Remote Controll Question

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Good Luck The two rules for success are:
1. Never tell them everything you know.

That is pretty much what I asked for, but there are some holes in using that method. The largest being the fact that I don't have XP on my office workstation, I'm just using Windows NT.

Is third party program that will run as a service that will allow me to connect to this machine remotely. I would prefer something similar to PCanywhere but not PCanywhere. I would really like something where I can run the client in a web browser. That would be great.

Thanks for the reply,

Chris

Two products I have heard of but not used.


I think this one is about $250.

The two rules for success are:
1. Never tell them everything you know.

I know it's not web based, but what do you think of Dameware?

Does anyone know how to install the service on the machine when you can't push it over the network?

That links to Remote Desktop "how to" from Microsoft... Remote Desktop acts like PC Anywhere and can be installed in Win95 or later ...

hope this also helps...

I feel your pain.

Until you get WinXP at work, there is no built-in remote control functionality built in that'll let you control the work machine from home.

That isn't STRICTLY true, but then you run into firewall issues anyhow. Unless your work machine is pretty bare-butt open to the Internet, or the firewall priests have opened the right ports hardly anything would work for you anyhow.

That said, there ARE a couple things that might be built in (already installed) on your NT4 box.

* First possibility: Telnet server.

Downsides are that you may have to learn some new skills, may not be able to do all you need to (you aren't going to be able to interact with GUI applications), and without a 3rd-party add-in you can't even do file transfers over Telnet.

I can't remember, but this may require the NT Option Pack just like the next option does. Or I may be forgetting that NT4 doesn't include a Telnet server at all.

Even then there are a few lightweight Telnet servers from 3rd parties that run on NT4 - some of them free.

* Second possibility: IIS.

If you have the NT Option Pack installed, you get an FTP server so you can upload/download files.

There are also web-based admin tools included for FTP and Web site administration.

These may not meet your needs.

* Third (very remote) possibility: You're running Windows NT Terminal Server Edition on your desktop at work.

I think we can rule this out.


So...

You are down to 3rd-party remote control suites like PC Anywhere (yecch! - ever used it?).

For me, this is the A-Number-One reason to go XP Pro: Remote Desktop Sharing. Its very well integrated, works great, and doesn't need anything special... except:

* Fixed (or "stable&quot IP address.
* Firewall open for the RDP port.


All of that said...

Do you have Microsoft NetMeeting installed on the NT4 desktop?

With my own NT4 machines I have had great success using NetMeeting's Remote Desktop Sharing facility for remote administration.

This was my tool of choice for many years (before Windows 2000 and its Terminal Services).

It isn't fast (few GUI remote-control tools are), and it can't do over 256 colors (maybe this has been upgraded on newer versions?) but it does the job easily and cheaply.

You'll want to download the newest version and install it though anyhow - so this "option" doesn't necessarily meet your "already installed" criterion.

Install it and read the Help. Look under the heading "Remote Desktop Sharing."

If (once again) you have the necessary ports open, you might be home free!


I hope this rambling post hasn't been too annoying - I'm fighting against the Tek-Tips session timeout (major annoyance on this site, and one I haven't been able to explain to them to get them to fix).

Go check out
This remote control utility cuts right through firewalls and works great. I've been a paying customer for a few months now and have recommended it to all my fellow IT professionals.

I currently use it to control my home PC from ANY java enabled web browser.

Hey, did I read this wrong in the first place?

Probably.

I thought I read "I have XP Home at home..."

If you have XP Pro at home, then you can use remote desktop sharing from work "without installing anything" if you are willing to open the two ports needed.

First you must install and start IIS on the XP machine.

Then enable Remote Desktop Sharing if it is turned off.

Then you need port 80 open through your firewall(s) (home and work?) - though I recommend you choose another port for IIS to help avoid attacks. It helps a little.

Then you'll need port 3389 open all the way through from your work machine to your home machine. This is a good thing to move to another port number too, but the topic is beyond the scope of what I have time for right now.

Then go to work, fire up IE 4+, navigate to:

http: //{your XP machine's DNS name or IP}/tsweb

You should get a screen asking you what host to connect to (put your XP machine's DNS or IP here) and what resolution you want (full-screen, etc.)

Submit your input, and you'll get a page that loads an ActiveX control version of the Remote Desktop Sharing client.

You're all set!


Of course, if you DO have XP Home we're back to square one (see answers above).

If you want an easy, no-dirty-hands solution, try Symmantec's pcAnywhere software. It's a cool little remote desktop management software that let's you pull files from other computer via network/internet/etc.

Later!
Jisoo22

Use Its an implementation of the free AT&T labs VNC software, and its free as well. Its great! I think you will love it.

I have veen using VNC for a while between Win2k and WinXP machines, its abou the best you can get plus its free.

I've tried PCAnywhere, VNC & TightVNC but now use RemoteAdministrator (RAdmin) from
It doesn't allow remote control via a browser (a copy is required at remote & local end) but it's by far the fastest remote-control system I've come across. Very responsive even on a 56k dial-up. Instantaneous over a LAN.

It's also VERY reliable, allows file transfers & fits on a single floppy disk.

Only downside I can think of is that it only works on Windows.