View and Control PCs from Almost Anywhere

In order to provide tech support for my best remote clients, my grandfather and my mom, I always like to setup remote desktop sharing. I use this on all of my machines as well, so that I can administer my machines from just about anywhere. I mostly use it from inside the house so that I don’t have to go to the basement to restart my server or start dedicated overnight processes, or to use my laptop as a remote keyboard from across the room, for machines hooked into big screens. I have discovered that Windows 7 (Starter, Home Basic, and Home Premium) do not accept incoming Windows Remote Desktop connections. Although I use Windows Remote Desktop at work, I have been unable to successfully use this feature at home (not sure what I ever did wrong.) However, I am not a fan of Windows Remote Desktop, because it doesn’t allow the local client and remote user to both see/control the screen, for training and functional purposes. In the past I preferred (and still use) RealVNC (freeware) (old version 4.0) on my XP machines, but have had issues getting it to work with the Windows Vista Aero themes. It requires the Aero visualization effects to be disabled. I have also found that the newest versions lost some free functionality, so I have been using an old version. I also recently discovered TightVNC which is surprisingly similar to RealVNC and is totally open source, and works even on Windows 7 without any setting adjustments. Both of these options offer a remote client and also a Java-powered web interface (for controlling the remote from a PC that doesn't have the remote controller installed.) The best thing about these though, is that if you have the password setup, you can access the PCs without any local action, like accepting the connection. So, you can control PCs that are unattended, as long as they are powered on, and running the VNC service. I also usually setup a DNS host through No-IP, which provides a static address for dynamic IP services. However, if behind a firewall or a router, setting this up may take some extra effort to allow and redirect the ports to the correct computer (especially if you are controlling multiple PCs from offsite, the VNC ports will need to be indexed). Contact Spurgeon Technologies for support. Also, these application ports are blocked by some corporate firewalls, so you may not be able to access your PCs while at work. If I need to support someone who doesn’t have this installed or can’t get access to the proper router settings, then I would recommend screen sharing over Skype as the next best alternative, although it won’t allow a viewer to take control at this time.