Access your computer anywhere with Real VNC

Scenario: your mom who is 100 miles away calls and asks you to install software for her. Do you make the 100 mile drive or do it with full control with Real VNC. Real VNC will allow you to do anything you want to do from anywhere, using their software of through any web browser but you should only use the free version of Real VNC on a network you trust because it is not secure. Once you have mastered Real VNC and Hamachi, go to Hamachi + Real VNC to learn how to use Real VNC securely. Ideally, RealVNC is good for viewing your computers within your own network when remote accessing your computer over the internet check out LogMeIn.com's free solution called LogMeIn Free.

1. Download and Install Real VNC - Go to RealVNC.com and download the free edition of Real VNC and follow the steps to install both Real VNC viewer and server or just viewer on the computer you want to use to view the host computer and server on the computer you want to access. Make sure when the Windows firewall asks to block Real VNC, you click allow so your firewall does not block it. Conversely, if you use another firewall, make sure Real VNC can get through.

2. Configure and set user password - After installation you will automatically be prompted to configure the settings otherwise go to your start menu, programs, Real VNC, and VNC - Server (user mode). A window called “VNC Server Properties” should pop up, but if not double click the icon in the lower right corner of your computer screen. Real VNC should have asked to create your password already but if not while in “VNC Server Properties,” click the authentication tab, select “VNC Password Authentication,” and click “configure.” Make sure to create a good solid random password.

3. Decide how you will access Real VNC - Alone, Real VNC is not the best choice to access your computer from outside of your3. Decide how you will access Real VNC - Alone, Real VNC is not the best choice to access your computer from outside of your network but it is free and this is addressed in Hamachi + Real VNC. You can access a computer with Real VNC from within or from outside your network but outside is much harder. While “VNC Server Properties” is still open, click the connections tab and take a look. By default you will notice that “Accept incoming connections” is port 5900 and “Server Java viewer via HTTP on port” is port 5800. You will use port 5900 if you use the Real VNC viewer software and port 5800 through any web browser. network but it is free and this is addressed in  Hamachi + Real VNC. You can access a computer with Real VNC from within or from outside your network but outside is much harder. While “VNC Server Properties” is still open, click the connections tab and take a look. By default you will notice that “Accept incoming connections” is port 5900 and “Server Java viewer via HTTP on port” is port 5800. You will use port 5900 if you use the Real VNC viewer software and port 5800 through any web browser.

4. Set up port forwarding if needed - Any firewall on a computer will block both ports unless you allowed your firewall to allow Real VNC as mentioned earlier you will have to poke a hole for ports 5800 and 5900 in your firewall. This is as far as you need to go if the computers you want to access are within your own network. If you plan to access a computer outside of your network, ex. a computer at work or fiends house (remember only a secure network you trust), you will have to port forward your router. I wont go into detail about this but you must access your router, go to virtual server, the server IP is the LAN IP address of your local computer (192.168.x.xxx) and the port is 5900. Repeat this step and also add port 5800 if you want to access your computer from a browser.

5. Find out your IP address - This is the part that makes using Hamachi a much better tool for this. Go to ipchicken.com and it will give you your IP address your ISP assigned you. The flaw here is that your ISP will change your IP address once a month, or once a week, or even once a day. You may notice, you will have to be home to find out your IP address before going out, so if you are on a week long vocation this does not help you.

6. IP address solutions - Stop here and go to Hamachi + Real VNC or you can use a free service online like no-ip.com, create a free account, and follow the steps. With an internet connection, you can log into no-ip.com, find out your ISP’s IP address assigned to you for that time period and proceed to step 7.

7. Access your computer - If you want to access your computer from a web browser (in a trusted network) type your IP address in the browser followed by a (:) and the port you selected for HTTP access. We left the default 5800. If your address is xx.xxx.xx.xxx you should type in your browser http://xx.xxx.xx.xxx:5800. If you have permission to install software on whatever computer you are going to use to access your computer, install Real VNC’s viewer software open it and enter your IP, followed by a (:) and the viewer port you selected, in our example, it is port 5900. Either way you choose, you will then be prompted to enter the password you selected when creating you VNC password.