Any IT representative or system administrator worth his or her salt is always as available as possible, even off-site. When trouble arises and you need to step a client through a complex software problem interactively or troubleshoot a remote server graphically, and whenever a Telnet or SSH session is insufficient, it's important to have a handy to give you the power to access any other machine over an intranet or the regular Internet. Of course, it's assumed that you have a VNC server process running on the destination machine beforehand in order to facilitate in the proper handshake and connection.
Here are five apps that will work well for connecting into a VNC server remotely. If you are looking for a remote desktop tool with quite the history to back it up, TightVNC is most certainly worth a look. With the older version 1.3 provided on the site, the server and viewer software can be used on versions of Windows as far back as 95 and NT 4.0. You can also utilize JPEG compression in order to conserve bandwidth and cut down on render lag for remote sessions. The source code is licensed under GPLv2 and is available as freeware.
VNC® Viewer is the only remote access app you’ll need. Because * It’s from RealVNC®, the inventors of VNC remote access and control technology.* Function and other special keys (such as Ctrl, Alt, Delete, and the Cmd key on a Mac) are available from a sliding bar above the keyboard.
Originally conceived as a direct continuation of the unreleased TightVNC v4 branch, TigerVNC became its own animal as it were (pun intended) and delivers a more modern interface in concert with improved security and bug fixes from the development side. Aside from that, TigerVNC behaves much like the project it spawned from, and as a result, is also available under the GPLv2 as freeware.
When it comes to a remote desktop tool that consolidates all display options right at your fingertips, UltraVNC is quite nice here. Before you pop into a session, you can choose from a series of pre-defined connection quality settings, allowing you to jump right into work without having to mess around with the settings menu later. There is also a chat feature where you can send text messages across the network to the destination machine for others to see. UltraVNC is available for free as donationware. If you'd rather not deal with a dedicated software VNC viewer client, SmartCode Solutions has an ActiveX-powered VNC viewer which works a lot like regular viewers do, albeit with less features.
You are also limited to Internet Explorer 8 and up, due to the fact that ActiveX is required, and not something more ubiquitous like a Java applet. This web service is available for free.
Related Topics.
VNC is remote control software which allows you to view and fully interact with one computer desktop (the 'VNC server') VNC is remote control software which allows you to view and fully interact with one computer desktop (the 'VNC server') using a simple program (the 'VNC viewer') on another computer desktop anywhere on the Internet. The two computers don't even have to be the same type, so for example you can use VNC to view a Windows Vista desktop at the office on a Linux or Mac computer at home.