TeamViewer Remote Control

Have you ever wanted to control a remote computer? Then you have probably messed with VNC-based programs in the past. But the problem is that VNC is usually tied to a very specific port. And if you are behind a router or firewall you need to configure that device to allow you access to the computer. All really complicated, especially if you’ve never heard of HTTP ports and such.

TeamViewer solves all of these problems. It’s remote desktop software available for Windows, Mac, Linux and iPhone. All you need to do is start the software and enter the TeamViewer ID of the remote machine and a pre-defined password. TeamViewer does the rest. No more worries about port configurations and possible video drivers interfering. For non-commercial use it’s absolutely free and a must for every geek.

Download: http://www.teamviewer.com (no affiliate link)

No more Windows

The last day of 2009 will also be the last day of me using Microsoft Windows. This is a quick farewell to an operating system I’ve been using for 19 years. Over time it became worse and worse. Today I would describe Windows as vulnerable, slow and over-engineered. And no, Windows 7 doesn’t do it for me either.

For about a year the only reason for me to use Windows is iTunes and iPod/iPhone. Most of my other tasks could get done easily by a Mac or a free Linux distribution. Tomorrow I’m going to bury Windows and use the free disk space for my existing Ubuntu installation. For development and office work I’m switching over to Ubuntu, multimedia and iPhone stuff will be done on a Mac.