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  • Smultie - Thursday, December 6, 2012 - link

    Nice update, but a bit of a let down that they still haven't integrated an auto-update feature on Mac OS X.
  • janderk - Thursday, December 6, 2012 - link

    I have switched to Google Chrome Remote Desktop these days.

    No expensive licenses and works like a charm to help out mam or to access you own home computer from a remote location. Highly recommended and (ok, I am Dutch) zero license fees.
  • zilexa - Thursday, December 6, 2012 - link

    Teamviewer is always free for personal use.. so I don't see your point?
    As every free software, its paid for commercial use (duh).
  • janderk - Thursday, December 6, 2012 - link

    Google Remote Desktop is free for commercial use too.

    Google Remote Desktop commercial use: $0
    Teamviewer commercial use: $499-$2694

    For personal use there are no license costs for Teamviewer, but features are limited. Like no audio and you get nag-screens. Teamviewer is a fine product, I just wanted to point out that there is a very good alternative. Disadvantage for Google Remote desktop is that you need Chrome installed on both ends.
  • Camikazi - Sunday, December 9, 2012 - link

    Audio works fine on free account with TeamViewer 8 and the nag screen you talk about is one screen when you disconnect. I don't like Chrome and would not like having to install it on every computer just to use their remote desktop (which didn't work as well as TV last I tried it). I also like the fact that I can install just a host program on computers which let me connect to them without them being able to connect to my computers. For personal use and more than a few computers I see TV as more useful.
  • maxxl - Friday, December 7, 2012 - link

    Of course there's PRO version with some extended capabilities. Some time ago I used Team Viewer free, but is has couple not friendly things:
    - you need to remember numbers for clients
    - Team Viewer is limiting connections, or even blocking free version if someone is using it too frequently.
    I found Logmein the best solution for me by now, because I have quite lot friends which need my support from time to time. The only disadvantage is that you have to pay for Logmein client called "Ignition" for mobile devices if you want to use them to give support. Even though, It is worth to pay for it IMO.
    I'll try Google Chrome Remote Desktop, but requirement to set up Google Chrome as the main web browser will be unacceptable for some, so it'll disqualify it as wide support tool.
  • Camikazi - Sunday, December 9, 2012 - link

    You don't have to remember client numbers if you add them to your account and they only limit your connection if they beleive you are using the free account for commercial use and then you can just send them an email explaining your usage (using it to help friends and family is fine BTW) and they will unlock your account. I have about 25 computers on my account ATM and it works perfectly.
  • MartinAston - Friday, October 18, 2013 - link

    To my mind Google Chrome works like a turtle, and it's not the best options for spontaneous tech support.

    If you're looking for a free teamviewer alternative that allows commercial use you may want to try Aeroadmin http://www.aeroadmin.com

    Hope it helps.
  • piroroadkill - Thursday, December 6, 2012 - link

    .. But damn Windows 8 is so ugly. Those thick borders and flat ugly.. everything.
  • LauRoman - Thursday, December 6, 2012 - link

    As in Windows 7 those can be modified: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/6283-borders-...
  • sdunfee - Thursday, December 6, 2012 - link

    Hi Jarred and readers,

    Have you ever tried Mikogo for web conferencing? We are compatible with Windows 8, in addition to Mac/Linux/iOS/Android. Take a look here - http://www.mikogo.com - and let me know if you have any questions or comments?

    Thanks!

    Spencer Dunfee
    Mikogo Team
    sdunfee@mikogo.com
  • jabber - Thursday, December 6, 2012 - link

    They really need to issue a small business licence.

    I'm a one man band and in order to get back the cost of the tool would take me a long time.

    I'd pay around $250.00 but the current pricing just doesn't work.

    You have to look elsewhere.
  • asliarun - Thursday, December 6, 2012 - link

    Have you considered join.me?
    I use it for quick screen sharing and it works like a charm, even when VNC fails me sometimes.
  • cpy - Thursday, December 6, 2012 - link

    One thing that bugs me with TV8, is that it locks user account after closing remote session, and i need desktop to be unlocked for me to use what i use.
  • JarredWalton - Thursday, December 6, 2012 - link

    You can set this in the options menu; the reason for this feature is if you happen to remote connect to a system, and say you're traveling and happen to lose connectivity. Imagine your sensitive data now being freely visible where you left it. With this setting, you now know that your system is locked if you get disconnected.
  • Camikazi - Thursday, December 6, 2012 - link

    Thing I find odd is that it does that for one of my comps but the rest it leaves unlocked and I have no idea why that is. I have looked all over for a reason or a setting but I have found nothing.
  • webmastir - Thursday, December 6, 2012 - link

    I think I'm the only one who hates the word Retina. Just call it high resolution & stop putting it on a pedestal.

    :)
  • Chapbass - Thursday, December 6, 2012 - link

    Glad I'm not the only one who came in thinking this...
  • B3an - Thursday, December 6, 2012 - link

    Nope, loads of people hate it. It's stupid. Typical Apple though.
  • tim851 - Sunday, December 23, 2012 - link

    Yeah, typical Apple.

    Out of all the consumer electronics marketing terms, like HD Super AMOLED, 3D HyperReal Engine or PureMotion HD+ ... Retina is the worst.
  • andrewaggb - Thursday, December 6, 2012 - link

    It's more marketing awesomeness. And it works. Nobody's quite sure what Retina means exactly, but apples the only one whose got it :-)
  • Impulses - Thursday, December 6, 2012 - link

    I like Team View a lot, started using it fit similar reasons as Jarred, it's very easy for someone that isn't technical to get it up and running on the other end.
  • wifiwolf - Friday, December 7, 2012 - link

    I've been using teamviewer from version 2 and it's been very handful. The main advantage i've seen from any other VNC product is that you don't have to explain to someone remotely how to configure their firewall or proxy. And since last year i've been using it from my smartphone.
    I just say run this program and send the link.

    The major drawback is what other people said - price. It's the only reason i still use it as free version. I would gladly license it for a reasonable price even if just to help my family, no commercial use.

    And I do hate apple's retina name even if it means you can see as much as your retina can perceive.
  • dcollins - Friday, December 7, 2012 - link

    I use Teamviewer every day for work and in two years it hasn't let me down a single time. It's a little pricy and GoTo* has a few more features, but Teamviewer's performance and reliability are second to none. I can't imagine doing my job without it.
  • Einy0 - Saturday, December 8, 2012 - link

    We bought TeamViewer at work about 6 months ago. It makes our lives so much easier. Instead of jumping through hoops to get Windows Remote Assistance connected, we just connect and it's done. No playing with the VPN or worrying about firewalls or NAT. We put the quick support icon on our user desktop and it doesn't matter where they are. If we both have internet connectivity it just connects. It also is much more responsive and quicker than WRA. I noticed a long time ago WRA does not do well with latency or slow connections. It doesn't scale down as well as RDP does for some reason. TeamViewer adjusts on the fly, lag is much less of an issue. We love TeamViewer, if anything we plan to expand our usage in the future. I have to agree it is on the expensive side for smaller user groups. I think we spent 2 or 3 grand on ours. Our salesmen are all over the country for weeks at a time and some don't even work out of one of our offices so remote is the only option besides shipping the machine in.
  • beginner99 - Sunday, December 9, 2012 - link

    Yeah out of curiosity I tried to connect from my home to my work pc and it worked without settign up anything went right through company firewall. IMHO pretty scary. How does that actually work? (probably the same way skype does'?)
  • SirMaster - Sunday, December 9, 2012 - link

    The one problem I always have with Teamviewer that prevents me from using more is that it always keeps saying "commercial use detected" and I get limited to 5 minute sessions.

    I'm definitely only using it at home to connect to friends/family. I am not using it commercially yet it says that I am. They really need to rewrite their detection code...
  • Camikazi - Monday, December 10, 2012 - link

    Just send them an email about ti and explain that you are not using it commercially and they will unlock it. The same thing happened to me once (BTW if you reformat the computer and reinstall you get a different number that won't be affected) so I emailed them and told them how I was using the program and they unlocked the computer and have had no problems since. It seems their locking is on a per number basis since every other comp on my list worked fine and only my main one got locked.
  • Azethoth - Monday, December 10, 2012 - link

    I have been using Skype successfully for these tasks. You Skype someone, get them to share their screen, and then use voice commands to control the remote machine.
  • Magnus101 - Monday, December 17, 2012 - link

    I started using Team Viewer for the exact same reasons as the author a couple of years ago.
    WRA is just a pain to work with. It often refused to start and when it did start, it took forever for the session to start. And for the user at the other end (a relative who isn't that computer savy), it wasn't that easy to start using WRA.
    I haven't been using WRA for a couple of years now and haven't been using many alternatives (did try VNC, but it wasn't as good).
    But I know that TV just works, starts quickly, doesn't bug out and is free.
    At least for me.
  • Eragondragon - Sunday, August 25, 2019 - link

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