OT. New computer - need to access old computer

I wonder if anybody can offer me some advice on this problem.

Having finally upgraded my computer, I have discovered that I can't trace all the upgrades, passwords, discs, downloads, etc., etc., for two or three long-standing programs.

This means that in order to run them, I am going to have to do so on the old box. This has now sprouted a SATA card and Gb ethernet card, and is acting as a file-server.

I don't have, or want, a second screen, so it's a hassle to have to connect my screen (plus mouse/keyboard) to the old pc if I want to use it.

Does anybody have any ideas re VPN/remote desktop connection software I could try, so that I can run the programs in a window on the new machine.

Free would be nice.

Thanks

G

VNC is probably your best bet, depending on the OS's of the old/new PC's:
http://www.realvnc.com/products/download.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KVM_switch

http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=0&pid=517

or

http://www.uvnc.com/

or both.

The KVM switch is not free, but it's not expensive. UltraVNC has a FTP like file copying capability too. I prefer it to RealVNC.

I would also go with VNC, works very well.

Well, many thanks for the suggestions.

I have tried both UVNC and RealVNC. Both say they can't connect, but give no reason why, and neither has any documentation to speak of.

I have no firewall on either computer, and pinging works properly. (There's a hardware firewall on the ADSL router).

Perhaps it's just late. I'll try again tomorrow.

G

I may be barking up the wrong tree but why not remote desktop? That's what I use to avoid using the laptop screen. You'll have to hook up the screen to the old PC once to set it up to allow remote desktop then you should be OK and it's part of XP.
Mike

George,

UVNC has 2 components, a viewer and a server, both of which need to be installed on both machines.

On the remote (server) machine you'll need to set a password.

If the PC's are running Windows XP service pack 2 you will probably have the firewall set up. On any machines that will be remote (server) PC's, you need to create a port 'exception' to allow traffic on port 5900 through the firewall.

Click Start > Control Panel > Windows Firewall > Exceptions tab > Add Port . . . Name = UVNC, Port = 5900, TCP Protocol should already be selected . . . Click OK to finish. Try again to connect.

PS: If you downloaded the latest version (1.04) I have no experience of it. I use the older version (1.02), which is still available for download, as I have no Vista machines to worry about.

Thanks. I'll have another look later when I have a moment.

Both machines have the firewall disabled because I have a firewall in the router.

I set up the server software only on the server machine, and the client software only on the client machine. Can't see why I should need both bits on both machines, but I will try it.

Presumably, as MikeW suggests, I then need to run Remote Desktop in order to provide the "window" onto the server? Or does VNC provide that functionality?

G

VNC (either RealVNC or UltraVNC) provides the 'remote desktop' window. You'll not need to use Windows Remote Desktop Connector if you can get VNC working.

Are you using Windows XP Home, or Professional?

Personally, I would download UVNC version 1.02 and install all components on both machines. I can, with reasonable confidence, say that it should work immediately after installation, and after you've set a 'server' password.

Version 1.04 is an unknown entity as far as I'm concerned. I do know that the earlier version does not work with Vista (no surprise there).

No experience of the VNC option but I've used a KVM switch with no problems. The aren't that cheap but they allow you to have two computers using the same keyboard / mouse / screen - switching between using a hotkey.

HTH,

Steve

KVM switches are great in theory, but not all of them work properly. If you pick one, check out the relevant forums to see how many people are screaming with frustration. No file transfer, of course.

VNC is a great remote control tool, but the free version doesn't include file transfer, I think.

Remote Desktop is also great, and does allow file transfer, but you can't remote into a PC that has XP home (without a lot of technical fiddling about).

How about this, as a solution that would also allow you to have a backup of all those applications, together with their passwords:

I moved to a new computer recently, and used VMWare (which has a free version), to suck the entire* old computer across my home network into a new virtual machine running on the new one. If I need to run the old computer, I run it on the new one. You can back up the whole thing by copying the virtual hard disk.

Very cool - I was amazed when it worked, but it did**.

______________

* Edit: well not quite the entire machine. I actually only sucked over the partition with the operating system and installed applications. I moved the data across to the new one, and if I run the old one in the VM, I map a drive letter on it to the shared data drive on the new one. This means I have one copy of the data, so no confusion regardless of where I access it from.

** after it had loaded all the new drivers it needed. It prompted for each one, though, when booted up for the first time, and found them without problems.

I got round this by installing a free FTP server on my machine and then using an FTP client to transfer files - all for free and easy under XP Home. and to prevent any risks associated to running th eFTP server, I only run it when needed easy to activate over VNC!

What programs George?

There are a few possibilities...
1) There's something on the 'net that you can run on the old machine to show what the original key was.
2) The authors will email the key again, or if you explain your predicament, may send one for the new machine.

Let me know which apps and I'll see if I can help
Matt

here are a few solutions to this problem for mac-heads: (sorry I can't help George).

a)target mode:connect two macs via firewire, then fire up one mac while holding down the "t" key. your mac will fire up as an external drive, and all your stuff should be acessable from there.

b)"migration assistant" can bring your old stuff from your old machine to your new machine...passwords and all.

c)carbon copy cloner (free) will copy your old drive....

d)chicken of the vnc (free) will run a treat!