LogMeIn style remote desktop solutions

F

Frobozz

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Feb 15, 2002
Messages
1,817
I’ve been using LogMeIn to provide remote desktop access support to some of my relatives (Grandma being a primary person.) If you remember, LogMeIn went “weird” last year and closed all of their free accounts and offered a discounted rate of ~$60 for one year to existing users.

That year is just about up, so I’m exploring other options before having to pitch a $130 cost to the family. (I acknowledge that is probably a reasonable fee considering the service received.)

My short list of things to look at consists of Chrome Remote Desktop and TeamViewer. Are there any other options you’d recommend for me to check out?
 
I just bought Team Viewer after reviewing many solutions, unattended access was a biggie for me and I now have it setup at quite a few of my clients, works very well and I'm happy with it, wasn't cheap though, over $700.00 for two licenses, one for home and one for my laptop.
 
ashman said:
I just bought Team Viewer after reviewing many solutions, unattended access was a biggie for me and I now have it setup at quite a few of my clients, works very well and I'm happy with it, wasn't cheap though, over $700.00 for two licenses, one for home and one for my laptop.
Click to expand...

Are you serious? I have TeamViewer 9 free edition on 4 of our family pc's and they are all setup for unattended access. You just need to login with the credentials that are needed and save them on the client pc's.

$700 is way too much IMO.
 
Sure the free edition works, but after awhile you get warnings and then the sessions disconnect after a minute or two, I used the free edition for a long time too, but its for my business and as such a business expense.
 
Teamviewer should be just fine for occasional remote desktop access. I used the free version heavily in the maintenance of my mining farm, and it worked just fine. The free version has no real limitations, but as noted above it will start messing with you if a period of constant usage is detected. However, since you'll just be remoting in when people have problems (which shoudn't be a continual thing, hopefully :D) there is no real need to drop $$$ on this one, OP.
 
I disagree, if you are supporting more then two people and connect with them three or four times, lets say to get rid of spyware, the constant pop ups get annoying and you will get disconnected, that is a real limitation of the free version. In my case, I am charging customers for support and I can't do unattended when it disconnects me and I can't reconnect with the free version. For home stuff or family or friends, sure its fine, not for business situations.
 
I use teamviewer free to help out my family. Haven't had any problems with it. Still wish I had logmein but I'm not paying when there are alternatives.
 
ashman said:
Sure the free edition works, but after awhile you get warnings and then the sessions disconnect after a minute or two, I used the free edition for a long time too, but its for my business and as such a business expense.
Click to expand...

That makes sense if its a business expense, but I never had disconnects, maybe because I only had 1 session active. I'm just wondering why you didn't choose LogMein paid as I can't imagine it costs more than that!
 
Logmein Pro is $449/year and is limited to 10 computers, Team Viewer is a one time purchase and is unlimited.
 
bigdogchris said:
I was going to say Team Viewer.

VNC?
Click to expand...



I'd second VNC. It ain't pretty, but it'll get the job done just as well without all the fanciness of other remoting protocols and software. The major thing is the simplicity in setting up a client and a server and that it's practically guaranteed to always be free/unlimited. TeamViewer is already showing signs of selling out much like LogMeIn did, but hey they're a business. Free services will often get abused and aren't an entitlement so it makes sense.
 
VNC doesn't work through firewalls unless you open ports nor does it do unattended last time I looked at it. Again, its for my business and I don't mind spending the money.
 
MrCrispy said:
Are you serious? I have TeamViewer 9 free edition on 4 of our family pc's and they are all setup for unattended access. You just need to login with the credentials that are needed and save them on the client pc's.

$700 is way too much IMO.
Click to expand...

is $700 too much?

How much time would it take for you to go to someone's house - factor in work or school schedules
- Gas / distance
Your time is worth how much an hour?

How often do you have to fix something...

don't like it go grab Microsoft Remote Desktop, set up NAT rules and port forwards and go that route...ya pain in the ass!
 
I use RDP all the time, however even it has its limitations. One client of mine use software that requires a license key to be in the server for it to work, sometimes the software can't see the key and I need to remote into the server, its not supported via RDP so that won't work but Team Viewer does, this is just one small example. Since purchasing Team Viewer, I have over 20 of my customers various servers and desktops setup so I can access them anytime I need to. As I mentioned, its a business expense and worth it for me.
 
Chrome Remote Desktop is an awesome alternative if you don't want to have to set up any port forwarding or permissions.
 
MrGuvernment said:
is $700 too much?

How much time would it take for you to go to someone's house - factor in work or school schedules
- Gas / distance
Your time is worth how much an hour?

How often do you have to fix something...

don't like it go grab Microsoft Remote Desktop, set up NAT rules and port forwards and go that route...ya pain in the ass!
Click to expand...

I wasn't aware this was for >1 remote pc and was for a business. Now it makes sense.

ashman said:
Logmein Pro is $449/year and is limited to 10 computers, Team Viewer is a one time purchase and is unlimited.
Click to expand...

Thanks, wasn't aware.
 
Having been a heavy LogMeIn user for years I had many regular users setup as shortcuts in a folder, when they called for help I'd click a couple times, enter the password and take care of business. Once LMI started charging I decided to look around at alternatives. TeamViewer was very expensive. Shortcuts were possible, but just too darned expensive. I found Ammyy Admin quite reasonably priced with plenty of features, including easily being able to access clients from anywhere as the client/host is only 720k. Customize the executable by adding your own snazzy icon and creating a custom password so clients don't have to "accept" your session request. I've even created two different installers, Red and Blue, with Blue being the version that installs itself as an autorun Service for those "special" clients I don't want to talk through finding the icon to run the program. It took me a little while to get my setup working exactly as I wanted, but I'm very pleased with it. The only other thing I would like is to get my hands on the private server program, have my clients connect strictly to my server instead of public servers.

P.S. You can create shortcuts for each client, including the password. A couple clicks and you're in fast as can be.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top