I’ve been a Teamviewer user for a number of years but I’m pushing the boundaries of what’s personal use. For whatever reason Chrome Remote Desktop refuses to run on my main PC and I’m certainly not going to do a fresh Windows install just to see if that fixes it!

So, excluding the above two,  what would you recommend trying for a good RD experience via the internets?

I don’t really require any file transfer or chat capability, if that makes a difference, but an Android client would be important.

VNC is always a nice option, maybe consider a VPN solution to secure it a little more.

Personally I’d probably pay for teamviewer if it mattered that I had access.

£50 a month though (or something bonkers!)…..

ASG Remote desktop we use here…. works well, multiple windows/servers etc.

RDP is built into your windows and better than VNC, I would use a VPN though to protect it!

RDP is built into your windows

… assuming you have a Pro version.  Also, it’s not terribly secure, I wouldn’t use over the public Internet without a VPN or something.  Ditto VNC.

TBH I’d be sticking with Teamviewer.  There are alternatives which do broadly the same thing, GoToMyPC and their ilk.

… assuming you have a Pro version.

Nope its there in Home too, just a small hack to enable it!

Also, it’s not terribly secure

Way more secure than VNC and fully encrypted. Modern versions of the RDP protocol address earlier weaknesses and Windows blocks clients with weak versions. It’s also a lot more efficient.

Still though, I’d run anything like this through VPN or SSH. If I don’t trust the client network, tunnel through SSH as it’s just one port not opening the whole destination network to the client.

Personally I don’t trust TeamViewer, logmein etc. Logmein especially as it installed components that don’t get uninstalled.

You can do Remote Assistance with home versions of Windows, which is RDP but without running as an always available service. Requires two way authentication by request assistance with a temporary key to someone specific.

You can do Remote Assistance with home versions of Windows, which is RDP but without running as an always available service. Requires two way authentication by request assistance with a temporary key to someone specific.

You can install RDP Wrapper to get around that! Works really well!

Way more secure than VNC and fully encrypted. Modern versions of the RDP protocol address earlier weaknesses and Windows blocks clients with weak versions. It’s also a lot more efficient.

I don’t disagree, NLA and all that.  Still makes me twitchy though, there’s too many ways it could be misconfigured.

Still though, I’d run anything like this through VPN or SSH. If I don’t trust the client network, tunnel through SSH as it’s just one port not opening the whole destination network to the client.

RDP should run over TLS by default these days I think.  Would have to check to be sure so don’t quote me on that, I’m far from certain.