What alternatives to TeamViewer are people using?

I have been hit by their sudden "Commercial use suspected" even though I
only ever connect to one 86-year old friend. He and his wife have 3
Windows machines and he has just bought 2 old iMacs, and is trying to
move to Mac in spite of my protestations. Hence a flurry of connections.

Teamviewer has a form to fill in to protest private use, but here it
just leads to an error page. I found their forum, but all that reveals
is a huge thread full of similar complaints, so it looks as though the
Teamviewer free option is on the way out. They seem to be manually
deleting any references to rivals on the forum and also any email
addresses.

I still help a couple of commercial companies with their IT, but always
in person. I used to recommend TeamViewer, but having delved into the
shambles that is their web site, I now think the time has come to find
an alternative that works to access Windows and Macs.

Any suggestions gratefully received.
--
Bill

Bill wrote:

What alternatives to TeamViewer are people using?

Where I can, I use reverse VNC so the person needing help connects to
me, so they don't need to dick about with firewall rules, and I can
hapilly se up port forwarding at my end, and it's not reliant on any 3rd
party's servers,

So, I don't use it much, but have used AnyDesk as a TeamViewer substitute.

On Monday, 20 May 2019 18:39:02 UTC+1, Andy Burns wrote:
Where I can, I use reverse VNC so the person needing help connects to
me, so they don't need to dick about with firewall rules, and I can
hapilly se up port forwarding at my end, and it's not reliant on any 3rd
party's servers,

I have Teamviewer set to start automatically on a friend's PC so I can connect without him doing anything.

It even works (worked) if he'd forgotten his password or I needed to get in as administrator.

The last "upgrade" lost the "contacts" list and seems to have made things a lot more complicated.

Owain

In message , Andy Burns
writes
Bill wrote:

What alternatives to TeamViewer are people using?

Where I can, I use reverse VNC so the person needing help connects to
me, so they don't need to dick about with firewall rules, and I can
hapilly se up port forwarding at my end, and it's not reliant on any
3rd party's servers,

So, I don't use it much, but have used AnyDesk as a TeamViewer substitute.


Thanks, Andy. I've just tried AnyDesk between two machines here and it
seems pretty good.
I'm also looking at the Chrome Remote Desktop add-on but have not yet
got as far with that.
--
Bill

Wrote in message:
On Monday, 20 May 2019 18:39:02 UTC+1, Andy Burns wrote:
Where I can, I use reverse VNC so the person needing help connects to
me, so they don't need to dick about with firewall rules, and I can
hapilly se up port forwarding at my end, and it's not reliant on any 3rd
party's servers,

I have Teamviewer set to start automatically on a friend's PC so I can connect without him doing anything.

It even works (worked) if he'd forgotten his password or I needed to get in as administrator.


How do you set that up?
Currently ageing relatives have to tell me a password over the
phone for me to be able to connect....assuming they can read it
properly (ffs etc) ...


--
Jim K


----Android NewsGroup Reader----
http://usenet.sinaapp.com/

On Mon, 20 May 2019 18:31:51 +0100, Bill wrote:

What alternatives to TeamViewer are people using?

I have been hit by their sudden "Commercial use suspected" even though I
only ever connect to one 86-year old friend.

I've had that a few times over the years but I can't remember what
I've done to carry on past it? I've not applied any 'hacks' or tried
to trick it, other than using it from another PC for a while?

Maybe things have changed now?

snip

Cheers, T i m

On 20/05/2019 23:42, Jim K.. wrote:
Wrote in message:
On Monday, 20 May 2019 18:39:02 UTC+1, Andy Burns wrote:
Where I can, I use reverse VNC so the person needing help connects to
me, so they don't need to dick about with firewall rules, and I can
hapilly se up port forwarding at my end, and it's not reliant on any 3rd
party's servers,

I have Teamviewer set to start automatically on a friend's PC so I can connect without him doing anything.

It even works (worked) if he'd forgotten his password or I needed to get in as administrator.


How do you set that up?

Its an option when you install it.




--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

Yes how much are they asking for a licence. If companies made it relatively
cheap most of us would not mind paying really, the problem is that many
companies seem to want you to buy their things every year like some kind of
rental.
Brian

--
----- --
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"Bill" wrote in message
tairs...
What alternatives to TeamViewer are people using?

I have been hit by their sudden "Commercial use suspected" even though I
only ever connect to one 86-year old friend. He and his wife have 3
Windows machines and he has just bought 2 old iMacs, and is trying to move
to Mac in spite of my protestations. Hence a flurry of connections.

Teamviewer has a form to fill in to protest private use, but here it just
leads to an error page. I found their forum, but all that reveals is a
huge thread full of similar complaints, so it looks as though the
Teamviewer free option is on the way out. They seem to be manually
deleting any references to rivals on the forum and also any email
addresses.

I still help a couple of commercial companies with their IT, but always in
person. I used to recommend TeamViewer, but having delved into the
shambles that is their web site, I now think the time has come to find an
alternative that works to access Windows and Macs.

Any suggestions gratefully received.
--
Bill

One of the big issues I have with these bits of software is that many have
screwed around with the api so screenreaders cannot 'see' the other end
correctly. This puts blind people at a disadvantage
Brian

--
----- --
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"Bill" wrote in message
tairs...
In message , Andy Burns
writes
Bill wrote:

What alternatives to TeamViewer are people using?

Where I can, I use reverse VNC so the person needing help connects to me,
so they don't need to dick about with firewall rules, and I can hapilly se
up port forwarding at my end, and it's not reliant on any 3rd party's
servers,

So, I don't use it much, but have used AnyDesk as a TeamViewer substitute.


Thanks, Andy. I've just tried AnyDesk between two machines here and it
seems pretty good.
I'm also looking at the Chrome Remote Desktop add-on but have not yet got
as far with that.
--
Bill

On Tue, 21 May 2019 03:49:06 +0100, John Rumm
wrote:

On 20/05/2019 23:42, Jim K.. wrote:
Wrote in message:
On Monday, 20 May 2019 18:39:02 UTC+1, Andy Burns wrote:
Where I can, I use reverse VNC so the person needing help connects to
me, so they don't need to dick about with firewall rules, and I can
hapilly se up port forwarding at my end, and it's not reliant on any 3rd
party's servers,

I have Teamviewer set to start automatically on a friend's PC so I can connect without him doing anything.

It even works (worked) if he'd forgotten his password or I needed to get in as administrator.


How do you set that up?

Its an option when you install it.

Or after you have installed it. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

On 21/05/2019 09:52, Jethro_uk wrote:

Any suggestions gratefully received.

NoMachine ?
+1

I have used NoMachine for a few years and it seems similar to Teamviewer.

On 21/05/2019 08:43, Brian Gaff wrote:

Yes how much are they asking for a licence. If companies made it relatively
cheap most of us would not mind paying really, the problem is that many

Teamviewer is not cheap for a commercial license. It starts at £32/month
for a single user, single session.

Many of the remote access tools have changed to similar payment models,
and lots have discontinued access to any kind of free service.

Some years back I did a trawl through many of them looking for a decent
platform that would allow purchase of a perpetual licence, and
preferably also allow self hosting. I found one in the end, but I note
that even they only promote the rental / cloud model version of it now.
(even though if you ask they will still sell perpetual licenses)

companies seem to want you to buy their things every year like some kind of
rental.

Indeed... one of the reasons they like selling cloud services and any
other "As A Service" offering. Nice recurring revenues.




--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

"Bill" wrote in message
tairs...
What alternatives to TeamViewer are people using?

I have been hit by their sudden "Commercial use suspected" even though I
only ever connect to one 86-year old friend. He and his wife have 3
Windows machines and he has just bought 2 old iMacs, and is trying to move
to Mac in spite of my protestations. Hence a flurry of connections.

Teamviewer has a form to fill in to protest private use, but here it just
leads to an error page. I found their forum, but all that reveals is a
huge thread full of similar complaints, so it looks as though the
Teamviewer free option is on the way out. They seem to be manually
deleting any references to rivals on the forum and also any email
addresses.

I still help a couple of commercial companies with their IT, but always in
person. I used to recommend TeamViewer, but having delved into the
shambles that is their web site, I now think the time has come to find an
alternative that works to access Windows and Macs.


I use RealVNC. This is available in server and client form as separate
packages: you put the server on the PC you want to control and the client on
the one(s) you want to control it from. The only drawback that I am aware of
a no file transfer, no remote sound (ie client can hear the sound that
the server PC is playing through its soundcard) and maximum of 5 PCs in your
"team" that can be accessed remotely if you are using a free version. Like
Teamviewer, RealVNC is slow if you have a slow internet, even if you are
accessing a PC on the LAN, so I think traffic goes up to a Teamviewer server
and then back down the same connection to the other PC. RealVNC does have
the facility to do a direct connection, bypassing the WAN, but that's only
for the commercial paid-for version - apart from the server component that
is built into my Raspberry Pi (Raspbian Stretch) which *can* be used as a
direct connection.

I used to use Teamviewer, both for true remote access (*) and for
controlling one PC on my LAN from another - eg to access my desktop PC from
my laptop upstairs.

I changed to RealVNC after failing foul of the Teamviewer "commercial use
suspected" last August, and I wondered whether the long time that I was
connected to PCs within my LAN might have triggered it. I filled in the
Declaration of Private Use and after about a week normal service was
resumed, though they totally ignored my question about what might have
triggered the false detection.

Now it's happened again. I filled in the form about a week again but haven't
had any responses so far. What's the betting they again restore normal usage
without any info about why it keeps being triggered. It's annoying because I
spend quite a bit of time helping my parents remotely, either with general
PC problems or with work on a (non-commercial**) website that they run. At
present it's giving me the "you will be disconnected after 5 minutes" which
is actually very pessimistic: I've sometimes been connected a lot longer
without being kicked off. Sometimes I can't re-connect for a few minutes if
I disconnect and then realise I've forgotten something. I've now taken my
own local copy of the site which I modify and upload changes as required,
and then use Teamviewer to batch-copy all the files that I have changed to
my dad's PC which supposedly has the master for the site.


(*) The "best" remote connection was from my mobile phone, on a cruise ship
on Christmas Eve, about 10 miles off the coast of Denmark (Scandinavia's
mobile phone/internet signals stretch about 15 miles off the coast, unlike
the UKs where you are lucky to get a signal more than about a mile off the
south coast), scheduling a new recording on my PVR (TVHeadend on the
Raspberry Pi).

(**) None of us draws a wage to work on it, and users of the site are not
charged any money to access the data. That makes it unambiguously
non-commercial, to my way of thinking.

"John Rumm" wrote in message
...
On 20/05/2019 23:42, Jim K.. wrote:
Wrote in message:
On Monday, 20 May 2019 18:39:02 UTC+1, Andy Burns wrote:
Where I can, I use reverse VNC so the person needing help connects to
me, so they don't need to dick about with firewall rules, and I can
hapilly se up port forwarding at my end, and it's not reliant on any
3rd
party's servers,

I have Teamviewer set to start automatically on a friend's PC so I can
connect without him doing anything.

It even works (worked) if he'd forgotten his password or I needed to get
in as administrator.


How do you set that up?

Its an option when you install it.

You set the remote PC(s) to have "easy access" as part of the user account
that the client logs on as. Much better than having to phone to say "what's
today's password". When I set it up on my own PCs, I was prompted to set a
permanent password and to supply it, but when I did it on my parents' PCs, I
wasn't given the option to define a password and I always get in
unchalleneged - because I'm "trusted".

On 21/05/2019 14:31, Jethro_uk wrote:
On Tue, 21 May 2019 10:02:16 +0100, Pancho wrote:

On 21/05/2019 09:52, Jethro_uk wrote:

Any suggestions gratefully received.

NoMachine ?
+1

I have used NoMachine for a few years and it seems similar to
Teamviewer.

I started off using X2Go ages ago. It's good, but I never managed to get
it to run a console session in Linux, which proved a deal breaker. I used
Teamviewer for a while (which did allow console sessions). Can't recall
what put me off them.


I too can't remember why I stopped using Teamviewer, but suspect it had
something to do with money.

I don't know what you mean console session in Linux. Do you mean ssh
client, if so why not use MobaXterm (or Putty, if you can handle the
mouse button cut/paste dangers)

"John Rumm" wrote in message
...
Many of the remote access tools have changed to similar payment models,
and lots have discontinued access to any kind of free service.

Yes I used to use LogMeIn until they started to charge exorbitant prices and
totally stopped their free service. That had one advantage over Teamviewer
and RealVNC that you didn't need to install a client package: you just
contacted their webserver and logged in, and everything was done from a web
interface.

On 20/05/2019 18:31, Bill wrote:
What alternatives to TeamViewer are people using?


Install a VPN instance as endpoint on the machine, poke a hole in the
router forwarding, generate RSA certs and connect away using VNC or
Microsoft Remote Desktop. Or move the VPN service onto a Raspberry Pi,
and jump onto the whole house network.

--
Adrian C

On Monday, 20 May 2019 18:35:24 UTC+1, Bill wrote:
What alternatives to TeamViewer are people using?

I have been hit by their sudden "Commercial use suspected" even though I
only ever connect to one 86-year old friend. He and his wife have 3
Windows machines and he has just bought 2 old iMacs, and is trying to
move to Mac in spite of my protestations. Hence a flurry of connections.

Teamviewer has a form to fill in to protest private use, but here it
just leads to an error page. I found their forum, but all that reveals
is a huge thread full of similar complaints, so it looks as though the
Teamviewer free option is on the way out. They seem to be manually
deleting any references to rivals on the forum and also any email
addresses.

I still help a couple of commercial companies with their IT, but always
in person. I used to recommend TeamViewer, but having delved into the
shambles that is their web site, I now think the time has come to find
an alternative that works to access Windows and Macs.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

I use ScreenConnect - my favourite remote control. Don't think there is a free version, though.

Have also used Splashtop - works, nothing special. Again, don't know if there is a free version.

Agree with VPN and RDP if feasible.

On 21/05/2019 21:02, Jethro_uk wrote:
On Tue, 21 May 2019 19:14:34 +0100, Pancho wrote:

I don't know what you mean console session in Linux. Do you mean ssh
client, if so why not use MobaXterm (or Putty, if you can handle the
mouse button cut/paste dangers)

No, I mean access to the *physical* screen of the machine.

A lot of Linux remote solutions create virtual displays (remember, Linux
is really Unix.

Being picky, Unix is a trademark and Linux is Unix clone or Unix-alike.
Specifically, "Linux Is Not UniX."

SteveW

On 21/05/2019 21:03, polygonum_on_google wrote:
On Monday, 20 May 2019 18:35:24 UTC+1, Bill wrote:
What alternatives to TeamViewer are people using?

I have been hit by their sudden "Commercial use suspected" even though I
only ever connect to one 86-year old friend. He and his wife have 3
Windows machines and he has just bought 2 old iMacs, and is trying to
move to Mac in spite of my protestations. Hence a flurry of connections.

Teamviewer has a form to fill in to protest private use, but here it
just leads to an error page. I found their forum, but all that reveals
is a huge thread full of similar complaints, so it looks as though the
Teamviewer free option is on the way out. They seem to be manually
deleting any references to rivals on the forum and also any email
addresses.

I still help a couple of commercial companies with their IT, but always
in person. I used to recommend TeamViewer, but having delved into the
shambles that is their web site, I now think the time has come to find
an alternative that works to access Windows and Macs.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

I use ScreenConnect - my favourite remote control. Don't think there is a free version, though.

Yup, same here... and self hosted, one off purchase of licenses.

Have also used Splashtop - works, nothing special. Again, don't know if there is a free version.

The remote control built into Avast's Cloud Care platform is not too bad
these days. Again not totally free - but near enough since it costs
nothing over the basic AV subscription.

Agree with VPN and RDP if feasible.

RDP is good sometimes, but there are some applications for where its not
much use - like logging into a display computer running customer facing
video etc where you don't want it it hide the local display or leave it
sat at a windows login screen on exit.

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On 21/05/2019 21:02, Jethro_uk wrote:
On Tue, 21 May 2019 19:14:34 +0100, Pancho wrote:

I don't know what you mean console session in Linux. Do you mean ssh
client, if so why not use MobaXterm (or Putty, if you can handle the
mouse button cut/paste dangers)

No, I mean access to the *physical* screen of the machine.


Ah!, consoles, cold server rooms that fill with inert gas in a fire, I
remember them now.

A lot of Linux remote solutions create virtual displays (remember, Linux
is really Unix. Multi user and session from the ground up).

Windows NT was designed that way from the ground up, too. It was hobbled
afterwards.

Having said that I rarely run any GUI/Windowing systems on *nix.
Boot/System problem diagnosis is via a log file.

That said, ssh access is a godsend. I have an aversion to having to
clamber around a cupboard to view a physical screen if a machine has
stalled on bootup. Which makes it more surprising that there appears to
be no "ssh by default" liveCDs out there. I had to roll my own.


AIUI a lot of the Linux systems are now designed to be installed using
automatic provisioning scripts, so you set up ssh in the provisioning
script, presumably with SSH key files. It's been a while since I did one
and it tends to go in one ear and out the other.

On 21/05/2019 21:50, Steve Walker wrote:
On 21/05/2019 21:02, Jethro_uk wrote:
On Tue, 21 May 2019 19:14:34 +0100, Pancho wrote:

I don't know what you mean console session in Linux. Do you mean ssh
client, if so why not use MobaXterm (or Putty, if you can handle the
mouse button cut/paste dangers)

No, I mean access to the *physical* screen of the machine.

A lot of Linux remote solutions create virtual displays (remember, Linux
is really Unix.

Being picky, Unix is a trademark and Linux is Unix clone or Unix-alike.
Specifically, "Linux Is Not UniX."

SteveW

Yeah, BSD isn't Unix either, but it was always called Unix back in the
day. Why not just call Linux Unix. Like we call a vacuum cleaner a hoover.

I'm not sure if I have used a kosher Unix for years?

In message , NY writes
Yes I used to use LogMeIn until they started to charge exorbitant
prices and totally stopped their free service. That had one advantage
over Teamviewer and RealVNC that you didn't need to install a client
package: you just contacted their webserver and logged in, and
everything was done from a web interface.

That makes me wonder if I should persevere with the Google Chrome
add-on. I have taken note of all the other suggestions and will look at
them asap.Thanks to all.

Today I spent a long time using AnyDesk with this friend. W7 at my end,
iOS 11(?) at his.
It seemed to work well enough, but his Mac seemed to get slower and
slower. Then he wanted to install something which involved an almost 2GB
download. The download started at about 5.30 and at about 6.20 only a
few MB had come down. I then suggested we disconnect AnyDesk in case
that was cauing the slowness. At 8.15, the emailed to say the machine
had downloaded about 400MB. Then, a few minutes later he emailed to say
there was a line through the url and it said Cancelled. He restarted the
download, but then reported more than one download showing. He has
cancelled back down to just one and he is now leaving it overnight. It
still seems very slow.

Neither he nor I know what we are doing with Macs, but he seems to still
want to move from PC to Mac. He has FTTP, so downloads are usually fast,
and his Mac did seem to have slowed to a crawl.

I wonder if the Remote Desktop software caused the slowdown?
--
Bill

On 21/05/2019 23:37, Pancho wrote:
On 21/05/2019 21:50, Steve Walker wrote:
On 21/05/2019 21:02, Jethro_uk wrote:
On Tue, 21 May 2019 19:14:34 +0100, Pancho wrote:

I don't know what you mean console session in Linux. Do you mean ssh
client, if so why not use MobaXterm (or Putty, if you can handle the
mouse button cut/paste dangers)

No, I mean access to the *physical* screen of the machine.

A lot of Linux remote solutions create virtual displays (remember, Linux
is really Unix.

Being picky, Unix is a trademark and Linux is Unix clone or
Unix-alike. Specifically, "Linux Is Not UniX."

SteveW

Yeah, BSD isn't Unix either,

I think it actually is.Remember back in the day therre was berkely unix
and system V unix.

And a dozen different brandings of both - SUNOS, IRIX. etc etc.


but it was always called Unix back in the
day. Why not just call Linux Unix. Like we call a vacuum cleaner a hoover.

I'm not sure if I have used a kosher Unix for years?

I am not sure a kosher unix ever existed. Maybe on a PDP-11...



--
The New Left are the people they warned you about.