Teamviewer users - potential (Near) future issue

[The_bluester]

Just a heads up through it has not happened to me yet.

I have seen some other forums indicating that Teamviewer has quite suddenly become very aggressive about what constitutes "Personal" use in the context of free use and are banning licenses when their servers detect more than one connection.

An example was on the SGP forum where someone has been using it for an extended period (As have I) and had one PC in an obs situation logged on to a PC doing image capture, then logged in to it from a third PC in their house (I think) and promptly received an error message essentially saying he was using it as a professional user and his license would be banned if he did not disconnect immediately. On contacting TV he was told he had been banned and the insistence was that he was a commercial user and essentially he could pay up front the nearly $700 annual fee or he could go die in a ditch.

The only difference I can see to me is I don't have a username and have never wanted to use it remotely, I have all my copies set up with "Exclusively accept incoming LAN connections" so I can log in to my imaging rig remotely from within my own network only without being a registered user, but apparently that functionality is going to get the chop on the free version too.

The situation is different as Teamviewer already have paying users, but you would have to ask if they paid attention to what happened to Photobucket when they tried something similar.

What else are people using before it potentially cuts me off in the middle of an imaging session? The cynic in me wonders given how implacably they seem to be doing this if they have a time expiry in recent versions that will force an upgrade to a new version for "Free" license users such as myself to disable the LAN only functionality I have always used.

If the price were reasonable I would consider moving up to a paid user account (Except that their hacking history is not exactly stellar) but at almost $700USD annually in a lump sum for the lowest license it makes as much sense as Photobucket's ransom demand did.

[Imme]

I'm just using good old Remote Desktop Connection.......allows me to do what I want from anywhere in the house.
I initially used Teamviewer but had issues with connections so dumped it.

[The_bluester]

Only available on the pro version of W10 unfortunately so I have to keep seeking another solution. TightVNC seems to get a few mentions so I might try that. I run my imaging rig headless so it would be "Set fire to it" inconvenient if they kill it off while I am at the Snake Valley camp in a couple of weeks. I don't even take a keyboard and monitor to that, just use my laptop to remote in to it.

[Imme]

Didn't know that....best I don't update then hey!

[glend]

If you use Teamviewer as a local LAN only connection you will never have an issue. It's only when you go out to the internet and back that you could run into restrictions. One session to the house astro monitoring Netbook connected to my observatory imaging PC, via my local wifi, never any problems.
I avoid WIN Remote because I don't want to do the WIN update dance, I stay on WIN 8.

[Paul Haese]

Paul I have been down the path with TV about commercial license after being accused of running a commercial session on my remote scopes. I even sent a statutory declaration stating that I was just a private user. In the end I told them if they banned me they could shove it right up the Kibber pass and trying to ban me would not encourage me to buy a license from them. I told them I would go anywhere else rather than give them money after such behaviour. With the latest update the Ipad in question cannot now use the latest version of Team Viewer which is a pain but stopped the BS from them.

On my computer at home I use Radmin, which works really well and I only paid once for use of the programme for one computer.

TeamViewer are headed down the track of licensing and will eventually require payment monthly just like every other money grabbing organisation. I wish Radmin would get their app for Ipad sorted out as I would use that without question.

[acropolite]

IMO Team Viewer was a rip off when the licence cost was a once only fee, more so now that they want the same amount annually.

I use remote desktop with a port forward (using a non standard port e.g. 50123 mapped to 3389) from the outside world and some security settings that lockout login for 30 minutes after 3 unsuccessful attempts. There is a nice RDP app available for iPad.

If Remote Desktop is not an option then Anydesk is a good alternative, free for personal use. www.anydesk.com

[kosborn]

I was using TeamViewer until it became too difficult when I was blocked first on my remote computer, and then after waiting 4 weeks to reinstate my license, having the the local computer license blocked. At that stage I gave up and now use Chrome remote desktop. It works through the Chrome web browser, is free, and works flawlessly. It doesn't have the features of TeamViewer but for remote control of an imaging laptop it does everything I need.


Kevin

[The_bluester]

For my use, literally all I need is a remote desktop connection as I only use it to run my imaging gear headless. I literally sit next to it with my laptop remoting into it via my home LAN, at a star party I take a router with me and make my own ad hoc network that way.

If "Exclusively accept LAN" connections remains usable (I don't have a user account to lock out, never have had) then it will suit me for a while yet, but if they kill that functionality out of the unlicensed version Teamviewer is dead to me! Just like Elgas, but that is another long and tortured story.

[ChrisV]

Get a $10 key for win pro 10 on eBay and use remote desktop. That's what I've got

[The_bluester]

Actually it seems that the way I am using it is probably going to keep working, It is hard to block your account if you don't have one. I think I will worry about it if they remove the "Exclusively accept LAN connections" feature form the free/unlicensed version.


If that stays as is and I want to access it remotely I can probably even set myself up a VPN so that I can remote in to my home network and then access it that way as a local user.

[garymck]

Have any of you thought of using Voyager? It now has remote access to the controlling imaging PC via a browser based app. Can be used via Android, Ios etc if it has a web browser. One guy did a test and controlled his imaging system on his mobile phone whilst having a beer in a bar.....

Use on your internal Lan, or connect via the Internet...

No need to use TV, Remote Deskop LogMeIn or any other app. Included in the price of a Voyager licence

see:
https://software.starkeeper.it/

Gary

[Russj]

I used tv for the last couple of years they disabled tv and suggested I was a commercial user, I filled in their online forms and they reconnected me without any problems.


In view of tv's recent hissy fits I decided to find an alternate, I'm currently using Chrome Remote Desktop app in firefox browser, I prefer it over tv, its easy to setup and works like a charm.

[sunslayr]

I use remote desktop connection on my windows home based minipc using rdpwrapper (https://github.com/stascorp/rdpwrap/releases), only downside is you need to update (https://www.infopackets.com/news/10552/how-update-rdpwrapini-rdp-wrapper) the ini occasionally when windows updates the rdp service. Unfortunately thanks to my carrier grade nat at home the only way to access my scope while I'm out is with teamviewer, at least until my phone gets ipv6. Hopefully TeamViewer doesn't consider that commercial.

[Cliff]

I was just reading through the topic and I've also had recent issues with Teamviewer,

https://www.nomachine.com/download

Available for most OS's

Just a thought and its free

Cliff

[Wavytone]

That’s ok for a private LAN (home observatory) where you could assign a static IP to the host within your subnet and access that from the comfort of your lounge.

To access it across the internet would require either a static IP from your ISP, or or you will need to use the likes of TeamViewer or LogMeIn who host a name resolver service.

Might give it a whirl over the weekend to see how it stacks up.

I’d also suggest you be wary of the security aspects of apps offering network access to your machine especially from fly-by-night startups... it provides an obvious way for them to rifle through your files.

[Cliff]

I don't think their that new and offer Enterprise versions also not free but have trials.

With its headquarters in Luxembourg, NoMachine also has representative offices located in the United States and Germany and multiple R&D sites around Europe. Since 2003

Of course this is what is written on the site about them. Says it is used on Fortune 500 companies.

Anyway worth a go. I've had no problems.

Cliff

[The_bluester]

I missed that this thread had come to life again.

I have just started migrating to Voyager from SGP and the web dashboard is a godsend, I have not looked in to making it accessible outside of my own network yet though.

One aspect though is that you still either need remote or physical access to the machine that is running Voyager to set up your imaging sessions, either basic imaging sequences or more complex scheduling via the dragscript function. You need to set them up prior to be able to call them from the web dashboard.

I am still using Teamviewer at the moment and the suggestion that as I am not using an account (Local LAN connections only) I will be OK is proving true at least for now. I might at some point set up a VPN to let me access the network from the wider internet to be able to be remote-local user, but that is a way off yet.