Programs For Remote Control Mac OS X 10

Performance seemed to vary with Skype traffic, time of day, and the bandwidth available.

You should be able to use your Apple gear as long as it helps you remain productive and meets your needs, upgrading only as necessary.

This article addresses some commercial solutions that also support multiple OS versions, along with how to force-reboot a remote Mac.

Programs For Remote Control Mac OS X 10

Part 3 examines new options provided by Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.

Fortunately some services are now Mac friendly: LogMeIn provides web-based remote control for PCs and Macs without needing to know the IP address of either machine or do any special firewall configurations.

Set up an account (with a strong password) on the LogMeIn website, then download the LogMeIn software.

A menu icon (a series of dots in an arc near the clock) appears on the Mac to be controlled, and the shared (remote) system shows up in your list of available computers online.

Safari and Firefox are both supported on the Mac and work equally well in my experience.

The first time you try to control a remote system from your local Mac, you will be asked to install the LogMeIn web plugin and restart your browser.

After installing it, go back to LogMeIn and click on the computer to be controlled.

Before clicking Remote Control on your Mac, I have found it best to first click Preferences Remote Control Settings and set the control method to use Java instead of ActiveX.

As of this writing (Jan.

Remote screen sharing (with size scaling), file transfers, and updates are supported.

On a local network or with an Internet connection with a fixed IP address, Timbuktu really shines.

It also still supports dialup modems as a fallback when access is critical and speed a secondary consideration.

If you dont know the IP address of the remote computer or cant perform local firewall configuration (a common situation), Timbuktu supports system location via Skype locator services.

As long as Skype services are permitted on your network, this provides an option for finding Timbuktu systems located behind dynamic IP addresses.

You can use an existing Skype account on one of the computers if you already have one.

Once the account is created, launch Timbuktu on both computers and go to its little double Mac menu at the top right hand side of the Mac menu bar.

You should then see Skype accounts listed in your Timbuktu Connection window.

Under the best of conditions the remote system was more sluggish via Skype than with direct IP connections.

At worst, the connection was unusable crippling slow response, screen redraws freezing, and dropped connections.