Remote Control Software recommendations - Prefreably Free

[Stogey23]

Does anyone here know of any Remote Control software to for controlling a home workstation remotely? Is there any reliable freeware? If not, what is the cheapest single liscense software you know of.

THANKS!

[Foosinho]

What do you mean by "controlling a home workstation remotely"?

Do you mean logging in to your home PC from work (or similar)?

[servotron]

www.realvnc.com

VNC is the defacto standard in remote control software, works on all platforms, both ways.

It's the greatest, and it's free.

[Stogey23]

What do you mean by "controlling a home workstation remotely"?

Do you mean logging in to your home PC from work (or similar)?
That's exactly what I mean.


I'll check out www.realvnc.com when I get home today. Any others?


BIG THANKS!

[Foosinho]

UltraVNC is another good choice - it's the one I use.

One thing to be aware of is that the access password is not encrypted, nor is the actual data. I would not open a VNC server directly to the internet unless you like not having control of your computer - I like messing with my wife and logging on and moving her mouse on her.

Instead, you should consider setting up a SSH server and tunnelling VNC thru SSH. You can do this, allegedly, on a Windows system, tho I have an SSH server running on my Linux fileserver. I'm really busy until late this week, but I'm planning on setting this up on my brother-in-law's computer so I can remotely administer it for him, so if you can wait a week or so I can write up a nice howto for a secure Windows-only one-pc setup.

[Stogey23]

Instead, you should consider setting up a SSH server and tunnelling VNC thru SSH. You can do this, allegedly, on a Windows system, tho I have an SSH server running on my Linux fileserver. I'm really busy until late this week, but I'm planning on setting this up on my brother-in-law's computer so I can remotely administer it for him, so if you can wait a week or so I can write up a nice howto for a secure Windows-only one-pc setup.
That would be bitchin!

Basically Hattrick is blocked from my work and I need to be able to enter the transfer market from work. :D

[Foosinho]

That would be bitchin!
Bump this thread if I haven't gotten to this by Friday evening or so.

Basically Hattrick is blocked from my work and I need to be able to enter the transfer market from work. :D
There is another alternative - a web proxy and using the SwitchProxy plugin for FireFox. But, again, you wouldn't want that proxy open to the world, so you'd probably want to tunnel it over SSH (with the added bonus that the traffic would be encrypted, and your work would have no idea).

[servotron]

But as you can see, VNC (in some form or another) is definitely the choice of the BigSoccer Experts(tm) ;)

Also extremely nice for cross-platform remote controlling. I really fool em here at work when I have my Mac full-screen VNC'd on my dual monitor PC... and then I drag a Windows window on top of my MacOSX screen and the uninitiated brain is blown :D

[Belgian guy]

Why not simply use microsoft's own remote desktop?

[Foosinho]

http://theillustratednetwork.mvps.org/Ssh/RemoteDesktopSSH.html

Not my writeup, but it does describe SSH and Remote Desktop. I've never used Remote Desktop, but my understanding is that VNC has the advantage of not logging out the current user, and it's cross platform (ie, the OS of the client and the OS of the host doesn't matter, as long as a VNC application exists for that OS).

The only difference between that setup and a VNC setup is what ports you tunnel thru SSH.

[Stogey23]

http://theillustratednetwork.mvps.org/Ssh/RemoteDesktopSSH.html

Not my writeup, but it does describe SSH and Remote Desktop. I've never used Remote Desktop, but my understanding is that VNC has the advantage of not logging out the current user, and it's cross platform (ie, the OS of the client and the OS of the host doesn't matter, as long as a VNC application exists for that OS).

The only difference between that setup and a VNC setup is what ports you tunnel thru SSH.
If I'm understanding right his may be a problem, because work has outgoing ports locked down as well. Is there any way to tunnel out through port 80, or one of the obviously open ones like FTP?

[Foosinho]

If I'm understanding right his may be a problem, because work has outgoing ports locked down as well. Is there any way to tunnel out through port 80, or one of the obviously open ones like FTP?
Sure - you could put the SSL port to any you want. It doesn't have to be 22 (but I bet that's open anyway, it's a pretty common protocol). The VNC traffic will be "tunneled" thru the SSH port, so your network will only see encrypted traffic on the port you specify (again, 22 by default).

[Stogey23]

So what do I install on my work PC, and my home PC that I want to remote in to?

[Foosinho]

So what do I install on my work PC, and my home PC that I want to remote in to?
On your home PC, you need to install a SSH server (copSSH in the document I linked to), make sure it's configured properly and that your firewall/router allows incoming traffic on the appropriate port, and UltraVNC (the server part of UltraVNC, specifically).

On the "other" computer, you want to install Putty and UltraVNC. You *CAN* run both of those from a USB key without installling software, and with a slick batch script you can even ensure Putty doesn't leave any registry entries behind (but still keeps all of your settings). I'd have to dig up the script, but I have it. That way you can plug in your key on any windows PC, fire up Putty to SSH tunnel into your server, and then use VNC to view your home desktop.

[Stogey23]

On your home PC, you need to install a SSH server (copSSH in the document I linked to), make sure it's configured properly and that your firewall/router allows incoming traffic on the appropriate port, and UltraVNC (the server part of UltraVNC, specifically).

On the "other" computer, you want to install Putty and UltraVNC. You *CAN* run both of those from a USB key without installling software, and with a slick batch script you can even ensure Putty doesn't leave any registry entries behind (but still keeps all of your settings). I'd have to dig up the script, but I have it. That way you can plug in your key on any windows PC, fire up Putty to SSH tunnel into your server, and then use VNC to view your home desktop.
I'll see if I can translate this to English for myself. LOL.