remote control over home network

**<[o_0]>** · December 2nd, 2002, 03:35 AM

I have a computer in the living room which is usually on 24/7 and I have a laptop in my room, I was just wondering if there was a reliable/secure program out there that would allow me to control certain functions with my home living room system with my laptop. (Both Running WinXP)

I'm lazy =) but this would also be helpful when I'm at school too.
Functions including, closing programs, opening programs, closing the computer, etc...

I've heard of programs having the ability to let you see the exact desktop (screen) of one computer and allos you to control it's cursor and such to access files and programs.

thx in advance.

BTW, does PCANYWHERE do the job? At first I thought an ftp would help but that only allows me to manage files.

mickwish · December 2nd, 2002, 03:47 AM

VNC

Will do it all - for free!!

Cheers
Mick

**jkrohn** · December 2nd, 2002, 03:49 AM

PCAnywhere will do the job wonderfully, but you have to pay for it

VNC, and its derivitive TightVNC are both free and do a great job for being free.

Jkrohn

mickwish · December 2nd, 2002, 03:52 AM

The main thing VNC (or TightVNC) doesn't support that PCAnywhere does is drag & drop file sharing bewteen desktops. But you can use shared drives to get around that easily enough!

Cheers
Mick

**vass0922** · December 2nd, 2002, 04:02 AM

hmm y'all seem to forget remote desktop with XP

lol

one thing you'll have to remember though is most (if not all) open up another instance of your profile. What I mean is, if you're logged on locally as xyz with 10 windows open, and you remote into the machine (again with username xyz) you won't see those 10 windows open you'll receive a fresh new desktop. When you go back to your desktop locally the 10 windows will still be there untouched. You essentially log in twice.

VNC Does that for linux, so I'm assuming it does it for windows too. Remote desktop I'm not entirely familiar with, but I know with terminal services (which remote desktop is related to) does have this functionality.

IMO it has its plusses and minuses..

mickwish · December 2nd, 2002, 05:30 AM

Remote desktop for winXP works in winXP Home as well as winXP Pro??

Dunno, as I don't have winXP Home.

Helmig don't think it does though.

Suppose it depends which WinXP you have to be able to use remote desktop.

Another M$ confusionism.

Cheers
Mick the VNC fan

**<[o_0]>** · December 2nd, 2002, 12:31 PM

what's the main difference between TightVNC and regular VNC?

**<[o_0]>** · December 2nd, 2002, 05:17 PM

how exactly do these programs work? connect via tcp/ip? because i have a router and 2 computers behind the router.

**DVNT1** · December 2nd, 2002, 05:39 PM

yes, via TCP

mickwish · December 2nd, 2002, 05:54 PM

Originally posted by <[o_0]>
what's the main difference between TightVNC and regular VNC?

The differences are reasonably minor in regard to function. Here's a list:

TightVNC Features
Here is a brief list of TightVNC features absent in the standard VNC.

Local cursor handling. Cursor movements do not generate screen updates any more, remote cursor movements are processed locally by the viewer, so you do not see remote cursor pointer moving too slow behind the local cursor.
Efficient compression algorithms. New Tight encoding is optimized for slow and medium-speed connections and thus generates much less traffic as compared to traditional VNC encodings. At the same time, TightVNC supports all the standard VNC encodings, so it can operate efficiently over fast networks, too. Thus, with TightVNC you can work remotely almost in real time in most network environments.
Configurable compression levels. You can choose any appropriate level of compromise between compression ratios and coding speed, depending on your connection speed and processor power.
Optional JPEG compression. If you don't care too much about perfect image quality, you can enable JPEG compression which will compress the color-rich screen areas much more efficiently (and image quality level is configurable too).
Enhanced Web browser access. TightVNC includes a greatly improved Java viewer with full support for Tight encoding, local cursor feature, 24-bit color mode, and more. The Java viewer applet can be accessed via built-in HTTP server like in the standard VNC.
Operating under Unix and Windows. All new features listed above are available in both the Unix and Win32 versions of TightVNC.
Advanced Properties dialog in WinVNC. Unlike the standard VNC, TightVNC gives you the possibility of setting a number of advanced settings directly from the WinVNC GUI, and to apply changed settings immediately. There is no need to launch regedit to set query options, connection priority, to allow loopback connections, disable HTTP server etc.
Flexible configuration options. Unlike the standard VNC, TightVNC allows you to choose arbitrary port numbers for TCP/IP connections, in addition to display numbers traditionally used in VNC.
Automatic SSH tunneling on Unix. The Unix version of TightVNC viewer can tunnel connections via SSH automatically using local SSH or OpenSSH client installation.
And more. TightVNC features a number of other improvements, performance optimizations and bugfixes, see WhatsNew and ChangeLog documents for more information.

Cheers
Mick

**<[o_0]>** · December 3rd, 2002, 08:19 PM

does vnc spport winxp? because the download section on the site only indicate win9x and win2000.

**TOAD6147** · December 3rd, 2002, 09:04 PM

Mick,
Won't OpenSSH work with a Win32 client as well? If not, what security measures can you implement within the Win32 environment?

**<[o_0]>** · December 4th, 2002, 10:39 PM

?

mickwish · December 4th, 2002, 10:47 PM

<[o_O]>: I run VNC on winXP with no problems. Can't remember for sure, but I think it's in the FAQ somewhere that it's OK.

I'll check when I get home tonight.

Sorry I'm a bit slow - missed your post.

Toad:

Open SSH only has a connection, not a GUI, I think. VNC has a GUI which give full keyboard/mouse control over a PC (either *nix or windoze). Or am I wrong??

Cheers
Mick