Remote Support Software Test by c’t (English translation) Remote control software ISL Light Rating Vista assistance (UAC) Connection adjustment (Colours, Desktop background, Aero off, Region and application sharing) Reporting and session recording Setup and installation very good good satisfactory poor very poor Remote support software test I c't Magazin, Issue 21 - 2008 Test I Remote support software Reiko Kaps take control of client’s mouse or keyboard. Remote Desktop (RDP) tool built-in the Microsoft Windows or VNC (Virtual Network Computing) make resolving such situations Support providers easier. Desktop content of the remote com- puter is transferred through the network to Fast remote support for Vista desktop supporter’s monitor, who can in addition control the remote computer’s mouse and There is no need for driving to your parents, friends or customers when keyboard, or transfer files and short messag- they need help with their computers. Remote assistance applications es between supporter and user. that pass through remote firewalls and routers enable you to establish a connection with the remote computer over the Internet. We tested several Obstacles remote desktop support products in this c’t test. When a user starts a Windows Remote Desk- top software, her or his computer starts op- ystem administrators and helpdesk op- Normally, there are few instances where erating as a server, which offers its desktop erators in most cases remotely admin- advice on the phone can help solving solve over the network. When supporter wants Sister computers of their clients. Remote the biggest of problems, as the supporter to control this desktop, the network router maintenance software and private networks must explain every click of a mouse, ask for must forward the supporter’s request to make travelling to a customer unnecessary. the result of every action, and finally trust the client, which then forwards the Remote An ordinary computer whiz does not always the client to provide correct descriptions of Desktop port into local client network, of the have such refined infrastructure available, what is going on. Problems could surely be computer that is to be administered. The c’t when relatives or friends need help with Win- solved faster if supporter was actually able magazine’s remote maintenance tool [1, 2, 3] dows Vista, Word or printer. to see the remote Windows desktop or even reverses this procedure: VNC server on theI 136 c’t 2008, issue 19 © Copyright by Heise Zeitschriften Verlag GmbH & Co. KG. Publication and reproduction only by exclusive authorization of the publishing house Heise Zeitschriften Verlag. Test I Remote support software Remote support software user side connects user invites the supporter. When the invita- or limit remote desktop to only specific parts to supporter’s computer. It is only the user tion is accepted an actual help session starts of the desktop or even individual application who has to engage port forwarding on the over a link on the web page. windows. Some even disable Vista’s 3D-look router, which sends data from the VNC server Other programs, such as Netviewer, during the session. Animation and transpar- to the VNC client (in this case supporter). fastviewer and TeamViewer do not have a ent windows cause additional traffic that Routers or firewalls cannot be set up web interface and authenticate towards the should be avoided especially with slow con- for port forwarding if supporter uses a mo- proxy server with a key, which is in fastviewer nections. bile connection or WLAN-hotspot. In cases, and Netviewer cases combined with the li- Even though the task is identical, the us- when supporter’s and user’s computers are cense: supporter and user need harmonized age concepts of test candidates differ sub- placed in local networks, they both use NAT software in order to make use of remote as- stantially. NTRconnect or Netviewer are more (Network Address Translation) to access web. sistance. Other freeware solutions, such as likely to be used for managing own comput- Therefore, such computers cannot directly TeamViewer and CrossLoop only need a one- ers or entire network. Others, such as Instant connect to each other. In these cases remote time password to establish a connection. Housecall or CrossLoop connect supporters assistance connections fail at the network with users, who need help with software or router. Criteria hardware installation. WebEx or pcvisit 8 or- ganize virtual meetings among users. All tested programs had to prove their abil- Web ambulance We tested the candidates’ procedures, ity to control user’s Vista desktop, which is including how supporter and user establish Remote support products which we tested accessing the Internet from a local network. a connection, using well tested remote con- are designed to perform the same tasks Supporter’s computer was also inside a lo- trol applications. Many programs prefer web as Windows Remote Desktop or VNC. The cal area network (LAN) behind a router that based setup, while others consist of separate remote desktop support products create a blocks unwanted data packages from the pieces of software for supporters and users. connection between supporter and user, but Internet. Only a few run without installation. Most pro- not directly between the two computers. Vista introduced User Account Control grams can be upgraded in license, which is Since both supporter and user have no (UAC), which controls startup of programs subject to additional costs. problems accessing the Internet, our test on the second desktop in the background. candidates forward the session through an When some software requires administrator additional commonly accessible computer. permissions, UAC covers user’s desktop with This in-between computer (proxy) creates a dialogue which requires the user’s permis- a session, which can be accessed by both sion. Some candidate programs leave UAC What we missed supporter and user and logged into by us- management to the local user or even cannot On closer examination, some of the earlier ing passwords or certificates. Proxy then in- work with UAC (e.g. CSpace). Others install a test candidates no longer met our criteria terposes between both sides and connects service or require administrator permissions or even completely failed our connection them by a data tunnel, enabling the support- to allow the supporter to confirm UAC dia- er to work on user’s desktop. logs and then control started programs (e.g. tests. Programs like Remotesupportsys- Many professional supporters miss ad- fastviewer). tem, Radmin and MSN Live Messenger fail ditional functionalities in freeware remote Remote desktop software VNC transfers when connections are made from a local maintenance programs such as actions log passwords, mouse movements and key- network to a local network and port for- or video recording of the session. This could strokes in a non-encrypted form. People who warding is therefore needed on network allow the supporter to prove his or her ac- use VNC therefore transfer data over SSH or router. tions in case of disputes. Many remote sup- virtual private network (VPN). Products we port programs enable file transfer, which is tested encrypt the data upon transfer using Netop On Demand froze right after the usually completely sufficient for small tasks. SSL or some other encrypting protocol. Users However, if entire hard disk or folders need program started because it could not identify towards the tested programs with find the MSVCR71.DLL library. Installation to be protected, a file manager or backup certificates or via HTTPS based login. program is a better choice. People who reg- program obviously did not install the file, Communication between supporter and ularly administer more than one computer which is also not a part of the standard user in most tested cases takes place over will appreciate computer management, as it Vista operating system setup. We ad- an in-between server, what in principle al- collects customer information, session pro- lows the server to record all transferred data. dressed a question to the Danish Netop- tocols and other data. Most of the test candidates are commercial Support, but are still waiting for their re- therefore there is no source code available spnse. Similarly,we were unable to create First aid so we have to trust the manufacturers that remote access session using Laplink Ev- 18 remote support programs had to prove encryption and overall security of the pro- erywhere, and are yet to receive suitable themselves in our test. They had to establish grams is handled properly. Only CSpace and support from them. a remote desktop connection between sup- Fog Creek Copilot allow an inspection of anti- porter and user, with both of them accessing theft protection in their code. In addition, just before the editorial dead- the Internet from a local network. Connec- Remote control software transfers graph- line, TeamViewer introduced a host mod- tion should be established without setting ical user interfaces of desktops. This means ule for their remote assistance software, up any port forwarding on router. that the amount of data to be transferred which enables administration of comput- Programs such as LogMeIn and Instant depends on number of colours shown on the ers that currently have no users logged Housecall are similar to a web service, which display and refresh rate. High values of these provide desktop over a browser or separate settings can quickly overburden slow con- on. Unfortunately, Citrix’s GoToMyPC has software. Supporters must log on to the web nections over analogue modem or mobile not been tested yet, therefore we will test page beforehand. Some candidates require access. Some test candidates offer extra op- this program, the TeamViewer Host and the supporter to be the one who invites the tions for such cases: automatically or by us- candidates Netop Ondemand and Laplink other side to the session over e-mail, Instant ing controls they reduce number of colours Everywhere in the next article.