VNC shock horror!

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Darkbee
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Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2006 8:35 am
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VNC shock horror!

#1 Post by Darkbee »

I was mortified to discover that VNC has gone all commercial! I remember back in the day when this was THE remote control software, ironically potentially better than (or at least as good as) anything on the commerical market back then. Now it seems the original developers have decided to jump on the band wagon. I suppose you can't blame them, but for me, it begs the question of are there now other Open Source or Freeware alternatives to VNC? (Yes, I know there is a free version of "RealVNC" but it seems to have significantly less features than the paid versions).

I suppose there's always TightVNC but I'm wondering if this little project will get shutdown at some point (since it's derived from the original VNC).

(btw, tightVNC doesn't appear to be portable... more's the pity!)

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Andrew Lee
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#2 Post by Andrew Lee »

The free edition seems to be still, well, free (GPL).

It doesn't have some new features like file transfer and windows authentication, but I don't remember them ever been in the free edition anyway.

eprimetime
Posts: 9
Joined: Sat Oct 21, 2006 7:25 pm

TightVNC Gets My Vote!!!

#3 Post by eprimetime »

I started using VNC before most of the derivative versions came out, when it was still the brainchild of Bell Labs (I think), and hosted on a URL that ended with .org.uk

A little history lesson: VNC was made GPL (or a similar license) by Bells Labs. When the original programmers left, and rechristened it RealVNC, that did not mean that the original code ceased to be free. The creators of TightVNC took the last free code, ancd have built on and improved it.

I have used several different versions of VNC software, and in my opion, TIghtVNC is the best one out there, not to mention that it is still free. And no, it will not go away. They are actively developing new features.

As far as portability goes, they have on their download page a package that is zipped, with no installer, that includes all of the binaries. They also have a zipped package of the viewer only, and I had downloaded at one time a package that included the server only, but I cannot seem to find that now, and it may well be included in the no installer zip file. Both the viewer and the server were portable, as far as my testing went. I have the server binary sitting on my file server, and when someone contacts me with computer issues, I just have them download it, very quick even over a dialup link, and start it. When we are done, I have them delete the file, and that is it!

I hope that this helps those that are looking for a free remote control solution. Also, if someone needs the server binary, I would be happy to send you the address of my server, if it's not in the zip package.

They also had, at one time, a way to create your own "Branded" version of TightVNC, with your company name, etc on it, to be distributed to clients.

eprimetime

TP109
Posts: 571
Joined: Sat Apr 08, 2006 7:12 pm
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Re: VNC shock horror!

#4 Post by TP109 »

TightVNC is still an active project. The latest release is version 2.8.55 (November 26, 2020).

Homepage:
https://tightvnc.com/

Download Page for 32 and 64 bit installers:
https://tightvnc.com/download.php

Frequently Asked Questions:
https://tightvnc.com/faq.php#OS

What Windows versions does TightVNC support?
TightVNC runs basically on any version of Windows (both 32-bit and 64-bit systems are supported):
Windows XP / Vista / 7 / 8 / 8.1 / 10,
corresponding versions of Windows Server.
On Windows XP, you should have the latest Service Pack installed. Windows CE systems are not supported.
There are no minimum disk space or RAM requirements. TightVNC uses so little space and memory that it can run anywhere Windows is running.

How secure is TightVNC?
Although TightVNC encrypts VNC passwords sent over the net, the rest of the traffic is sent as is, unencrypted (for password encryption, VNC uses a DES-encrypted challenge-response scheme, where the password is limited by 8 characters, and the effective DES key length is 56 bits). So using TightVNC over the Internet can be a security risk. To solve this problem, we have plans to implement built-in encryption in future versions of TightVNC.

In the mean time, if you need real security, we recommend installing an SSH server, and using SSH tunneling for all TightVNC connections from untrusted networks.

https://tightvnc.com/faq.php#OS

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