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Because  I need to remote into my “main machine” all the time, I am always interested in trying out new options.

So when I read leftyfb’s blog about TeamViewer and saw he spoke of it favorably, I thought I would give it a try as well.

What I currently use

There are two general scenarios where I need to remote in: those where I need a GUI and those where I don’t. I doubt I will surprise you by saying I use SSH in the latter case and there are SSH clients a-plenty for whatever platform you desire.

The former case is not quite so simple; when you need a GUI your choices aren’t so clear anymore. Part of the problem for me is that I need a solution that:

• is cross-platform (at least on the client side)
• performs well over crappy bandwidth
• is fast to bring up (as I might remote in and out several times during the day)
• isn’t demanding on the host machine (so I can just leave it running even if I’m not going to use it)

Lately, I have been using NoMachine NX on the client side and FreeNX on the server side. I’m largely happy with this setup – I only have one complaint – so it’s going to be a tough sell to get me to move to another solution.

I’ll walk through the various factors that are important to me and judge them against my current solution!

Let’s go!

Setting it all up

Setting up TeamViewer is simple – just download and install the package. It really couldn’t be simpler because the server/client are together.

It’s true that you don’t have to fiddle with the firewall, but since I have to do that anyway for SSH, I don’t really consider it a factor. YMMV.

Judgement: It’s been so long since I set up SSH / NX that I can’t recall any special difficulty on it. I do remember being a little confused on the server/client being seperate the very first time I ran into it, and I seriously can’t imagine how it could get any easier that it is with TeamViewer.

Slight edge to TeamViewer.

Connecting

Just run the program and you’ll see how simple it is:

You get an ID and a Password to give out to the client to connect.

This bothers me a bit because I assume the ID and password are generated and stored somewhere by TeamViewer, and at least the initial connection must be made with their assistance. That’s a definite privacy concern, and, to their credit, TeamViewer extensively acknowledges with a 7 page PDF on security.

Compare this to the NoMachine NX client connection (on a Windows box):

Still pretty darn simple, although you have to accept the SSH key the first time you log in.

Judgement: This is pretty much a wash. Both are dead simple from the client side and the information required is equivalent. You either give a 9 digit number and 4 digit password for TeamViewer, or you give a URL and username / password (and possibly port) for NX.

I slightly favor NX here because it runs over SSH and while TeamViewer seems to have good policies on security and privacy, I feel there’s still a slightly greater risk in the model.

Slight edge to the current method here.

Connected

Big differences here and this is what may or may not seal the deal for you. The basic issue is that NX is a “view remote desktop” application, and TeamViewer is a “share a remote desktop” application.

This is immediately visible when you compare the results of a remote connection:

NoMachine NX Connection

TeamViewer Connection

So, apart from the immediate color depth issue (which can be adjusted if you “optimize for quality” in TeamViewer) you will notice that NX only presents the remote desktop while TeamViewer adds a toolbar across the top.

TeamViewer Toolbar

Since this is what sets TeamViewer apart, it is worth a more detailed look. The toolbar offers several additional functions, some of which you may find quite useful.

The big one here for me is File Transfer, which brings up a file transfer dialog (a la FTP) to move files between the machines. This is a very nice feature because under NX when I want to transfer files I have to move them via GMail or Google Docs or fire up a SCP client or something.

So, super big plus on file transfers built in.

There’s some ways to “optimize” or otherwise modify the view – handy to have I guess, but I’ve never needed to adjust the NX connection, so this isn’t really of value to me.

There’s some audio/video tools as well – you can set up chat or even VoIP. I don’t need this, because there’s no one on the distant end, but this is really where TeamViewer is starting to spread its wings – if I were in need of communicating to a remote user while I viewed their desktop, this would be killer.

So, although I don’t need it – if you do, chat and VoIP built in has got to be a major win.

You can “switch sides” so that your local desktop comes up on the remote side (as if they had remoted into you) – another feature that I don’t personally need, but could be very useful to someone else.

There are a couple of other extras: you can record (I’m not clear on what) and it will save whatever it is that you have recorded into a TeamViewer Session file. There’s also a VPN option under the Extras, but that was all greyed out for me. Perhaps it is an option only in the pay version? I don’t know.

Odds and Ends

If you define cross-platform as Linux/Windows/Mac you are good on either system. TeamViewer adds an iPhone client which is pretty nifty if you need it.

TeamViewer is not-exactly-native. It runs on top of Wine – you don’t need to know that, it sets it all up and is included without mention in the download and install.

Performance is roughly equal. My home internet is a crappy DSL connection, and both systems perform acceptably. NoMachine seems a little better, but doesn’t always update the view.

The funny thing here is that in order to fire up TeamViewer I needed to NX in to launch the client! Because the system uses a GUI and gives you a 9 digit-number and 4-digit password, if you don’t set it up ahead of time and write down this information, you can’t get in! (I didn’t see a way to achieve this from the command line) Nothing you can’t prepare for, but worth noting.

NX creates a new X session, TeamViewer runs in the current X session.

TeamViewer can be run totally from a USB stick – there is a TeamViewer Portable version for download. NoMachine NX wants to install onto the host machine.

The free version (at least) opens up a web page when you close it to advertise and get you to sign up to a newsletter.

Under TeamViewer, your 9 digit connection number stays the same, the 4 digit-password changes every time.

Summary

TeamViewer is impressive – performance on par with the best remote desktop solution I am aware of (FreeNX), very simple to set up, and a set of helpful tools for remote collaboration / troubleshooting.

Whether it makes sense for you will depend on your reasons for remoting in. Even if you are like me and not concerned with a user on the distant end, the file transfer thing is still quite attractive.

However, if you are looking for a way to help remote troubleshoot a user, TeamViewer should be at the top of a very short list!