Back To My Mac alternative: TeamViewer

i used to use logmein until i found teamviewer. it is easy to set up and performs faster than logmein. in addition, it allows you to exchange files between the pcs, which you can't get in the free version of logmein. Also, team viewer uses less system resources (2 processes vrs 5 processes for logmein). And I think on windows, you can make it to run as a service and always available.
The downside is, it generates numbers (ID, 8 digits) on each computer which you must remember to access that computer, which is password protected (chosen by you) and required for access. I learn the connection is also end to end encrypted, making it a good and complete tool for remote access. Yes, it works through firewalls and routers as logmein, which I couldn't do using the like vnc softwares. it is a highly recommended software/tool

Wow-Seriously. Wow.
I need a simple way to help my Mom with her Mac questions. She's running Tiger, I'm running Tiger at the office and Leopard at home. Between her cable modem/router's firewall which I refuse to fiddle with and getting her to understand what I need her to do to get this working, it's been a disaster. VNC was just too slow and getting through the setup was a pain.

I just tested Teamviewer with a friend on her Mac and Windows machines from my mini over my DSL. Elegant, simple and real-time fast! I can't wait to set this up for my Mom. I won't need it very often, but when I do, it will be there when she calls.

It may not be the solution for everyone's needs, but it definitely is what I've been looking for.
Thank you.

Well I just set up both Logmein and Team Viewer today from my workplace on my home computers (Powermac G4 733 running Tiger and Macbook Core 2 Duo running Leopard.). I have been using Timbuktu for many years and it is still the fastest and most robust compared to the others. However, my work machine (a Dual G5 running Tiger) is behind a firewall that I don't have access to, so I cannot use Timbuktu from home to access my work machine. Both Logmein and Team Viewer allowed me to access my work machine from home through the firewall at work.

When I set up Logmein and Team Viewer on my home machines, I did not have to open any ports in my home router like I had to for both Timbuktu and VNC.

The advantage of Timbuktu is that you can set it up very easily to use a non standard port. That way I can access all of my home computers when I am out, just by appending a port number to the IP address, or in my case, my domain name which I manage through ZoneEdit and use DNSUpdate on my webserver at home to keep ZoneEdit updated with any IP address changes on my DSL service.

I found Logmein to be a bit choppy and rough looking. It does not allow file exchange with the free version. However, it is accessible from a web browser so if you are at a public computer, you can access your home computer pretty easily. I wonder if they will have a version that will work with the iPhone browser?

Team Viewer was much smoother and looks like it would be a great application for group tutorials as well. The downside is that it has to run as an application on the user side, so if the remote user is not logged in or the application is not running, there is no way to connect. Logmein runs as a service so it should always be available.

Just my 2 cents.

LogMeIn is 1000 better than this!

LogMeIn Free is CRIPPLEWARE! (e.g. NO support for drag and drop files)

Look at https://secure.logmein.com/products/free/features.asp

It does not look like Teamviewer Free is crippleware. It looks like a much better deal than LogMeIn IMHO.

Personally, I like to use the FREE built in Apple VNC server or VineServer VNC server.

It is NOT hard to setup. Just open up a port (typically port 5900) in your Apple firewall and router firewall. Then configure the VNC. (To configure your built in Apple VNC server, go to System Preferences - Sharing. Click on Services Tab. Then click on remote desktop. Then click on "Access Privileges". Remember to set a password. Leopard is NOT required.

I prefer Vine VNC server since you can tell the Vine VNC server to use a non-standard port. The Apple VNC server uses port 5900 and cannot be easily changed.

If you want something more secure (ie encryption), set up SSH with port forwarding to your VNC server. see macosxhints for info.

The big advantage of the do it yourself approach is you do NOT rely on a third party server to set up the screen sharing connection. It is MORE private and secure.

doesn't work under 10.4.11, getting this stuff in systemlog:

terminate called after throwing an instance of 'std::runtime_error'
what(): locale::facet::_S_create_c_locale name not valid
Abort trap

So these companies can figure it out, but Apple can't? That's annoying.

I haven't tried any of these others mentioned in the article, but I will tonight. I use logmein right now because it was the only option. Frankly, except for the cross-platform-ability, it sucks. very slow, choppy, refuses to display images randomly. but like i said, i can connect from os x, xp, and kubuntu, and there was no other option i knew of until now. i'll report back after i test early next week.

By the way, I have a hot tip for everyone.

The not-so-known "NoMachine" guys are responsible for the NX server/client, which is popular on Linux machines. I can tell you from using NX that it is far superior to VNC or Remote Desktop. You connect to an NX server via port 22 (ssh), so it's automatically secure and fully encrypted just as ssh is. If I connect to my home Linux box right now, from work, I can drag windows around on the Linux box and the screen refreshes are FAST. It's almost like being on a LAN, no joke. Plus, NX doesn't take over the remote machine like VNC does. Since it uses ssh, you can get your own graphical login and anyone who is using the remote box is completely undisturbed. Basically they can have their own desktop session going, and you can have yours.

Anyway, NoMachine is coming up with an NX server for Mac OS some time in the near future, should be free too! NX clients currently exist for all platforms. I'm really looking forward to it.

Logmein works like a charm. Free and easy, what's not to love.