# LEGAL remote comp. access?(with consent!)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-remote-comp-access-with-consent/197061
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 23, 2003, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-remote-comp-access-with-consent/197061 "2003-08-23T01:22:22Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ERgilmoregirlfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ERgilmoregirlfan)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2003, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-remote-comp-access-with-consent/197061/1 "2003-08-23T01:22:22Z")
How would you LEGALLY remotely access someone else’s computer, with their expressed consent?
---
### Author:  [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2003, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-remote-comp-access-with-consent/197061/2 "2003-08-23T01:49:50Z")
OK, you’ve severed the hacking part. I’ve used Lap Link and PC Anywhere (both computers need to have it installed) to share access via either modem or over the Internet. Our IT folks, in a city hundreds of miles away, access our machines using Net Meeting.
---
### Author:  [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2003, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-remote-comp-access-with-consent/197061/3 "2003-08-23T03:14:59Z")
What do you mean by “access”? There are thousands of different Internet-related protocols.
Do you want to use an FTP server? Telnet, http, gopher, Usenet, X-windows, SMTP, rsh??? (I’m hoping someone will ask about FSP server setup someday.)
Note that ISPs don’t like home users setting up servers and typically block the more popular ones.
---
### Author:  [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2003, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-remote-comp-access-with-consent/197061/4 "2003-08-23T04:03:03Z")
A free program called VNC can allow you to remotely manipulate another person’s desktop. Similar commercial programs are Laplink and PC Anywhere and also Windows XP has the feature built in as remote Admin.
Otherwise, if you want to manipulate files, there are a myriad of ways to do it and the best way would depend on what your requirements are.
---
### Author:  [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2003, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-remote-comp-access-with-consent/197061/5 "2003-08-23T04:18:03Z")
I keep seeing [GoToMyPC.com](http://GoToMyPC.com) advertised. That may also work for you.
---
### Author:  [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2003, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-remote-comp-access-with-consent/197061/6 "2003-08-23T07:40:59Z")
I’ll second [Virtual Network Client](http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/) for general use. It’s simple and free.
However, if you have some specific requirements, other tools might be of greater help.
---
### Author:  [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2003, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-remote-comp-access-with-consent/197061/7 "2003-08-23T07:52:50Z")
I love VNC - have been using it for years. It’s tiny (fits on a floppy) and works great.
If it’s XP, there is a remote support facility built in to do this.
---
### Author:  [@Anonymous\_Coward](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anonymous_Coward)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2003, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-remote-comp-access-with-consent/197061/8 "2003-08-23T13:27:49Z")
I’ve also used the “Shared Desktop” feature in MS Net Meeting to troubleshoot my folks computer remotely.
It’s generally crappy performance but almost everyone who has Windows has this installed and can be used in a pinch.
---
### Author:  [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2003, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-remote-comp-access-with-consent/197061/9 "2003-08-23T14:38:59Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by xash \*
> I’ll second [Virtual Network Client](http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/) for general use. It’s simple and free.
I checked that out and it looks ok as long as you realize the connection is not encrypted and is, therefore, subject to snooping.
I have been thinking of playing with something like this myself so I could access my home computer using my desktop from another location. I am running WIN98SE on both and I see in the Network properties they both have a VPN (Virtual Private Network) w/ TCP/IP installed and I am wondering if this is enough to do it. It comes free with Windows. Has anyone played with VPN? Does it require anything more? I know this uses encryption so the connection should be safe. I’d be interested in hearing about any experiences with this.
---
### Author:  [@Mort\_Furd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mort_Furd)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2003, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-remote-comp-access-with-consent/197061/10 "2003-08-23T15:03:48Z")
Fair warning:
VNC performance (except using the Windows protocol) will probably suck big time.
We tried giving a customer access to our database using VNC a couple of years ago over ISDN (64kbit.) We scrapped that idea in a hurry.
This was well before WindowsXP (hell, even before Win2000) so it was restricted to sending a picture of the screen contents to the remote PC, and moving the mouse over it and sending mouse commands. The picture business made it slow as hell.
Windows XP has remote access built in, so it should be capable of much better performance.
---
### Author:  [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2003, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-remote-comp-access-with-consent/197061/11 "2003-08-23T17:23:28Z")
What VNC does is similar to the desktop sharing of NetMeeting. Note that this is entirely different that being able to connect to the computer over a network and have access to files etc. which is what I want to do with VPN.