Remote Desktop Program

[Dresdenlock]

I dunno if this is the right forum or not...if it isnt...sorry about that..I might be getting another customer who needs some of the monthy maintenance done remotely (my brother has done some remote stuff but not on this level)...it's going to be about 50+ computers and I was wondering what program would be the best to use in this situation?..would a paid version of teamviewer or bomgar do well? ..most of the machines are windows 7 but there are some xp machines.

 

[Slaters Kustum Machines]

I'm a fan of teamviewer, well all except the price, lol.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Will you be using this package only for this one client? Or do you have others...or plan to have others, so that you'll grow and grow. In which case it may be good to invest in a good product.

There is a sponsor and active member of this site that has a product, "ScreenConnect"...you may want to look into that.

Bomgar...you may find quite pricey. Great product..but pricey..for people just starting up.

There are many customized free versions based on VNC....PCHelpware, ChunkVNC, ...and some free and low cost versions of LogMeIN specialized for support/helpdesk. Teamviewer is popular.

 

[Dresdenlock]

well...we havent got the contract yet..but if it does go thru..it will be the only client....some of the prices Ive looked at are pretty steep...so cost is a factor as well.

 

[FoolishTech]

Struggling with this issue myself, and after seeing this thread I tried ChunkVNC...

Setup was sketchy but that I think I need to blame on the fact that it uses AutoIt in the compiler. It kept pausing itself and simply not working a few times, I also had to be careful not to click anything else while it was compiling. More than a few times I had to end task on the process and start all over again.

I also had a hard time figuring out that if you change the server listening port to something other than 443, you have to exit and restart the repeater because merely saving the settings from within the repeater config simply doesn't work.

But all in all, for a free solution, it's working well in my tests so far, and I've branded it with my own app name / logo. If I end up using this one, it's a donation to Chunk for sure... haven't yet tried to configure the repeater to run as a service - which it is not designed to do but some have had success with it - and this is a MUST for my situation...

EDIT: I also read about issues involving UAC - so I had to write my own wrapper app for the support client to disable UAC before running the client and to re-enable it when the client terminates...

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

well...we havent got the contract yet..but if it does go thru..it will be the only client....some of the prices Ive looked at are pretty steep...so cost is a factor as well.

Agreed...for a couple of years I struggled with looking for solutions. In my work I had come across the big ones...like Bomgar...got excited about it..until I saw the price. So went around looking for inexpensive solutions. I did enjoy EchoVNC for a bit...built it on your own hosted server.

I created a list of remote support apps over in another tech forum I staff...it's a little outdated, but I encourage you to take a look. Haven't updated it in a while, apologize if some links are outdated/stale...but most should be good.

http://forums.speedguide.net/showthread.php?271403-Remote-Support-Software-list

We recently purchased N-Able for growing number of fixed managed clients...finally became worth it to purchase one of the big boys. Selling just the antivirus part of N-Able automatically gives you an included full time remote agent.

 

[rsarceno]

I used RemoteZilla and love the price
One-time purchase with NO recurring fees. No usage fee, Free Upgrade

No third party hosting to depend on. Just you and client
A reliable repeater if you want to host for your techs on the road.
All the bells and whistle plus more

 

[4ycr]

I use screenconnect again it's a one time purchase fee and is self hosted.

I use it mainly for one company with 2 servers and 60 computers and I have found it to work well.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

One feature that is beneficial for supporting full time clients...the ability for a remote support package to leave full time agents running on the host computers, so in your case if you have 50x workstations and 3 servers at this client..you can connect to any/all of them unattended, at will. Such as doing after hours work...without anyone sitting at the host PC to let you in.

 

[MobileTechie]

If you install it then Logmein Free is hard to beat. It handles unattended access and reboots very well. I use to join PCs to domains and it handles that with ease. The only downside is that it is a full install and requires the installer to know the login details.

 

[stevenamills]

I used RemoteZilla and love the price
One-time purchase with NO recurring fees. No usage fee, Free Upgrade

No third party hosting to depend on. Just you and client
A reliable repeater if you want to host for your techs on the road.
All the bells and whistle plus more

I've never understood why this doesn't get more love here. I think it's, by far, the best bang for the buck.

It also integrates very nicely with Nick's dSupport.

 

[Dresdenlock]

Ive been looking at Screen Connect and I seem to like what they offer but I was wondering if it is a problem with connecting just 1 to 1...instead of a multi session...I mean if I am going to have to do maintenance over the web...wouldnt it be easier and a time saver to do, let's say 2-4 machines at once? or am I asking too much out of a program? (Im a noob at this so bear with me)

 

[Dresdenlock]

I was also looking at "Dameware" ever heard or used them?

 

[DCGPX]

Used to use dameware at my last job but it got outdated on newer systems ( we had win2000 and below) so we moved to Tivoli which I liked , not much use for adhoc though.

Haven't used it since 2005 if it's improved then I'm sure it would be a good system for managed PCs


www.tornadopc.com

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

I was also looking at "Dameware" ever heard or used them?

They were big years ago....seems it started to diminish in popularity around the XP/2k3 days...probably because RDP started becoming much more popular.

 

[NETWizz]

I was also looking at "Dameware" ever heard or used them?

I have used Dameware, but unless these are in a domain and he is on the LAN or within the network... (at least on their side of the firewall or has the Dameware Port(s) forwarded) I doubt it will work.

For 50 computers, it may be better to visit the site. Just the savings in the latency of the connection alone will probably (in my limited opinion) safe the time for the trip if you spend all day or a couple of days out there.


I don't really know what service(s) you perform though. Do you do something on every machine? or do you only work on the troubled machines?

 

[JakeFromScreenConnect]

Dresdenlock,

With a single license you can have as many sessions going as you like, you can just be viewing the screen of one at a time. Have you tried this?

 

[Secc]

No port forwarding?

Hi all, I am looking for some remote software and like Teamviewer but the price is a bit high.
One of the best things for me with Teamviewer is it doesn't need ports forwarded (http) - so when the company has a firewall maintained by a third-party i have to email them to open a port and wait....and wait....and wait.....before i can use VNC. Teamviewer uses HTTP so no messing around with third parties.

Anyway, to my question: What other remote software is similar to Teamviewer is this regard as i intend to get more business clients soon and want to negate the need for port forwarding if possible with the ones who have third party f/walls - at least with teamviewer i can install it on the first day i get called out and connect straight away.

Thanks

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Anyway, to my question: What other remote software is similar to Teamviewer is this regard as i intend to get more business clients soon and want to negate the need for port forwarding if possible with the ones who have third party f/walls - at least with teamviewer i can install it on the first day i get called out and connect straight away.

Thanks

Take a look at my second post in this thread, I have a link to a list of different remote support apps.

 

[Secc]

Take a look at my second post in this thread, I have a link to a list of different remote support apps.

Hi YeOldeStonecat, My apologies - my fault! I thought this was the thread with the list attached on first post and so didn't bother to go to page 1, DUH!!!

Your link is EXACTLY what i wanted, THANK YOU. I will go through it tomorrow but thanks for putting the work in, its appreciated.

Secc