When it comes to working remotely, there are many options these days to connect with your computer while you’re away from your desk. We recommend that you review each one and determine what’s best for you. One thing to keep in mind, remote access software is not all the same. There’s remote access/control and there’s unattended remote access.
IMPORTANT: Always, always, be mindful of scammers and hackers. They will try to find their way into your device. Always make sure you trust the source before accessing or giving access to the other party. In most cases, you will NOT want to click on a link in the email unless you trust the sender. Be cause, sometime scammers will make an email look like it is coming from someone (called spoofing) to get you to trust them. For more info on this topic, you can search for phishing and spoofing.
Team Viewer
Overall, TeamViewer is by far our favorite unattended remote access tool. I has a lot of nice features and have been working for us in many way. They offer a free use license for home and personal use. For commerical use, you’ll need to get a license. It is the most expensive option out there, but can be worth every penny. For more, click here to learn more.
RemotePC
RemotePC is one of the least expensive paid remote access tool that also have an unattended access. They also only require a one-time install. Although it has a file transfer function, we found that it is not as user friendly as some of the other options. However, for the price of less than $100/yr, it is a highly attractive option. For more, click here to learn more.
Zoho Assist
Zoho is a great suite of business tools that can offer great results for any organization. Although some of their options require technical assistance, their remote access tool is simple to setup and use. It also has unattended remote access, however, the cost is also on the higher end of the spectrum. For more, click here to learn more.
Windows Remote Desktop
Microsoft introduced Remote Desktop with their server operating system which made it easy to manage the server. This app is not available with Windows Pro version of their OS. Unlike many of the other remote access software on our list here, Windows Remote Desktop does not allow the local user to be logged in or view what’s happening during a session. The local user is logged out unlike the other options where the local user can view what’s happening with their computer. It is truly meant for unattended remote access as opposed to desktop support. For more, click here to learn more.
ShowMyPC
ShowMyPC is a very cost effective option for remote desktop access. The free version allows you to access and control the remote computer, the paid version allows for unattended remote access. One other nice feature of ShowMyPC is the Java version which allows you to control the remote computer from the browser, which means no download and/or install is needed. For more, click here to learn more.
GoToMyPC
GoToMyPC is one of the first commercial remote access application. There are many great benefits to using it including unattended remote access. It is also really easy to use and only require a one time install. For more, click here to learn more.
LogMeIn
LogMeIn is the big brother to Join.me. It has many more feature including unattended remote access. One of the more advanced feature of LogMeIn is the ability to map your remote computer harddrive as like a local disk on a Windows machine. We found that to be very handy when transferring files between systems. For more, click here to learn more.
Zoom
Believe it or not, Zoom has a remote access feature. In the Zoom controls, you can request access to the remote computer. This is very useful, but it is not setup for unattended access. You need someone to join the Zoom meeting and give permission before you can see and control their computer. For more, click here to learn more.
Join.me
Join.me is a quick and easy remote access and conferencing option. It does not have unattended remote access. It’s the striped down version of LogMeIn, and is a great tool for quickly getting a conference with someone and do some tech support. It is a little bit on the pricey side for what it does without the unattended access. For more, click here to learn more.
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