Alternative software for Teamviewer

[Cloggie]

I used Teamviewer before and I think it is one of the best software to take over a PC over Internet.

To use it legally I need to pay THB 21.700 for a lifetime license - https://www.teamviewer.com/en/licensing/index.aspx

Do people on this board use alternatives that are just as easy to use as Teamviewer so no need to configure your Firewall or port forwarding?

Thanks for your answer.

[canopus1969]

VNC

[Tywais]

There is no charge if you install Teamviewer for personal use, that is it is free to use. I've been using it for several years and is the link between my office and home. Just have to be watchful when you install it and select 'for personal use' or it will install as a trial version and will request commercial license later. Of course if you are using it for a business than a license is required. So you can use it for free legally.

BTW, VNC/TightVNC will require configuring port forwarding of your router.

[KittenKong]

Remote Utilities offers 10 free licences even for business use. It works well though it can be a bit slow. No routing configuration required.

[alocacoc]

I also use Teamviewer for personal use. It works fine. I only wish there would be the possibility to monitoring / control A particular window instead of the whole desktop.

[canopus1969]

Never 'install' Team Viewer - only 'run' it - otherwise it can leave your computer wide open.

[Roman51]

I have always used TeamViewer, but friends of recommending me to the Chrome Remote Desktop, which we never used, but I've heard that it is a good alternative for this type of software.

[innerspace]

Logmein used to be great but stopped their free version a few years back. Teamviewers great for personal use. Vnc not as user friendly.

[KittenKong]

Never 'install' Team Viewer - only 'run' it - otherwise it can leave your computer wide open.

Bear in mind that if it isnt installed then you need a real person at each end to start a connection. Not always practical or possible.

I have Teamviewer and Remote Utilities running as services on many machines so that they can be accessed at any time with the correct password, even if no one is present at the other end.

[canopus1969]

Never 'install' Team Viewer - only 'run' it - otherwise it can leave your computer wide open.

Bear in mind that if it isnt installed then you need a real person at each end to start a connection. Not always practical or possible.

I have Teamviewer and Remote Utilities running as services on many machines so that they can be accessed at any time with the correct password, even if no one is present at the other end.

Appreciate that but please understand if you operate like that the computers are wide open to attacks.

[Cloggie]

Thanks for all your comments and recommendations but I did not see a real alternative for Teamviewer - was afraid of that already.....

Edited September 18, 2015 by Cloggie

[KittenKong]

Thanks for all your comments and recommendations but I did not see a real alternative for Teamviewer - was afraid of that already.....

What is wrong with Remote Utilities which I mentioned earlier in the thread?

[Cloggie]

Oh the program is called "Remote Utilities", I thought you mean use the remote utilities in Windows 7 / 10 like remote desktop......

[RichCor]

Have you taken a look at AlternativeTo.net:

TeamViewer list of 110 alternatives list of 58 license-free alternatives

Not all alternatives will have the same or similar feature set of TeamViewer.

Years and years ago I relied on an app called Radmin to support remote administration of PCs. Switched to TeamViewer as it has better connection availability via their indirect connection reporting server.

[Cloggie]

Thanks RichCor, will have a look at that as well.

[h90]

21.700 for just one workstation...that is heavy....If you have a laptop is already a 2nd....

[balo]

Great news for me I didnt know about remote utilities. Will check it out.

[KittenKong]

Oh the program is called "Remote Utilities", I thought you mean use the remote utilities in Windows 7 / 10 like remote desktop......

Sorry if I wasnt clear.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_Utilities

http://www.remoteutilities.com

[KittenKong]

Appreciate that but please understand if you operate like that the computers are wide open to attacks.

I'm not sure that this is the case. Both programmes use specific login servers to facilitate connections and as far as I know there are no directly accessible ports or services.

Anyway, remote control software that requires a user to be present 24/7 is rather pointless as far as I'm concerned.

[Cloggie]

21.700 for just one workstation...that is heavy....If you have a laptop is already a 2nd....

Any license is lifetime, you pay for the current major version. There are no monthly or annual payments.

This is true for both Teamviewer as well as Remote Utilities

[Cloggie]

Appreciate that but please understand if you operate like that the computers are wide open to attacks.

I'm not sure that this is the case. Both programmes use specific login servers to facilitate connections and as far as I know there are no directly accessible ports or services.

Anyway, remote control software that requires a user to be present 24/7 is rather pointless as far as I'm concerned.

I agree.

In the 'old days' with PCAnywhere you had to install the host on all the servers and change their ports so you could access all your servers using different ports and YES all servers where all exposed to the internet.

With Teamviewer and Remote Utilities the servers / PC are exposed to the login servers of Teamviewer and Remote Utilities, so let's call it 'indirect' not 'direct'!

[jacnl2000]

Appreciate that but please understand if you operate like that the computers are wide open to attacks.

I'm not sure that this is the case. Both programmes use specific login servers to facilitate connections and as far as I know there are no directly accessible ports or services.

Anyway, remote control software that requires a user to be present 24/7 is rather pointless as far as I'm concerned.

I agree.

In the 'old days' with PCAnywhere you had to install the host on all the servers and change their ports so you could access all your servers using different ports and YES all servers where all exposed to the internet.

With Teamviewer and Remote Utilities the servers / PC are exposed to the login servers of Teamviewer and Remote Utilities, so let's call it 'indirect' not 'direct'!

Hopefully this helps: out of the viewpoint of industrial security somehow specialized knowledge of experts needs to be incorporated and this is perfectly done today by hiring a specialized reliable third party who's adding its own servers.

[h90]

21.700 for just one workstation...that is heavy....If you have a laptop is already a 2nd....

Any license is lifetime, you pay for the current major version. There are no monthly or annual payments.

This is true for both Teamviewer as well as Remote Utilities

well every software I bought so far was for lifetime....Still too expensive for a small business.

[Cloggie]

21.700 for just one workstation...that is heavy....If you have a laptop is already a 2nd....

Any license is lifetime, you pay for the current major version. There are no monthly or annual payments.

This is true for both Teamviewer as well as Remote Utilities

well every software I bought so far was for lifetime....Still too expensive for a small business.

Well if you pay THB 21.700 and can use it - for example - 15 years then daily it's only THB 4 per day, it all depends on how long you want to use it.

[KittenKong]

Teamviewer pricing is odd and makes little sense to me.

There is a huge jump in cost from free to registered, and I think that they would be better served by allowing the user to connect to (say) 10 other devices for free or 100 other devices for (say) USD50 or 500 other devices for (say) USD200 and an unlimited number for (say) USD500. Or maybe introduce a pricing model that gives you so many hours of connection time per month. Either way people would actually be paying in accordance with what they need. And I also think that this payment should include free version upgrades.

I know companies that still use V6 because they are too cheap to pay for an upgrade, and this causes problems for anyone else who wants to install a more recent version on top of theirs.

[Cloggie]

Teamviewer pricing is odd and makes little sense to me.

There is a huge jump in cost from free to registered, and I think that they would be better served by allowing the user to connect to (say) 10 other devices for free or 100 other devices for (say) USD50 or 500 other devices for (say) USD200 and an unlimited number for (say) USD500. Or maybe introduce a pricing model that gives you so many hours of connection time per month. Either way people would actually be paying in accordance with what they need. And I also think that this payment should include free version upgrades.

I know companies that still use V6 because they are too cheap to pay for an upgrade, and this causes problems for anyone else who wants to install a more recent version on top of theirs.

>>> a pricing model that gives you so many hours of connection time per month

I fully agree with you, a kind off 'pay per use'

[JDill]

TeamViewer is good. Additionally, you may also try using R-HUB remote support servers for remotely accessing computers. It works on Windows, MAC, Linux, Unix, Android, iOS etc.

[balo]

There's no need to use Teamviewer anymore , try Anydesk instead , they are the same programmers behind it that made Teamviewer. After they quit as programmers at TV head office they made their own version called Anydesk Anydesk is also free for private persons.

Please have a look here, you will be impressed how easy it is to use. They are also working on an Android version that should be released soon .

www.anydesk.com

Edited April 24, 2016 by balo