Remote desktop over the internet

[McBainUK]

I'm looking at ways and applications that will allow my to control my GB-PVR box from work over the internet with the minimum of fuss.

Requirements are:

• Preferably free or very low cost.
  
• Able to get through a rather restrictive company network policy (port 80 is open and that's about it).
  
• Decent performance, no lag, easy to view screen etc.
  
• File transfer features would be nice but not essential.
  
• As secure as reasonably possible.
  
• Browser based view option would be nice but again, not essential.
  

Any suggestions?

[CornStopper]

I you have a fixed IP then it's easy.

Get and install VNC on both machines.

On PVR machine, you need to set-up a listen port, do not use the standard one.
Set you router to port forward on the port you have set VNC to listen on.
Also donot forget firewalls for this port on your router and PVR.
Setup a password, make it a good strength one.

At work launch VNC viewer and your public IP followed by the port, eg. xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:56662

Thats it.

If you do not have a fixed IP you a get a free dynamic ip, try http://www.no-ip.com/ you register with them and download a small app, this updates no-ip with your public IP when it changes.

Then at work the VNC ip would be summat like mcbainuk.org:56662

Have not used this method as I have fixed IP

[McBainUK]

I already use VNC over local LAN and was going to just enable it for the internet. I think it'll get through the firewall at work if I change the port VNC uses to 80. I already have DYNDNS setup on the router (very handy).

But I didn't do it in the end (and started this thread) because I read that VNC is not secure enough over the internet. I use Real VNC, is this the same for all flavours of VNC?

[CornStopper]

None of them are truely secure over the internet. The only truely secore method is to use VPN tunnels, to do this you do need a fixed IP and is significatly harder to setup.

Is it truely essential that the data travelling over the web has to be that secures. I use it as a support tool for work, when at home, but all data that is tranferred between HQ and branches is first encrypted and then sent using VPN tunnels which are also encrypted double safety.

[HtV]

I use Logmein, and I'm very happy with it. The free version doesn't support file transfer. But afaik it works through firewalls etc almost all the time.
http://www.logmein.com
Edit: I think it uses 256bit encryption.

Hans

[CornStopper]

logmein the free version does seem to support 256bit encryption. The pro version has lots of utilitities.

Real VNC pro, I believe also has encrption plus file transfer.

But may give logmein a trial run and see if I like it.

[HtV]

I use Ultravnc aswell but then you have to install the viewer or you need Java so you can use the http-connection. I don't know if you can use port 80 for that, default is 5900(I think).

Hans

[psycik]

I use a mixture of vnc (for controlling gbpvr) and remote desktop for logging in on the the second session on my pvr box to do other things (downloads etc).

For security, I have an ssh server on my router, that uses port 443. Then using putty tunnelling I tunnel from work via localhost:5900 to pvr:3389 and for vnc localhost:5800 to pvr:5800

Means i only have port 443 open.

But logmein can be a good option, I just know for me, I couldn't see the pvr UI. So wasn't feasible.

[McBainUK]

But logmein can be a good option, I just know for me, I couldn't see the pvr UI. So wasn't feasible.

This would be killer for me so I had a play... after disabling the mirror driver I can see the pvrx2 UI (before I just had a blank window).

https://secure.logmeinrescue.com/HelpDes...eBase.aspx

How can I disable or uninstall the mirror driver? FaqSection.Answer Some hardware may have conflicts with the driver LogMeIn employs to display optimized remote screen video. You can uninstall this mirror driver, and use the default screen display, which is just as fast over high-speed connections.
First, try disabling the mirror driver.

• Right click the LogMeIn icon in the system tray (or log in to the machine from the website
  
• Go to Preferences
  
• Go to Remote Control Settings
  
• Uncheck the box for Use Mirror Display Driver
  

Note, if you do not see this check box, it means that the driver is not installed, and the conflict lies somewhere else.
If that doesn't resolve the conflict, uninstall the mirror driver

• Go to Start, then Run
  
• Type cmd and press Enter
  
• At the command prompt, type:cd c:\program files\logmein\x86
  
• Once there, type logmein uninstallmirrordrv
  

After a reboot, the mirror driver will no longer be present on your computer.

[psycik]

I do the same with vnc, remove the mirror driver and off it goes.