1

Hello,

I currently have a subscription to LogMeIn Central, but since they’re doubling the price on me, I would prefer to look at another provider. I currently have less than 100 computers in my central account and don’t need anything that special - just remote access is enough (ie, I don’t need printer sharing or file transferring). I do IT part time so I don’t exactly have the budget for something that high-end, so I’d like to keep it simple.

Thanks!

@GoTo @ConnectWise

17 Spice ups
2

Google Chrome has a plugin called Chrome Remote Desktop. It is free. You will need a Google account.

3 Spice ups
3

Chrome Remote Desktop doesn’t even come close to the sort of functionality that LogMeIn Central provides.

Look into ScreenConnect. Super functional, inexpensive, and extremely versatile. It’s quite similar to LogMeIn Central, and offers tools for one-off support sessions in addition to remote meetings. It’s also self-hosted, which gives you complete control over the tool. It’s also very easy to re-brand.

@ConnectWise

8 Spice ups
4

I’ll try ScreenConnect, but my biggest concerns are:

  1. The price - as of right now I do IT part-time and can’t afford a large license.

  2. Deploying it to all my existing clients - will it be a lot of work or is it easy and straightforward for the layperson?

  3. I’m also a sole-proprietorship. I don’t have other techs at the moment but I would like to have access from maybe 2 or 3 different machines.

So far, TeamViewer works well but it only allows me access from one computer, while Splashtop looks like an affordable solution.

1 Spice up
5

I found ScreenConnect to be relatively difficult to use; I’m still eval-ing it, but I was looking for a hierarchical arrangement of client machines. The UI is a little confusing trying to make it do something so obvious.

My Controls guys are using TeamViewer but it’s getting expensive as they add new guys (they’re REAL good at what they do!). The folder/list structure is OK with TV.

I’m used to managing hundreds of machines/users with IntelliAdmin, which is dead simple. Chrome doesn’t like the one-off support client, which can be a little awkward, but the client deploys perfectly via GPO. Adding my own SSL certs was cake, too.

I’ll be interested to see the other suggestions!

1 Spice up
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Maxfocus uses teamviewer, but lets you use it from different computers and have accounts with different permissions for different techs. It’s a monthly per computer cost. Since it’s a subscription, you don’t have to lay down cash upfront, but you continue to pay for it as long as you use it. In your case though, it would probably work out better than buying teamviewer since you would have to buy add ons for more than one computer and another license for each tech.

2 Spice ups
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Google Chrome Remote Desktop may not have all the features that ScreenConnect has, but OP states that “… don’t need anything that special - just remote access is enough (ie, I don’t need printer sharing or file transferring) …”.
So, in that regard, +1 for Free Google Chrome Remote Desktop.
At least give it a try …

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There are many suggestions here:
http://community.spiceworks.com/topic/742095-logmein-goodbye?page=1&source=homepage-feed

Make sure to cancel your subscription to LMI or remove your credit card info or they will charge you.

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Perhaps Remote Utilities can help. We posted a comparison of RU vs. LMI Central in our blog post Overview | Remote Utilities . It’s not a complete comparison though, but at least it gives an idea.

1 Spice up
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However MaxFocus is only for MSP’s.

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Ultravnc or join.me

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TeamViewer. Try it free first, then if you like it, buy it. We’ve never looked back after making the move.

3 Spice ups
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TightVNC. Its free and easy to install and use.

4 Spice ups
14

Dameware Mini Remote Control

1 Spice up
15

I’m trying to go through all the candidates, but I have to say that price is a big issue. Splashtop will charge me $60 / year. Has anyone used them? Are they any good?

16

I don’t know what your setup is, but if you can install software on either a Linux or Windows Server, then I would recommend Openvpn - the community version edition. I use OpenVPN for remote access to all my clients servers. I use windows remote desktop to logon to the actual machine that I want to access. I use Putty within the OpenVPN to access the Linux Box that I have there which provides Internet services.

Its free and it works brilliantly for me!

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Doesn’t RDP restrict you from interacting with the user while connected? I need to work around that. And I wouldn’t mind paying a fee to have all my computers in one listing, as was the case with LogMeIn Central.

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Is there a free side to TeamViewer? The reason I ask is, my parents live in south Florida and when they call me for computer support, it was nice to help control their laptops, via Logmein, however now that it’s a pay service I dumped it.

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Yes, you can download the full version and use it without a license if it’s for non-commercial use:

http://www.teamviewer.com/en/download/windows.aspx

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I normally logon to the server so its not been an issue. You could use remote assistance in conjunction with remote access I suppose. Openvpn does have all my clients listed in one listing in a sense. You start the openvpn program and then you select which client you want to connect to. Note this is more the domain or network rather than the specific client desktop computer.

But this fine for me. I usually access the server not the client desktop machines. When I need to access the client machines I just rdp onto their computer and do whatever I need. I very rarely have to login as the actual user as the problem is usually computer specific rather than user logon specific.