How To Use NetMeeting With Private IPs?

[Guest]

I've had prior user experience with NetMeeting while working at HP. In each
case, though, every user had a HP-centric DHCP address of 15.x.x.x.

At home I run W2K SP4 with a Direcway satellite linkup and a Linksys
wireless router. My 89-year-old stepfather runs XP Home Edition with DSL (but
no additional router). Both machines are behind hardware firewalls (internal
to the Direcway/Linksys/DSL boxes) and are using local 192.168.x.x addresses
issued via DHCP. In the case of the XP machine, we may also have its Windows
Firewall with which to contend.

How can I advise him to configure his NetMeeting, and how do I configure
mine, so that I might be able to provide tech support for him? Will this
entail a VPN and, if so, how do I set this up having had no prior experience
in doing so?

 

[Joe Crown]

Stop using NetMeeting. Since you are both behind routers I strongly
recommend using MSN messenger instead as Microsoft doesn't seem to care
about that ancient software anymore & they have added features to MSN
messenger where you can do most if not everything you could do in
NetMeeting.

The problem with NetMeeting is that it uses randomly selected ports &
thus you have to disable all firewalls & forward almost every port to
your computer. Of course this is a bad idea for security reasons.

I've had prior user experience with NetMeeting while working at HP. In each
case, though, every user had a HP-centric DHCP address of 15.x.x.x.

At home I run W2K SP4 with a Direcway satellite linkup and a Linksys
wireless router. My 89-year-old stepfather runs XP Home Edition with DSL (but
no additional router). Both machines are behind hardware firewalls (internal
to the Direcway/Linksys/DSL boxes) and are using local 192.168.x.x addresses
issued via DHCP. In the case of the XP machine, we may also have its Windows
Firewall with which to contend.

How can I advise him to configure his NetMeeting, and how do I configure
mine, so that I might be able to provide tech support for him? Will this
entail a VPN and, if so, how do I set this up having had no prior experience
in doing so?

--

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technical question.)

 

[Guest]

Hmmm... I also used MSN Messenger at HP. Will it permit me to view his
screen? Control his computer?

 

[Joe Crown]

Remote desktop & remote assistance in Windows XP will do this & you can
send a request for this through MSN messenger. I'm not sure of all the
features, but still the problem with NetMeeting & routers is that you
can't use it & have security. That is why I recommended MSN messenger
as you didn't state why you were trying to use NetMeeting. In this case
I'd either use the software that was built into the OS or look for other
software.

Hmmm... I also used MSN Messenger at HP. Will it permit me to view his
screen? Control his computer?

--

Don't pay malware vendors - boycott Sony & Symantec for helping them

Please do not contact me directly or ask me to contact you directly for
assistance.

If your question is worth asking, it's worth posting.

If it’s not worth posting you should have done a search on
http://www.google.com/ http://www.google.com/grphp?hl=en&tab=wg&q= or
http://news.google.com/froogle?hl=en&tab=nf&ned=us&q= before wasting our
time.

If I sound hostile or arrogant you need to read the following before
posting a question "How To Ask Questions The Smart Way" at
(The site I've linked
to just has this article I think people should read before posting a
technical question.)

 

[Guest]

As I stated in my initial query, though, *I'm* running Windows 2000 Pro,
while my stepfather is on XP. I want to be able to view and control his
system. Still doable?

 

[Sooner Al [MVP]]

You might look at using UltraVNC as an alternative. Get the server, client,
server video driver (for Windows 2003, W2K and XP only) and encryption
plug-in from...

http://ultravnc.sourceforge.net/

If the server PC is behind a firewall/router open TCP Port 5900. You also
might consider running UltraVNC through a VPN or SSH tunnel for added
security...

I also suggest you disable the rendering of the remote PCs desktop wallpaper
to speed up the connection...

--

Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows Networking)

Please post *ALL* questions and replies to the news group for the
mutual benefit of all of us...
The MS-MVP Program - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights...