Good Programs to access my computer at home From school?

[Jengo]

Well, you see the computers at my school suck, but we got a t3 line there... so i dont wanna use there computers i wanna be able to just go to a computer at school open Internet explorer and be able to access my computer, Does anyone know of a Program that does this? me and seversphere were talking about some but i forgot what he called it... it was along time ago, so does anyone know of any Acess your computer from anywhere software that i can install on my computer and just use internet explorer to acess my comp at home?

help will be greatly appreciated

Jengo

:)

[primesuspect]

RealVNC is free and very very good. Using it and a combo of OpenSSH you can get a free, highly secure (SSH2 tunnel) remote desktop connection going.

I've heard decent things about Microsoft's latest implementation of Remote Desktop Protocol. I have no experience with it, however.

There's always PC Anywhere, but it's a commercial product and thus costs $$$.

Does your home computer have broadband? What's your upstream from home?

[Jengo]

yeah i got DSL 640k/256k, do you have any links for these programs? are they hard to learn how to use? sorry but when it comes to networking and the sort im kind of a n00b, but if i get a tutorial or something like that im sure i could figure it out and mess with it to learn about it

jengo

[primesuspect]

Do you have a static IP? If not, you'll probably want to use something like dyndns or no-ip.com or whatever. I have no experience with those services, but I know a lot of people on this site use them.

www.realvnc.org

www.openssh.org

Here's a link to a tutorial on how to tunnel VNC thru SSH:
http://www.uk.research.att.com/archive/vnc/sshvnc.html

It's a bit complicated, and usually involves installing a cygwin shell (unix emulator/posix shell for windows) on your home computer, but I can tell you 100% surely that the method works - we deploy openssh/realVNC servers to most of our remote administration clients, as well as use it internally at our company.

[Jengo]

nope i dont have a static IP, (damn MSN)
hmm....

Jengo

[primesuspect]

You can still do it, it's just more of a pain in the ass.

[JB]

www.tightvnc.com! You install tightVNC, set up the server, and you are set. you then open IE and type the IP:5800 (maybe 5900 i cant remeber) and it launches the java applet to let you access your computer.

[Jengo]

whould any of you know how to open my static port damn it gets my angry that i dont have one, it doesnt only affect me accessing my computer from other places it also slows the downloads on P2p apps, is there any way to open the static port? i doubt it...

Jengo

:banghead:

[Black Hawk]

As for the non static IP... www.no-ip.com ;)

[JB]

you dont need a static ip for tightVNC, you just have to know your dynamic IP address....just hold your mouse over the tightVNC server icon in the task bar

[Jengo]

so if i get the free no-ip service it will activate a static port for me? please enlighten me on what this really does, because when it comes to Networking i am a total and complete uber-n00b

Jengo

man this gets me frustrated when i dont know how to do something...

:banghead:

[primesuspect]

you don't "open" a static port. You either have a static IP (it never changes) or you don't (You're hooked up to one big metropolitan-area LAN, and you get an IP 'leased' to you from your ISP). Services like no-ip.com track your ip as it changes and update a domain name for you so you don't ever need to worry about knowing your IP, you just type in the name "jengo.no-ip.com" or whatever...

[Jengo]

OH I SEE!! man i get it now ok..

*looks around*

*feels dumb*

thanks guys but i still have 1 question. i dont get this, this part is confusing when it talks about my host and 5802

"Using a Web Browser as a Viewer
The VNC servers also contain a small Web server. If you connect to it with a web browser, the Java version of the viewer will be downloaded automatically, allowing you to access the remote desktop. Obviously, your Web browser must support Java applets. Also, you should not use a proxy, to let the Java applet access the remote server directly.

The server listens for HTTP connections on port 5800 + display number. (Remember a WinVNC machine defaults to the display 0.) So to connect to the display 2 on machine "myhost", you would point your web browser at: http://myhost:5802/ . The applet will prompt you for your password, and should then display the desktop."

can someone help me out?

Jengo

[Enverex]

Radeon_Man had this to say
you dont need a static ip for tightVNC, you just have to know your dynamic IP address....just hold your mouse over the tightVNC server icon in the task bar

We know that, but how is he going to hover the mouse over the icon on his home PC when he is at School? :rolleyes2

[JB]

well you can check it before you leave...that is your IP until your reconnect to your DSL provider

[JB]

Jengo had this to say


thanks guys but i still have 1 question. i dont get this, this part is confusing when it talks about my host and 5802

"Using a Web Browser as a Viewer
The VNC servers also contain a small Web server. If you connect to it with a web browser, the Java version of the viewer will be downloaded automatically, allowing you to access the remote desktop. Obviously, your Web browser must support Java applets. Also, you should not use a proxy, to let the Java applet access the remote server directly.

The server listens for HTTP connections on port 5800 + display number. (Remember a WinVNC machine defaults to the display 0.) So to connect to the display 2 on machine "myhost", you would point your web browser at: http://myhost:5802/ . The applet will prompt you for your password, and should then display the desktop."

can someone help me out?

Jengo


All you have to do is put a password in your TightVNC configuration and click ok. Then when you want to connect from another computer http://ipaddress:5800
its as easy as that...and it should take you to your computer login. The whole session thing means you can run multiple TightVNC sessions if a bunch of people want to log into one box!

[Jengo]

oh man, when i try loggin in it says "local loop back connections are disabled"

what is that? how may i go about in fixing this problem?

Jengo

[Jengo]

im thinking maybe its because i am trying to log in from the same computer, am i right? or can you do that?

jengo

[JB]

correct, but thats easy to fix. double click the icon in the system tray, and select advanced. then check allow loopback connections and you can log in from your own box.

[EMT]

Your computer can't VNC to itself (think about it, it would make a feedback loop - ever watched a video camera output on a monitor and then pointed the camera at the monitor?). Try from a different computer, or put the connection through another computer (proxy/ssh tunnel, but I think it'd be easier to just wait till you have access to another comp).
[Edit] Radeon Man has the solution for testing it :)

BTW, VNC is definitely the way to go.

[Jengo]

thanks guys, you really helped me out alot

i really appreciate your help!

:thumbsup:

Jengo

[FormFactor]

What if his school is firewalled and only allows port 80 and 443 traffic to pass in and out for him... can he still do it?

[Enverex]

He could set up a BNC on port 80...

[mmonnin]

Oh tried that loopback thing once. Not a good idea. I VNCed to another computer and then back to mine. I couldnt get my mouse inside the window so I had to close the program.

[Bud]

which is better tight vnc or realvnc

[Enverex]

TightVNC apparently has a better Java Web based interface, but it doesn't sound like you are going to use that, so I would say RealVNC as it's the one I use all the time and have no issues with it (though I have never noticed any difference between any of the VNCs anyway).

[Bud]

which one is more secure?

[Enverex]

which one is more secure?

Afaik, they are both exactly the same. They both look the same and they both do exactly the same thing.

[mmonnin]

I use realvnc. Its easy to setup.

[Straight_Man]

EMT.... With VNC you can use the loopback. AND get to your own computer. That is how, for instance, you access a CUPS http mgmt console from a browser in the same Linux box that the admin is both using and printing from. VNC can loopback, and does. It is a half-duplex loopback. Ditto webmin on Linux or Unix.

TightVNC uses authentication and tunnels, typically IPV6 if the boxes on both ends can IPV6 tunnel through IPV4 or directly box to box. I can IPV6 to Canada on broadband, my box to friend's box.

But, I thought Jengo was talking about using the School's internet pipe from home and also gettign to files from his computer.... The second will be limited to the pipe he has at home, and also the first. He is using his internet pipe to get both ways, so throughput will be limited by throughput of slowest pipe. Access, yes, but at slowest pipe end rate maximum. The school will not like this either, probably, and probably will block it one of many ways(router, firewall, etc.) or simply treat it as hacking unless Jengo can explain what he is doing in detail.

John.