Remote Control Options for Mac part II

In this post, I"ll continue to talk about the various remote control options available for the Mac.

Logmein (free version) works pretty well. It does run as a "service" so that it's always there when the Mac is on. I've always been able to connect to it. However, running from my local Mac, I get less than sterling response from the connection. I get random disconnects as well, although I am always able to get the initial connection going. I've tried a couple different settings on my local Mac to get it running and it's OK, but not consistent enough and stable enough to make it the supreme program I'd like to see. Connecting from my Windows-based PC seems to work better, but the idea is to do as much from the Mac as possible. I've not contacted tech support about these issues yet, but there's not a lot to configure here.

When I was doing my research on my BTMM problems I thought I had found the answer when I stumbled on Share Tools... wrong. Seems like a nice program, but requires the same UPNP or NAT-PMP that BTMM requires.

Using Dynamic DNS (DDNS) is always an option. But I have to do special setup things in my router, which isn't a major thing, but I'd like a simpler thing like GotoMyPC provides.

Speaking of them, my option would be to use GotoMyPC, but they don't make a remote connector that works on a Mac, so I am toast there.

Various versions of VNC work, but there's no security unless you go to the pay version and I'm really looking for something cutting edge which some of these other solutions ought to be able to provide, but as you can see, they do a very mixed job of that.

Finally, I can connect via VPN, but I can't establish a working VPN out from my company because of security concerns so that really isn't a viable solution.

Summary:

I've been really spoiled working in the PC world in regards to remote control solutions. There are many good options that work really well on Windows-based PCs. Some are free and some cost, but they are really pretty solid. In the Mac world, I've yet to find that same level of stability and consistency while not having to perform some ancient ritual on my networking equipment in order to get it to work. Of all the things I've tried, I think that Logmein is probably the best. But I am still looking for that program that provides a good, stable, secure remote control solution at a reasonable cost.