DaveWRX

Couple questions for all ya geeks out there.

Im trying to connect to my Dads PC from my house so I can fix things remotely. Mainly for when we move so I can help him with stuff, but I cant connect. I am using VNC server on his end, I opened up ports 5900 and 5901 (from reading on the internet this is what you need to do) and still nothing. I disabled firewall and still nothing. He is running XP and its firewall. Any ideas?

Also I want to install software for virus and popups and to keep programs from being installed on his pc. He got hit bad by the worm last nite and its taken me all day to figure it out. He also constantly getting programs/icons installed. I disabled the "Install on demand (other)" in the internet options and am now installing SpySweeper which seems to work nice, but it doesnt seem to block the installation of these programs. Just curious what combination of protection everyone is using. Short of installing a full-blown firewall (which I dont want to do since its always prompting for things he wont understand) Im not sure what else to do.

For virus Im using AVG, popups is the Meeya pop-up blocker and for spyware/adware/etc Im now using SpySweeper.

Just looking for help on this since I need to get his pc figured out before I bail. Also might be looking for someone possibly willing to help him out if a home visit is needed. Instead of having him call some local place where god knows who works.

Thanks all,
Dave

IS2Scooby

iTrader: (3)

If he's running XP then remote desktop connection/help should already be installed. It's basically XP's version of Terminal Services. It works MUCH better than VNC.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/p...st/default.asp

As far as the installation of malicious programs - education is the only real answer.
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DaveWRX

Yeah I just hate the windows messenger tho, hate using anything ms I dont have to, but will give it a shot. Atleast it already has the connection made between the 2 pcs. Thanks.

Education, hmm, 70 year old guy who clicks and downloads anything. Hard to educate.

keirnna

iTrader: (8)

Microsoft does suck, but sometimes the best things for and OS are the things that came with the os. Oh yeah a remote desktop is one of those things. By the way Remote Desktop has nothing to do with MSN IM other than the link to it that is built in IM.

Mach5WRX

iTrader: (9)

Why all the Microsoft hate?

Now I'm not a PC tech/nerd/geek, but I've never had any major problems with anything Microsoft has made and XBOX ROCKS!

At just joe consumer level, I like their stuff.

funkdrmr

When you installed VNC Server on his computer, did you complete the install and install the service? Then, you'd have to set the default password after you start the service (or reboot). Once that's done, it should connect up without the firewall up. I don't use XP's firewall, so I don't know if it would work with it running.

If all that was done, then the problem might actually be the internet itself. I'm not sure that connecting over the internet will work, as for all of the routers that you go through. It very well may, but I've never seen it used in this fashion. I've only seen the program used within it's own LAN (no routers to segment it). I agree that the best thing would be to use the built in "Remote Assistance". If you don't want him to have to send an e-mail every time he needs help, I believe there's a way to save the connection information as a file, then you could use that file whenever you need to connect up to him.

DaveWRX

Well you still have to use the Windows Messenger (so I have to go through and create passport .net accounts and all that and I have to have the messenger running on my pc which I hate).

To answer Dans question as well I dont like MS because everything they make is buggy as hell and maybe just because all the hackers target it all the time it brings out all the issues constantly. All we ever did was update the stupid service packs all day long on all our servers and I would rather use anything but MS stuff. Not that ALL other OS's arent buggy, but I havent had as much issues on other boxes I run. Xbox, yeah that rocks.

I use Eudora and not Outlook, I use Yahoo Messenger and not MSN or Windows Messenger. Just personal feelings. I hate them for the same reason you like them, personal experience. Like you said most people at the consumer level do like them, but not a single person in our 125 person IT dept wanted anything to do with them. Not saying its a universal feeling, but most IT people I talk do some especially like MS.

BoOm

iTrader: (4)

MS Windows is buggy? Wait until you encounter Red Hat Linux and such. The more people using an operating system, the more buggier and more exploits there will be. What else are you going to use besides Windows? I'm sorry, theres nothing better, everything else is at least 4 years behind.

DaveWRX

Dont remember saying there was anything better, just that it was a pain to maintain and that I didnt like it. I still use it obviously...

IS2Scooby

iTrader: (3)

Windows IS buggy, and full of holes, and designed poorly. NO QUESTION.

With that being said - I don't see anybody dethroning Windows as the king of the desktop OS' any time soon.

On the server side though, the winds of change... they are a blowin'!
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DaveWRX

Im gonna reload DOS 6.0, forget about games and graphics and anything else. Atleast it didnt crash every hour. Its SO time for an OS reload for me. Everytime I think I have a good system restore I get a virus and those are screwed up. I need a good app like PowerQuest for XP...

wastingtape

Keep in mind that a lot of the traffic that will be going back and forth will not be encrypted (unless that's a new feature i missed somewhere). This means that there are possiblities that someone could hijack your session and take control of your father's computer. In all likelyhood, this is rare, but still a possibility.

You can tunnel network communications through a product known as stunnel which uses SSL to establish a secured, encrypted channel and redirects all traffic through it (making the entire communication secure). VNC should do this fine, but XP's Remote Desktop Connection will choke on it (it claims it can't connect to 127.0.0.1).

Granted everything i just mentioned is after you get whatever you're doing working.

As for debugging the problem, i'm guessing this probably a line of path to check:
1. Make sure your own computer is not blocking out going data for whatever reason.
2. If you have a firewall or DSL/Cable router, make sure it is forwarding traffic and not acting as SOCKS proxy or anything stupid.
3. Make sure your ISP isn't dropping VNC traffic.
3 1/2. Make sure your dad's ISP isn't dropping VNC traffic.
4. Make sure your dad's firewall or DSL/Cable router is accepting incoming connections and routing them to your dad's machine (IP).
5. Make sure any A/V or firewall software on your dad's computer isn't blocking the incomign connection.
6. Make sure XP's firewall isn't blocking the incoming connection.

Chances are it's in there somewhere. You can test a manual connection by opening command prompt and using telnet to connect to the port. Example:

C:\> telnet 1.2.3.4 5901

If you get a blank screen or if it says something, that means the network is working and something in VNC is misconfigured. If you get a "could not connect to host" or something like that, it means it cannot make a connection, and something is wrong with the connection part of it (listed above).

I hope this gave you some more ideas.

wastingtape

PS. do i smell a windows vs. linux debate starting up in a scoobaru forum? Hahaha. Never thought i'd see that one. :P

keirnna

iTrader: (8)

Hey you better use DOS 6.11, not 6.0!!