Connecting to the House from Out of Town

Hello,
I need recommendations for an app to connect with my home computer while I am out of town. I know about Screens, but I wanted to see what the community has to say.
Thanks,
Richard Bush

Jump Desktop. Use it every day.

+1 for screens! (Would use private vpn though, not screens connect)

Rather than just suggesting a piece of software in a generic sense, I’d like to get an idea of what you are looking for as that would probably help guide towards a particular solution and provide some reasoning.

  1. What computer OS are you connecting to?
  2. What OS/device(s) are you wanting to connect from?
  3. Are you looking for something specifically VNC based?
  4. Do you want a full desktop, shell access, or just file system?
  5. Are you comfortable with making basic to intermediate network changes such as port forwarding, installing a personal VPN, etc.
  6. Would you say you want “good” security or do you want something more secure?
  7. What sort of connections are you connecting over regularly and in “worst-case” scenarios? Dial-up, LTE, 3G, satellite, home broadband, high speed business connection, etc.; just to get an idea of reliability and speed.

I have used “Jump Desktop” and “Screens” (with “Jump Desktop Go” and “Screens Connect” respectively).

I find that Jump Desktop works a little more reliably of the two, but they’re both pretty good.

I would recommend them first, but they both rely on your router having support for opening ports.

(A private VPN might be better, but is going to be much more difficult to setup.)

Thanks for the suggestion.

Thanks, that is probably a good idea.

Thank you for your thoughts.

Hi,
Thanks for the thoughtful questions for consideration. I will have to be in another city for a few months to deal with some medical issues so I really cannot answer some of the questions. You have given me some things to consider. Thanks for that.