Five Apps: Access a VNC Remote Desktop

By matthewnawrocki August 8, 2013, 12:13 PM PDT

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Five Apps for VNC Remote Desktop Access on Windows

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AnyrnIT representative or system administrator worth his or her salt is always asrnavailable as possible, even off-site. When trouble arises and you need to steprna client through a complex software problem interactively or troubleshoot arnremote server graphically, and whenever a Telnet or SSH session isrninsufficient, it’s important to have a VNC clientrnhandy to give you the power to access any other machine over an intranet or thernregular Internet. Of course, it’s assumed that you have a VNC server processrnrunning on the destination machine beforehand in order to facilitate in thernproper handshake and connection. Here are five apps that will work well forrnconnecting into a VNC server remotely.

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VNC Viewer Plus 1

Five Apps

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1. VNC Viewer Plus

rnrnAlthough a paid app with arnprice tag of $99.99, VNC Viewer Plus might very well be worth every last penny.rnIn addition to the bog standard VNC connection capability, you can alsorncommunicate with Intel hardware, powered by Advanced Management Technology,rnliterally giving you complete control over an entire PC, versus control at thernoperating system level alone with VNC.

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VNC Viewer Plus 2

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VNC Viewer Plus 3

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TightVNC Viewer 1

2. TightVNC Viewer

If you are looking for a remote desktop tool with quite the history to back it up, TightVNC is most certainly worth a look. With the older version 1.3 provided on the site, the server and viewer software can be used on versions of Windows as far back as 95 and NT 4.0. You can also utilize JPEG compression in order to conserve bandwidth and cut down on render lag for remote sessions. The source code is licensed under GPLv2 and is available as freeware.

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TightVNC Viewer 2

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TightVNC Viewer 3

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TigerVNC 1

3. TigerVNC

rnrnOriginally conceived as arndirect continuation of the unreleased TightVNC v4 branch, TigerVNC became itsrnown animal as it were (pun intended) and delivers a more modern interface inrnconcert with improved security and bug fixes from the development side. Asidernfrom that, TigerVNC behaves much like the project it spawned from, and as arnresult, is also available under the GPLv2 as freeware.

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TigerVNC 2

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TigerVNC 3

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UltraVNC 1

4. UltraVNC

rnrnWhen it comes to a remoterndesktop tool that consolidates all display options right at your fingertips,rnUltraVNC is quite nice here. Before you pop into a session, you can choose fromrna series of pre-defined connection quality settings, allowing you to jump rightrninto work without having to mess around with the settings menu later. There isrnalso a chat feature where you can send text messages across the network to therndestination machine for others to see. UltraVNC is available for free asrndonationware.

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UltraVNC 2

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SmartCode Web VNC Viewer 1

5. SmartCodernWeb VNC Viewer

rnrnIf you’d rather not dealrnwith a dedicated software VNC viewer client, SmartCode Solutions has anrnActiveX-powered VNC viewer which works a lot like regular viewers do, albeitrnwith less features. You are also limited to Internet Explorer 8 and up, due tornthe fact that ActiveX is required, and not something more ubiquitous like arnJava applet. This web service is available for free.

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SmartCode Web VNC Viewer 2

Credit: Images by Matthew Nawrocki for TechRepublic

By matthewnawrocki

An avid technology writer and an IT guru, Matthew is here to help bring the best in software, hardware and the web to the collective consciousness of TechRepublic's readership. In addition to writing for TechRepublic, Matthew currently works as a Cus

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