Remote access to your computer, from somewhere else

[RPB]

Another post I just made about a children's hospital WIFI reminded me ...

Neat little program similar to Remotely Anywhere ... except it's free for the basic version

I have used it when traveling to connect to my home computer to check forums, email etc
free program is LOGMEIN ... there's several "versions" and you can even try a more powerful version trial period and when it expires it switches to the standard free version (which is all most anyone needs)

basically, it lets you from wherever you are, log in and use your home computer as if you were sitting right at home, the mouse/keyboard you use, act as if they are plugged into your computer at home, the picture on your monitor, is the one at home (it's a window though so it can be minimized)

if you have a webcam and microphone at home, you can even see who's in your house while you are on vacation and what they are stealing and hear one say to the other. "Hey Jim, should we get the silverware tooo .... ....

You can remotely check your Outlook or work on documents on your home computer etc.

I used to actually manage some MSN servers, (some in California or Washington) by connecting to them from my home in Pasadena, Texas, while on a work computer 60 miles away at a law office in Cleveland, Texas which connected to Logmein, that connected to my home computer through which I was connected to MSN's servers, so I could restart their server or whatever.. It's secure enough. https://secure.logmein.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The computer to be controlled needs to download install the program, (like your home computer) ... then you can connect to it with your account .... from anywhere.

Pedernales Electric Co computer Support uses Remotely Anywhere, which is similar program, but I like Logmein.

My Ex-boss, a lawyer, would work on his Computer on pleadings etc in Cleveland, from his home in Boerne near San Antonio ... telecommuting when he didn't want to drive until the next day. (The downside of me teaching him about it was if I called in sick ... I had to work from home on my computer at work

Anyway, just lettin' y'all know.

I have no affiliation with the company

[tbrown]

if you have a webcam and microphone at home, you can even see who's in your house while you are on vacation and what they are stealing and hear one say to the other. "Hey Jim, should we get the silverware tooo .... ....

So can anyone else who guesses your password.

[RPB]

if you have a webcam and microphone at home, you can even see who's in your house while you are on vacation and what they are stealing and hear one say to the other. "Hey Jim, should we get the silverware tooo .... ....

So can anyone else who guesses your password.

it's safer than built-in Windows Remote Desktop/Remote Assistance which almost every computer has already on by default ....
If one makes passwords one can guess AND has the e-mail address used, or you give the info out ...yeah

but it's not find a person you want to control their computer .... then like select a random e-mail address to try, (I have about 30 e-mail addresses, most of them no one knows) and try strong methods to guess/break a password to find a or try billions of random passwords to try to connect to a random computer which may, or may not have logmein installed AND running ....

If you use an email addy which you create and don't use .... and create a strong password ... it isn't very likely anyone would guess both and hope you had installed it and ran it all the time (you can install it and not run it except when going on vacation/leaving house etc)


Many I know install it, turn it off except when they want computer support or go on vacation, or go to work .... but yeah, anyone who guessed all that could have turned off MSN servers worldwide during the 10 years I ran it on my computer and controlled the MSN servers ... they could have changed/hacked all MSN's web pages if they had the proper tool too, but, they'd have had to know where on my puter it was, and what it was, .... never happened and very unlikely

Yup, create good passwords and don't give them out. ( I used to create the accounts and Passwords for MSN chat Sysops and Guides etc too) And, It's a good idea to have several E-mail accounts ... say 1 just for junkmail you enter on websites asking for an email address. a couple you never use at all for anything except as like a "username" one for Family, a couple for business, one or more for various forums etc ... etc etc. and you can have Outlook or your Preferred Email program check them all if you want.

But sure, if a persons screen name everywhere is FishBait I'd try photiB8 and ghotib8 to see if that was their password
Ph/GH (F sound as in enough or phone)
o ( as in Women)
ti (sh sound as in action)
B8 bait

so don't make easy passwords for people to guess
And if you create an e-mail account you never use for anything else, the likelihood of a complicated e-mail address being guessed and used in combination with a secure password, is pretty secure NTLM Authentication
MyPrivateEmailAcctnoOneKnowsNumber473@fakeemail.com

Someone wanting access to your computer would more likely send a RAT such as the old Back Orafice or Sub7 type. They'd not be likely to succeed in getting access to you through Logmein unless you gave out your login info, or had a keylogger on your computer ( there are ways to not type usernames/passwords so keyloggers are ineffective anyway if you think you have one and didn't bother getting rid of it..

Some rather large Companies use Logmein products see: https://secure.logmein.com/about/ourcustomers.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[knotquiteawake]

Here is some sound password advice for you all.
Credit: http://xkcd.com/936/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Also, if you're not tech savvy I highly recommend the LogMeIn Free product.

[jerry_r60]

A similar tool with a slightly different purpose, which is also free, is https://join.me/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. It's similar to WebEx or GoToMeeting. Not quite as robust but as mentioned, it's free. It's great for those who are frequently called on to support friends and family. It will let you share your computer with someone else. If you need to control someone elses machine, you just have them start the session. They can then let you control the screen. I think this product is also by the same company, LogMeIn.

Not quite as slick as the paid products but it is sure better than working blind over the telephone.

[CHLnVet]

regarding LogMeIn especially if crossing between dissimilar OS's

[n5wmk]

I use the free version of LogMeIn - works across different OS. Has the ability to disable the monitor, keyboard and mouse of the remote machine. It has 2 levels of passwords - one just to get in to the LogMeIn system, then another one to connect to that remote computer. You use your local web browser (Firefox, IE, etc), and get a full-screen version of your remote computer.

I've been using this for about 5 years now, works fine for me. Paid version will give you the ability to drag/drop files between the computers, print something from the remote onto a local printer, etc.

I'm sure there are others that work just as well, but this works well for me.

[speedsix]

Another post I just made about a children's hospital WIFI reminded me ...

Neat little program similar to Remotely Anywhere ... except it's free for the basic version

I have used it when traveling to connect to my home computer to check forums, email etc
free program is LOGMEIN ... there's several "versions" and you can even try a more powerful version trial period and when it expires it switches to the standard free version (which is all most anyone needs)

basically, it lets you from wherever you are, log in and use your home computer as if you were sitting right at home, the mouse/keyboard you use, act as if they are plugged into your computer at home, the picture on your monitor, is the one at home (it's a window though so it can be minimized)

if you have a webcam and microphone at home, you can even see who's in your house while you are on vacation and what they are stealing and hear one say to the other. "Hey Jim, should we get the silverware tooo .... ....

You can remotely check your Outlook or work on documents on your home computer etc.

I used to actually manage some MSN servers, (some in California or Washington) by connecting to them from my home in Pasadena, Texas, while on a work computer 60 miles away at a law office in Cleveland, Texas which connected to Logmein, that connected to my home computer through which I was connected to MSN's servers, so I could restart their server or whatever.. It's secure enough. https://secure.logmein.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The computer to be controlled needs to download install the program, (like your home computer) ... then you can connect to it with your account .... from anywhere.

Pedernales Electric Co computer Support uses Remotely Anywhere, which is similar program, but I like Logmein.

My Ex-boss, a lawyer, would work on his Computer on pleadings etc in Cleveland, from his home in Boerne near San Antonio ... telecommuting when he didn't want to drive until the next day. (The downside of me teaching him about it was if I called in sick ... I had to work from home on my computer at work

Anyway, just lettin' y'all know.

I have no affiliation with the company

...fascinating...and team it up with a computer hunting setup and a 12 ga...you could handle the burglary from your desk...

[katmandu]

Teamviewer will also allow someone to remotely connect to another's computer, for providing support & troubleshooting, etc. A few more features than Windows RDP maybe, and easier to use in many cases.

http://www.teamviewer.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Free for non-commercial use.

The owner of the computer being connected to must provide the person connecting with a randomly generated number and password before the other party can connect.

[DocV]

I use OS X. I just tunnel VNC over ssh. VNC is restricted to localhost. Access controlled using IPFW. For extra joy toss in fwknop or some other port knocking.

edit: mentioned what operating system I am using.

[terryg]

I also use and endorse logmein. I have a personal account for my home computers and a work account for work comptuers (the free version limits you to managing four computers). Encryption tunneling used is very secure.

[Beiruty]

Try any VNC server and VNC session client. RealVNC is a good one, TightVNC is also good.

[terryg]

Try any VNC server and VNC session client. RealVNC is a good one, TightVNC is also good.

Unless it has changed significantly over the past year or so; the default configuration for most VNC servers is very insecure ... including transmitting clear text passwords. The sessions can be made more secure, but an out of the box install is not very secure.

[Beiruty]

Try any VNC server and VNC session client. RealVNC is a good one, TightVNC is also good.

Unless it has changed significantly over the past year or so; the default configuration for most VNC servers is very insecure ... including transmitting clear text passwords. The sessions can be made more secure, but an out of the box install is not very secure.

Good advice. I think there are new VNC server/SSH combo that would build a secured session under a VNC session.

For $50 the enterprise version of RealVNC would provide ISS:
http://www.realvnc.com/products/enterprise/#iss" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[uthornsfan]

TeamViewer trumps LogMeIn Free in every way!

We use it at my company to support over 1000 machines :)

The file transfer feature in TeamViewer outweighs LogMein on its own!