I've been using Team Viewer for my headless machines for a couple of years now, especially over remote desktop, as Team Viewer still allows control over the VGA whereas remote desktop seems to disable it. Especially useful for running CUDA on a headless or logging into my HTPC from my laptop which uses WiDi to connect to my TV. Just a personal experience, I can't say I've tried any other software to do the same job (apart from remote desktop in Win7).
You may also like free for home and business AEROADMIN. It's not as sophisticated as tv or logmein, but still a very simple and comfortable for tech support and remote networking. No fees, no registration, no configuration or installation. A few seconds - and it's done!
I prefer LogMeIn, but it is only available for windows and Macs - so I use team viewer for my remote Linux desktops. Within the LAN I use UltraVNC.
Each have more pros than cons, my only gripe with Teamviewer is it uses way more in the way of CPU resources (effectively an entire core of my Celeron G540).
Really? I've used it on my decrepit first gen Atom netbook (Acer Aspire One) while doing other stuff and it didn't seem like a hog, and that was with 1GB of RAM mind you... Firefox and Chrome both seem to pig out far worse if I get crazy with tabs. The only annoyance I remember was zooming in/out constantly, since I was logging into a high res 27" iMac from an 8.8" 1024x800 display...
Big fan of Team Viewer for all the same reasons as Jarred notes. A huge boon for remote PC fixing. I love that I can fix my wife's Macbook Air from my Windows PC or even my Nexus 7. I also use it all the time to manage media on my home server.
Looking forward to global cut/paste.
My only complaint is that they don't have a reasonably-priced licensing option for personal use. I would love to disable the nags and give them some money but the corporate licenses are astronomical for a personal-use schlub like me.
A few years ago we purchased Teamviewer at work. It has made remote support a completely new experience. It is worlds easier to get up and running than Windows Remote Assistance and is much more responsive. It is much better than even RDP as far as lag and bandwidth is concerned. A+++ product, we will be upgrading our license to version 9(about $1000). We are considering laying down another grand for another host license too...
Have been using it since Pre Version 4. Using it for PC Fixing as well. Now a days I require all my friend to get TeamViewer installed if they ever want any help from me. It is Simple, easy to install and use.
Teamviewer is a great product (notice: I'm a paid user), but you have to know it's limitations.
Earlier this year (while digging around) I stumbled across an network protocol analysis of Teamviewer by Bradon Thomas (Accuvant Labs). Dated Jan, 2013, it's a nice detailed look at the product, and at the end of the analysis he gives a few conditions on safe use of it. One is you should NEVER use the default password settings, use the optional tougher ones. That said, it's still a pretty vulnerable product, and (in his words) uses: "unauthenticated, plaintext communication between client to server(over 100 commands are supported and parsed on the client side)".
In the end, I'd trust it (using tougher creds) for family support, but never, ever for a workplace environment.
If your biggest problem is explaining to people how to set up TeamViewer, join.me (http://join.me) may be even better for you - it's powered by LogMeIn, but takes all of about three clicks and a 9 digit number being read out over the phone. It's so handy I use it for helping my Father-in-Law with tech support, and he's only a five minute drive away - but join.me obviates the need for shoes and finding my car keys :)
Didn't realise the comment would try and include the bracket in the link (or that it would linkify it at all) - so https://join.me/ if you want to save yourself a-Googlin' it.
I like Teamviewer and mostly use it at home on LAN where I have half a dozen machines, and only rarely for truly remote support. I like it because of cross platform environment and ease of setup/use.
What I would like to configure is a smart way for Teamviewer to use the LAN when it's a point to point screenshare in-house, and automatically switch to internet connectivity when needed. This would be arguably more secure and certainly not waste internet bandwidth for a connection that can be done locally. I have so far been unsuccessful in my config strategy to nail this.
Put fixed IP address on each machine, create a list on TV with the specific IP attached and log in. Always on LAN. And you can also put 'exclusively' on the settings if you only use by LAN (as I do).
I had a problem with a software license on my machine a few days ago, so an Autodesk engineer from somewhere abroad connected to my machine using Teamviewer and fixed it. If it's good enough for Autodesk, it's probably pretty decent. I've also had positive experiences with LogMeIn, although getting it installed at the other end by someone with zero tech skills (my dad) has sometimes caused problems.
I only have 2 complaints about TV - 1) The "thanks for playing fair" popup windows when you disconnect from the client 2) It kills Aero Glass and the only way to bring it back is to run 'netstop uxsms' then 'netstart uxsms'
Otherwise it's superior to LMI Free....but I use LMI Free most of the time anyway because LMI Free does not do either of those 2 things.
I continuously get the message "commercial use detected" and it limits my sessions to 5 minutes and then I have to wait like 10 minutes before reconnecting.
I am absolutely using teamviewer in a home environment connecting copies of Windows 7 together between homes.
They really need to get their act together and fix their "detection" code.
I have contacted support and they can fix the problem for me by unblocking my MAC address, but it always comes back after a few days and my MAC becomes blocked again...
My Problem is that most People only look at certain things and never Thing that other Option maybe important. Teamviewer saved us literally 100.000 on traveling cost since we bought it. Yes Price is quite high BUT pay one time and open up to 25 listener at any time, and you have 3 channel. This mean you can have 3 time 25 demo, etc... At any time. Try that with LogMeIn and then come back to me about the Price, since you pay this per user and year (if I remember correctly around 60€ per year/seat) Yes LogMeIn is also a good Software, but Price wise ist not comparable. Next important issue, which Software allows you to connect you to your Android, IOS and in the future MS OS make Screen shot, Report etc.... We develope Software and are now deploying app in really far away countries (Saudi Arabia, Kenya and another few not common ones). Show me one Software that allow you to have direct Access to your Samsung device, Yes I can remotely Access my TAB10.1, SIII. Better yet we have a ODM (Special device) android OS, Teamviewer will help us have full Access to that device too. And also one last Thing, the Client is always free if you use it privately and for the the other user if the presenter/remote admin has a licenses. Teamviewer is really a live saving tool and we did a lot Research and found nothing comparable, neither technical nore commercially. Have a great remote Access day and please do the math's Brice PS: we have being using TV since Version 5 and will lupdate 9 as Video true put is really a killer issue with us, try other Software (Skype, Google Desktop LogMeIn... ) in for example Senegal (yes we there too) and you will know what I am talking about ;-)
Teamviewer really needs to offer a small business license. The current charge is way too expensive for small one man bands. We don't need all the enterprise features just the remote control.
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IanCutress - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
I've been using Team Viewer for my headless machines for a couple of years now, especially over remote desktop, as Team Viewer still allows control over the VGA whereas remote desktop seems to disable it. Especially useful for running CUDA on a headless or logging into my HTPC from my laptop which uses WiDi to connect to my TV. Just a personal experience, I can't say I've tried any other software to do the same job (apart from remote desktop in Win7).gonks - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
LogMeIn is another option, very easy to use tooMartinAston - Thursday, April 24, 2014 - link
You may also like free for home and business AEROADMIN.It's not as sophisticated as tv or logmein, but still a very simple and comfortable for tech support and remote networking. No fees, no registration, no configuration or installation. A few seconds - and it's done!
Hope it help.
JNo - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
You know the saying: make a man a fire and he's warm for a day; set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.;)
MrCommunistGen - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
+1. I like using that phrase whenever I can.MethylONE - Wednesday, November 6, 2013 - link
Oh man. Love this one.HisDivineOrder - Wednesday, November 6, 2013 - link
The man who burns twice as hot burns half as long.K1wi - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
I prefer LogMeIn, but it is only available for windows and Macs - so I use team viewer for my remote Linux desktops. Within the LAN I use UltraVNC.Each have more pros than cons, my only gripe with Teamviewer is it uses way more in the way of CPU resources (effectively an entire core of my Celeron G540).
Impulses - Wednesday, November 6, 2013 - link
Really? I've used it on my decrepit first gen Atom netbook (Acer Aspire One) while doing other stuff and it didn't seem like a hog, and that was with 1GB of RAM mind you... Firefox and Chrome both seem to pig out far worse if I get crazy with tabs. The only annoyance I remember was zooming in/out constantly, since I was logging into a high res 27" iMac from an 8.8" 1024x800 display...bznotins - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
Big fan of Team Viewer for all the same reasons as Jarred notes. A huge boon for remote PC fixing. I love that I can fix my wife's Macbook Air from my Windows PC or even my Nexus 7. I also use it all the time to manage media on my home server.Looking forward to global cut/paste.
My only complaint is that they don't have a reasonably-priced licensing option for personal use. I would love to disable the nags and give them some money but the corporate licenses are astronomical for a personal-use schlub like me.
abscode - Wednesday, November 6, 2013 - link
Send them an email asking for that. I do... routinely. I figure if I bother them enough they will eventually take my money to shut me up. :)Einy0 - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
A few years ago we purchased Teamviewer at work. It has made remote support a completely new experience. It is worlds easier to get up and running than Windows Remote Assistance and is much more responsive. It is much better than even RDP as far as lag and bandwidth is concerned. A+++ product, we will be upgrading our license to version 9(about $1000). We are considering laying down another grand for another host license too...iwod - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
Have been using it since Pre Version 4. Using it for PC Fixing as well.Now a days I require all my friend to get TeamViewer installed if they ever want any help from me. It is Simple, easy to install and use.
WeatherDave - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
Teamviewer is a great product (notice: I'm a paid user), but you have to know it's limitations.Earlier this year (while digging around) I stumbled across an network protocol analysis of Teamviewer by Bradon Thomas (Accuvant Labs). Dated Jan, 2013, it's a nice detailed look at the product, and at the end of the analysis he gives a few conditions on safe use of it. One is you should NEVER use the default password settings, use the optional tougher ones. That said, it's still a pretty vulnerable product, and (in his words) uses: "unauthenticated, plaintext communication between client to server(over 100 commands are supported and parsed on the client side)".
In the end, I'd trust it (using tougher creds) for family support, but never, ever for a workplace environment.
sonofsanta - Wednesday, November 6, 2013 - link
If your biggest problem is explaining to people how to set up TeamViewer, join.me (http://join.me) may be even better for you - it's powered by LogMeIn, but takes all of about three clicks and a 9 digit number being read out over the phone. It's so handy I use it for helping my Father-in-Law with tech support, and he's only a five minute drive away - but join.me obviates the need for shoes and finding my car keys :)sonofsanta - Wednesday, November 6, 2013 - link
Didn't realise the comment would try and include the bracket in the link (or that it would linkify it at all) - so https://join.me/ if you want to save yourself a-Googlin' it.careydis - Wednesday, November 6, 2013 - link
I like Teamviewer and mostly use it at home on LAN where I have half a dozen machines, and only rarely for truly remote support. I like it because of cross platform environment and ease of setup/use.What I would like to configure is a smart way for Teamviewer to use the LAN when it's a point to point screenshare in-house, and automatically switch to internet connectivity when needed. This would be arguably more secure and certainly not waste internet bandwidth for a connection that can be done locally. I have so far been unsuccessful in my config strategy to nail this.
sajara - Wednesday, November 6, 2013 - link
Put fixed IP address on each machine, create a list on TV with the specific IP attached and log in. Always on LAN. And you can also put 'exclusively' on the settings if you only use by LAN (as I do).colonelclaw - Wednesday, November 6, 2013 - link
I had a problem with a software license on my machine a few days ago, so an Autodesk engineer from somewhere abroad connected to my machine using Teamviewer and fixed it. If it's good enough for Autodesk, it's probably pretty decent. I've also had positive experiences with LogMeIn, although getting it installed at the other end by someone with zero tech skills (my dad) has sometimes caused problems.zero2dash - Wednesday, November 6, 2013 - link
I only have 2 complaints about TV -1) The "thanks for playing fair" popup windows when you disconnect from the client
2) It kills Aero Glass and the only way to bring it back is to run 'netstop uxsms' then 'netstart uxsms'
Otherwise it's superior to LMI Free....but I use LMI Free most of the time anyway because LMI Free does not do either of those 2 things.
SirMaster - Wednesday, November 6, 2013 - link
Unfortunatly Teamviewer is unusable for me.I continuously get the message "commercial use detected" and it limits my sessions to 5 minutes and then I have to wait like 10 minutes before reconnecting.
I am absolutely using teamviewer in a home environment connecting copies of Windows 7 together between homes.
They really need to get their act together and fix their "detection" code.
I have contacted support and they can fix the problem for me by unblocking my MAC address, but it always comes back after a few days and my MAC becomes blocked again...
Nihility - Wednesday, November 6, 2013 - link
Finally, wake on lan.Hrel - Wednesday, November 6, 2013 - link
How would you say this compares to free tools like log me in hamachi or TightVNC?snoopybdr - Monday, November 11, 2013 - link
Hey there,My Problem is that most People only look at certain things and never Thing that other Option maybe important.
Teamviewer saved us literally 100.000 on traveling cost since we bought it. Yes Price is quite high BUT pay one time and open up to 25 listener at any time, and you have 3 channel. This mean you can have 3 time 25 demo, etc... At any time. Try that with LogMeIn and then come back to me about the Price, since you pay this per user and year (if I remember correctly around 60€ per year/seat)
Yes LogMeIn is also a good Software, but Price wise ist not comparable.
Next important issue, which Software allows you to connect you to your Android, IOS and in the future MS OS make Screen shot, Report etc....
We develope Software and are now deploying app in really far away countries (Saudi Arabia, Kenya and another few not common ones). Show me one Software that allow you to have direct Access to your Samsung device, Yes I can remotely Access my TAB10.1, SIII.
Better yet we have a ODM (Special device) android OS, Teamviewer will help us have full Access to that device too.
And also one last Thing, the Client is always free if you use it privately and for the the other user if the presenter/remote admin has a licenses.
Teamviewer is really a live saving tool and we did a lot Research and found nothing comparable, neither technical nore commercially.
Have a great remote Access day and please do the math's
Brice
PS: we have being using TV since Version 5 and will lupdate 9 as Video true put is really a killer issue with us, try other Software (Skype, Google Desktop LogMeIn... ) in for example Senegal (yes we there too) and you will know what I am talking about ;-)
jabber - Monday, November 11, 2013 - link
Teamviewer really needs to offer a small business license. The current charge is way too expensive for small one man bands. We don't need all the enterprise features just the remote control.Flopp - Monday, November 11, 2013 - link
There was a discussion back in the forums awhile ago where this was addressed. I offered ScreenConnect (http://www.screenconnect.com/) as a cheaper solution. It seems that many people really liked it. http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=22614...rahulghose - Thursday, March 17, 2022 - link
Well there's something very close to team viewer that MS has built - not sure if it's relevant https://blog.rghose.in/2022/03/share-keyboard-mous...