Remote Support Software Comparison

[CompConfig]

Another vote for screen connect. I have tried everything else because I didn't want to bother with hosting it our selves. Then I found myself with a few light days before I start my next set of big jobs. Now I can't believe I waited so long to give it a try. I have already moved 50 client pcs over to it and it is working great.

 

[Y.F.N.C.G.]

If anyone is interested in writing up a comparison of a few of the self-hosted remote solutions, like ScreenConnect, for YFNCG.com let me know. I would love to include those as well. You'll be compensated for your time. If interested reach out here: http://www.yfncg.com/contact/

 

[MDD1963]

Ease of use (client and technician) vs. cost vs. features

Teamviewer, of course, although free for personal use, seems relatively pricey for it's initial install in getting set up 'for business use'...minimum, $580-ish? However, it works, every time, and, seems to work well, even internationally! (I use it all the time to maintain my mother's PC, from Okinawa, Japan to South Carolina, USA!)

Ammyy---- $66 (up to 4 PCs controlled), or $99 (unlimited), one time expense; tested from a Win7 laptop to an XP virtual box instance, seems as easy to use as Teamviewer, which is saying something!

UltraVNC---free, but, in my testing scenario, I only got it to work once from Win7 to XP virtual, not sure what the issues were just yet;

As for the relatively vast assortment of $300-up yearly/$25-40 monthly's (with perpetual expenses 'forever'....I will evaluate their ease of use vs. cost vs. features, but, from my limited testing, in my opnion, it seems *very* hard to beat Ammyy's ease of use, low cost ($99, once?!), although, it does seem limited to Windows only, but, that hardly seems of concern to me personally. The monthly/yearly crowd would have to offer a pretty extreme set of advantages to justify their costs, especially to a small business...

Eager to hear others' thoughts on these issues...

Cheers!
Mark

 

[Larry Sabo]

+1 to: "it seems *very* hard to beat Ammyy's ease of use, low cost"

Been using Ammyy for years and it's terrific! Just be sure to password protect the client you install/offer for download.

 

[Dave1320]

I looked into Ammyy and it seemed like a viable solution until I found a few things I wasn't keen of. Personal opinion anyways.

1) the M$ fake tech hacks
2) I'd probably purchase the $99 license, but since I have TN Bkv3 for not much more I could have SC which seems way more powerful of a tool.

Only thing I see that Ammyy has over SC is the ability to have more then one concurrent session on one license. I guess I could just work around this issue.

 

[Larry Sabo]

Only thing I see that Ammyy has over SC is the ability to have more then one concurrent session on one license. I guess I could just work around this issue.

...and the cost difference (not huge) and the need to host it on a server.

 

[Dave1320]

...and the cost difference (not huge) and the need to host it on a server.

The little bit of cost difference, in my opinion is worth it. I'm sure not to all though.

Also, you don't need to host it on a server. I plan on hosting it right on my laptop.

 

[MDD1963]

+1 to: "it seems *very* hard to beat Ammyy's ease of use, low cost"

Been using Ammyy for years and it's terrific! Just be sure to password protect the client you install/offer for download.

Hmmmm......

Was doing a bit more research on Ammyy, and, it appears that there are strong suspicions of a few of AMMYY's servers being compromised; too many instances of individuals testing the software, and within minutes of installing it, then receiving unknown and unsolicited connection requests ....

How would this be possible without the servers being compromised, as each hardware ID is supposedly unique?? (unless there are some AMMYY connection spambots sending out mass connection requests to every possible ID number in existence hoping for an accept...? Admittedly, this is possible too, I guess...)

This would make one reluctant to recommend it to someone inexperienced, lest they accept a potential hostile connection request shortly after the initial install, *UNLESS*, possibly, if they are thoroughly briefed on connection IDs, secured with password, etc...)

EDIT: (Perhaps it is possible to defeat the window of vulnerability by assigning password security before an active connection to internet is established? Will have to test this on a virtual machine...)

 

[kjm_phd]

I've been using ZohoAssist and I'm really happy with it. I only have 2-3 remote support sessions a month, however.

 

[Larry Sabo]

Hmmmm......

Was doing a bit more research on Ammyy, and, it appears that there are strong suspicions of a few of AMMYY's servers being compromised; too many instances of individuals testing the software, and within minutes of installing it, then receiving unknown and unsolicited connection requests ....

How would this be possible without the servers being compromised, as each hardware ID is supposedly unique?? (unless there are some AMMYY connection spambots sending out mass connection requests to every possible ID number in existence hoping for an accept...? Admittedly, this is possible too, I guess...)

This would make one reluctant to recommend it to someone inexperienced, lest they accept a potential hostile connection request shortly after the initial install, *UNLESS*, possibly, if they are thoroughly briefed on connection IDs, secured with password, etc...)

EDIT: (Perhaps it is possible to defeat the window of vulnerability by assigning password security before an active connection to internet is established? Will have to test this on a virtual machine...)

I have heard of such illicit connection attempts and believe they are made using spambots. I have never heard of their servers being compromised.

They would receive such connection requests only if they were running an un-customized version of Ammyy, which would not be password protected. I always install and host a password-protected version of the program so there is no risk that will happen with my customers.

 

[MDD1963]

I always install and host a password-protected version of the program so there is no risk that will happen with my customers.

So you install additional licensed paid version always onto client computers? (Or are you able to password protect the free version prior to the assignment of a hardware ID number?)

(Sorry for so many questions, just attempting to educate myself on potential strengths/weaknesses of any application, Ammyy included, as well as it's licensing...

T.I.A.
Mark

 

[deachus]

Ive been using GoToAssist for about a year and love it. Attended and Unattended support, and I embeded the connection page into my website. Just tell s client to go to my website, click on remote support in top right corner then i give them a 6 digit code.

Verry happy with it.

 

[Larry Sabo]

So you install additional licensed paid version always onto client computers? (Or are you able to password protect the free version prior to the assignment of a hardware ID number?)

You customize the standard, free version of the program using the customizer you can only obtain if you have a license. (I don't recall whether you have to enter your license code during the customization process.) You install the customized ammyy.exe on their system or they download it from your site. They don't initiate the session as a host, they just start the app and provide you their Client ID. You enter their ClientID into your app gui to make the connection, and enter the password you used when you customized the program they are running. You could produce a customize version with a different password for each client but I just use the same password for all clients. They are never told the password, so it doesn't matter.

Their app interface reads "Free" yours reads "Premium." If they tried to initiate a session with someone else, I think they can do that because it's equivalent to them using the free version, which has a 30 minutes/month usage limit. If a third party initiates a session with them, they (3rd party) would have to know the password with which you customized your customer's copy of the program. They don't of course, so the customer is not going to get compromised by a rogue tech. The rogue tech would have to convince them to download and run an uncustomized copy of the program.

BTW, you can transfer your license to another installation of Ammyy, e.g., to your laptop if you are on the road and want to provide support from the laptop. I do this during vacations in Florida or while out of town. No need for an additional license. Check messages on the home answering machine via Skype, call the customer using Skype and run a remote session using Ammyy. So nice to earn extra money while thawing out in the sunny south in the middle of winter.

 

[MDD1963]

thanks for the info, Sir!

 

[Larry Sabo]

thanks for the info, Sir!

Geez, that makes me feel old. You are most welcome.

 

[ell]

Hmmmm......

Was doing a bit more research on Ammyy, and, it appears that there are strong suspicions of a few of AMMYY's servers being compromised; too many instances of individuals testing the software, and within minutes of installing it, then receiving unknown and unsolicited connection requests ....

How would this be possible without the servers being compromised, as each hardware ID is supposedly unique?? (unless there are some AMMYY connection spambots sending out mass connection requests to every possible ID number in existence hoping for an accept...? Admittedly, this is possible too, I guess...)

This would make one reluctant to recommend it to someone inexperienced, lest they accept a potential hostile connection request shortly after the initial install, *UNLESS*, possibly, if they are thoroughly briefed on connection IDs, secured with password, etc...)

EDIT: (Perhaps it is possible to defeat the window of vulnerability by assigning password security before an active connection to internet is established? Will have to test this on a virtual machine...)

Before I purchased Ammyy I tried it on a few friends pc's, and sure enough, if you don't set it up with a password beforehand strange things can happen. Two instances where I disconnected from the other pc's and they had someone hop on and try to hack them! I still really like it now though, I have it now with my logo and password on my website they just download it from there. Have to make sure they disable their antivirus though before running, it get blocked a lot.

 

[MDD1963]

You'd think Ammyy would switch over from sequential numeric ID numbers to semi-random hexadecimal, or some other sort of system to prevent such attacks for folks newly installing it.

However, for now, I think the client must actually still click on an icon to give access, as at least the 'run service' is NOT defaulted to on....

Worst case, a few spam 'please give me access' requests if client using the free version?

 

[scottay]

I'm going to have to throw my vote in for ScreenConnect.

Yes, it's hosted, but it can be hosted on just about anything. I happen to have a server running VM's for everything from N-central through Active Directory, but the resources it uses are minimal. I was stunned at how easy it was to configure. Usually when you think self hosted you cringe... I literally installed it and added 1 port forward on my router and I was live. It was insanely easy.

Getting connected is the easiest I've ever seen. Up until this week I had been a LogMeIn Rescue user for 3+ years. It had the user jump through "click yes, click unblock, click click click" so many times I've had it take 10 minutes just to get connected with certain "less advanced" clients. With SC, all you have to do is get them to whatever website you setup, download and run. No more prompts, no more client reading every message verbatim like you've never seen it before... Once connected you can elevate to admin if the user is on a standard/domain user account.

It's extremely brandable. One of my biggest quirks with LMI Rescue was the lack of branding... sure, you could setup an icon and mess with some text, but SC lets you change just about every single line of text, icons, installer names, etc.

Mobile support! I can't believe LMI Rescue hasn't added the feature to connect to clients from a mobile device... With SC I can jump into the system on my iPhone/iPad and start up a remote session. Very handy when I'm out of the office and someone has one of those 911 moments that simple can't wait (tongue in cheak).

One time pricing is outstanding. They annually recurring LMI licenses hit me for over $1000, and it's very painful. I happen to sign up at the end of the year, so having that hit right before the new fiscal year hurts. Plus, SC offers heavily discounted upgrade pricing, so a couple years out if you want to upgrade to the latest edition you get it at a dramatically reduced rate. I'm a one-man-show at this point, so a single license is plenty for me, but it's easy to add another in the future. Keep in mind that 1 concurrent session license does NOT mean only one client can connect... I though that, but they have a video that clears that up. You can fire up as many sessions as you want, but you can only have one windows up to control a single computer. Once you close the window you can open up another window for another computer. Very rarely do I need to physically control two computers at once. That may change when I hire someone.

Finally, they're dev team is very responsive. I've been researching integration with N-central and ConnectWise; although these integrations aren't implemented yet, it's obvious that they're trying hard to make it happen. I stumbled across a few topics for other integration that users wanted and they were responsive and made it happen. Having an actively updated product in this fast pace IT world is very important.

Sorry for what may seem like a rant. I'm just extremely happy I finally found an alternative to LMI. I can't believe I hadn't tried SC sooner.

 

[ell]

Hadn't hear of this one, and the pricing is attractive - FREE. For personal and business use. And it seems to have a number of good features.

But why is it free? How are they supported? Who are you actually working with? Apparently it's a Russian product.

I see it cannot run as a service unless you configure it in task scheduler, thats a big minus for me. I purchased Ammyy Starter a few months ago and really like it but noticed on some clients I had trouble connecting, I went to their web site and found the starter doesn't support NAT, firewalls or https/SSL as the free version does! http://www.ammyy.com/en/buy.html So I contacted them to upgrade to the premium version, but they won't let me, I have to pay the full premium price, or sign a statement I will not use my starter version or face a $9900 fine!?

 

[Larry Sabo]

Premium V3 is only $66.90 for a lifetime license. I don't see the problem.