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Remote controlling of Macs

P

PeterErikstrup

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Hi guys. New to this forum, and not really entirely sure, whether I've placed this right, but here goes.

In short:
I need an application that can enable me to control an iMac from far away.

The long version:
About six months ago a friend of the family approached me, and asked me for help with his Mac. He had bought it for storing and editing all his video material from his travels (which has amounted to a lot). So, during the last couple of months I have visited him some times and teached him how to edit his movies in iMovie, arrange photos in iPhoto, and then burn it to some DVDs.

The thing is, the learning curve for him is .. very steep. He is quite old (almost 70) and has never used a computer before. So everything takes a lot of time, and a lot of repetition. This is not a problem when I'm at his place, but when I'm at home it poses some quite big problems.

He never arranges his workplace and works very slow, so a simple thing like finding a file in Finder can easily take 10 minutes when walking him trough it over the phone.

This has often resulted in me having to go to his place, sitting down in front of the computer, and fixing the problem in like 30 seconds. This would have been okay, if he lived right next door, but he doesn't - he lives +1 hour.

So basically I need an app that I can install on his Mac allowing me to COMPLETELY CONTROL it from home. I mean .. Do everything. Edit videos, change system settings, burn DVDs, arrange files in finder.. Yeah, almost format the ****ing thing.

Does anyone have any experience with remote controlling? - Which apps are good and which are bad?

What would you recommend?
 
Nothing is going to give you a good experience doing video editing, because of the bandwidth requirements sending live video across the wire.

However - for general screen control, you already have software at both ends to do this. Just fire up iChat and get him to share his screen with you. Then you can remote control it, and also see what he's doing.

I use this all the time with my parents' Mac (they live 4 hours away).
 
I was looking for something similar myself. I am still new to mac and have a LOT to learn, but have been wondering if I could turn on iChat or Facetime on my Macbook Pro from my PC at work or iPhone.

I was thinking I could use this to monitor my dog while I was away to make sure she's sleeping and not yelping/barking the entire time I'm away. We're working on separation anxiety issues and I live in an apartment. I think we're making progress, but it would be cool if I could remotely toggle on/off iChat to check in on her.

Thanks for posting. Maybe we'll both get some good, helpful answers to our issues.

Good luck!
 
PeterErikstrup said:
Has anyone tried using the "Remote Desktop 3"? - http://www.apple.com/remotedesktop/
Click to expand...
Yes. We have it. Works wonderfully.

However, it's impossible to span across networks. (At least it was when we purchased it.) So that why we went with LogMeIn for remote sites and RD3 for in house.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, LogMeIn works for both PCs and Macs -- and either way. In fact, right now I am working on a PC at work from my Mac at home.
 
Apple Remote Desktop works great across the Net... I use it for all the Mac's in my family... Dad in iowa, mom in PA, in-laws around south PA, controlling my own desktop from outside the house, etc... you do need to setup the router/airports on the family members networks to forward on the right port. ARD (apple Remote Desktop) is a bit pricy for one computer
You can also use "back to my mac" if your family member and or you have a mobileme acct. Back to my mac is a basic version of ARD and works well for most consumers.
 
Johnny Gilligan said:
do you think this would work for what I would would need as well?
Click to expand...
Sure.

Also, LogMeIn is free on the PC and Mac.

You can purchase an iPhone/iPad app as well ($30). So you could do this via iPhone/iPad.

walterwhite said:
Apple Remote Desktop works great across the Net... I use it for all the Mac's in my family... Dad in iowa, mom in PA, in-laws around south PA, controlling my own desktop from outside the house, etc... you do need to setup the router/airports on the family members networks to forward on the right port. ARD (apple Remote Desktop) is a bit pricy for one computer
You can also use "back to my mac" if your family member and or you have a mobileme acct. Back to my mac is a basic version of ARD and works well for most consumers.
Click to expand...
The issue for ARD is spanning remote routers and such. Be curious to hear how you span. In our case, we have routers in various countries.

The benefit of LogMeIn, is that there are no issues with spanning. 🙂

Wish that Apple did the same.

EDIT: As I mentioned ^, I would be curious how you spanned your networking thought various routers.
 
Last edited:
I would recommend just setting up logmein the next time you're there. It's free and no need to setup routers and ask for an IP address.
 
sushi said:
Sure.

Also, LogMeIn is free on the PC and Mac.

You can purchase an iPhone/iPad app as well ($30).
Click to expand...


Maybe I looked at the wrong place? I was reading it was $69/yr. I also saw they offer a free trial. I may have to check this out further. Thank you!
 
iChat is perfect for this. I do it with my Dad all the time. I just ask to share his screen and then I have complete control over his computer to show him how to do different things while I am at my home. I really couldn't think of a better tool.
 
Thx guys.

It worked great with iChat.

I was actually really impressed of how well it worked.

Totally solved my problem - thx 🙂
 
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