Remote access to home user

Picked up a new client that has a number of consultants working from
home, anyone got suggestions as to what to use for remote
access/support of non domain home based systems.

There's a mix of mostly Vista and W7 Home premium, and XP Pro.

Ideally I'd like a service like logmein but it's monthly cost is a
little too expensive.

Appreciate any advice.

Ultra VNC is one possibility.

<> wrote in message
news:...
> Picked up a new client that has a number of consultants working from
> home, anyone got suggestions as to what to use for remote
> access/support of non domain home based systems.
>
> There's a mix of mostly Vista and W7 Home premium, and XP Pro.
>
> Ideally I'd like a service like logmein but it's monthly cost is a
> little too expensive.
>
> Appreciate any advice.

It really depends on whether there are office machines available for the
users to log into. Since you bring up LogMeIn, it sounds like there is.
And in that event, the remote desktop RWW service that comes with SBS is a
perfect fit. Free, easy to set up, ready to rock.

If, however, there are not machines available for remote access then RWW,
LogMeIn, and Ultra-VNC are all out. You'll need to look at setting up a
terminal server. The up-front costs are a little higher, but there isn't a
recurring fee, so once you are up and running, you are good to go.

-Cliff


<> wrote in message
news:...
> Picked up a new client that has a number of consultants working from
> home, anyone got suggestions as to what to use for remote
> access/support of non domain home based systems.
>
> There's a mix of mostly Vista and W7 Home premium, and XP Pro.
>
> Ideally I'd like a service like logmein but it's monthly cost is a
> little too expensive.
>
> Appreciate any advice.

Cliff I read the question as wanting remote support for home computers so
RWW is not applicable. Thus why I suggested Ultra VNC. If he really meant
access from remote to internal then I agree RWW or a TS are the way to go.

"Cliff Galiher" <> wrote in message
news:...
> It really depends on whether there are office machines available for the
> users to log into. Since you bring up LogMeIn, it sounds like there is.
> And in that event, the remote desktop RWW service that comes with SBS is a
> perfect fit. Free, easy to set up, ready to rock.
>
> If, however, there are not machines available for remote access then RWW,
> LogMeIn, and Ultra-VNC are all out. You'll need to look at setting up a
> terminal server. The up-front costs are a little higher, but there isn't
> a recurring fee, so once you are up and running, you are good to go.
>
> -Cliff
>
>
> <> wrote in message
> news:...
>> Picked up a new client that has a number of consultants working from
>> home, anyone got suggestions as to what to use for remote
>> access/support of non domain home based systems.
>>
>> There's a mix of mostly Vista and W7 Home premium, and XP Pro.
>>
>> Ideally I'd like a service like logmein but it's monthly cost is a
>> little too expensive.
>>
>> Appreciate any advice.
>

Hi,

I use techinline for remote support - https://www.techinline.com/
monthly cost for one account is around £21 and allows me to support as
many remote users as needed. The good thing is it doesn't require a
previous visit to install any client software.
Simon
wrote:
> Picked up a new client that has a number of consultants working from
> home, anyone got suggestions as to what to use for remote
> access/support of non domain home based systems.
>
> There's a mix of mostly Vista and W7 Home premium, and XP Pro.
>
> Ideally I'd like a service like logmein but it's monthly cost is a
> little too expensive.
>
> Appreciate any advice.

Ahh. Indeed. Upon re-reading I think you are right.

In that case, the solution is *still* free. Remote Assistance has been
around since XP and covers home versions of all the OS's. Unlike a remote
desktop session, the assistance is a shared desktop, so the two users are
logged into the same session and the person offering assistance can see any
error messages or issues, just like VNC variants. But since this is built
to be a support-enabling feature, it also includes built-in chat and a few
other niceties. Highly recommend this approach.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../bb457004.aspx

-Cliff




"SteveB" <> wrote in message
news:#...
> Cliff I read the question as wanting remote support for home computers so
> RWW is not applicable. Thus why I suggested Ultra VNC. If he really meant
> access from remote to internal then I agree RWW or a TS are the way to go.
>
> "Cliff Galiher" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>> It really depends on whether there are office machines available for the
>> users to log into. Since you bring up LogMeIn, it sounds like there is.
>> And in that event, the remote desktop RWW service that comes with SBS is
>> a perfect fit. Free, easy to set up, ready to rock.
>>
>> If, however, there are not machines available for remote access then RWW,
>> LogMeIn, and Ultra-VNC are all out. You'll need to look at setting up a
>> terminal server. The up-front costs are a little higher, but there isn't
>> a recurring fee, so once you are up and running, you are good to go.
>>
>> -Cliff
>>
>>
>> <> wrote in message
>> news:...
>>> Picked up a new client that has a number of consultants working from
>>> home, anyone got suggestions as to what to use for remote
>>> access/support of non domain home based systems.
>>>
>>> There's a mix of mostly Vista and W7 Home premium, and XP Pro.
>>>
>>> Ideally I'd like a service like logmein but it's monthly cost is a
>>> little too expensive.
>>>
>>> Appreciate any advice.
>>
>
>

wrote:
> Picked up a new client that has a number of consultants working from
> home, anyone got suggestions as to what to use for remote
> access/support of non domain home based systems.
>
> There's a mix of mostly Vista and W7 Home premium, and XP Pro.
>
> Ideally I'd like a service like logmein but it's monthly cost is a
> little too expensive.
>
> Appreciate any advice.

You have a lot of options....

LogMeIn Free (yeah, for Your Own Personal Use, just like all those head-shop
pipes are "for tobacco use only")
Mikogo (free)
ShowMyPC (free ver)
Techinline (not free but not pricey and hey, you can charge your clients for
this, you know)

I would definitely not use anything like RDP or VNC or anything local that
involved setting up firewall rules, etc - too unpredictable, what you're
going to find on scary home PCs. And I would also be hesitent to offer
anything other than basic support for non company-owned/managed computers -
if you're billing by the hour, make sure they know that home PCs usually
take a lot longer to work on/fix. If you have a monthly flat rate, you need
to increase it by some amount for each PC you're supporting, and home PCs
should cost more than LAN-connected domain member desktops which you can
lock down and control. Also make sure you've got something in writing that
says their own local data/applications are ultimately the home user's
responsibility and you are not liable for damage or loss. CYA.

On Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:38:14 -0500, wrote:

Thanks to everyone who replied, remote assistance and ultra-vnc
probably require too much of my near luddite clients, some cannot even
distinguish between a back slash and a forward slash despite guidance
over the phone.

I'll definitely look at techinline. Thanks.

Lanwench

Thanks, that's good advice, I hear you on the free services, but while
logmein is a good service the monthly cost per PC is prohibitive.

Techinline is looking better each time I look at it.

Scott wrote:
> Lanwench
>
> Thanks, that's good advice, I hear you on the free services, but while
> logmein is a good service the monthly cost per PC is prohibitive.
>
> Techinline is looking better each time I look at it.

Yes, and it's a nice, responsive company to work with. Note that their
remote control bits don't work on Macs, don't persist between reboots, don't
allow for file transfer (at least not last time I checked). But for basic
stuff it rocks.