(sorry for my bad english)

I need to do computer assistance via Internet on some PC behind NAT.
The owner of these PC, named Steve, is totally uncompetent so I need a
VERY SIMPLE solution.

Example: I tell him to go to the web address
http://www.mywebsite.com/steve123 and to press OPEN to execute the
downloaded program (no more than 500KB).
After this operation I must be able to visually control the PC, behind
NAT, from which he do the above commands.

What are the remote control programs (as Radmin, VNC, PcAnywhere) that
can make possible this 0-click solution and how can I prepare this solution?

Thanks

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Clarification of Question by diegosala-ga on 16 Mar 2004 17:12 PST

The controlled computers are Windows 9x/Me and NT/2000/XP. I'ld prefer
an unique solution that works on all these operating systems.

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Clarification of Question by diegosala-ga on 30 Mar 2004 10:22 PST

Thank you osbjmg for your comment.

However I don't have phisical access to his router/NAT because he's
very far from me and I don't want to go into the hard job of guiding
him to do the mapping.


I found a better solution, using the "call-back" feature suggested by
Frank Trowell:

1) Take the 2 files that fog creek offers here unzip them add a
registry patch (.reg that configures the password and settings for
vnc). You can export the settings you want.
2) Create a batch file that adds the registry entry "regedit.exe /s regpatch.reg"
3) Make the batch run the winvnc.exe  and then run  winvnc.exe -
connect  "dns or ip address to connect to"
4) Zip the package up and the use the program zip2secure to make the
zip file a selfextracting .exe. Use the option to run a program to
after extraction and have it point to the batch file.
5) Get a copy of vncreflector and set it up for reverse connections
(instuctions are vauge) on the ip address setup in step 3. This acts
like a combination of proxy and vncreflector.
6) Add or modify a link to the selfextratiing exe hosted on your site
created in steps 1 and 2.

When the client clicks on the link and chooses open:

1) The exe will extract itself and modify the registry settings to add
a password (doesn't matter reverse connections don't require a
password) and connect to your site that has vncreflector.
2) Vnc reflector will act like a listening vncviewer and wait for a
valid connection from a vncviewer.
3) When you connect to the ip address/ DNS entry of the vncreflector
with the vnc client it will bridge the connection to between the
client and the server .

Note: 
1)If you have problems with connecting through the firewall you can
look into using stunnel on the client and the vncreflector to tunnel
the connection through ssl port 443 (this also encrypts the traffic)
most firewalls allow SSL connections intitiated from inside the
firewall.

2) I haven't setup stunnel yet. I have researched this and  and it
doesn't appear to be very complicated. You could also add stunnel and
commands in the batch in steps 1 and 2 to configure this also.

Note that all of the software listed is freeware and opensource software.


Someone has to suggest an even better solution?

I use VNC for non-XP machines and the built-in Remote Desktop when
connecting to windows XP machines.

No matter what, Steve's router will need to have some port forwarding
(or put him in a DMZ) going on in order to do any remote desktop
solution where he is the server.

I would ask him to let you have access to his router and forward the
ports yourself or tell him to directly connect to the internet and
download VNC.

VNC installation is easy, and requires at most a restart of the
serving computer.  You may want to get his IP address by pointing him
to a site such as http://whatismyip.com first.

VNC uses ports:5800 & 5900
Remote Desktop uses: 3390

I've used nsis to build a simple installer that creates the proper
registry entries, unpacks a vnc server and initiates a reverse
connection to a machine used for support desk operations.

You'll need a copy of nsis to build it - http://nsis.sf.net/

I use tight vnc - you should be able to just put WinVNC.exe and
VNCHooks.dll in a folder along with the nsi script, compile it and put
it on your website.

You can then post the resulting executable on your site and have the
remote person just click it and go.  You'll need to have the vnc
viewer running in listen mode beforehand. I haven't tweaked it a lot
yet - so sometimes it tries to start the remote connection before the
server has finished starting. All you need to do in that situation
though is have them re-run the executable.

Hope this helps.



my nsis script looks like this:

Name "remote"
OutFile "remote.exe"
ShowInstDetails show
SetOverwrite off


Section "Remote Support"
SetOutPath "c:\remote"
File "WinVNC.exe"
File "VNCHooks.dll"
WriteRegDWORD HKCU "Software\ORL\VNCHooks\Application_Prefs\WinVNC.exe"
"use_GetUpdateRect" 1
WriteRegDWORD HKCU "Software\ORL\VNCHooks\Application_Prefs\WinVNC.exe"
"use_Timer" 0
WriteRegDWORD HKCU "Software\ORL\VNCHooks\Application_Prefs\WinVNC.exe"
"use_KeyPress" 1
WriteRegDWORD HKCU "Software\ORL\VNCHooks\Application_Prefs\WinVNC.exe"
"use_LButtonUp" 1
WriteRegDWORD HKCU "Software\ORL\VNCHooks\Application_Prefs\WinVNC.exe"
"use_MButtonUp" 1
WriteRegDWORD HKCU "Software\ORL\VNCHooks\Application_Prefs\WinVNC.exe"
"use_RButtonUp" 1
WriteRegDWORD HKCU "Software\ORL\VNCHooks\Application_Prefs\WinVNC.exe"
"use_Deferral" 1
WriteRegDWORD HKCU "Software\ORL\WinVNC3" "SocketConnect" 1
WriteRegDWORD HKCU "Software\ORL\WinVNC3" "AutoPortSelect" 1
WriteRegDWORD HKCU "Software\ORL\WinVNC3" "InputsEnabled" 1
WriteRegDWORD HKCU "Software\ORL\WinVNC3" "LocalInputsDisabled" 0
WriteRegDWORD HKCU "Software\ORL\WinVNC3" "IdleTimeout" 0
WriteRegDWORD HKCU "Software\ORL\WinVNC3" "LocalInputsPriorityTime" 3
WriteRegDWORD HKCU "Software\ORL\WinVNC3" "QuerySetting" 2
WriteRegDWORD HKCU "Software\ORL\WinVNC3" "QueryTimeout" 30
WriteRegDWORD HKCU "Software\ORL\WinVNC3" "QueryAccept" 0
WriteRegDWORD HKCU "Software\ORL\WinVNC3" "QueryAllowNoPass" 0
WriteRegDWORD HKCU "Software\ORL\WinVNC3" "LockSetting" 0
WriteRegDWORD HKCU "Software\ORL\WinVNC3" "RemoveWallpaper" 1
WriteRegDWORD HKCU "Software\ORL\WinVNC3" "EnableFileTransfers" 1
WriteRegBin HKCU "Software\ORL\WinVNC3" "Password" xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
WriteRegBin HKCU "Software\ORL\WinVNC3" "PasswordViewOnly" xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
WriteRegDWORD HKCU "Software\ORL\WinVNC3" "PollUnderCursor" 0
WriteRegDWORD HKCU "Software\ORL\WinVNC3" "PollForeground" 1
WriteRegDWORD HKCU "Software\ORL\WinVNC3" "PollFullScreen" 0
WriteRegDWORD HKCU "Software\ORL\WinVNC3" "OnlyPollConsole" 1
WriteRegDWORD HKCU "Software\ORL\WinVNC3" "OnlyPollOnEvent" 0
WriteRegDWORD HKCU "Software\ORL\WinVNC3" "PollingCycle" 300
WriteRegDWORD HKCU "Software\ORL\WinVNC3" "DontSetHooks" 0
WriteRegDWORD HKCU "Software\ORL\WinVNC3" "LocalInputsPriority" 0
Exec '"c:\hmremote\winvnc.exe"'
DetailPrint "VNC Server Started"
nsExec::ExecToLog '"c:\remote\winvnc.exe" -connect my.ip.here'
DetailPrint "Connected to support desk"
SectionEnd

the script is giving me "invalid command" errors on line 12 - "use_GetUpdateRect" 1

any help is greatly appreciated