i just started a job where i am sitting in front of a computer for long periods of time, and i’d like to use remote desktop software to use my home pc while at work. in your guys opinion, what is the best software, free or paid? i don’t mind paying for something if it is worth it. i’m using a trial of citrix’s gotomypc right now. it isn’t bad, but i’m curious if there are better alternatives. performance is the big thing.
p.s. i’m using vista business x64 on my home pc if that makes a difference.
I just use plain old Windows Remote Desktop (you’ll probably have to forward port 3389 on the router), but the usual recommendation I’ve seen is logmein.com.
Any of the free dynamic DNS tools running on your home PC and a router rule that allows connection to Remote Desktop on 3389. Completely free solution.
The others (and I’ve used several) are quite expensive but worth it if you are helping to manage customers. For single use they are somewhat expensive.
I used gotomypc for that, but there are cheaper ones now, logmein, beanywhere, eblvd, etc.
Third and final vote for logmein.com. It really does just rule the school.
To be clear as to why: it’s free, it’s fast, it takes almost no time to set up on the server pc and it’s accessible directly from the web browser of any computer with internet access, no setup required.
haha, i just used gotomypc to install logmein on my home computer remotely. everything worked ok, and logmein is working much better. i especially appreciate the option to change color to black and white to further improve performance.
Just use Terminal Services / Remote Desktop. It’s already part of Windows and built into your OS, so you don’t need to run some other piece of software. Just go to Control Panel -> System and click on the Remote Tab. And choose to enable Remote Desktop. As mentioned above you may have to forward the one port on your router to your machine. Not a big deal.
Then when you’re on your work computer, just run MSTSC and input your machine’s IP address and away you go. Free, and you have full control. You can also see your drives and move files that way without any strange limitations some services have about file transfers. It also maps the sound, printers, and you can do some USB devices if you want. It’s all built into Windows.
And there is an iPhone app for Terminal Services as well. Which works fine.
Logmein really does trump RDP for typical home use. It’s a real value, if helping out your parents or the like, to be able to either see what they’re doing, or have them see what you’re doing while controlling remotely. RDP connections lock out the local (console) user while the connection is active.
It also lets you toggle between multiple displays, if you have them. I don’t think RDP allows access to anything but the primary display.
Can you transfer files with the free version of Logmein? From the website it looks like it’ll cost $70 a year for that feature.
You can use Remote Assistance with RDP to take control of the console. So they can see what you’re doing and vice versa. You don’t even need Messenger anymore, it generates a URL through email that you send to the person wanting to connect.
I agree that not having a static IP is a problem, but you can use dyndns.org or one of the other tools to get around that if needed. Multiple monitor support is cool though.
I mean, I’m sure Logmein is great, but if you can’t transfer files without paying for it, or use printers, etc. I don’t see the point if I can do that now with what I have for free.
Yeah, transferring files is a problem. You can use Gmail or something if the file is small enough (20MB zipped) or an FTP site if you have access to one but if you need file transferring or printer sharing or sound then you’ll want to use something like remote desktop or VNC. However if the use is very lite and casual then logmein is great.
