Overly complicated access options?

[R_C_]

Hi there. Trialing out various remote options for personal and eventual professional use and currently looking at Teamviewer.

Just wanted to ask; is it me or does TV make it (comparatively) hard and confusing to see exactly how many ways there are to access my machine?

All I need is my machines to sit there a wait for me to connect in via my account. All this partner ID, linking to an account, signing in via the app, meetings etc... Each of these seem to offer a different way to log in and it is hard to tell what is enabled and what isn't? And everything seems mostly enabled by default as well.

The system seems to work well once setup, but could be presented to the user in a much clearer, concise and consistent way? Also, by default it would be good if everything was off and you picked what you turned on? Logmein seems much clearer in this sense.

Just musing, wondered what everyone else's thoughts were?

Thanks,
Richard.

[matt]

Just install 'Host' at the end you want to connect to.
Don't log in, don't save account details.
Teamviewer will run as a service and anyone who knows the ID number and the password can log in. (Make sure that password is secure)

Only log in on the machine you want to remote FROM. Save the details of the computers that you want to log into in people and computers (create groups to link them). Double click to take over.

Much simpler than logmein.
A heap of logmein refugees are wanting to log into all computers, but you don't have to. In fact I'd actually discourage you from doing that.

[R_C_]

Hi Matt, many thanks for the quick reply!   

By host do you mean a specific teamviewer install called that?

My main goal is to have an account I can log into, see my two (for now) computers I want to connect too, click to connect to one of them and have too enter an additional (different to the account and unique per machine) password.

I really want to like teamviewer as they have (for my initial use) a free account but the setup seems unnecessarily (and only relatively to be fair) complicated for the simple use I am trying to implement. I am all up for more arguments for/against TV and LMI though.

Thanks,
Richard.

[munrobasher]

Having come from LogMeIn as they stopped free home use, I agree with the original poster. I work in IT and was confused at the start. Still a bit confused between partner ID, it's password and personal password.

Cheers, Rob.

[matt]

By host do you mean a specific teamviewer install called that?

My main goal is to have an account I can log into, see my two (for now) computers I want to connect too, click to connect to one of them and have too enter an additional (different to the account and unique per machine) password.

I really want to like teamviewer as they have (for my initial use) a free account but the setup seems unnecessarily (and only relatively to be fair) complicated for the simple use I am trying to implement. I am all up for more arguments for/against TV and LMI though

There is a TV component called Unattended Host.

If you only want to connect TO a computer you can just install that on the remote computer that you will connect TO >> http://www.teamviewer.com/en/download/windows.aspx

If you have already installed the normal TV, that's fine, just setup unattended access on the remote computer that you will connect to.

Don't save account details, if they are saved removed them.

On the machine that you want to connect FROM (ie your local computer) this is the machine that you will log on to with your account details.
When you log in, your saved list of computers and contacts is shown, and you can connect by double clicking on them. If you don't save a password in your 'computers and contacts' for EACH computer, then you will be asked for the password for each computer as you connect.

People coming from LMI are wanting to log in everywhere, at least on each computer. With TV you really don't need to, in fact I'd actively discourage it.

TV is really very simple. LMI has trained you lot to think more complicated than you need to.

You don't actually need to log in with your account, if you KNOW the partner ID and their passsword, then that is ALL that is needed.
Logging in to an account gives you your saved computers and contacts in an easy to access format.

A partner ID shows with a one time (subject to settings) password on the flash screen.
IFF unattended access or HOST is set up, then optionally to the one time password shown on the flash screen, you can use the saved password. Either will work.

HTH

Matt

[R_C_]

Many thanks for the info Matt, certainly of use!

I think the problem I am describing is not so much one of ease of getting it to work. That was instant and worked right out of the start gate.

For me it is the use of many terms and the apparent endless ways TV can seemingly be used which (in my case) seems overkill and I can't seem to shake the feeling I may have missed something in the settings that opens another door for remoting in.

LMI (from my pov) seemed simpler. Install just the software, have strong passwords and that is it. I didn't need to kill the 4 digit default partner ID option. I didn't need to disable meetings. I didn't need to disable remoting in on the host machine I want to remote from when running the software and so on. Yes TV was easy to get working, as easy as LMI yes. But the over the top options that are enabled by default leave me uneasy.

I work in VFX so am very computer literate and can set all these things up in addition to some other tricks but the point of using these solutions for me was to have all that stuff locked down for me and my only job is good passwords. Must admit I am still not convinced but will persevere for the next few days and see how I feel then.

Many thanks again!
Richard.