[General Topics] Menneisyys:
1.2.2.2 .NET VNC Viewer by Rocky Lo; 1.0.1.16

The free .NET VNC Viewer is better in some respects than PT PO. First, it has a more traditional interface, which is much easier for a newbie to comprehend. Second, it has automatic server-side scaling support (more on this later), unlike with (the current pre-release version of) PT PO. Third, it’s free.

However, it’s VERY-VERY SLOW as it’s based on Compact Framework. Therefore, I only recommend it if you only want VNC (not, say, a Web- or RDP-based client) and only want a free solution (where, for example, LogMeIn Free can’t be used because you prefer VNC as the remote protocol).

Also see this and this PPCT threads.

1.2.2.3 Mocha VNC 1.1 by MochaSoft

This title is definitely superior to the heavily outdated (RDP 4 only) RDP client of the same developer and, therefore, may be worth considering if, for some reason, you don’t want to go the PT PO route, but want to stick strictly with VNC clients. While it doesn’t support the most bandwidth-saving encoding methods (Tight (JPG)), the most compact compression method it’s capable of (ZRLE / Zlib) is still definitely better than that (Hextile) of the free, very slow .NET Viewer.

It’s very similar to the RDP client; in addition to the capabilities of that client, it has an encoding log, which is very useful when you would like to track down protocol-level errors.

It’s compatible with all major VNC servers; it’s only with PTeSVNC (the VNC server that’s bundled with the PT VNC client downloads – see SetUpPTeSVNC.exe) that it’s incompatible with.

1.2.2.4 VNC 3.3-only, not recommended VNC clients (Allware /Mark Midgley (alternate source) / Conduits )

The (unfortunately, still) most widely known and referred-to, very old and outdated, free VNC clients (that of Mark Midgley, Allware and Conduits) should all be avoided. They have really bad (non-existing) error handling, are only compatible with VNC servers in explicit 3.3 mode (and just silently die when they encounter a server that tries to communicate with something more up-to-date), are very slow and only know the not very bandwidth-friendly Hextile encoding. In a word: avoid them all.

Also see this BrightHand thread.

1.2.2.5 VNC servers

Now that I've quickly elaborated on the different VNC clients, let's take a look at the server side. Unlike with the Web- and RDP-based solutions, you must install a server on your desktop PC to be accessed.

There are several VNC servers out there with slightly different capabilities. As a rule of thumb, I'd go for UltraVNC - it is probably the most important, capable and recommended server, unless you use PT PO, when you should choose the included PTeSVNC instead (if you need seamless file transfers). Nevertheless, if you don't need for example support for server-side scaling, file transfer with PT PO, extended desktops or international characters, you may also want to go for RealVNC or TightVNC too. Finally, the fourth, really nice alternative is PTeSVNC, which is also free and is bundled with all PT VNC clients (also trial ones). It's really capable (except for the lack of extended desktops).

Fortunately, these four servers don't differ much as far as server-side configuration is concerned. That is, if you learn to use and configure one of them, you'll be able to do the same with the others too (except for some additional or missing options / tabs / checkboxes).

Note that if you plan to use PT PO, you may encounter screen refresh problems with Ultra (unlike with PTeSVNC) in all modes; for example, the upper rows in this screenshot. In this respect, PTeSVNC is a better choice. The developers are aware of the problem and may fix it in future versions.

In general, installing VNC servers are pretty straightforward. You install the product and just start the server in Start Menu / Programs on the Windows desktop PC. When it's running, it'll display an icon in the system tray (systray), through which you'll have access to the configuration dialog, user list and can even shut down the service.