Remote Access Software

[Snowreap]

to elaborate on why I don't use RealVNC on a 64-bit OS, let me give more detail:

1. I *do* install RealVNC on a 64-bit OS, because I always install it on all machines, and this ensures that I can always remote into the machine no matter what.

2. I *use* Remote Desktop rather than VNC when remoting into a 64-bit machine because, for most purposes, it gives better performance. RealVNC for Windows is currently only available in a 32-bit version, with a 32-bit "hook driver". the performance of a 32-bit driver on a 64-bit system is impacted by the need to switch back and forth between 64 and 32 bits, and as a result VNC viewer performance is noticeably slower when viewing a 64-bit Windows host.

3. I will still use VNC to view a 64-bit host, despite the lower performance, if any of the following are true:

a. I don't want to affect the desktop resolution (VNC will show the desktop as it is, Remote Desktop will try to resize it to something convenient for the viewer unless you make a special effort to prevent it).

b. I want to see visual effects that Remote Desktop won't show. for example, the nVidia hardware monitor utility doesn't display properly under Remote Desktop, but it works fine via VNC.

c. the machine I am using does not have mstsc.exe installed (the Remote Desktop client), and for whatever reason I am not able to install it, or I choose not to install it.

d. the machine I am using has mstsc.exe installed, but it is too much trouble to invoke it (for my purposes, I need to either invoke it from the command-line, e.g. "mstsc /v:192.245.245.1 /console" or make a shortcut with the appropriate command-line parameters).

-ken