So I just recently had a need to utilize the power of my desktop computer without relocating it, and figured I'd give RealVNC a try and see if its gotten any better since about 10 years ago when I used it last and someone hit me with BlackVNC exploit where a password wasnt required to connect to my one system running RealVNC 4.1.0 and someone hit me with the
4.1.0 < 4.1.1 - VNC Null Authentication Bypass .... and yep I got hacked due to that exploit and immediately removed RealVNC from all systems.
I moved away from RealVNC after getting hacked and used RDP for a while. Then switched to crossloop for a while when that was free which its no longer free and then switched to teamviewer, but those require a person at the other end to approve the connection and I wanted to be able to for free connect to my desktop system upstairs from a weak older beater laptop and be able to play some flash turn based games when the laptop isnt powerful enough to handle those games.
So for my most recent need of remote system access, I left my Athlon II x4 620 2.6Ghz desktop running upstairs installed with the most recent version of RealVNC running Windows 7 64-bit on 4GB RAM which is drastically more secure than 10 years ago with multiple security protections.
Then from this weak Intel Pentium T2060 1.6Ghz Dual-Core
Gateway MT6707 Laptop with 2GB RAM running Windows 7 32-bit Home Premium I am able to connect to the Quadcore desktop upstairs and play my turn based flash games through RealVNC.
Frame Rate is about 15-20 fps which is plenty for a turn based game. Connection is quick once setup with the connection stored to quick connect after the first connection info is saved. The free home edition license allows up to 5 systems to be remotely accessed. This weak laptop runs very well with rendering the RealVNC connection and mouse and keyboard controls are almost realtime with just a very slight delay.
This Pentium T2060 1.6Ghz Dual-Core trying to play games like Forge of Empires it allows logging into the flash game and then freezes at the loading screen because its too much for this old weak laptop to handle. So accessing the power of a Athlon II x4 620 2.6Ghz desktop through it gives this otherwise extremely weak laptop the ability to play this game and others through it.
Games other than turn based probably wouldnt work well with remote connection like this though. I havent tested yet between 2 powerful systems to see if the frame rate could be increased or not, but I have yet to see any remote access software that doesnt have a loss between the system casting the video and the other receiving it. There might be a limitation to how much graphics data can be passed over a network and reassembled at the other end in a fast manner. My home network is Gigabit ( 1000mbps ) but most systems are still on 100mbps NICs.
I have a newer laptop that I could use, but the downstairs of my home is high risk for something bad to happen to a laptop, so its best that this older beater laptop be used because if the dog charges through the power cord ripping it out of the laptop or laptop cartwheels off onto the floor killing it as I am sleeping on pain meds, no big loss. I got this laptop for free and wouldnt be as upset as losing my new core i3 laptop. Additionally we own a cat that loves to jump up onto laptops since she found out they give off heat and are
purrrrrfect to lay across the laptop smothering it to death and laptop sucking up all that cat fur into it.
Reason for not accessing the desktop upstairs directly and accessing it from down stairs remotely is because the downstairs is cooler in my home than the upstairs at around 65F. Where as the upstairs is 80-90 degrees F this time of year and I just had the last 2 of my wisdom teeth extracted from roof of mouth and sitting in a warm room makes the mouth and head ache that much less pleasant, whereas the cool air of our down stairs of home is nice and comfortable to be in pain with. So this isnt long term remote access, but for a few days until mouth heals and the heat doesnt bother me as much.
Its nice that the creator of RealVNC got it together and made it more secure. Additionally I didnt have to make any changes to router etc. Both systems are on my local network, and the authentication bounces off of their authentication server through port 80. They show checksums and other verification info so you know your connected securely etc. Lastly the password you set up with their website is different than the password to gain remote access to through systems. They even warn not to have these the same. I didnt try putting in the same password for both their site and my remote access because why do that when its foolish if allowed and not tested by them to warn you that you must use a different password etc. So thats the only unknown I have is if you could accidentally use the same password for both and make yourself less secure. The software they had years ago such as version 4.1.0 which is the last version I used before this most recent edition had no 3rd party authentication, it was just a point to point remote access. The problem was that someone figured out a way to pass a null password to systems running listening for a connection and this allowed hackers to quickly find systems running VNC on the DMZ and hit them. I had a single system on the DMZ back then so that i could access it from anywhere while on the road and I thought it was secure with a strong firewall and strong password that would take forever to crack.... well it this blackVNC exploit was instant access to those attacking me and it was a big surprise when i got hit when I thought it was secure. The good thing is that I didnt have anything important on this system that got hacked and was using it for getting around download blockers being able to remote access to this system and then e-mail myself files that I needed to get around hotel and other free wireless internet access content blockers to get whatever files were needed to work at client locations that still had painful dial up or satellite etc back in 2007. Thank Goodness 99% of clients now have DSL or faster speeds so no remote system needed to download and e-mail files to self anymore.
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