Switch to RustDesk https://rustdesk.com/
Been using them for years.
It’s
completelyfree, open source and has:- Unsupervised (for headless servers) or supervised (helping out relatives) access
- Easily file transfers
- Cross-copy paste
- Identification server (what gives out connection IDs) can be self-hosted or you can use theirs for free
- Can control PCs from mobile app (
though not vice versaapparently they support this now!) - Experimental web browser client.
EDIT: I forgot, but it’s also much better at compressing video effectively than realVNC, which is what I used to use. Performance and latency remains fairly good even at low bitrate.
For a little while, I even used to play point and click games remotely with my brother over it. Probably too much latency for an action game though.
I switched to Rust Desk after I got repeatedly flagged for commercial use of Team Viewer and access disabled. I was doing nothing of the sort, but it happened after I accessed my personal computer on my personal phone while at work. They must have IP address checks that are extremely aggressive.
I followed their process to “verify” I was non-commercial, which was invasive and insulting, and then was flagged again.
Rust Desk works great, no problems, never using Team Viewer again.
I have been flagged three times by teamviewer. Appealing requires writing an email and waiting weeks. This last time my use was consistent and only ever connected to my home computer due about 10 minutes tops.
They just don’t want free users who don’t upgrade to a monthly subscription but will never say that.
Anyone know how I can get remote access with my monitors off while using Wayland ? Everytime I log in if I have my monitors off I just get a black screen. I bought one of those dummy HDMI plugs no dice. Works fine with x11 but I don’t want to have to relog every time I get to my computer.
I think when screen recording software (like OBS) request screen recording access, it is an option to create a new virtual screen, in the system dialog when you need to select which window or screen to share. maybe this would help? it could be wasteful with resources, though
Do you know how wasteful? Is there like an actual overhead when running obs, or is it more like Nvidia shadow play or steams recording? Are you actually recording when you have that active or is it just actually creating a virtual screen?
Technically it is recording for the preview in OBS, which I think goes on even when OBS is not visible, and I assume involves constant copying and downscaling with whatever FPS, but it shouldn’t be encoding until you hit record. but if you check the CPU usage of OBS, maybe also GPU with nvtop, you can see how much it affects your hardware.
I would imagine it’s not too bad, but still it would be better if it would let the machine idle as it should.
First heard about this a few hears ago- apparently it’s got Wayland support now, including for tiling WMs like sway? Thats super impressive, I’m gonna see if I can get it set up and running real quick because I just gave up on remote access on Sway when I last tried to check out the options.
And the enshittification continues unabated.
Teamviewer is such a scummy company.
- If you sign up for a TeamViewer license, you have 7 days to cancel and get a refund. This does not apply to renewals.
- Licenses are only available in annual installments.
- TeamViewer’s license recommendation tool may suggest a license that is greater than your actual need. In my case, the cheaper license that best fit my business use case (one session at a time) was not presented during onboarding.
- TeamViewer does not offer mid-term downgrades, but does allow mid-term upgrades.
- You will get a renewal notice 30 days before renewal. TeamViewer requires written notice of cancellation 28 or more days before renewal.
- TeamViewer does not offer the option for mid-term cancellations and will not grant a prorated refund for the remainder of your unused license time. When you cancel, you are only cancelling the next renewal.
We got totally boned when our renewal notice went out just before a three day weekend. PayPal and our bank sided with TeamViewer. Apparently, someone tried to sue over this shady practice in California and the court also sided with TeamViewer. Probably would have dodged this bullet if I had thought to scroll through the TeamViewer subreddit, I went with them because I had positive experiences using the free version for personal use.
Been using RustDesk for years with great success. I especially appreciate the responsible disclosure banners on the main site and GitHub warning users that they might be on the phone with a scam artist.
IMO, all the proprietary remote access software (Teamviewer, Ultraviewer, Anydesk, Etc) companies are profiting from and therefore complicit in the use of their software to scam people.
I never understand the renewal cancellation issue. The company will get the renewal once. If that happens to me I’ll cancel going forward and never work with them again. But if they let me cancel easily I may go back in future.
I think the CEOs are playing a game of pass the buck. They only need the current quarter or year to match their predicted profits (line goes up). So they do more and more damage each quarter until the scheme collapses. Then they golden parachute out and a new CEO starts their game (often by firing as many people as possible).
I recall Linus from LTT had issues with his licenses too, some time ago:
https://youtu.be/SCRzaGUKEFA
