C't Magazin | Remote Control Software Test

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18.11.2019 24

Solve PC problems professionally Remote Support Software Review

PRODUCTS

AnyDesk

ISL Online

pcvisit

Remote Utilities

RescueAssist

SupRemo

Teamviewer

VNC Connect

ISL Online Score

EASE OF USE FOR REMOTE USERS

FEATURES

WWW.ISLONLINE.COM

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Remote administration for experts

Plenty of programs can be used to emote administration software, with the person who will be doing the work access other PCs remotely for assis- Rwhich an expert or an assistant can in the end. An important criterion for us tance, but not all of them are a useful access a remote PC to solve a problem when selecting candidates was therefore option for commercial users. We also there, might be aimed at a wide variety that even novice users should be able to found big differences in the ease of of target audiences. While some time get to grips with it as quickly as possible. ago we looked at solutions that are free That is, easily manage to download and use for the person seeking help. of charge for private customers and that start the connection tool, enter an access require mobile access apps [1], the focus code that they are given by the support this time is somewhat different: software technician, and then just send a few con- By Jan Schüßler that commercial users can use to help firmations that the expert is allowed to their customers. connect to the computer. By default, the At first glance, the market for such tool should not require any installation or programs is huge. However, not all prod- configuration. This eliminates Windows’ ucts are actually easy to use, especially for own remote desktop connection and VNC

114 © Copyright by Heise Medien c’t 2019, issue 24 Remote Administration | Reviews & Service

products that are not capable of connect- mote maintenance for various corporate from which the customer downloads a ing across NAT boundaries and therefore or private customers and perhaps employ connection tool. Some providers have require a VPN. Google’s Chrome Remote a small numberof people. special landing pages where the customer Desktop is also eliminated - it requires a seeking help simply downloads the tool Google Account. In addition, at least the The Candidates and sometimes must even enter an access customer side of the software should of- With these criteria in mind, eight prod- code given to him by the technician. Al- fer a German language interface. ucts made it into our test field: AnyDesk, ternatively, some clients allow the techni- For the technician or service provid- ISL Online, pcvisit, Remote Utilities, cian to send an invitation email. er, functions such as connection logging LogMeIn RescueAssist, Nanosystems Su- for later billing are a welcome addition. pRemo, TeamViewer and VNC Connect Granting Access As is the possibility of being able to call on from RealVNC. The connection is established by enter- manufacturer support if problems arise. From a technical point of view, such ing a numerical code, usually eight to In contrast to our last comparison software consists of two parts: a host, twelve digits long, which, depending on for private customers, some available fea- also called a server, and a client. Contrary the provider, is either communicated by tures are not as important. For example, to what the names might suggest, the the customer to his technician or vice because a professional technician usually host is the piece of software that receives versa. The customer may then have to ac- carries a decent enterprise laptop with the remote access connection, so it runs cept a UAC query to allow access to the him when he’s on the road, we consider on the computer of the person seeking screen and to give the remote expert con- the availability of client apps for Android help. Because this software often runs at trol over his system. and iOS to be optional. It can help in an the client (as in the client of the support The providers handle these permis- absolute emergency, but is not an essen- company), some manufacturers confus- sions differently. In the standard config- tial criterion. That’s why we look to see ingly refer to this as the client module. uration, AnyDesk, RescueAssist and VNC if such apps are available and test them On the other side, the expert uses the Connect do not run with admin privileg- briefly, but don’t put them through their client program, sometimes also called a es; the technician can request them with a paces in earnest. For commercial custom- viewer, to access the system of the person single click, which requires the customer ers, it is also irrelevant whether they can seeking help. Some manufacturers strict- to interact again - he has to approve the use the product free of charge indefinite- ly separate host and client into different privilege escalation on his end with a UAC ly - most products exclude business use software packages, in other cases both query. In the case of pcvisit, the standard from their free offers. functions are contained in one program. administrator rights lead to a somewhat Enterprise customers have other re- Sometimes both options are available, strange situation: If the technician wants quirements on top of this, such as the pos- such as with Team Viewer, where the to set up permanent, unattended access, sibility of having software automatically standard program includes both features, a dialogue asks the customer whether he rolled out and configured for hundreds or but a simple QuickSupport module is also wants to allow this process - which the even thousands of workstations via group available for inexperienced end users. technician can simply agree to himself. policies. This also isn’t our focus here - The usual procedure for a remote AnyDesk is the only provider whose our target audience are independent IT admin connection is that the technician solution allows the customer to deselect supporters who regularly carry out re- first provides his customer with a URL various permissions (input, sound, ses-

LogMeIn’s RescueAssist runs entirely within the browser - handy if you often switch the device you are helping other people from. c’t 2019, issue 24 © Copyright by Heise Medien 115 Reviews & Service | Remote Administration

sion recording, etc.) before allowing the connection.

Features Beyond mere remote access, the candidates in question offer a varying degree of additional features. Chat functions, a module for file exchange and a shared clipboard are standard, but only Any- Desk, ISL Online and TeamViewer can AnyDesk ISL Online move files back and forth. A function that sends the key combination Ctrl+Alt+Del Prices for AnyDesk start at around The entry-level price for the remote can also be very helpful. All candidates of- 100 euros per year for the basic administration solution ISL Online fer it, but it did not work with AnyDesk package (one user with one simul- from Slovenian provider XLAB is 95 (button grayed out) and RemoteUtilities taneous session). For 200 euros euros per year. In return, the custom- (no effect). per year, the Professional rate is er gets a licensing package with 500 More rarely seen is the ability to available: This conveys the right to minutes of connection time - ten min- draw something on the remote screen use the software on any number of utes per week - which are billed by (AnyDesk, ISL Online, TeamViewer, VNC devices. One simultaneous session the minute and can also be used for Connect), an option to send session invi- is included; each additional session several simultaneous connections. If tations by mail (ISL Online, pcvisit, Res- costs an additional 100 euros per you pay 339 euros a year, there are cueAssist, TeamViewer) or video telepho- year. Also included are session log- almost no restrictions - but only one ging including a REST-API, central simultaneous session is allowed. You ny features (ISL Online, TeamViewer). deployment and white label custo- may pay 99 Euro on top for an un- Surprisingly, not all candidates offer the misation (add a company logo, de- limited number of simultaneous con- option to save sessions as video files - it is activate incoming or outgoing connections - but per workstation. Large missing in SupRemo and VNC Connect. nections). If you pay 500 euros per customers can also purchase licens- With pcvisit, the recordings are made in year, you get a universal license for es for self-hosting the software. Flash format - in 2019 this seems almost any number of simultaneous ses- ISL Online makes it easy for the like a joke. sions. All price models are annual person seeking help: After going to a Only ISL Online, LogMeIn and Re- contracts. dedicated landing URL and entering alVNC operate dedicated landing pages If a client attempts to estab- an eight-digit key, the user down- where end users can download the remote lish a connection, the software not loads the ISL Light Client (which is maintenance program easily. With Any- only asks the user in front of the technically the server). After the soft- Desk, pcvisit and SupRemo, the programs target PC for permission, but also ware has been started, the rest of the can be downloaded directly from the reg- which permissions he wants to connection is set up automatically. ular homepage of the manufacturers with grant - individual functions such as The user only needs to agree to a one click. With RemoteUtilities, the user file transfer, shared clipboard, ses- UAC request. To set up unattended must first click through to the download sion recording and remote control access, however, the full ISL Light page and then download one of the three can be prohibited. software must be installed and pro- host variants (installation packages are The software can run on the vided with a team login. available in EXE or MSI format and there desktop on both client and host Connection setup and opera- is an installation-free program). Although without installation. In a real-life tion is straightforward and the fea- TeamViewer offers the software directly working environment, it gets out of ture range is convincing. Options for on its home page, the “QuickSupport” the way and lets admins do the nec- drawing on the screen and setting module, which is particularly suitable for essary work. AnyDesk also allows to markers on the remote desktop are inexperienced end users, unfortunately is control Android mobile devices. To included. The shared clipboard also not directly linked there. do so, an add-on must be installed works for dragging and dropping on the device - this is currently files, but only to send them to the re- No Such Thing as a Free... available for devices from Samsung mote computer. The prices differ significantly. With and HTC. On iOS devices, only the pcvisit and Remote Utilities, commercial screen is transmitted; remote con- customers may also use the software free trol is not possible. of charge to some extent. Interestingly enough, the range of functions is hardly limited in this case. But the free licences are only suitable for very occasional use. Flexible permissions Easy to use Remote Utilities can control a maximum Many supported platforms Features of ten target PCs in this mode; pcvisit is Mobile clients are a bit wonky Unlimited package is expensive limited to five remote sessions per month.

116 © Copyright by Heise Medien c’t 2019, issue 24 Remote Administration | Reviews & Service

pcvisit Remote Utilities RescueAssist The pricing structure of pcvisit is sim- The price of the permanent (!) licens- LogMeIn charges 468 USD per sup- ple: It can also be used free of charge es for Remote Utilities are deter- porter per year; with the option to commercially, but only five sessions mined based on the number of per- terminate the contract on a month- per month are permitted. The full mitted endpoints. In the free tier this ly basis, it’s 688 USD per month. package costs 150 euros per user is ten. The Starter Package (99 USD) For 14 USD per month per techni- per year. A hardware remote diagno- extends this to 20 endpoints and cian, you can add support for mo- sis tool can be added (100 euros per includes email support; “Mini” (249 bile device access (remote view for year). An independent licence to host USD) can access 50 endpoints and Android and iOS; remote control pcvisit on your own server costs 150 also receives remote support from for some Android devices). As one euros per year. the manufacturer. For 500 USD, you of two vendors in this comparison, On the side of the remote PC, can access as many endpoints as LogMeIn also allows its subscribers either an installation-free ad hoc cus- you want and receive priority product to sign up for shorter contracts than tomer module can be used or a host support. Unlike most other solutions, one year. This increases the effec- can be installed. The latter can also there is no need to have a user active annual price by about one third. be installed directly within the frame- count with the vendor; only the ne- This product should not be con- work of an ad-hoc session. Strange- gotiation of network connections is fused with LogMeIn Rescue, which ly, on the remote PC, a question is done through a vendor server. is targeted at enterprise customers asked whether the support techni- To connect, the support expert (and significantly more expensive). cian is allowed to install the software, needs an ID and PIN from the oth- RescueAssist is a brows- but he can also answer this himself. er party; alternatively, the supporter er-based application - LogMeIn Otherwise, remote maintenance is can enter the destination IP or host- does not offer viewer apps, wheth- uncomplicated with this tool. Fea- name. The software offers all kinds er for desktop or mobile systems. tures like quick access to standard of administrative tools: Task man- It’s very easy to use and the web Windows components like the con- ager and command prompt can be dashboard is very clean. Sessions trol panel, group policy editor and opened in separate windows. How- are automatically recorded and are registry editor are very handy. ever, the Task Manager is a far cry usually available online for viewing The very detailed log is not from what we are used to from Win- a few minutes after they’ve ended. scaled correctly on high-resolution dows 8.1 or 10 and rather reminds Even on the remote side, where a screens and therefore appears tiny. us of Windows XP. small program needs to be down- pcvisit does not offer mobile cli- The user interface reminds us of loaded and run, any interactions ent apps; instead there’s a brows- Microsoft Office with its ribbon inter- with the technician, such as chat- er client. It worked fine on iOS and faces. There is no automatic shared ting, file transfers, etc., occur in the Android in testing, but compared clipboard, only the possibility to syn- web browser. to LogMeIn RescueAssist (see two chronize the clipboards with menu Despite the high comfort for boxes to the right), it is very basic. command in one direction or the oth- both sides of the support experi- pcvisit confirmed that it will be en- er - this is bulky and only works with ence, the range of Features is com- hanced in the future. Video recording plain text. Sending Ctrl+Alt+Del also paratively narrow - for the highest of sessions is in Flash format, which did not work. If the target PC was in price in the test field there is neither sounds like a joke, but it’s not. standby at some point, the connec- a drawing function nor a video chat; tion setup fails afterwards or turns the transmission quality cannot be out to be fiddly. The text log is quite adjusted either. confusing.

Pricing structure Permanent licenses High comfort Records Flash video No online account needed Completely browser based Minor inconsistencies Rough and old-fashioned interface Expensive

SupRemo TeamViewer VNC Connect Italian provider Nanosystems is The simplest TeamViewer license for The British provider RealVNC is charging comparatively low pric- single users is 335 euros per year for best known for its unattended ac- es for its remote support solution one user with one simultaneous ses- cess software, but also offers a VNC SupRemo. A license for single si- sion. The multi user license for 695 Connect license for instant support, multaneous connections costs 98 euros offers logging, team manage- which allows connections to any euros per year. For 178 euros the ment and any number of users - but number of destinations. With the subscriber can buy a package with still only one simultaneous session. smaller Professional license for 170 three sessions; additional sessions The team license for 1500 euros per euros per year, three connections can be booked for 39 euros each. year offers three simultaneous ses- may be simultaneous. For double As one of only a small number of the sions in addition to other manage- the price, you get ten as well as the tested applications, SupRemo can ment functions. Additional simulta- option of incorporating your own be subscribed to with shorter con- neous sessions cost 443 euros per branding into the software. tract terms: Namely quarterly for 33 year on top. The host software requires no or 59 euros per month respectively TeamViewer, which is some- installation and can be easily ob- - yearly subscribers pay 25% less. times used as a generic term for tained via a landing page. Nice: To The software is both client and remote administration programs, get admin rights, the technician can host at the same time and requires leaves hardly any wishes open, as choose whether the remote user no installation. If this is wanted, it long as the customer has enough should confirm this via UAC query can be installed on the host using money to pay for it. Some extrava- or whether login data for an admin- a system service for unattended ac- gant examples are a ticket system, istrator account are known. By de- cess. The setup is pleasingly simple. the augmented reality tool Pilot or fault, a remote connection is initially Compared to other solutions, the administration of smartphones. opened without administrator rights. it lacks a few advanced features - Remote control of Android devices is VNC Connect also runs in a in particular, there is no session available for most manufacturers. nicely unobtrusive way. Unlike most recording, which could be an im- QuickSupport is the simplest other products, however, unattend- mediate disqualification for some possible module for novices at the ed remote access is not possible potential customers. The fact that other end of the support call. It does - these licenses are intended ex- details like a drawing function and not annoy with questions about oper- clusively for support with an active video chat are absent and the trans- ating modes and licensing, but simply counterpart. Apart from this, we mission quality cannot be changed displays an ID and a password imme- only have some small niggles: The manually is probably something diately. The configurability is excel- file exchange tool does not offer a many customers can overlook - es- lent; in test operation TeamViewer view of the client’s folder structure, pecially considering the compara- runs smoothly and very unobtrusively. which makes frequent file transfers tively low price. We have noticed that the sound a bit uncomfortable, and the ac- The user interface sometimes output is turned down by 80 percent count management is only available started in English in the test and is when the “Communication” ribbon is in English and shows session times only incompletely translated overall. folded out for a remote connection. in the log exclusively in UTC, rather In addition, the remote customer This is due to a function of Windows than the local time zone. first ends up on an English website itself (which can be turned off in the - but since there is a large download control panel) to turn down all oth- button right there, so we didn’t con- er sounds during calls; however, it’s sider that to be a problem. strange that the mere unfolding of the ribbon triggers this. Easy to use Not everything is translated to Simple pricing structure Features German Easy setup Configurability Only works with a person in No recording of support sessions Prices front of the supported device

TeamViewer has a reputation in the industry for charging exorbitant prices. This reputation is not completely wrong: The entry price of 335 euros per year can quickly be driven up considerably if you need several users or more than one remote maintenance session running at the same time. Or if you want to support mobile devices. But there are higher base prices: US provider LogMeIn charges 468 euros a year for its RescueAssist. In return, the user gets convenience, but not too many features, and it’s a completely browser-based service. There are server apps for remote computers and mobile devices, but no separate client software - it runs entirely in the browser. Otherwise, most prices start at around 100 euros per year with slight differences in licensing per user and workstation. Then there usually are corre- sponding price increases. Most vendors do not concentrate pcvisit comes with its own program that evaluates logs and displays them in detail.

Commercially Usable Remote Administration Software

Product AnyDesk ISL Online pcvisit Remote Utilities RescueAssist SupRemo TeamViewer VNC Connect Provider philandro Software XLAB d.o.o pcvisit Software AG Remote Utilities LogMeIn Inc. Nanosystems S.r.l. TeamViewer GmbH RealVNC Ltd GmbH LLC Website anydesk.com islonline.com pcvisit.de/en remoteutilities. gotoassist.com supremocontrol. teamviewer.com realvnc.com com com Commercially us- – – (5 sessions a (max. 10 remote – – – – able free license month) systems) Client app usable without installation Compatibility according to provider Supporter side Windows, macOS, Windows, macOS, Windows, macOS, Windows, Android, Webbrowser Windows, macOS Windows, macOS, Windows, macOS, (client) Android, iOS, Linux, Linux, Android, iOS Browser (Web-App) iOS (beta), Android, iOS Linux, Chrome OS, Linux, Raspi3 FreeBSD, Raspi, Android, iOS, Chrome OS Blackberry, Win- dows 10 Mobile Client side (host) Windows, macOS, Windows, macOS, Windows, macOS Windows Windows, macOS, Windows, macOS Windows, macOS, Windows, macOS Linux, FreeBSD, Linux, Android, iOS iOS, (beta) Linux, Chrome OS, Raspi, Android Android Android, iOS, (only Samsung, Blackberry, Win- HTC) dows 10 Mobile Settings Turn off wallpaper – – – Transmission quali- – – – ty adjustable Proxy adjustable 1 Connection features Chat function Video conference – – – – – – File exchange Send Ctrl+Alt+Del 2 2 Draw on screen – – – – Combined clip- / sends files / text only4 / text only / text only, / text only / text only / sends files / text only board manually Default admin – – – permissions Disconnect remote 1 click 2 clicks 1 click 1 click 1 click 2 clicks 1 click 2 clicks side Management Address book for (–)5 past connections Generate email – – – – invitations Unattended access – White label options 6 (for Professional – – (Enterprise option) option) Save sessions as – – videos Connection log 6 Manage teams – – – Landing URL for – islonline.net – – fastsupport.com – – realvnc.help customers End user process Download and Enter code on Download and Find download, Enter code on Find download, Download and Download and (default configu- execute, send landing page, execute, enter download and landing page, download and execute, transmit execute, enter ration) code, allow con- download and code, UAC query execute, UAC query, download and execute, UAC query, ID and password, code, confirm nection execute, UAC query transmit code and execute transmit code and UAC query session password password Ratings Ease of use for remote users Features Minimal price (per €100 (1 device, €95 – (free) – (free) €468 €98 €335 (1 user, €170 year) 1 simultaneous (500 minutes (1 simultaneous 1 simultaneous (3 simultaneous connection) included) connection) connection) connections) Next higher price €200 €339 €150 per user Continuous license €688 €178 €695 €340 tier (many devices, (1 simultaneous €99 per user (mobile devices (3 connections, (many users, one (10 simultaneous 1 simultaneous connection) (20 connection included) more possible) connection) connections, white connection) endpoints) label, logs) Contracts available – – – – (monthly, 25% (quarterly, 33% – – for less than a year more expensive) more expensive) 1 Via browser settings 2 Didn’t work in our tests 3 Mobile apps available, but without quick support 4 Drag & drop files towards the remote system 5 Available, but not included in the quick support tier 6 Professional tier and onwards Excellent Good Passable Bad Very bad Available – Not available n. a. Not applicable

on the number of allowed users, howev- LogMeIn from RescueAssist (monthly) equipped, but it’s very easy to use and its er, but on the number of remote mainte- and SupRemo from Nanosystems (quar- web interface makes it accessible from nance sessions that the customer can use terly) offer shorter terms, but ultimately any computer with a web browser. simultaneously with the selected tariff slightly higher effective pricing. ([email protected]) - so-called simultaneous connections. More simultaneous connections are usu- Conclusion ally what drives the price up the most. Objectively speaking, the most appealing And this is absolutely understandable overall package in the test comes from from a pricing point of view: If the cus- Team Viewer. It offers excellent configu- tomer is not an occasional freelancer, but ration options, all kinds of extensions and a very busy self-employed IT specialist, extensive support for accessing Android who may also have support staff, the pro- devices. However, keeping the pricing in ductivity of his company is directly based mind, one question that quickly presents on how many customers it can assist at itself to the potential customer is: Do I re- the same time. ally need all of this? The US provider Remote Utilities is Passable alternatives, which do not special: The company sells its software of lack any essential features, are available the same name not as a subscription, but from AnyDesk, ISL Online and pcvisit - as a permanently valid one-time license. with the latter you should especially con- This has the usual advantages (no sub- sider how important mobile access apps scription fee), but also well-known disad- are to you. SupRemo and VNC Connect vantages (upgrades to new major releases should only be looked at by those who do cost money). not need video recording of sessions. References [1] Jan Schüßler, An den Nagel hängen, Speaking of subscriptions: The usu- In a way, LogMeIn’s RescueAssist is Fernwartungssoftware statt Turnschuhad- al term for contracts is one year. Only special: it’s expensive and not overly well- ministration, c’t 13/2017, p. 92

ISL Online HQ Pot za Brdom 100 SI-1000 Ljubljana Slovenia www.islonline.com [email protected] +386 1 2447760