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Anybody have any recommends for PCAnywhere-type services?

1 points by oditogre ↗ HN
I thought there was a YC company that did that sort of thing, but at any rate, anybody have any preferred services? VNC might also be acceptable (I've used TightVNC elsewhere before). Assume Windows on both ends.

*Edit: Oh...and on the cheap, preferably, but not to the extreme that it's at the expense of quality / security.

8 comments

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brk
Why do you need a service? Just asking, but it seems like if you're mildly technically oriented and have control of the endpoint machines, then VLC or RDP is going to be cheap (free) and as good or better than any hosted application.
oditogre
You could be right; I'm just asking for people's personal, specific preferences (e.g., exactly which VNC?). There's far too many different options out there to try them all, so I was hoping to get some names that people have found they like.
brk
Which do you want, a paid service, or a screen/keyboard protocol/program ala VNC?

They're kind of 2 different approaches. If you own and control both endpoints, then VNC or RDP is likely the better way to go. If you're trying to connect to various end-point PCs that move around a lot and don't want to deal with firewall issues, then things like Go To My PC or copilot are going to be better, but the two approaches aren't really competitive, they solve different problems.

oditogre
I control one endpoint (the 'server' / computer being connected to), and to some reasonable extent, can dictate how the other end is setup. To the extent that it matters to me, both approaches solve the same problem, that is, I need to allow somebody to use a computer here in BFE while they are in a different part of country as if they were sitting right here. I want whatever works best, preferably free or cheap; I don't care if it's web-based, VNC-based, or RDP-based. I'm comfortable working with any of those - _I'm only wondering if there is a shiny bit of software, of any of those types, hiding somewhere out there that I haven't heard of, which other people have found to be particularly nice to use_.

At any rate...this post isn't really getting me anywhere. :P Outside of copilot, nobody has even said a specific piece of software to use (except one for mac, which isn't terribly useful).

brk
When I was forced to deal with Windows boxes (heh), the built-in RDP was rock-solid and worked great. If you own the server, I wouldn't pay for anything different.
lsc
RDP is actually a little better than VNC if you are using windows (imo)

personally, I do everything in Linux in a shell. The only GUI I use on a regular basis is the web browser. With SSH, unless your connection is just horrible, it's difficult to tell if you are working locally or on a box hundreds of miles away. But if you want a GUI, that doesn't help you. Use RDP.