Topic: Networking at home?

[EV607797]

For about three years, I've been relying upon free use of TeamViewer at home to access my desktop PC.  It has XP on it and also my modems for remote support of phone systems, etc.  Not to mention, many of these programs are old and aren't supported by newer versions of Windows.  TeamViewer has since stopped supporting XP, or at least the only version they offer can't connect to my laptops using Windows 10, etc. anymore.

To make matters worse, TeamViewer is constantly accusing me of commercial use since I also support six computers for my parents and sisters.  I guess they think I'm some kind of IT professional.  I've gotten it restored twice in two months by sending them non-commercial affidavits, but this is getting old.

Anyway, I've noticed that I may need to figure out some way to network my home computers together.  All of my other devices are able to communicate using TeamViewer just fine, just not the XP desktop.  I noticed that most versions of Windows offer remote desktop and resource sharing.  I'd love to be able to keep all of this older hardware and programs on this XP desktop and just access it from other computers in my house.  I have both wired and wireless networking available at my disposal.  Is this something I can do or would a lowly telephone man even be able to figure this out?

[MacGyver]

Just run TightVNC (or another flavor if you prefer) on all your computers at home.  Remote in from work to the one machine running TeamViewer, and then hope to whatever other machine you need via VNC.  We run VNC across the entire WAN. 

[NFCphoneman]

Can't you just forward port 3389 on your router to your PC, then use RDP to get into your home XP?

For the other PCs that you support, have you tried Chrome Remote Desktop? It's free, but I don't believe it supports XP.

[TexasTechnician]

As usual I'm late to the party but here is a link to an application I've been using for about a year now and it has been great. https://www.msp360.com/remote-desktop.aspx
You can set it up so that you can log in with or without approval from someone at the computer and the connection is encrypted.

[EV607797]

No problem in being late.  To be honest, I think that the other suggestions made by Trace and Larry were WAY over my head.  I'm not the slightest bit computer literate, so I was really hoping for something simple like this.  I'll give it a look.

In further research, it appears that TeamViewer has abandoned support of embedded XP systems, so when they see someone trying to access one, they immediately assume that it's for commercial use.  I tried to reason with them, but they wouldn't budge.  I ended up having to get a new laptop that has Windows 10 on it and I have zero issues using it with TeamViewer among my other computers and those of my family.

[MacGyver]

Ed, I'm sorry if I made it sound complicated.  Hopefully Bobby's system will be what you need.  Just for future reference, what I was suggesting is that you have your Win 10 machine set up with TeamViewer just as you always have, but you also have VNC loaded on it.  You also have VNC loaded on the XP machines at your house.

You remote to your Win 10 machine over TeamViewer.  Then, just as if you were sitting at that machine in person, you pull up VNC, and remote from that Win 10 machine at your house, to your XP machine at your house.  It's just an extra hop, but we have to do that at some locations. 

Let me know how you like Bobby's solution.  I'll be interested to hear. 

[EV607797]

Trace, no apologies needed at all and I hope that I didn't come across as ungrateful.  I understood what you said and I looked into the program, but the terminology they use left me in a bit of a quandary.  I got spoiled with the simplicity of TeamViewer where I could just target any type of device directly from any other device.  I further got spoiled being able to fix my mom's AOL issues from my iPhone, which is more of what I was hoping to accomplish.  I've pretty much accepted that the computing world isn't going to look too fondly at people who respect XP, so I'll have to begin migrating everything over to W10 at some point.  Through the use of Windows compatibility mode, I've managed to drag many of Vodavi's and Panasonic's proprietary programs over, a few steps at a time. 

I really hate to part with my Dell desktop with XP on it...  It's been such a rock solid work horse for me.  What breaks my heart is the loss of my ISA modem that would connect with nearly anything.  These USB modems aren't so tolerant. 

[MacGyver]

No worries, Ed.

Now I will tell you that you can still do all of that with VNC with no third party involved where it's running through their servers, but you would want to put some lock-down measures into play to make sure you're not opening a gateway to trouble.  It's truly nothing that is beyond your capabilities, but hopefully that solution of Bobby's will be the easy fix.  I need to take a look at it myself.

[EV607797]

Well, I spent a while working my way around MSP360 and it appears to be just what the doctor ordered.  It's not quite as graceful as TeamViewer is, but I'm not complaining.  The only issue I have found is that the associated devices and their IDs aren't stored in the account itself; the list of all devices must be entered manually on each one.  That's not a big deal for me since most of what I'm doing is one-way.  Thanks for the tips, everyone.  I might be seeing the light soon. 

Edit:  After several attempts to install MSP360 on my desktop PC, and three fails, I found out that they don't support XP either.  The installation wizard doesn't tell you this; it just crashes and stops.  They only go back as far as Windows 7 and a few versions of Windows Server.  Oh well, it is still nice to have an alternative if needed in the future.  Thanks, Bobby.

[TexasTechnician]

I'm sorry Ed and you're welcome.  I didn't know XP was a no-go for them. I still have an XP machine that I use now and again and I never tried to install it on that machine.

[MacGyver]

Ed, that may take you back to the VNC option.  It works just fine.  You would need to remote to your newest desktop via TeamViewer, and then as if you were sitting at that machine in person, remote from it to the XP machine that is there on your network with VNC, or for that matter you might be able to RDP from the main machine to the old XP machine.  Just random thoughts.