pcAnywhere Alternatives?

Does anyone know of any good alternatives (preferably free) to pcAnywhere? I have five computers where I want one to be the host that will access the other four. Symantec tells me I'll have to buy four versions of pcAnywhere which will cost me $800. You can imagine why I'm looking for an alternative.

I have used gotomypc.com in the past, which worked fine, but I'd prefer a free or one-time fee instead.

Also, I looked in the downloads section for monitoring software and am not sure what to pick. Any suggestions for monitoring software, as far knowing what users are doing on the computer? Maybe one that takes screen prints every so often?


Thanks!

 

VNC is free, and from my experience, beats the hell out of pcAnywhere.

There's also Remote Desktop Connection which is built in to windows XP, and available as a plugin for windows 2000. This is microsoft's remote control software, is free (to windows users) and works VERY well.

 

I'm with Mada on VNC, do a search, there are several flavours of it.

 

Thanks for the informed help. I really appreciate it! I'll check those out ASAP.

Anyone have suggestions for the monitoring software?

 

Sorry, monitoring software? What is it you would like to do?

 

The last paragraph from my first post in this thread. Let me know if I need to explain more.

 

Hmmm...windows provides quite a bit of traceability natively. Is there anything in specific you want to monitor? I'm sure there are programs that will take screenshots, but I'm not sure what. Would it interest you to be able to restrict access to certain features/functions?

 

All good questions. I'm actually asking for my mom, so I'll have to do my best with the answers to those.

My mom has had local IT people (I live far away) put a lot of restrictions on their business computers to block users from getting on the Internet (except for MapQuest), playing Solitaire, using Word to make personal documents, etc. However, as they always do, the users have found ways around them. My mom wants a way to monitor these things, especially the Internet traffic. Being she finds navigating a computer a bit difficult, I thought that maybe a program that takes periodic screen shots would be a nice type for her to use. She would not do well trying to interpret a log file.

As far as the monitoring program restricting access, etc., I think that would be a good idea, but not required. As I said, the IT dudes put restrictions in the firewall, user permissions, etc. already. HOWEVER, those restrictions cause them networking problems for backup, file sharing, etc. = lots of phone calls to me to fix them. Argh.

I'd LOVE to get rid of those restriction/problems, so she'll stop calling me all the time to fix it. (Actually, that's why I asked you about a pcAnywhere alternative, to make my life easier. Then I can just fix her problems, rather than trying to tell her what to click on during a two hour phone call.)

I hope that answers your questions. I've heard of programs that take screen shots, but don't know any of their names. It's probably marketed as software for parental control of children's activities on a computer.

What do you think?

THANKS!

 

I tried out VNC Free Edition and am a little lost! I've got it set up on two computers, but I'm not sure how to get the two to connect. I've added each other's IP addresses into the list, but don't know if I'm even close to doing the right thing. Can anyone tell me what to do after I've installed the software, so I can get it set up right and use it?

Thanks!

 

Real VNC (the one I linked you to) has two components - a server component and a viewer component.

The server must be installed on any machine you wish to control remotely. The viewer must be installed on the machine that will control the remote machine.

To connect to the remote machine, open the viewer on the local machine, and type in the local IP (if on a LAN) or the public IP of the computer (over the internet). You'll also need to make sure that any firewalls between the two machines are configured to allow this traffic.

 

Those are the things I actually had accomplished so far, but it's not connecting. I double-checked firewalls on both ends again to be sure. They both specifically allow Real VNC.

I have my mom using VNC Server in User Mode with my IP address added. (Options, Connections tab, added under the Access Control list) I didn't change anything else in the Options section.

I am using the Viewer mode. When my Connection Details dialog box opens, I type in her IP address. It says attempting to connect, then an error dialog box comes up with "unable to connect to host: Connection timed out (10060). I looked up this error on the Real VNC website and found several listings, and they relate to the firewall interfering. I have disabled the firewall on both, but still no luck.

Some additional info:
Both are Windows XP
I am the sole computer at my location on a dial-up location (sucks, but live in the Boonies=no choice)
My mom is on a DSL connection with four computers total on her network
I also tried this from my work computer which is on cable Internet on a network with a static IP, but it didn't work either.

Was I doing something wrong? Is it possible that she gave me the IP of the router instead of the computer? Do you think maybe the ISPs could prevent use of this software?

I always appreciate the help. Thanks!

 

I talked to Technical Support at both ISPs asking if they had filters that blocked use of this type of software (or anything that would stop it) and both said they do not. So, hopefully, that's not the source of the problem. It's most likely me doing something dumb.