TeamViewer alternative

[rubecula]

For the last year or so I have been using TeamViewer to monitor a PC in the obsy from a Mac in the house.  Last night it failed with a message that my id was suspected of commercial use.  I emailed them explaining how I was using it.  Just now I have had a response suggesting I purchase a single user licence at £30 per month or sign and send to them a declaration that I am not using it commercially.

I'll try to jump through the hoops but just in case they deny me a free licence I was wondering if any of you could recommend a free alternative.

Thanks

Edited August 12, 2020 by rubecula

[Ricker]

AnyDesk

 

Rich

[alan4908]

I use NoMachine https://www.nomachine.com/ and actually prefer it over TeamViewer.

Alan

[tooth_dr]

36 minutes ago, Ricker said:

AnyDesk

 

Rich

This. An orange version of TV. 

[TerryMcK]

Microsoft Remote Desktop client for Mac. Never had any issue with that. If you are on the same network as your observatory computer then it's a no brainer.

[Rob63]

Remote desktop for me as well, far better than Teamviewer and I can easily (and reliably) connect to my PC with my macbook pro or iPad

[mackiedlm]

Team viewer did exactly the same with me yesterday. But windows remote desktop is not available on my version of Windows 10. So last night I set up Google chrome remote desktop and its been perfect for me today.

Afraid I don't do jumping through hoops for software companies. I'm too old for that!!

Edited August 12, 2020 by mackiedlm

[AngryDonkey]

+1 for AnyDesk

[james_screech]

Teamviewer did the same for me, I filled out there non-commercial use form and after a few weeks it started working again, 4 months later it stopped again. So I now use  TightVNC.

[Physopto]

I also use Remote Desktop.

Teamviewer caused me problems once last year (the dreaded commercial work warning) and I was worried it may do so again when away at a Star Camp. So common sense suggested I invest the time setting up Remote Desktop.

The bit I don't like about RD is after using the remote computer is that it shuts down the screen on the other computer. I found that having both working at the same time was useful, as my wife could see what I was doing. Also when setting it all up working between the two computers in the same room it was a pain having to log in again to each computer after using the other one.

Still a free and reliable WORKING program!

Derek

[steppenwolf]

I wouldn't bother jumping through the hoops, I did this TWICE and on the third time told them to stick it!

I now use SolarWinds to wake up my PC and either AnyDesk or Remote Desktop (All three are free) and have a very stable system.

[ollypenrice]

I also know lots of people who've had exactly this problem with Team Viewer. They've usually moved to Any Desk. If Team Viewer don't want to provide a free service they should stop offering it. Offering it and then withdrawing it under patently spurious suspicions is fraudulent.

Olly

[steppenwolf]

2 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

If Team Viewer don't want to provide a free service they should stop offering it. Offering it and then withdrawing it under patently spurious suspicions is fraudulent.

Olly

Completely agree, Olly it is dishonest to pretend that you are happy to allow personal use for free and then come up with such a spurious reason for withdrawing consent. It is either free for personal use or it isn’t!!

[Macavity]

+1 re. this! Wasted an hour trying to get TeamViewer to work during last
Solar Imaging session. Then it wouldn't select "single window" mode? 🤔

I'm much wedded to using the indoor Desktop PC to control the scope...
whether I am sitting in my "lounge" OR (standing!) in the observatory. 😛

[pete_l]

19 hours ago, alan4908 said:

I use NoMachine https://www.nomachine.com/ and actually prefer it over TeamViewer.

+1 for Nomachine. So easy to install and use. No futzing around with configurations, licensing, connections or any of the faff that comes with VNC variants. It just works and it's reliable.

[rubecula]

Thanks everyone for your kind input.  You've given me plenty of options and saved me the trouble of jumping through hoops 😀🙃😀

[BrendanC]

I've only seen one mention of Chrome Remote Desktop in this thread but it's absolutely brilliant. I used to use TeamViewer but it starts throttling back free sessions, presumably to encourage people to pay for licenses. Chrome Remote Desktop just works, really well, and it's free, and should work on a Mac too (I checked).

Edited August 18, 2020 by BrendanC

[mallorcasaint]

I've used TeamViewer, Chrome Remote, Anydesk but the one I use now I think is the best. Splashtop. Free for use on the same network and fairly cheap for the Internet version. I have controlled my observatory in Devon from Australia with Splashtop

[bottletopburly]

+1 Anydesk , if you have an issue where you keep losing connection after a while check permissions in windows firewall is ticked best one I’ve used so far .

[fireballxl5]

Same experience with Team Viewer here. Good alternatives I've tried are TightVNC and Microsoft Remote Desktop, the latter I use on my android tablet to monitor & control my Win7 laptop in the shed. 

[mandrews]

Remote Utilities, free licence for up to 10 desktops, wouldn't use anything else.

[Jkulin]

On 13/08/2020 at 09:06, steppenwolf said:

I wouldn't bother jumping through the hoops, I did this TWICE and on the third time told them to stick it!

I now use SolarWinds to wake up my PC and either AnyDesk or Remote Desktop (All three are free) and have a very stable system.

Now funny how that was exactly what I was looking for Steve, I've downloaded it and will have a play as I am hoping once the new dome is up, to rarely have to visit inside, did you just have to set up the Bias to wake up LAN?

I've been using Tight VNC on all my workstations in the office and around the home, no restrictions and it works on my PC, Laptop iPad and iPhone, connects via our DNS names or IP addresses farmed out by the server, and its free

https://www.tightvnc.com/licensing.php?f=vc

[steppenwolf]

8 hours ago, Jkulin said:

did you just have to set up the Bias to wake up LAN?

I just had to insert the Mac and IP addresses of the observatory PC so that the 'Magic Packet' knew where to go. You can get these two pieces of information either from you Internet Hub or by dropping to command level (cmd) and typing  ipconfig /all  The Mac Address is called the 'Physical Address'.

[carastro]

What a useful thread, I am going to book mark it in case I have problems with TV in the future as I already had one "you are using this for commercial use" warning which I ignored and somehow managed to get in. 

I installed Anydesk only this week as a back up, got it working but haven't yet used it for Astronomy. 

Quote

 I was worried it may do so again when away at a Star Camp

Do you use an internet connection for this or somehow network your PCs?

Carole 

 

[Jkulin]

6 hours ago, steppenwolf said:

I just had to insert the Mac and IP addresses of the observatory PC so that the 'Magic Packet' knew where to go. You can get these two pieces of information either from you Internet Hub or by dropping to command level (cmd) and typing  ipconfig /all  The Mac Address is called the 'Physical Address'.

Brilliant thanks Steve, yes I know where the Mac address is, did you need to enable wakeup in LAN in the Bias?