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  • #2190010

    Best Remote Administration Tool?

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    by c.lee ·

    I’m the IT guy at my current company and I’m just wondering what is the best for remote administration. What I would like to do is connect to any PC in the same network range and be able to control the mouse and keyboard from my location to troubleshoot any possible OS problems. All of the end users here are using either Windows XP Home or Windows XP Pro.

    I’ve heard of RAdmin, RemotelyAnywhere, TightVNC, etc, but I wanted to hear the opinions of those who have actually had experience using them.

    Perhaps why you would choose one over the other? Please let me know, as we’re about to make a large purchase 🙂 Thanks.

    -TheC

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    Replies
    • #3070469

      Consider Dameware NT Utilities

      by joebuerkle ·

      In reply to Best Remote Administration Tool?

      I have used TightVnc, however the client must be left open and active in order to connect. Dameware installs an agent that runs as a service you can set to manual turn on only when you connect. It also uses your domain credentials not a local password. My staff and I love it. It can also do alot more. You can download an eval at http://www.dameware.com/.

      • #3070720

        UltraVNC, Free and effective

        by lordvrolok ·

        In reply to Consider Dameware NT Utilities

        I have been using variations of VNC and played with other Remote Apps for a while and this one has it all.
        Encryption, chat, file transfers, can install as a service.
        There are a lot of different things that can be done with it, and the price is right.
        With minimal effort it can make secure remote administration a breeze.
        Just another opinion… good luck.

    • #3070399

      VNC vs MS Netmeeting

      by ajaysharma13 ·

      In reply to Best Remote Administration Tool?

      Hi, I was involved in a support project where we had to remotely log into the user’s system and fix the issue. For overseas operations I would suggest a tool called Remedy. For local use I think MS Netmeeting is very useful. I have also used VNC but the only constraint is the slow speed of the use. Go with MS Netmeeting… Hope you like it.
      Regards
      Ajay

      • #3070334

        I aggree

        by here2go ·

        In reply to VNC vs MS Netmeeting

        I aggree with you view concerning Netmeeting – IT is easy to configure, it works very well within Lans and Wans. Best of all it comes with WinXp so there is no further cost outlay.

      • #3070785

        PcAnyWhere

        by b.swank ·

        In reply to VNC vs MS Netmeeting

        Hello, several of us here have found that the pcanywhere product has been a great tool with not only helping to resolve login issues but to trouble shoot non critical hardware and software problems.

      • #3068648

        VNC from Cardiff 2 NZ was V.G.

        by markwaliasq ·

        In reply to VNC vs MS Netmeeting

        I have to disagree with you regarding VNC. I was called in to work one evening last week and it was necessary to remote a guy in New Zeland, it worked really well.

    • #3070291

      we use “Logmein “

      by greg_h ·

      In reply to Best Remote Administration Tool?

      hi we have had alot of issues connecting remotely , until we found “logmein” .com.
      i really like the way it easily connects to any of our pc’s that we want to access.

      I should point out that we are in the country and have user’s over 100kms any on dial up,

      • #3088993

        Different LogMeIn option – IT Reach

        by sellis ·

        In reply to we use “Logmein “

        Rather than LogMeIn Free or Pro, I’d recommend LogMeIn IT Reach for system management as it combines the hosted gateway for easy setup and remote access with the following: monitoring and alerts for preventative maintenance, ability to access systems without disrupting the end user, dashboard view for complete system overview, diagnostic tools for faster problem resolution, ability to access systems that are unattended, and the ability to provide end users with separate remote access accounts from the same software used for remote administration. It’s also more affordable than most sys management solutions on the market.

    • #3070281

      SSH

      by jmgarvin ·

      In reply to Best Remote Administration Tool?

      It is secure and you can use it like any other tunnel.

      Plus, you can keep all the information secure that you are sending back and forth.

      If you want to support servers, might I suggest Webmin? http://www.webmin.com

      It is a great all in one browser based admin tool. You can secure it with SSL, so most of your security issues will be mitigated.

    • #3070186

      Dameware

      by ndcold1 ·

      In reply to Best Remote Administration Tool?

      I have used Dameware, TightVNC, Remedy and SMS, Dameware is one of my favorites its easy to configure and use for remote logins and if you want you can use it for alot of other things. good luck

      • #3060530

        Dameware 2thumbs Up

        by wmwphl ·

        In reply to Dameware

        Id tried this already & i would give it a 2thumbs up rating, this does not only give you remote control but you also have some other bunch of utilities. this one is a must have. It’s like an IT swiss nife.

      • #3070838

        Depends on how you’re going to use it….

        by clayton_cleverly ·

        In reply to Dameware

        If your main intention is to provide support to users who are at their desks and on their systems, the built-in Offer Remote Assistance is actually pretty slick, FREE for one thing, built into all XP systems, and it gives users a warm-and-fuzzy because they have control over your control at all times….

        However, if you need to grab control of a system, XP, 2000, NT logged in, logged out, whatever, I must say you should take a look at Dameware. VNC is great if you can get to the box and install it first, but Dameware will let you push the files to ANY system you have admin privileges on, local, remote, over VPN…..best part is noone need be on it, you push the files, insets up and installs itself as a service, starts the service, and you’re in! As a preventative measure, I usually set it to stop the service and uninstall it when I disconnect to remove the vulnerability of a running remote access service, but that can be made automatic, VERY slick…additionally, the full set of DameWare NT Utilities have an extraordinarily robust set of features that let you do all kinds of stuff you’ve always wanted to, plus you can download a mostly functional version for free and try it out for 30 days or so…

        OK, now that I’m done with the commercial for DameWare, how about a nod and a discount fellas?

        PS – One drawback…..it ain’t cheap…
        >8^)

      • #3219099

        DameWare Mini Remote Control

        by jmirtc ·

        In reply to Dameware

        Works for me.. I work at Head Office and have to connect to users in another office.

        One thing about this app i like is the option to lock out the users K/board and Mouse.

        I also use XP’s Remote Desktop Connection to take control when installing apps or trouble shooting

      • #3202573

        Very Slow

        by mazariegosm ·

        In reply to Dameware

        Unless you have a Gig backbone, DameWare is very slow when compared to Microsofts remote desktop. and if you have slow or moderate link you can just forget it.

    • #3060478

      gencontrol

      by sakuhara ·

      In reply to Best Remote Administration Tool?

      I use it everyday. it is its own executable. Free. No client side install.

    • #3060318

      Reply To: Best Remote Administration Tool?

      by angry_white_male ·

      In reply to Best Remote Administration Tool?

      Are they on the same physical network?? Are you running Active Directory? If so – get everyone up to XP Pro and use MS’s Remote Desktop… Google around for directions, easy to set up.

      • #3060240

        Remote Control

        by c.lee ·

        In reply to Reply To: Best Remote Administration Tool?

        Ah yes, I thought about that, but I ran into two things. We don’t use Active Directory (thank God). Secondly, Only XP Pro is able to handle remote log in – we have users on Home; the other part is when a remote login connection is established, it will kick off the current user (if it’s the same account). That’s why I want to stick with something that can be run in the background. Thanks for all the great replies! I’m going to check out Dameware 🙂

        • #3059904

          NT Systems

          by vetch_101 ·

          In reply to Remote Control

          Hi,

          Any NT-based systemrunning IIS can support Remote Desktop.

          You can set it up via a web page – there’s a Knowldege Base article about it, though I’ve never got around to trying it out.
          I would assume it logs off the current user, but it’s still worth a try.
          If you want to interact with the user so they can see what’s happening try Netmeeting.

          I do pretty much all my work remotely, and I’ve rarely found anything that could be done remotely that I couldn’t do using either Netmeeting or Remote Desktop…

        • #3068755

          Right tool for the job always

          by liqour439 ·

          In reply to Remote Control

          I have work with NetMeeting, PcAnywhere, NetOp, Remedy, CA Unicenter, Remotely Possible, Remote Desktop, and DameWare NT Utilities. Each had their advantages and disadvantage but eventually you always had to have a backup way to remote into a system. Distance to your end user should be one of the main concerns.

          DameWare is an excellent tool but require a fair amount of Bandwidth to operate. PC Anywhere or NetOP are excellent for long hauls (i.e.: London, Tokyo, Taipei, etc…). I recommend you use a combination of tools to manage your networks. A DameWare/NetOp marriage works great and you can back these resources up with free tools already built in to XP systems (NetMeeting/Remote Desktop). You can use DameWare to connect install NetOp, then take advantage of the faster data transfers to maximize efficiency.

          Doing so, allows you to work from a variety of angles to resolve the client?s issue in the most effective manner.

          Good luck!

    • #3070842

      I use NetOp

      by teksmith ·

      In reply to Best Remote Administration Tool?

      NetOp allows secure remote access and can be used from anywhere internal or external to the network. I have also used NetOp for remote access to Dameware on the internal network. I have used TightVNC and was not excited about its capabilities, but the price is right! FREE

      I prefer NetOp and use it!!!!

    • #3070836

      Remote Admin Tool

      by gillanm ·

      In reply to Best Remote Administration Tool?

      I looked into this for my company a couple of years ago and tried various tools, including RemotelyAnywhere, NetOp, NetSupportManager, SMS 2003 and RealVNC.

      I found the best one to be a coin toss between NSM and NetOp, but in the end we settled for SMS to get the additional tools (patch managment etc), but the remote admin tools aren’t nearly as good as NSM & NetOp.

      You should consider how the tool performs over differing bandwidth, what extras you might want e.g. file transfer and what features e.g. ability to blank the user screen so they can’t see what you’re doing. Of course, cost comes into it, but free or low cost is useless if the tool doesn’t work effectively.

      I suggest you try the options out, using specific test options (different clients, sites, bandwidth) and compare the results.

      Mike

    • #3070828

      radmin

      by ironfist03 ·

      In reply to Best Remote Administration Tool?

      i favor radmin,, you can manually set the password or you can use nt security which is a real plus as you won’t have to place the same password on every box or maintain many if a different one for each box which is preferred for obvious reasons.. the biggest issues are that any anti-spyware will identify it as a trojan and recommend removal,, once you set the scans to ignore the radmin i find it works very well,, next is the lack of a chat box.. however, you can login and auto shutdown, view only, or full control of mouse/kyb.. radmin works very well over the lan or wan.. although a tad slow if you are on a dialup connection it still responds much faster than pcanywhere or even gotomypc.com..

    • #3070793

      DameWare NT Utilities Hands Down

      by crmihelich ·

      In reply to Best Remote Administration Tool?

      Have been using it for year. Licensing is cheap, based per administrators console so if you’re the only admin with 5,000 workstations one license is all you need. Great behind the seens actions. Active directory integrated. Hands down the best.

    • #3070645

      Best Remote Admin Tool

      by it pro. ·

      In reply to Best Remote Administration Tool?

      I have used VNC for years and had great success with it. Working with a school district there are about 600 pc’s to manage and im not into sneakernet. VNC has the ability to remote using either pc name or ip address and is very easy to use.

    • #3068840

      Open Source

      by chad.lasante ·

      In reply to Best Remote Administration Tool?

      I use xVNC. It can be found on Sourceforge. It works for lan/wan, automatically shows a complete list of all machines on network, and works without any client-side interaction. Best of all, it’s free.

    • #3068700

      XP’s Remote Assistance

      by mountytech ·

      In reply to Best Remote Administration Tool?

      XP home and Pro come with Remote Assistance free under ?Help and Support? on the Start menu. As long as you only want to provide support to users remotely it works really well. If you have other OS?s (excluding Server 2003) in your environment it will not work. The user must send you an invite to gain control. You will not be able to take control at will.

      • #3068636

        XP’s Remote Assistance

        by markwaliasq ·

        In reply to XP’s Remote Assistance

        It’s fine as long as you dont mind reconfiguring your firewall. I used this at home with zonealarm and it was not happy and it didnt ask the usual allow/deny question. This may need to happen at both ends, I dont remember.

    • #3068699

      Havent tried the rest but . . . . .

      by avall2 ·

      In reply to Best Remote Administration Tool?

      Havent tried the rest but Terminal Services works fine for me.
      Can remotely logon to servers or clients. Best of all its free with windows server 2K.
      Locks client out while u do your stuff.

      • #3071804

        Remote Desktop or TSC is okay for fixes, but…

        by srk-once9 ·

        In reply to Havent tried the rest but . . . . .

        It you have to do any training of the user or follow the users’ activity on the PC which generated the problem this is worthless because you cannot “share” a common desktop connection.

    • #3068595

      DAMEWARE KING OF THE HILL

      by robertkross ·

      In reply to Best Remote Administration Tool?

      True its not a Microsoft product. But as someone whom has worked with SMS VNC Remote Desktop. Pc Anywhere. DAMEWARE is the BEST for five years I have used the product and its just works great. I know that I am at the consol and I do everythign that needs to be done. I even like the export feature which allows to get user and computer lists. If I could knock it which would be diffcult I would say it does not have anything for network diagramming.

      Spend the money tell the boss its worth it.

      • #3058188

        I agree! Dameware rules all!

        by wind rider ·

        In reply to DAMEWARE KING OF THE HILL

        We have been using dameware for the last two years, and its the best. Originally we got it because we had a mix of 2000 and XP machines, and neeeds a remote tool to work on all of them. Dameware fits the bil, its fast easy to use, the support side is great and best of all it’s good value for money (and it works great with active directory). We wouldn’t use anything else.

    • #3071805

      UltraVNC -Good, RAdmin-OK,Remedy-Bad

      by srk-once9 ·

      In reply to Best Remote Administration Tool?

      I have had the good fortune to use the three remote-controllers mentioned above. By far and away the best results have been with using UltraVNC (version 1.01). It has many settings that can be used to optimize for your network or connection mode. You can create your own password or use MS Authentication. AND IT’S FREE! RAdmin works pretty well and has hooks into a couple of HelpDesk utilities (Remedy and Trackit) and you have to pay for it. Remedy…pass on it…pricey and klugey.

    • #3044606

      Best Remote Administration Tool?

      by keb ·

      In reply to Best Remote Administration Tool?

      we use a program called Proxy, by Funk Software.
      it does very well. remote file transfer and remote printing as well.

    • #3119078

      Best Remote Administration Tool?

      by gilart ·

      In reply to Best Remote Administration Tool?

      Try Timbuktu Pro, it should do everything you want. I use it to have complete remote control over any box it is installed on. You just have to make a user profile on the machine you want to control, and or make your self an NT user in the Timbuktu security setup. Then you are the boss.

    • #3118481

      GoToMyPC and Logmein

      by edwane ·

      In reply to Best Remote Administration Tool?

      We use both gotomypc and logmein.
      Use the free trial of Gotomypc to check it out or try the free version of logmein (remote control only)
      The Logmein Pro version offers a free trial also with the additional file management features)

      • #3088995

        IT Reach

        by sellis ·

        In reply to GoToMyPC and Logmein

        Rather than LogMeIn Free or Pro, I’d recommend LogMeIn IT Reach for system management as it combines the hosted gateway for easy setup and remote access with the following: monitoring and alerts for preventative maintenance, Ability to access systems without disrupting the end user, Dashboard view for complete system overview, Diagnostic tools for faster problem resolution, Ability to access systems that are unattended, and the ability to provide end users with separate remote access accounts from the same software used for remote administration.

    • #3119457

      try AccessDesk

      by jbrock1 ·

      In reply to Best Remote Administration Tool?

      you might want to try AccessDesk from networkstreaming. http://networkstreaming.com/

    • #3081398

      Re: Best remote admin tool

      by joel ·

      In reply to Best Remote Administration Tool?

      We have been using this product called IntelliAdmin for a while now (http://www.intelliadmin.com

      The cool part about it is that it allows us to control a pc on our lan without ever having to install software on it (It does it automatically somehow). It is perfect for 2000 workstations that do not have Remote desktop.

    • #3083718

      DAMEWARE

      by edward35 ·

      In reply to Best Remote Administration Tool?

      I have used Tight VNC, Unicentre remote control, and Remotely anywhere and Dameware NT Utilities and I would have to say that Dameware is by far the best out of these 4 I found it to have the best functionality and ease of use

    • #3146795

      Bozteck VNCScan

      by sbostedor1 ·

      In reply to Best Remote Administration Tool?

      I thought I’d throw in my favorite – http://www.vncscan.com.

      It does just about everything that we need. It has remote scripting, VNC management, RDP management, Wake-On-LAN, a MAC-to-IP translater, and tons of other stuff.

      • #3219105

        Bozteck VENM with remote screen captures

        by sbostedor1 ·

        In reply to Bozteck VNCScan

        VNCScan (http://www.vncscan.com) has remote screen capture with thumb nailing and remote scripting features, also. Just a FYI

    • #3168874

      IT Reach = fantastic

      by techman5000 ·

      In reply to Best Remote Administration Tool?

      Just chiming in to say that I too heartily reccomend LogMeIn IT Reach. The amount of features (highly customizable alert features, diagnostic tools, and 128 to 256 bit ssl to name a few), ease of use with the great interface, plus the comparatively low price mean that I really wouldn’t want to use anything else. IT Reach rocks!

      • #3278761

        Agreed 100%

        by atthehelpdesk ·

        In reply to IT Reach = fantastic

        I definitely agree with techman. IT reach is used at my company, and we love it. I can’t speak to the financial value of it since that’s not my department but for useability and fuctions, it can’t be beat.

    • #2495906

      Dameware is great for technical minds

      by joshua.obrien ·

      In reply to Best Remote Administration Tool?

      I agree that Dameware is a great product. I would recommend this to the technical folks ‎out there. There are known security issues like the ability to take control of a machine ‎pending you have permissions without users consent. Some could argue that this product ‎is expensive but I would disagree. The utilities version includes all functionality that an ‎administrator could use and the costs are around $289.00 dollars and you do not need a ‎client agent license to connect to other machines. PC Anywhere requires a license for ‎each machine to use probably $60.00 a license. If you have more than 5 machines on the ‎network then Dameware would be a better buy. If you were going to end users the ability ‎to remote there machines from home I would consider using Remote Desktop that comes ‎with XP I would shy away from any product.‎ Just make sure you understand all security aspects from your remote control products. Make sure your network is behind a firewall.

    • #2495901

      instant connection

      by syphersoul(sp) ·

      In reply to Best Remote Administration Tool?

      VNC is the most simple. I have used logmeln but after a 15 day trial u have to buy the subscription; vnc is free and u need the server applet along along with the client in order to put the server app on the one your connecting to and the client, etc.

    • #2516251

      TRY THIS… TRIED all but for TCP/IP this are the fastest

      by s_svillamor ·

      In reply to Best Remote Administration Tool?

      RADMIN 3 Final – for remote assistance
      FREENX – Remote Desktop

    • #2545575

      Automated VNC Service: DoTheWeb.net

      by njolin ·

      In reply to Best Remote Administration Tool?

      http://www.dotheweb.net
      Uses VNC, but automates the process. The user does not have to install or change anything on the firewall. Also has a viewer with settings built in, so no configuration necessary.
      DoTheWeb.net – Remote Helper

    • #2768706

      Market Leading – visionapp remote desktop 2009

      by ukinfo ·

      In reply to Best Remote Administration Tool?

      Have you tried using visionapp remote desktop 2009?

      This is probably the best remote desktop tool on the market and over 120,000 admins use it currently.

      It is very powerful and designed specifically for environments where you have multiple servers to manage, plus it is FREE to try!

      If you manage multiple remote connections, visionapp Remote Desktop 2009 (vRD 2009) is a powerful tool that saves you time and effort.

      Supporting multiple connection protocols, vRD 2009 allows you to administer Windows, Citrix, Linux/UNIX, and Macintosh systems. vRD 2009 is an indispensable tool for daily system administration that greatly simplifies routine tasks and daily work.

      vRD 2009 features unparalleled ease of use, accelerated remote desktop access to servers and workstations, detailed logging features, and a new interface that allows administrators to view all connected machines simultaneously.

      Considerably simplifying the administration of their systems, more than 120,000 administrators worldwide consider vRD an indispensable tool for recurring administrative tasks.

      vRD 2009 supports the protocols: RDP, ICA, VNC, SSH, Telnet, HTTP and HTTPS. This functionality enables you to administrate remote computers in Windows, Citrix, Linux/Unix and Macintosh environments.
      Benefits of vRD 2009

      Use a single, centralized console for the administration of remote servers and desktops
      Multi-protocol support: RDP, ICA, VNC, SSH, Telnet, HTTP and HTTPS

      – Have multiple administrators work simultaneously with the same objects without conflicts
      – Strengthen compliance through the logging of errors, changes and access attempts
      – Simultaneously view all connected machines
      – Support of Windows, Citrix, Linux/Unix and Macintosh environments
      – Extended security features: Network Level Authentication, Microsoft Terminal Services Gateway
      – Administer permissions in database mode

      More information, pricing and buy online
      http://software.visionapp.com/vRD

      Watch the video
      http://www.visionapp.com/fileadmin/09Downloads/trans/vRD_US_Video.html

      Sales enquiries : ukinfo@visionapp.co.uk

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