Author Topic: recomendations for a remote desktop program? (Read 653 times)

Trell · « **on:** January 21, 2004, 11:19:23 AM »

Guys!.

I am looking for a little information.

I am trying to look up a very low cost remote monitoring program to roll out at my work. We want to use this for troubleshooting. And for the management to monitor the agents.

Our hope is to be able to set this up so the agents will not know when someone logs into there system to monitor them.
We have no problem with them knowing the software is there. But we don’t want any flashing icons when someone logs in.

Vnc So far looks good; But It may be a pain to edit the program so that it won’t show people logging in.

Any recommendations on a remote desktop program? We need a program that will work on NT, 9x, 2000, and xp Thanks!!!

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Maniac · « **Reply #1 on:** January 21, 2004, 11:21:32 AM »

For work eh?

Why wouldnt you want them to know if you log in or not if its for work?

I think what you are after is a trojan...

Haxx0r!

Trell · « **Reply #2 on:** January 21, 2004, 11:44:41 AM »

lol

Becasue Managment wants to make sure the call agents are doing what they are paid to do rather then playing website games and going online.

Its allright In the near future we will be setting up a proxy to track them that way as well.

Btw We dont care if they know the program is installed. It can even be in the taskbar. But with vnc and ra I know that the icon changes colour when someone logs in. That we don't want.

And no If i wanted to do that I would be looking into sub7 . I have thought about bo2k. But I am not sure if that will set off the scanner and have not tested the program yet.

FUNKED1 · « **Reply #3 on:** January 21, 2004, 11:57:30 AM »

I think Radmin would work if you run it as a service and login in "view" mode. Just make sure you use the built in IP filter, use a non-default port, and pick a strong password, because if an unauthorized person logs on they can pretty much have their way with your computer.

FUNKED1 · « **Reply #4 on:** January 21, 2004, 12:01:26 PM »

I tried VNC also, had no problems with it. There is even a Palm client so I could log in to my computer's desktop from my cell phone.

Trell · « **Reply #5 on:** January 21, 2004, 12:53:11 PM »

We have had good luck With radmin It is very fast. The only problem Is our company is trying to do it cheap. We Will be loading it onto about 500 machines.

Vnc the only problem I have had so far is a way of setting the taskbar icon not to change colour when someone logs into monitor them.

BlckMgk · « **Reply #6 on:** January 21, 2004, 12:59:00 PM »

bo2k is considered a trojan, and most Vscaners will try and have it removed. Probable you could have the Vscaner over look it, but I think every time you use it, it broadcasts your i.p. to a host which then sends it out to all who have haxor skills etc... btw along with other info. I remember some friends wanting to do remote admining, and they always raved about NetBus, but i've got no clue about that program, or what it does..... GL

Maniac · « **Reply #7 on:** January 21, 2004, 12:59:08 PM »

You got 500 clients/computers and you dont have a proxy-server?

You could get a program that automatically retrives the computers internet "history" logs instead...

By the way, is it legal to spy on your employes like that in the US? if we did that over here and gave the info to the managment that would be legal grounds to sue...

AKCasca · « **Reply #8 on:** January 21, 2004, 01:45:23 PM »

Like the Funkmaster says VNC is a good choice, I use Dameware and it works well too.

Maniac, if your the admin monitoring your machines how does that equate to spying? I mean anymore than saving and going through your proxy server logs or having auditing turned on the servers? Maybe its because I am a one man band for the place I am at, but what a colosal time sink to watch what folks do (er spy), the remote control stuff is nice to watch someone when the call about a problem and help out. Ohh and as far as I know there isnt any rule/law against it here.

Trell · « **Reply #9 on:** January 21, 2004, 01:49:35 PM »

Maniac

We have 3 call centers. so all 500 users are not in the same center. They did have a porxy a while back but they took it down( dont know y)
for the most part the call center suppervisiors will walk the floor to make sure everyone is doing there jobs, We would like to stop them from having to do this. They have better things to do.

my center has a little over 100 users.

Now would that program have to be installed on each machine and could it be automated into showing what ever user we need to look up?

and yes in this "free" americia companys can monitor email, phone conversations or anything else.

BlckMgk
You are right that the scanners will flag it as a virus unless you white flag it to pass. I have not tested it yet so I dont know If it will broad cast an ip address or not. These are all things I will have to add to to test then add to my report before I submit it to my boss with my recomendations.

Maniac · « **Reply #10 on:** January 21, 2004, 02:19:41 PM »

Quote

Maniac, if your the admin monitoring your machines how does that equate to spying?

I work as a sys admin. I can go thru peoples emails, firewall/proxy logs, go thru peoples hard disks and delete stuff at will,

But if i report what i see to my employer, the boss, then we can get sued... its a no no to take what I as a technician finds in the client comps and present it to the managment...

Of course if i find child porn i have every right to do what i want... report it to whomever... also if the user/users do not follow our IT-Policy wich ive written myself and is about 20-30 pages long, then technically we have grounds to fire the person not following the rules.

But taking over peoples computers to monitor if they work or not and presenting it to the managment, no way in hell.... Or presenting a list of webpages that certain people visits is also a no no...

I can give the managment general hints of whats going on, but i cant be precise and tell them exactly who is doing what... (as long as they djust surf and follow the IT-policy).

Its the same with the Telephony, we can draw stats, exact numbers, etc etc out of the system but the boss have no right to see em...

Trell, i got a great program for retriving logs and stuff remotly at work, im at a course right now and will be back at the office on monday, ill look this thread up and post the name of it then.

It was shareware, but you have to install a "client" in each computer....

Maniac · « **Reply #11 on:** January 21, 2004, 02:23:23 PM »

By the way, i use VNC on my 170 clients, and we also use Novell Netwares Remote controll (users dont see when you take controll in that one) You even can turn on computers that have been turned off by the user remotly (wake on LAN). Thats rather nice...

We also are using Citrix Terminal Servers, and when you take over the sessions there its called "shadowing", this is also not seen/noticed by the users...

By the way, as a support/admin guy i couldnt live without remote controll tools.

AKCasca · « **Reply #12 on:** January 21, 2004, 02:41:50 PM »

gotcha, sounds like we have the same job.

LePaul · « **Reply #13 on:** January 21, 2004, 03:42:48 PM »

VNC: Ok, not bad for free. Has this tendancy to lock every great once in a while but very basic. Web side is really nice...if you are travelling and need to get into your servers, you can web-in via the vnc web/java interface...so you can tweak your server from any where. Nice ability.

PC Anywhere: Pricier. Every new version (which is twice a year) is $79+. To be up to date over the past few years, Ive shelled out several hundred dollars. On the Pro side, I can print to remote printers the cliend is on, etc etc. Many things you can do with it, just the price sucks.

Windows Remote Desktop Connection: (Free in Windows 2000 Servers, 2003, etc etc...)...works quite well. I'd give it top nods for simple and effective...unless you want more features like PCA offers.

For my servers, I use the Windows Remote Desktop stuff

Trell · « **Reply #14 on:** January 21, 2004, 04:14:21 PM »

Yep for our servers we use Windows Remote Desktop as well

We also have a couple citrix boxes for a couple shared boxes.
We even have Radmin on a few boxes.

But what we are looking for is something strictly for our call agents workstations those stations are anything from NT to xp.
.

I have looked into pc anywhere but you run into the cost problem.
Our IT budget is flat. So cost is one of the biggest factors.

I have been testing out and have been happy with vnc, the only problem is having to do a registry hack to remove the task bar Icon

Maniac

For monitoring, the management will be doing that; they just need to have the tools on hand

Not being able to let management know when people are abusing computer priv? Only hinting? That sounds a lot like charades, waving our hands and letting them guess who is messing up?

We do not go through email but our agents do not have any email accounts. We have a high turn over in the call center.
Our agents do not need it. We are trying to limit what they can do.

And you are right, With out some of the remote control tools I would never get anything done. So much of my work is done from remote locations, ie our other call centers

Btw I would love to see the program That will check the logs.