Der Tekommando: VNC and Games Routers Play

Happy fun on the techie front for me.

1. Esteemed Younger Son's Christmas was made with the gift of a decent desktop PC with a 802.11g wifi dongle. Right now he is playing games on it, with his basic user account.

Of course, I have an admin account for basic maintenance. However, given that the primary user is just eight, I find myself answering a lot of "how-to" questions. There's also the times where I have to go over and operate his box from it's place in the living room. Since his chair cannot handle my size, I need to drag over my wrought-iron monstrosity over to do any extended stuff on the box . . .

Enter VNC -- virtual network computing. With VNC technology I can operate EYS's system from anywhere I have an internet connection with port 5900 open through the router on my side. This is the basic tech behind the "GoToMyPC," the Xfinity Signature Support services Jameece sells, and Apple's "Back to my Mac" services. All I had to do is install a server app -- TightVNC -- on EYS's box. Then I launch the Safari web browser, type "vnc://(his LAN IP) or click the shortcut link," log into the VNC server if it is the first time, then log into my admin account. I can silently watch his screen or operate it as if I were there.

I stay at my machine, do what needs doing, then close the screen share.

Of course, once outside the NAT firewall, I have to use our public IP address. Our public IP may have been assigned via DHCP from Xfinity, but it has not changed in a year. Even the local IPs are relatively steady, and the DHCP leases refresh daily. I figured I could port-forward the correct IP port in the router to his local IP . . . then if machine's local IP changes and the port forward fails, I can log into the router's admin interface (over both the LAN OR from the public Internet -- I have a password FROM HELL on the admin interface), adjust the forwarded IP to match the new one for EYS's machine, and I can go back to remotely accessing.

Remote access was not implemented on Jameece's PC because it is a work machine, and I do not want to cause any interference with her employer's requirements.

2. A few years ago, I was hanging out with some of my Lodi techie / gamer friends, and we noticed a neighbor's open wireless network was available. Completely open, as in still using the default Linksys admin username and password. Completely open, as in he was sharing his printer with the entire Internet. My friends changed his SSID to "My Network Is Completely Open!" and printed instructions -- on the shared printer -- on how to secure his network.

When I got a router of my own, I was determined I would not be That Guy.

After consulting with Jameece, I tightened down the security on the wireless network at home. The SSID is no longer visible with a normal scan, so you have to know the new network name to join the network. The new password is much longer and munged to within an inch of its life. MAC address filtering is now implemented for wireless clients.

We will eventually add shared storage and expand the sharing of our printer once we get a new router with guest network capability.