Apple Remote Desktop

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[TriumphRAT]

Hello,
I have read a posting on 4.25.05 (http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum49/756.htm) in regards to the settings needed for ARD to connect with a client over the internet. The responses were very informative.

However, I would like to know if you would recommend using ARD to connect to family members computers in other states. I have persuaded my parents, my fiancé's parents, and a few friends to purchase Macs. Whenever they have problems with their machines they call me. I have spent hours on the phone walking them through step by step the processes needed to correct their problems. I realize that the dynamic ip address an issue. Is ARD my solution?

Thanks,
TriumphRAT.....

[nanotopia]

I've done it before over a VPN connection. It was quite slow. However, I haven't tried it with the newest version, so it may be faster and better. You may also want to look into VNC (virtual network computing) since Apple now supports it in 10.4. There are a lot of VNC Mac clients available for it. I haven't used it personally, but you may have luck with it, and it's certainly cheaper.

[lZakl]

Apple Remote Desktop kicks butt as far as maintaining workstations/software/preferences on our local LAN/WAN. I have used it to connect over the internet, and it is a bit slow unless some settings are changed (ie. display color space). My opinion? It will work for what you are trying, but it is a bit much considering it supports batch installs, and the monitoring of multiple computers. If you need all this functionality, then by all means, ARD is for you. But if you only going to use it for connecting to the family computers ... You may consider the VNC alternative, as nanotopia mentioned.

-- Zak