Remote computer support?

I've always been interested in this, but never really considered it an option when responding to computer issues. Are there some tools or methods that would allow me to connect to a client computer anywhere in the world?

I'm familiar with Windows RDP(remote desktop) and remote assistance. Is there something better to use? What about VNC?

KG

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NinjaBoy

You can also try Logmein. The basic version is free.

-Ken

KGhaleon

but does the client/customer have to download it as well?

ladiesman217

kghaleon allow me to ask a question in your thread.

what if i dont have a public ip can i still use vnc or remote desktop? im behind a router. and when i try to run a trace command. this is what i get.

1.) 192.168.1.1 - which is my router
2.) 192.168.224.1 - which is the assigned ip from my isp
3.) 203.84.184.207 - i think this is the public ip

now how can i perform remote desktop if my public ip is 3 hops away and seem to be from the isp or a repeater. help pls.

KGhaleon

^Let me tack on another question to that. When you want to connect to a remote host and you need an IP address, do you have the person go to whatismyip.com and read off the public IP? What if they are in an Office and it's NATed? How are you connecting to that specific machine?

Mishra

There isn't going to be a end all solution to remoting in to people's machines. gencontrol and dameware are handy tools in domain environments because they allow you to install the remote service onto people's machines without user intervention.

ladiesman-

Your home network is going to look like this. (depending on the ISP)

Personal computer - 192.168.1.50
Personal router LAN side - 192.168.1.1
Personal router WAN side - 203.84.184.207
Cable/DSL Modem - 10.105.1.156

Then your traffic is routed to the internet where you get all your data. If you want to be able to use remote desktop and/or VNC you will need to open up port 5900 (vnc) or 3389 (rdp) from your router (which is also a firewall) to the IP of your machine (like 192.168.1.50). If you are connected to the internet you have a public IP.

KGhaleon-

Yes you would have them go to whatismyip.com to see the IP. Whatismyip will show you the external IP address no matter if you are NATed or not. But honestly you would know a little more about the network you are remoting into at the time. You can connect using whatever remote method you wish as long as you have the correct ports forwarded.

NinjaBoy

KGhaleon wrote:

but does the client/customer have to download it as well?

Yes and as long as both PC's (your and the customers) are connected to the internet (whether direct or thru NAT/router) then you can remote on to it.

-ken

KGhaleon

Thanks, that clears things up a bit. I suppose I could go to a coffee shop and try remoting into my home PC. At least I could see if anything actually happens.

Mishra wrote:

KGhaleon-
Yes you would have them go to whatismyip.com to see the IP. Whatismyip will show you the external IP address no matter if you are NATed or not. But honestly you would know a little more about the network you are remoting into at the time. You can connect using whatever remote method you wish as long as you have the correct ports forwarded.

NAT basically allows everyone in a network to use a single external IP, right? I wasn't sure if it was possible to connect to one of those machines from outside the subnetwork. If you connect to that external IP address, you will be able to access the correct machine?

KG

Mishra

KGhaleon wrote:

Thanks, that clears things up a bit. I suppose I could go to a coffee shop and try remoting into my home PC. At least I could see if anything actually happens.

Mishra wrote:

KGhaleon-
Yes you would have them go to whatismyip.com to see the IP. Whatismyip will show you the external IP address no matter if you are NATed or not. But honestly you would know a little more about the network you are remoting into at the time. You can connect using whatever remote method you wish as long as you have the correct ports forwarded.

NAT basically allows everyone in a network to use a single external IP, right? I wasn't sure if it was possible to connect to one of those machines from outside the subnetwork. If you connect to that external IP address, you will be able to access the correct machine?

KG

When you port forward you specific one machine for that port to be forwarded to. You can do this in your home router.

Port 3389 TO 10.0.0.50 (now remote desktop can be used from the internet)

If you want more than one port to be forwarded you need to use more technical methods. (1to1 NAT/VPN)

Most of the time I will forward 3389 to a server in the building then remote desktop from that server to whatever workstation is on their network. And getting even more technical, I will use SSH port forwarding to dynamically change who I want to forward my port to.

KGhaleon

I don't actually have access to my router. I live out of a condo which has APs all around the building. I imagine that would create a problem if I wanted to access the PC in my room from a remote hotspot?

Mishra

KGhaleon wrote:

I don't actually have access to my router. I live out of a condo which has APs all around the building. I imagine that would create a problem if I wanted to access the PC in my room from a remote hotspot?

Yes, if that isn't your internet connection then you aren't going to be able to set anything like that up.

ladiesman217

Then your traffic is routed to the internet where you get all your data. If you want to be able to use remote desktop and/or VNC you will need to open up port 5900 (vnc) or 3389 (rdp) from your router (which is also a firewall) to the IP of your machine (like 192.168.1.50). If you are connected to the internet you have a public IP.

Is that port range forwarding? so do you mean i need to configure the port rannge with a start of 3389 and end it with 3389 and use TCP and forward traffic to a specific static ip inside my home lan? i have port range forwarding and unp forwarding options in my linksys router. my friends doesnt have a router and hes connected using dyanamic ip but we use the same isp. now question is how would he able to open ports in his pc? is it possible for us to use rdp?

Mishra

ladiesman217 wrote:

Then your traffic is routed to the internet where you get all your data. If you want to be able to use remote desktop and/or VNC you will need to open up port 5900 (vnc) or 3389 (rdp) from your router (which is also a firewall) to the IP of your machine (like 192.168.1.50). If you are connected to the internet you have a public IP.

Is that port range forwarding? so do you mean i need to configure the port rannge with a start of 3389 and end it with 3389 and use TCP and forward traffic to a specific static ip inside my home lan? i have port range forwarding and unp forwarding options in my linksys router. my friends doesnt have a router and hes connected using dyanamic ip but we use the same isp. now question is how would he able to open ports in his pc? is it possible for us to use rdp?

Yes port forwarding.

If your friend doesn't have a router then he has an external IP assigned directly to his machine. If he doesn't have a software firewall running on his machine then his machine is wide open (all ports are open) and he needs to get that fixed ASAP. If he has a software firewall then you need to configure that firewall to open port 3389.

As a side not, for people who have dynamic IPs and a DYNDNS supported router then you can make an account at www.dyndns.org and enter that account into your router and you then have a DNS name that automatically updates when your IP changes. So instead of RDPing into 12.50.2.32 you would RDP into ladiesman.dyndns.org

paintb4707

KGhaleon wrote:

but does the client/customer have to download it as well?

I like dameware. As long as you have an administrator account on that computer, it installs the service automatically when connecting to the computer. There's also a really cool program called NT Utilities that comes with it and you can do just about anything from the back-end without even remoting in. You could change anything from the registry to processes, services, users, groups and a lot more

You can download an evaluation copy off their site for free, you should check it out.

KGhaleon

So are Dameware and logmein still preferred?

It seems my mother and another family member had both their laptops infected by malware and I really need to reimage them. These people are on the other side of the country though and they don't have the money to send the laptops in for repair. I would send them the money, but I really don't want it going to Geek squad or something.

I was thinking of either using something free or purchasing some software to take care of this. Maybe if I can't reimage them remotely then I could at least clean them up.

Lee H

Why not have them posted to yourself so you can do a complete re-install as youve said, you could even partition the drive and take a backup of C onto the D drive using Acronis or Ghost. That way the users are always only 5 minutes from a complete reinstall of there OS. Me personally, I re-install everything with even a slight sniff of anythin unsavoury, simply because I work in IT so I know how to do it but for the typical end user they cant

Good luck!!

Lee H

miller811

NinjaBoy wrote: »

You can also try Logmein. The basic version is free.

-Ken

Huge fan of this free software.....
My relative lives across country, loaded the software on her computer when I installed it for her, and can remote into and fix things, but more importantly I can take control of the machine and show her how to do things.

Sie

Might be a silly question but how to you intend to re-image the systems remotely on separate networks?

NetAdmin2436

If you don't have control of both of the routers and/or can't open any ports then the logmein or gotomypc would work best. They both us port 80, so there is nothing to configure on your router. I know that's how gotomypc works, and I *think* it's the same with logmein. I never used dameware so I'm not sure what if any ports you need to open.

Your parents would have to set everything up on their computer (a small install program) then give you the password/access code to log into the gotomypc/logmein website. Then you could log into the computer and control it similar to RDP. Good luck trying to re image it though. But you could log on and do some virus scans and clean what you can.

HeroPsycho

Another free one is Microsoft's SharedView, although it's only for sharing control, not to be able to login without the user.

KGhaleon

Don't intend to reimage it unless they are going to ship the laptops to me, though it would be fun to try.

I've got an account with logmein and I'm waiting to get access to her laptops, though she is away at the moment. I created an account which we could both log into and share, so I will have her login and download the client when she can. Then I'll see if I can access her computers and clean it up.

KGhaleon

Been playing with logmein and TightVNC, both are nice but require too much work on the opposite end. I may just go with one which doesn't require me to install any software on the other laptops, as that could be difficult with the users level of ability.

astorrs

I've enjoyed the beta for GoToAssist Express (it's free), the software is fantastic and even my parents can figure it out (this is usually a huge challenge).

It goes through every firewall/network configuration I've tested (since it's client initiated through a simple website).

The beta will end someday soon (its been going on for over a year) but they just recently extended the deadline again, so it could be a good solution for you for now. Once the beta finally ends the price tag is brutal though (for my use purposes) and I'll have to find something else.

Give it a try (while it's free) you won't be disappointed.

brad-

NinjaBoy wrote: »

You can also try Logmein. The basic version is free.

-Ken

Ive used several types and LogMeIn is the best. There are several different paid levels of the software that are very good. I used LogMeIn Rescue and LogMeIn ITReach.

arwes

Regarding Dameware, it's awesome for local stuff. Not so awesome for remote locations, or at least that's the way it is here. We're using something from a place called 4RemoteSupport.com and it works okay, but if it detects the user is on your network it won't connect.

Slowhand

We had a piece of software at my last company called Kaseya, which would allow you to connect to any machine anywhere in the world. Basically, you'd have the user go to a URL and click, the link would install a temporary remote client, (such as VNC, RDP, etc.,) and you'd connect over an HTTPS session. This was especially useful for when my parents would call me at work and ask me about their computer, I could just hop on and fix whatever the issue was, and get back to work. Once the admin logged out of the remote machine, the connection-software would uninstall itself from the client, (unless it was already installed to begin with, then it would stay).

mr2nut

LANDesk is a good one. All over SSL port so secure etc.

BradleyHU

LogMeIn, Bomgar, RemotelyAnywhere are all pretty good remote support tools...