VNC Made Easy

[Yorak]

The most common methods of remote support include TeamViewer, LogMeIn/join.me, GoToAssist and various VNC programs. I was paying for GoToAssist for use in my business, but my contract is soon going to expire. Don't get me wrong, it appeared to be the best of the above options in both price/interface/speed. The problem with TeamViewer is that when you make over a certain number of connections a month (warwagon can probably tell you the exact number - perhaps 20 to 30), they block your IP address and expect you to pay for their premium service. VNC works great, but you have to forward a port in the target's router and walk them through the installation in order to connect. So I did some research and came across this article for Single Click on UltraVNC's website.

There is a script on there that can be uploaded to create a custom .exe of UltraVNC, allowing them to connect directly to you. On the link above, there is a sample configuration file that looks quite a bit more complicated than it needs to be. Here is a very simple setup:

[TITLE]
Savvy PC Repair

[HOST]
Savvy PC Repair (Double-Click)
-connect 192.168.1.101:5500 -noregistry

[TEXTTOP]

[TEXTRTOP]

[TEXTCLOSEBUTTON]
Disconnect

[TEXTMIDDLE]

[TEXTBOTTOM]

[TEXTRMIDDLE]

[TEXTRBOTTOM]

[WEBPAGE]


[/CODE]

You can add more details as per their example, but what I listed is enough to get them connected to you. Replace the IP with your IP address. Be sure [i]you[/i] have port 5500 forwarded in your router. Name the above code something such as helpdesk.txt (like their example). Not sure if you have to follow their naming schemes, but probably not. Create a .zip file called custom.zip (again, your own names will most likely work, could be completely wrong though). Go to the Upload Site to create the custom UltraVNC .exe file and save it somewhere handy. Email it to the customer, or upload somewhere and give them the link. The idea is to run UltraVNC in Listen Mode on the machine you wish to view from, and have the target run the file you just created. Surely is not a beautiful helper application, but it works:

On the viewer PC you should see the following:

Now you have a VNC connection to their PC, without having to worry about them changing firewall settings, doing port forwarding, or even installing a program:

Again, if you are not using TeamViewer over their allowed limit, you can simply stick with it (or other free solutions you may find). This just seems to be a good alternative to paying for other remote support software. I hope somebody found this guide useful.

[mudslag]

I use to use Teamviewer but stopped because of limits and my boss doesn't want to pay their fee. I recently started using Ammyy Admin as the teamviewer replacement. It works great except for the small issue of other people trying to log in when the program is open. I was on with one of our traders and another request came in. The guy I was working on accepted it, it kicked me out and while on skype he said someone else was controlling the mouse and doing stuff to his pc. I had him restart but when it came backup he already had a virus. It sucks cause the program was just as easy to use as TV with less restrictions and when I contacted AA over this they said there wasn't anything they could do. Ill look into this cause I need a decent way of getting into our guys pcs when I need to do some work.

[]SK[]

We used the SingleClick stuff as my boss was too tight to pay out for TeamViewer which I must say is pretty awesome to say it uses VNC.

Luckily though for me I only deal with servers now so I only have to use RDP. Even the smallest of networks could use a Remote Desktop Gateway server to allow outside connections to desktop computers. Shame there's no shared desktop though.

Anyway, the only time I rarely use VNC now is to view crappy Apple Mac's via ARD. Awful experience :(

[mudslag]

Yorak do you know if you can use another open port? Im not at home to test just wondering if 5500 has to be it or just have it set for any other opened port on the router. Thanks

[Yorak]

Yorak do you know if you can use another open port? Im not at home to test just wondering if 5500 has to be it or just have it set for any other opened port on the router. Thanks

On that site it says, "Even configure the repeater to accept connections on non-standard ports (which by default are 5900 and 5500) is a guarantee of safety, and that is because you could easily "peek" in the connection software to read these parameters. However, it can be a help to prevent attacks by automated software, and therefore it is advisable to go this route." I have not tried it myself though, but would imagine it works fine. As long as you have that port forwarded in your router, that is.