Ask HN: Free alternative to Teamviewer? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Free alternative to Teamviewer?

33 pointsrrr_oh_man63 comments

Since TeamViewer started locking up with "Commercial use suspected" each time I try to help my mom with her laptop once every so many moons:

What are good, free, hassle-free alternatives comparable to TeamViewer anno 2010?

Good as in: Turn it on, enter code, get a Remote-Desktop-like connection between different devices and operating systems — with a UX that doable for a 70-year old?

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For Windows 10 and Windows 11, there is already a built-in app called Quick Assist. It's a bit bare-bones compared to Team Viewer but it's free and it works out of the box.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quick_Assist

https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9p7bp5vnwkx5?hl=en-US&gl=U...

Thanks, I am going to give that a try. There are a lot of bad reviews: eg "I have to uninstall and reinstall the app EVERY TIME I need to use it...and even then it is a 50/50 chance that it will work. When it DOES work it is nice...but I will need to find something more reliable."

And remote assist, from Windows XP/Vista/7 also still exists as part of the operating system.

I’m a fan of RustDesk for my IT consulting needs.

https://rustdesk.com/

This was downvoted, why?

Maybe because of that stupid screaming warning banner on the website:

WARNING: YOU MAY BE BEING SCAMMED! If you are on the phone with someone you DON'T know AND TRUST who has asked you to install RustDesk, do not install and hang up immediately. They are likely a scammer trying to steal your money or other private information.

That's a pretty good warning, though! People use remote access software like TeamViewer to scam people out of money constantly, there's entire offices where people go to work just to scam people out of their money using this software.

It's such a huge problem that it really does warrant all of this attention.

> It's such a huge problem that it really does warrant all of this attention.

It seems to be such a huge problem only for this particular service, then?

Nope, it's a huge problem for all of them, it has been a huge problem with TeamViewer for ages. However, putting these large banners up likely helps ensure that it's actually not a huge problem for Rustdesk. It's more likely to be a huge problem for services that don't put up these banners. That's exactly why you put up these banners, you don't really want to be a part of enabling these scams.

That kind of warning exists because a lot of people are being scammed. Warning people not to let strangers have access to their PC seems like the right thing to do.

It can be done much more elegantly. E.g. when you’re trying to actually set up a connection and not on the front page for all of your users coming to the site, especially those with `Referer=news.ycombinator.com`

Yeah, easy fix, just host the client somewhere yourself and direct users/family to download it from there

> Maybe because of that stupid screaming warning banner on the website

Why do you call it stupid?

1] best case it makes it look like a shitty marketing website trying to create fake urgency to sell you a subscription product

(I instinctively closed the website)

2] worst case it looks like they don’t have their shit together with scammers and need to shake the confidence of all users in the process

Not a fan of either.

Rust fatigue?

Just guessing.

I recall RustDesk adding root certificates and making other core system changes that were very unexpected.

Run 2 instances of the Docker container rustdesk/rustdesk-server with hhbr and hhbs and it will work locally. It can also work in a single container with the s6 overlay variant.

https://github.com/rustdesk/rustdesk-server

up for this, used this reliably across my linux and windows desktops

I haven't tried it but there's https://remotedesktop.google.com

I've tried remote desktop, feel like its decently easy to use and works well enough (it might require a download, I forget)

This works well enough for tech support. I have had good success for years using it.

Cosigning. Works great on Windows, Mac, and Android (client only). It's been around for 12 years and has actually improved in the switch from Android native app to web app. Amazing testament to what web apps are now capable of.

It's quite interesting how "install a one-time thing, get code, get access" turns out to be such a difficult and apparently unprofitable business.

TeamViewer has always been evil, due to their persistent-install-by-default policy, not to mention them clinging to 4-digits PINs for years after that ceased to be viable, and refusing to respond to security concerns with anything approaching transparency. I used to be a paid customer for many years, but had to abandon ship due to ever-increasing costs (yeah for mandatory viewer upgrades!) related to MSP features that I never asked for and were complicating even the most basic tasks.

Then, I turned to Splashtop, which was glorious for a while. Until they decided to assign me a "customer success representative" and wanted to do the same MSP upsell, even though I explicitly and repeatedly asked them to leave me alone.

Since then, I've mostly been using Windows QuickAssist, and it's OK: you still need to be on the phone with the party you support to guide them through various permission prompts, but that's probably unavoidable.

The list of failed products in this space is impressive, by the way! Anyone remember Fog Creek Copilot? Weird, because "I'll pay you $99.95 on an annual basis to do 2-3 remote sessions every month" sounds like it should be lucrative...

RustDesk has been my go-to for nearly two years now.

Their main C&C server had experienced a DDOS late last year that I could have avoided being affected by if I had set up my own C&C server, but I wasn’t in the right spot for that work so I just remained patient and rode it out.

Only paid features (IIRC) are if you want your list of saved connections to follow you across more than one computer, which requires an account to do.

Just run hbbs and hbbr locally. The paid features aren't all that useful for the risks they introduce.

AnyDesk seems like the most obvious drop-in replacement. It's not awful either, I've used it for remote video editing quite successfully.

I'm less thrilled that for both AD and TV the client and server is the same application. I want to be able to connect to other people's computers without ever having something hook into or have the possibility to display my own desktop.

I agree fully with you. AnyDesk is pretty cool and mostly works well.

There's a small trick you can use: Run but don't install AnyDesk, that way it won't install its services and so on.

Simply don't ever click on the "Install" button in the app.

Unfortunately have the same "commercial limitation" of TV. RustDesk have none.

You can disable the "commercial usage detected" haressments easily enough:

    https://anydesk.com/en/whitelist-request

it's still a commercial service, with RustDesk or MeshCentral I own/I can own if I wish the entire infra, so I can be let down by a third party problem.

They recently got hacked: https://www.cert.ssi.gouv.fr/alerte/CERTFR-2024-ALE-003/

Modern builds of Windows have a "Remote Assistance" feature that functions just like that.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/solve-pc-problem...

Try NoMachine. IME, performance is pretty sub-par, but if it's a once in a while thing you probably don't care that much. It's also got a "clean" and "modern" UI that would look right at home on a toddler's toy.

I've used nomachine quite a bit and I definitely wouldn't qualify its performance as sub-par, tho I have no experience with TeamViewer.

it's not as good as parsec, but still much better than VNC, RDP and some of the other remote desktop software people have recommended.

imho the only bad thing about nomachine is the UI.

Try RustDesk, and evaluate run your own host (two binaries not really documented, that demand a home directory (well, a directory to write their stuff, basically you need hbbs and hbbr, plus a personal key to avoid having a relay open to the world).

It's essentially the very same service visually, but it's semi-FLOSS, multi-platform and self-hosting it with enough bandwidth offer very nice performances.

Mesh Central has been really great for me. Moved to it from rust desk.

https://meshcentral.com/

Use it to manage my entire family's computers and phones.

I ran into this problem recently too, i found https://www.helpwire.app as an alternative, it was very useful as it clearly showed me what step the client was on to start the connection. However it doesn't allow unattended access, I will likely use a combination of this and Rustdesk

If your only issue with TeamViewer is that it's falsely flagging you for commercial use, you can fill out a form to reset it (it's not instant though)

https://www.teamviewer.com/en-us/special/reset-management/

Hasn't Winders had this feature built in for over 20 years?

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/solve-pc-problem...

Yeah, but isn’t it Windows-only? :-)

RustDesk is all you need. It's pretty decent and they have quite a few options even for business usage

Yep. I use the FOSS version of RD (firewall locked-down processes on clients and servers) and it's much faster and better than TigerVNC and RealVNC. I don't trust third-party, cloud-based remote access management because it's giving away too much access prone to massive failures like 1Password, Okta, and AnyDesk.

Reemo: <https://reemo.io/>

You don't even need a code or install a client (you can use Chrome). Sometimes I use it for gaming, too.

Information Automatically Collected. ... Online activity data. Information about your use of and actions on the Service, such as pages or screens you viewed, how long you spent on a page or screen and navigation paths between pages or screens.

https://reemo.io/privacy-policy

To me this seems horrifyingly invasive.

> To me this seems horrifyingly invasive.

No wonder it's free

That's valid criticism. It seems like Parsec also has almost the same problem (and owned by Unity):

<https://www.reddit.com/r/privacytoolsIO/comments/gfinee/pars...>

I find https://www.dwservice.net/en/home.html serves my needs very well.

I've been using RealVNC for some non-critical remote access.

Not an answer to this particular case, but Steam Link can work as a free replacement for when you need performance. I use VNC for the more robust situations.

Tailscale + RDP.

Does RDP allow remote control with the other party also seeing the screen?

RDP does not allow this

You can, but it's a pain to setup: https://woshub.com/rdp-session-shadow-to-windows-10-user/

THIS!

RDP or something like VNC. I can do remote to my Linux Mint via vnc, or Windows and MAC via RDP. Just another normal day. All goes through Tailscale

Why expose ports to the public internet! Tailscale is awesome.

RDP built into windows should work well?

RDP only works if you have a direct routing between the devices. OP is rather looking for Remote Assist.

Tailscale or Zerotier. I recommend this anyway - putting parents' computers on your "local lan".

No. RDP exposed to the Internet will get hacked in a matter of hours.

RealVNC, Parsec, RustDesk, DWService...

would webex free plan work you can share screens and she can give you control

Chrome Remote Desktop.

look into screenconnect

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