Remote access to PC

[419]

Could anyone give any recommendations or advice for software to enable me to access a PC from another computer, and any tips as how to set this up regarding security etc.
The purpose is that "the other half" often has computer problems while I'm away, and I would like to see if I could fix the snags this way

Both computers will be on broadband, although one is a fairly slow connection.

Merry Christmas to all.

419

[kwachon]

Try "GOTOMYPC.COM". Free for the first 30 days if you use promo code "KIM".

[ZH875]

LOGMEIN by Hamachi (www.logmein.com (http://www.logmein.com)).

If you do not want all the bells and whistles, but want to be able to remote control the other PC, it is FREE.

If you wish to transfer files between your pc and the other one, either pay for LOGMEIN PRO or use Gigatribe (www.gigatribe.com (http://www.gigatribe.com)) you can use this FREE, or pay a lifetime £14.99 to have more options.

I can recommend both.

[OzPax1]

I can second logmein and the paid for pro version is even better. I use the pro version to support my dad and his home network in Brisbane from here in the UK. Its quite a big home network too..what with 2 adults and 4 Uni aged teenagers! I'll let you guess as to the amount of networked kit! Seems like I'm on Dad's network every few days sorting things out....! :ugh::hmm:

It's also good for letting me pick things up from my own PC when at work or travelling away from home. I quickly found out how useful that can be. :ok:

If you admin a network of anymore then 10 PC's then it's no contest Netsupport Manager (http://www.netsupportmanager.com/?Lang=EN) has to be the winner.

[DogfighterF22]

Just to say, LOGMEIN is absolutley great.

Cant go wrong with that.

I have found the Remote assistance to be a little tempramental.

[Agent86]

There are a number of variants of VNC. I use UltrVNC (http://ultravnc.sourceforge.net) It is open source software(ie FREE) and you can set up encryption and a password. It enables full remote access,a "chat" window, and file transfer. You do need to open a port thru your router but it is fairly straight foward to do.

[Sam-MAN]

I use LogMeIn and its excellent! Havent once had a problem with it! It's fast and reliable, which is great...

[Tarq57]

Maybe Team viewer. (http://www.teamviewer.com/index.aspx)
Haven't tried it, it was recommended at a forum I visit, so cannot vouch for it. But it looks good, it's free, the author's website appears professional.
Claims to do all you ask.

[seanbean]

Just to add my weight - LOGMEIN does the job. I also use AVVENUE for file transfer.

[IO540]

I use pc/anywhere. I believe this may have been dropped by Symantec but it works well. It even works over GPRS - if you have patience and if somebody else is paying the GSM bill :)

The thing to watch with any remote control program is that port sniffers will soon find the port it's on and will hit it with a dictionary attack, or a simple DOS attack. So, most serious users do remote access over a VPN, or at least switch off the host end when not required.

[Keef]

Be careful, be very careful!

If you open up your machines to access via the Interweb, make very sure you have an excellent firewall and that it's properly set up. A friend of mine got home one evening to phrenetic flashing lights on his PC and router. He'd become the unwitting download source for a porn site. He got some pretty nasty hate mail and worse when he turned it off.

I run "Remote Desktop" on my Windows machine, VNC on the Linux box, and remote access on
the Router- but that relies on Draytek's NAT firewall and ZoneAlarm. ShieldsUp! reports "total stealth" on the system. Without those safeguards, don't risk it!

Remote Desktop (free with XP) does the job.

[IO540]

The thing is, Keef, that if you set up a remote access "host" you cannot have it totally stealthy. If it was, you would not be able to connect to it. The host machine will have to be listening on a port or two, and a port sniff will uncover those ports. Whether it will penetrate will depend on the security.

If you have a remote control host behind a NAT router, you have to open up the required port(s) in the router, and forward the packets to the other side.

Draytek routers are good but not that good. For years and probably still, they expose the remote admin port (443) to all and sundry - even if you disable the router's remote admin! So, 443 gets routinely attacked. Our server was being hit from multiple machines, with the dictionary attacks nearly saturating an 8Mbit/sec ADSL line. The work-around is to port forward 443 to an IP on the other side (the internal network) where nothing is going to respond to it.

I would always use a VPN for remote access.

[419]

Thanks for all the advice.
I've tried logmein, and it seems to be okay.

One more question regarding the security of it.
To gain access to the PC, it must have "logmein" enabled. I was planning on not doing this unless it was needed, at which point, I would get the other half to enable it. (after an e-mail of telephone call)

Provided that it is left disabled, is there any way that any outside hacker or sniffer program could still access the computer?

[OzPax1]

No...it's off. So you are safe. Logmein works via HTTPS (Port 443) which means all communication is encrypted anyway. Use strong passwords, by which I mean a password that includes numbers and letters and not a word you will find in a dictionary for you Logmein passwords and you should be quite safe.

Yes there is a risk, but you can do things to mitigate that risk, and the benefit outweighs the risk.

[Keef]

I don't know about Port 443, Peter. I'm not that "into" the technology of routers. However, when i run a "Shields Up!" test, it shows port 443 as fully stealthed. Indeed, it shows all ports thus (well, up to the limit of "standard ports").

ZoneAlarm tells me about any attempt to access any of the higher-level ports - the only programme that ever tries that is Skype, and it gets blocked.

I don't know how the Draytek does it - I just read the instructions!
I set up the two routers (Essex and Norfolk) to connect as a VPN, then I
remote-desktop to the Essex desktop machine from the laptop's IP address on the Essex network. It seems to work fine.

The only "gotcha" was that the Norfolk machine's IP address series had to be different from the Essex one. For the brief period they were both 192.168.1.x it was hard work trying to make things connect.

[IO540]

I am no networking expert, but in general terms, if you are running a host remote control program, say terminal services or pc/anywhere etc, behind a NAT router, then a couple of ports need to be opened up in the router.

With some routers, this can be done automatically by the software running on the PC because some routers support a protocol (can't recall its name) which enables this. On all older routers you have to open the ports manually.

If the ports are not opened, there is no way the remote end can establish contact with the host end - NAT fully obscures the internal network from the outside.

Zonealarm does something else - this picks up accesses from the outside to the inside (which should have been blocked by a NAT router anyway, and this is why firewall software is of much more limited value than most people think), or accesses from inside to the outside (such as your Skype example). ZA can be very useful for detecting which software is silently accessing the internet... the results can be suprising sometimes. But if you have a NAT router, nothing outside can get in anyway, except through ports which have been opened up.

Remote control software generally does not use standard ports - it uses high port numbers such as 3773 etc.

A router which supports VPN (like the Drayteks) must have some ports open for the VPN functionality. I don't think Draytek document which numbers these are. I did a port scan a few times and it didn't find them - presumably because the router needs to receive a special packet on the port before it responds at all. This is only a guess - it would be a fairly obvious way to implement open ports for a proprietary VPN but which are not discovered with a port scan.

I am in the process of changing my VPN stuff to run over port 443 because when travelling I find many internet connections block VPN ports and VPN generally especially PPTP. 443 is never blocked because that would block HTTPS... The last hotel I stayed in even blocked port 25 (SMTP); I had to go online with £10/MB Vodafone-ripoff 3G to send emails :) Remote control can be a real PITA.

[danieljoe]

one of a good software i came across is go meet now http://www.gomeetnow.com/ one of my friend is also using it. I also liked it very much so i would suggest go meet now.

[ZH875]

Maybe Team viewer. (http://www.teamviewer.com/index.aspx)
Haven't tried it, it was recommended at a forum I visit, so cannot vouch for it. But it looks good, it's free, the author's website appears professional.
Claims to do all you ask.


I have tried Teamviewer, and as long as you have either someone at the other end to let you know what the account number and current password is, or it has been setup with a fixed password, and you know what the account number and password is it is a very good piece of kit.

In fact, I used Logmein to install teamviewer on a family PC, and then did all i needed to in Teamviewer, including file transfer, chat etc.

I leave mine setup so that it will NOT accept incoming connections.

If you just want family and friends to 'collect' photos and video clips etc, then Gigatribe is a better option, as it allows you to only share the folders you want, whereas Logmein and Teamviewer allow full unrestricted access to your computer.

[419]

Logmein seems to be working okay, but I've one final (I hope) question.

It's possible to disable it by clicking on the desktop icon, but whenever the PC is shutdown, logmein is automatically enabled when the computer is restarted.

Is there any way to stop this auto startup? I only want it enabled when there are problems on the computer, and I've contacted the "other half", and asked them to turn the system on.

I've had a look at the online user guide, but I can't find anything about this.

Many thanks for any help.

[Tarq57]

You should be able to disable it in msconfig. (Start>run, type msconfig, Enter, look at start list, locate entry, untick the checkbox, click apply or OK.)

[ZH875]

On the Logmein systray icon, right click and select 'disable logmein' then when you need use it, just get them to right click and select 'enable logmein'.