# The Coolest Free Computer Software I Have Found In a Long Time **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 8, 2005, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-coolest-free-computer-software-i-have-found-in-a-long-time/325272 "2005-10-08T02:18:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-coolest-free-computer-software-i-have-found-in-a-long-time/325272/21 "2005-10-10T13:42:52Z")
UltraVNC appears to have a built-in mini-webserver, allowing you to view it from a Java-enabled browser (with no standalone client). TightVNC also does this, but last time I checked, TightVNC did not use any kind of native encyption. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-coolest-free-computer-software-i-have-found-in-a-long-time/325272/22 "2005-10-10T13:50:01Z")
Oops… looks like the encryption on UltraVNC is third-party. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-coolest-free-computer-software-i-have-found-in-a-long-time/325272/23 "2005-10-10T13:54:16Z")
> [@Lightnin'](#): > > Safety note- don’t try to access the computer you’re currently using. It’ll show you accessing your computer accessing your computer accessing your computer accessing your computer accessing your computer… The really creepy part about it is the one me in the continuum that is doing something different. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-coolest-free-computer-software-i-have-found-in-a-long-time/325272/24 "2005-10-10T19:53:02Z")
It appears my connection at home has been repaired (at least temporarily) and I’ve been able to use LogMeIn successfully. I was able to update and run scans with both AdAware and AVG Anti-Virus, and assuming my connection holds up, I’ll kick of some defragging. Looks pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2005, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-coolest-free-computer-software-i-have-found-in-a-long-time/325272/25 "2005-10-11T00:57:26Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > UltraVNC appears to have a built-in mini-webserver, allowing you to view it from a Java-enabled browser (with no standalone client). TightVNC also does this, but last time I checked, TightVNC did not use any kind of native encyption. UltraVNC supports 128-bit encryption (using a free bundled plug-in), file transfer, text chat, and integrated Windows authentication. It also has some cool addons which can allow it to be used through NAT or a firewall. I haven’t found any other VNC package which comes close. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2005, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-coolest-free-computer-software-i-have-found-in-a-long-time/325272/26 "2005-10-11T01:17:11Z")
One annoyance with LogMeIn: I was unable to click the Allow/Deny boxes in ZoneAlarm popups for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2005, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-coolest-free-computer-software-i-have-found-in-a-long-time/325272/27 "2005-10-11T01:25:12Z")
That’s sort of similar to something I had with TightVNC - you log into the remote machine and you can see the little TightVNC client icon in the system tray; you can open it up and make changes to the configuration (in theory, reducing security etc), but when you try to save them, nothing happens - it’s not just because the client is active, because you can change the settings locally while someone else it logged in. Although that’s only TightVNC denying access to itself; what you describe is a bit more exotic. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-coolest-free-computer-software-i-have-found-in-a-long-time/325272/28 "2005-10-13T16:47:53Z")
I’ve used this with no problems other than the ZoneAlarm issue for a couple days now, I have to say I like it. Seems more responsive than my previous experiences with TightVNC, but that was going in the opposite connection, so the disparity between my up and down stream speeds might account for than. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-coolest-free-computer-software-i-have-found-in-a-long-time/325272/29 "2005-10-13T16:50:07Z")
account for tha **t**. ---
**Author:** ![Imasquare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-coolest-free-computer-software-i-have-found-in-a-long-time/325272/30 "2005-10-14T00:26:47Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > One annoyance with LogMeIn: I was unable to click the Allow/Deny boxes in ZoneAlarm popups for some reason. That’s odd. Are you using the free version of ZoneAlarm of the Pro version? I use ZoneAlarm Pro and it allowed me to check those popups. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-coolest-free-computer-software-i-have-found-in-a-long-time/325272/31 "2005-10-14T02:17:25Z")
> [@Imasquare](#): > > That’s odd. Are you using the free version of ZoneAlarm of the Pro version? I use ZoneAlarm Pro and it allowed me to check those popups. I’m using the free version, so maybe the popups are different. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-coolest-free-computer-software-i-have-found-in-a-long-time/325272/32 "2005-10-14T02:54:17Z")
The Zone Alarm Pro has way more features than the free. The guy that wrote Zone Alarm is top notch and so is the program. He told Microsoft about some major security issues before XP was sold to the public. Their response was at best disingenuous, and they didn’t consider the problems an issue. He’s done a lot of work with spybots, trojons, spyware and denial of sevice attacks. The hackers went after him because of his firewall software and security probe page. Had Microsoft listened to this guy, alot of denial of service attacks wouldn’t have happened. Get the Zone Alarm free basic version. It’s one of the best free softwares out there. You can block all the programs from accessing the network or internet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-coolest-free-computer-software-i-have-found-in-a-long-time/325272.md?page=1)