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Best remote access tool

V

vodouman

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 30, 2008
206
15
London
Hi guys,

I'm a final year uni student in the UK and as far as I know there's quite a few options with regards to controlling my iMac from my Windows 7 computer while i'm at the uni campus.

I basically want to be able to log onto my iMac while i'm at uni because my final year project is iPhone development based and i'll be using my iMac to do the majority of the work.

I have a constant 50Mb connection at my home and the uni has excellent internet too so that isn't a concern.

Can you guys make cheap or free suggestions please.

Much appreciated,

- Vodouman ;)
 
I use TeamViewer, which works with Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Ubuntu, iPhone, iPad, etc. It's very secure and quite simple to set up and use.... and it's free.
 
GGJstudios said:
I use TeamViewer, which works with Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Ubuntu, iPhone, iPad, etc. It's very secure and quite simple to set up and use.... and it's free.
Click to expand...

+1 for Team Viewer, I use it pretty much every day to log onto customers machines, both Windows and Mac.
 
Badger^2 said:
I found logmein to be faster. also free.

I found Teamviewer much more difficult to setup as well.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure what you found difficult about setting up TeamViewer, as it's quite simple. Also, if you want file transfer capabilities, the free version of LogMeIn won't provide that. TeamViewer will.
 
All your replies are very much appreciated guys.

I very briefly checked out Team Viewer, it seemed like the only way to connect to another computer was to have a person at each end when the connection is made?

I want to be able to access my Mac which is at home so if authentication on either side is the only way then I won't be able to do that.
 
vodouman said:
All your replies are very much appreciated guys.

I very briefly checked out Team Viewer, it seemed like the only way to connect to another computer was to have a person at each end when the connection is made?

I want to be able to access my Mac which is at home so if authentication on either side is the only way then I won't be able to do that.
Click to expand...

Can't comment on Team Viewer but I use the free version of Logmein and works like a dream for controlling Windows or Mac machines. You don't need anyone at the other end, just leave the computer on and it's fine.
 
vodouman said:
All your replies are very much appreciated guys.

I very briefly checked out Team Viewer, it seemed like the only way to connect to another computer was to have a person at each end when the connection is made?
Click to expand...
No, as long as you have TeamViewer running on both ends, you can connect, disconnect and reconnect anytime you want. You do have to have someone at the other end to initially install and launch TV, but then you can have it automatically launch at bootup from that point forward.
 
With Logmein you only need the application installed on the computers you wish to control - even then you don't have to consciously have the Application open. You can then access your remote computers purely via a web browser, no need to install additional software which you likely won't have admin privileges to do so on an institutions / company computer.
 
You already have a mess of stuff built in: FTP, VNC, etc. Just find a good Windows VNC viewer and FTP client and you're good to go. And there's iVPN if you want to set VPN up, or various SSH tools that are even easier to use (can't recommend any Windows applications that use these, but I use ShareTool on the Mac end).
 
I know this is an old thread but I wanted to see if the advice here is still relevant or has something else been released.

I'm on my PC at work and sometime like to play around with my iMac back at home.

I have it set so my iMac wakes on network access. Will this trigger the remote access or will the iMac have to be physically running?

Any advice would be great.

Thanks
 
MonkeySee.... said:
I know this is an old thread but I wanted to see if the advice here is still relevant or has something else been released.

I'm on my PC at work and sometime like to play around with my iMac back at home.

I have it set so my iMac wakes on network access. Will this trigger the remote access or will the iMac have to be physically running?

Any advice would be great.

Thanks
Click to expand...
I've heard that if a Mac sleeps, there's some difficulty waking it with some of the remote apps. A solution is to use Caffeine to prevent the iMac from sleeping.
 
GGJstudios said:
I've heard that if a Mac sleeps, there's some difficulty waking it with some of the remote apps. A solution is to use Caffeine to prevent the iMac from sleeping.
Click to expand...

Thanks GGJstudios. I'll take a look. Do you still back TeamViewer? Going by posts on this forum I respect your advice more so than others.

Thanks
 
My experience of a recent Mac Mini is that you need to make sure it isn't shut down. Waking from a sleep mode is OK with Screen Sharing and RealVNC. Real WOL from shut down doesn't work on Lion - it's been broken from the start.

I don't do this over the Internet but over a LAN. Should be the same if your router settings allow it.
 
MonkeySee.... said:
Thanks GGJstudios. I'll take a look. Do you still back TeamViewer? Going by posts on this forum I respect your advice more so than others.
Click to expand...
I use it daily to support both Mac and Windows PCs. I haven't found anything better. If I do, I'll switch, and change my recommendation.
 
Tried logmein which worked well. Didn't realise you have to have your iMac on ALL the time for it to work. What a waste
 
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