Ever missed your computer? These days, the amount of time we spend hooked up to our PCs means it's very easy to suffer withdrawal symptoms when we're away from them. Has that BitTorrent download finished? Did I leave my email program open?
Did that Lithuanian girl MSN me again? Visiting your machine while you're sat at another is much easier than most people think. To get things rolling, open your browser, visit realvnc.com and download VNC Personal Edition. This program gives you secure access to your PC from anywhere on the internet, though you do need to remember that, at the end of its 30-day trial period, you'll need to cough up a small sum to buy a licence or uninstall and downgrade to the Free Edition.
01. INITIAL VNC CONFIGURATION When running VNC's setup program, it's pretty safe to breeze through each wizard page hammering the Next button like the seasoned pro you think you are, only do make sure you choose 'Full Installation' at the appropriate juncture else you'll only have half what you need.
On the Security tab, select 'NT Logon Authentication' and click the 'Configure' button - you should see that any user in your computer's Administrator's group are allowed in remotely. If you want to restrict access, remove that entry, click the 'Add' button and create your own permissions. Make sure 'Encryption' is set to 'Always On', and that guest login is disabled. Now select the Connections tab.
02. RESTRICTING ACCESS FURTHER The Connections tab determines how and where VNC listens for incoming data. By default it accepts remote users on port 5900, so to throw off casual hackers that's the first thing we should change. My advice would be to pick a random number somewhere between 30,000 and 60,000, and enter it into the box on the top right. While you can choose lower down, you're more likely to bump into other applications and multiplayer games if you do so.
For now, disable the Java viewer and select the Desktop tab, where you should make sure that you uncheck wallpaper, background patterns and interface effects options (note that this won't affect the appearance of your local session).
03. UPDATING YOUR ROUTER AND FIREWALL Once you've finished in the configuration program, you need to visit your router's configuration page and update network settings to reflect any changes. Any incoming connection on the port you defined in the previous step needs to be directed to the machine running VNC, so you need to open your router's 'Port Forwarding' page (sometimes called 'Gaming' or 'NAT') and enter the port number and then the IP address of the machine in question. You will also need to add this port to any firewall on the router and to the Windows firewall, if needed.
04. MAKE SURE THE WHOLE THING WORKS You must always test VNC before you leave the house, because if you've cocked up the configuration somewhere there's no way of resolving the issue without going back indoors again.
The easiest - but least known - way of doing this is by using a utility on the RealVNC website called nettest. Point your browser at the following URL, replacing the value on the end with the port you defined earlier:
www.realvnc.com/cgi-bin/nettest.cgi?port=XXXXX
If you've set things up properly, you should see a message that says, "Found a VNC Enterprise Edition or Personal Edition server."
If this message doesn't appear, recheck your settings and try again.
05. WHERE'S MY HOUSE? If your broadband package gives you a fixed IP address, you use that to identify your PC. But if you have a dynamic IP, you need help from a company such as DynDNS. Browse to www.dyndns.com/services/dns/dyndns and click the 'Get Started' button to create a name for your internet connection. Now download the DynDNS Windows Update client (www.dyndns.com/support/clients). This ensures that when your IP address changes, the new name you created will point to your PC.
06. CONNECTING Install VNC Viewer to the remote PC. Start it and type the hostname or the static IP address of the home PC, a colon and the port you chose (eg myhome:37399). Click 'OK' to connect. If the PC is locked, and you need to press Ctrl+Alt+Del, send this combo by clicking VNC Viewer's system menu in the top-right corner.
BUT WANDY, DONKEYTURBOVNC2 > VNC As with anything computer-related VNC comes in many different styles and flavours, each one accompanied by a band of zealots who would have you believe that your choice was the wrong one. Just ignore them. The bottom line for remote desktop software is, go with the one you like using. I like VNC for the fact it replicates what's actually on the screen. I like the fact that by paying for the product, you get dedicated support from the people who wrote it. If you're swayed by any of the alternatives, the rules remain the same - install, configure, test, and then make secure!
QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS
I thought XP and Vista could do this anyway?
They can, using Remote Desktop. But Remote Desktop needs arcane command line switches to allow you to see what's actually on the screen back home, and registry hacks to change the port. You also can't copy files whereas with VNC you can.
What's to stop hackers finding the VNC port once I've changed it?
Nothing, which is why you need a proper password. Changing the port deters idle mischief-makers.
Can I restrict access to certain IP addresses?
You can configure IP-based access on the Connections tab. If you do this, you won't be able to hook up with your PC unless you're at one of the listed addresses.
Is it OK to use VNC's free version?
It's not advisable to use VNC Free Edition over the internet. But it comes in handy is if you want to access your PC from a laptop in bed.
HUH? A remote user is someone who's outside your network, typically you round a mate's house or on holiday. A local user is someone who's actually sat in the chair at the desk in front of the monitor, such as a burglar.
DynDNS sounds more complicated than it is. A domain name system, or DNS, converts human readable names, such as pczone.co.uk, into that forgettable sequence of numbers known as an IP address. By creating an account at DynDNS, you are simply creating a new human-readable host name that points to your home gateway. An IP address is the unique number that identifies a website or device attached to the internet. They come in two forms: fixed and dynamic.
A fixed IP address doesn't change. While dynamic IP addresses do - normally bring assigned from a pool of addresses.
You know there is an online system called logmein that allows you to do this from any computer, all you need to do is install a free application on the PC you want to access, and that's it (there is a paid for version that offers sound / print / file-share, but I've never needed it).
You know there is an online system called logmein that allows you to do this from any computer, all you need to do is install a free application on the PC you want to access, and that's it (there is a paid for version that offers sound / print / file-share, but I've never needed it).
Exactly my point.
I was a VNC Fan for years, used RealVNC & UltraVNC both are good but LogMeIn is far superior.
Logmein is for lazy people that can't figure out RealVNC. RealVNC is far more advanced. Logmein is a nice and easy way to access from anywhere but in the end RealVNC wins overall.
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