. User clicks a link and voila, I have remote access. That's why I use Crossloops to install LogMeIn.

Darwin · « **Reply #9 on:** September 03, 2008, 06:28 PM »

This is a great thread... However, anyone know of a way to access a G5 iMac from a Windows based machine? All this talk of helping dear old mum with her computer has me thinking about my mum and dad... Being able to troubleshoot issues remotely would be a lot more convenient for them and for me than having to wait until I can get across town to sit in front of their computer.

wr975 · « **Reply #10 on:** September 03, 2008, 06:47 PM »

https://secure.logme...m/products/free/mac/

All you have to do is leave your Mac switched on and make sure it's online, then you can go anywhere in the world and access it from any other computer

This means, you can access your Mac from a Windows machine?

Darwin · « **Reply #11 on:** September 03, 2008, 06:54 PM »

Wow! I actually expected the answer to be "Yeah, right!". Thanks, wr975

alivingspirit · « **Reply #12 on:** September 03, 2008, 09:46 PM »

CrossLoop - Seems like the best choice except that I would have to call my parents up every time I want to use it.
Remote Desktop - Having problems with it. Most likely a firewall but I cant be sure unless I get access to the computer over there.
Log me in - Apparently this is blocked on my schools network because it is considered a proxy.

sri · « **Reply #13 on:** September 03, 2008, 10:42 PM »

www.mikogo.com/

40hz · « **Reply #14 on:** September 04, 2008, 06:17 AM »

A drawback of the free version is, it's not that easy to install on remote computers. Using the $$$ pro version I could send just an e-mail. User clicks a link and voila, I have remote access. That's why I use Crossloops to install LogMeIn.
-wr975 (September 03, 2008, 06:27 PM)

Very elegant solution to the problem. Bravo!

40hz · « **Reply #15 on:** September 04, 2008, 06:22 AM »

CrossLoop - Seems like the best choice except that I would have to call my parents up every time I want to use it.
-alivingspirit (September 03, 2008, 09:46 PM)

Interestingly enough, that is the main reason why I use it with Mom. I can't convince her that she should use a password and log on to her desktop. She just wants to turn it on an go.

Which goes to show - one product's limitation is another product's feature!

4wd · « **Reply #16 on:** September 04, 2008, 10:13 PM »

Interestingly enough, that is the main reason why I use it with Mom. I can't convince her that she should use a password and log on to her desktop. She just wants to turn it on an go.

Which goes to show - one product's limitation is another product's feature!
-40hz (September 04, 2008, 06:22 AM)

I don't consider not using a password a limitation - the opposite in fact. In some cases having a password is a liability.

In XP, for accounts without a password you have to be physically present to use the account - this includes admin accounts. Having a password allows remote login.

If your remote access security is not up to scratch then having a password is bad, imho.

CrossLoop, (or some other remote program requiring physical interaction), is a far more secure way of doing things.

Having said that though, I run a headless downloader that the only access to is via RDP because it was more responsive and better integrated - then again, there's nothing on it I can't afford to lose.

rabbitcatcher · « **Reply #17 on:** September 12, 2008, 04:30 PM »

I have not tried this yet but I plan to very soon.

www.mikogo.com

There is an article in DC about it here, that's how I found it!

https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=12956.0

This product looks to be very good to me. I particularly like the integration with Skype so there can be a conversation while control is going on.

For paid software I can absolutely swear by Radmin. If you want high end with file transfer, etc. you cannot beat it and for what it does it is very reasonable $.

http://www.radmin.com/

If anyone is using Mikoga now please post their experiences, etc.

Good luck.

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #18 on:** September 12, 2008, 04:43 PM »

Excellent for giving someone a hand but I don't think you can use it for remote access.

Keilup · « **Reply #19 on:** September 13, 2008, 03:42 PM »

I've been using Logmein free for a while now to access my home PC and it has worked great. Only issue I ran into was that when Zonalarm poppup up a window, I couldn't click on anything from remote. Just figured out today that I need to turn off the Zonealarm client protection feature.

Another one I was testing today was www.remobo.com. It's currently in beta, but all functions are free and people seem to like it. Supposedly it'll go pay eventually, but a free version remain with reduced features. I ran into the Zonealarm popup issue so my testing has paused until I can get back to my remote PC.

Mikogo looks very similar to Remobo so I definitely will try that one out next.

Keilup

Deozaan · « **Reply #20 on:** September 15, 2008, 12:19 AM »

So can someone give a quick and easy tutorial on how to set up Remote Desktop from within XP Pro and how to access it from another computer?

4wd · « **Reply #21 on:** September 15, 2008, 07:44 AM »

So can someone give a quick and easy tutorial on how to set up Remote Desktop from within XP Pro and how to access it from another computer?
-Deozaan (September 15, 2008, 12:19 AM)

1) On the PC that you want to control, (henceforth called the "server"), create an administrator account and give it a password.
2) On the server, My Computer->Properties->Remote->Tick "Allow users to connect remotely to this computer" under Remote Desktop, then OK out.
3) Ensure that port 3389 is able to get through any firewall/router on both PCs and that if you use NAT that port 3389 is forwarded to the server PC.
4) On a client PC, Start->Accessories->Remote Desktop Connection and type in the IP of the server PC.
5) If everything is forwarded OK and is able to get through your firewalls then you'll get a window/screen open where you input the user/password you specified in step 1.

You might not need to actually create a admin account on the server, a normal user account will probably suffice as long as you don't want to do anything that requires admin privileges.

You can fine tune your Remote Desktop connection by clicking the Option button when you run Remote Desktop Connection.

You can also access the server PC through a web browser, (ala VNC), if you enable Remote Desktop Web Connection.

Edited for clarity.

mediaguycouk · « **Reply #22 on:** September 15, 2008, 10:00 AM »

Has anyone noticed that the Live Mesh beta from Microsoft allows VNC style access to the desktop?

I use it to occasionally sync my firefox profile between home and work but haven't actually kept the home computer on to try out the remote desktop.

However it's free, and you know how good microsoft are at using their own code to make these things faster and better (at the expense of fair play...)

Deozaan · « **Reply #23 on:** September 15, 2008, 11:17 AM »

Thanks 4wd! One more question:

4) On a client PC, Start->Accessories->Remote Desktop Connection and type in the IP of the server PC.
-4wd (September 15, 2008, 07:44 AM)

How would I know the IP of the server PC?

mediaguycouk · « **Reply #24 on:** September 15, 2008, 11:19 AM »

If you don't have a static IP with your Internet Provider then you can create a dynamic hostname (one that keeps track of your dynamic IP address) through dyndns.org