What client do you use for Remote Desktop/VNC?

Question

Which one client do you think is the best for remote PC management/access?

Answer 1

TightVNC is open source and available for Windows/Linux.

I've also tried Windows Remote Desktop Connection, but certain things did not work as well as I'd hoped (Firewall alerts were not displayed at all - very frustrating!)

Answer 2

+1 For TightVNC. But check out http://www.copilot.com also.

Answer 3

I've yet to use anything that matched the speed of the Windows Remote Desktop software.

Plus the latest version supports (in a limited way) multiple monitors.

However the UltraVnc SC online creator is excellent for creating a VNC executable that other people can use to connect back to you. Much like Copilot, all they need is an internet connection.

All of the tricky firewall configuration stuff has to be done on your end. Then you start a VNC listener and, presto, easy remote help. It makes helping my mom with computer problems super easy because I can just tell her to fire up the remote help program and then go in and fix things myself.

Answer 4

UltraVnc is just a bit of step above tightvnc.... its quite good http://www.uvnc.com/

Answer 5

I've been using RealVNC (free edition). Works like a charm.

Answer 6

LogMeIn.com it's free and doesn't require an install, its secure, and I can use it anywhere that I can get online, regardless of my user permissions.

Answer 7

Dropped the xyzVNC and switched to Windows Remote Desktop as the most efficient under XP by far.

Answer 8

Other answers contain a lot of useful information about RDP (Windows Remote Desktop) and VNC.

One thing I'd like to add is that remote X11 protocol is a remote access solution naturally supported by all X11-based systems. With the X11 forwarding feature of SSH, secure remote GUI becomes as easy as logging into a remote host over SSH and running the GUI application as you would run it locally. Instead of providing you with a “window” to a remote machine's desktop, remote X11 makes the window of the remote application appear on your local desktop, as if it were one of the applications running on your computer. (This is also, to some extent, possible over RDP.) The advantages and ease of use of remote X11 in a *NIX environment usually outweighs its bandwidth inefficiency (compared to RDP or VNC). Still, in my experience, remote X11 over SSH is very usable in a LAN.

Answer 9

The very best app that I have ever used for Windows Remote Desktop instead of mstsc.exe is visionapp Remote Desktop (vRD 1.5). It saves connections, provides a bunch of control over image size, and a whole bunch of other features. It's freeware and really good.

Answer 10

The Remote Desktop feature of Windows Live Mesh has the ability to remote access via Internet Explorer in addition to via the Live Mesh client. It only works between Windows PCs at the moment, but they say Mac support is coming soon.

Answer 11

In our Company we use NetOp to get remote access to many cash registers. The latest version of NetOp also supports Intel vPro witch enables a very lowlevel access.

Answer 12

Check out SharedView from Microsoft http://www.connect.microsoft.com/content/content.aspx?ContentID=6382&SiteID=94

Otherwise LogMeIn.com is great.

Answer 13

DameWare works nicely. The file copy is better than VNC once you get used to it.

Answer 14

If you use Remote Desktop to login to multiple computers simultaneously, the "Remote Desktops" application from the Windows Server 2003 Administration Tools Pack is very handy because it displays them in the same window, with a tree view to select which desktop is visible. It's like tabbed browsing for RDP.

Answer 15

Remote Desktop seems to be the clear performance winner for Windows, but for other platforms UltraVNC is fast, offers file transfer and encryption plugins, and has a full-featured applet that runs in all of the popular browsers.

Bonus: You can download the applet and run it in stand-alone mode:

wget http://${VNCSERVER}:5800/VncViewer.jar
java -classpath VncViewer.jar VncViewer HOST ${VNCSERVER} PORT 5900

Answer 16

Terminals is pretty cool. It remembers connection settings, has a connection group feature which allows for multiple connections to be opened with one click and has a tabbed interface which is always nice.

I've been using an older version which supported RDP only but according to the project page on codeplex they now support VNC, SSH, Citrix, etc.

Answer 17

A hearty recommendation for RDTabs from Avian Waves:

RDTabs

Freeware tabbed RDC client. I've actively used mstsc, ultravnc, terminals, windows server admin pack as well as visionapp. RDTabs is the most professional and functional freeware available right now. It uses the available Windows protections for storing passwords and features encrypted export of settings. Hard to believe it's free, actually.

I have no affiliation with the author, just like the product.

Ted

Answer 18

Have a look at Royal TS at www.code4ward.net