How good is windows Remote Desktop application?

I'm running windows 7 home premium and on mobile, windows 8.1

I find that ultra vnc does a rather poor job for remote control of a win 8.1 pc.
and the other way round too: win 8.1 >>> win7 home premium.

Seems slow at best and nasty things happen to the background on the 8.1 pc. Seemingly disabled or something when connect win >>> win 8.1.

I do not remember all the particulars now, and don't really want to fiddle around with it.

I can say with certainty that connecting win 7 (home prem) >>> win 7 (starter) worked quite well in both directions... although there were problems with background being disabled or such then too.
But the connection was stable and fairly fast.

So, cutting to the chase. Is the "remote desktop" application available on higher versions than mine in
both cases.... worth upgrading for? Is the remote access really well done, and works really well?

Is there some other technique for remote access (gui) that is better, (read faster) than vnc or, as good or better than the windows "Remote desktop"?

I've always used : TeamViewer - Free Remote Control, Remote Access & Online Meetings

Easy and reliable.

PSCO2007 said:

I've always used : TeamViewer - Free Remote Control, Remote Access & Online Meetings

Easy and reliable.

I appreciate you input but I found your statement to wrong in my case.

For the record: I found TeamViewer to be just about the most useless poorly setup software I've run across in a yr or two.

The help is in the form of a list of FAQ questions that mostly rely on you having divined out how to make a connection.

The manual assumes the same nonsense. That is, that you quickly and easily made a connection and now on to other things.

The directions on the face of the tool when started indicate you will be using 182.940.xxx network. Not one word about which ports may be in use or where to listen or perhaps how to get a verbose helpful response on an attempted connection. None of the normal kind of things one needs to make a network connection.

Using the network numbers offered was a complete failure... I had a wirelessly connected laptop in my lap while setting at a desktop so could easily view the alleged addresses.

I tested the connectivity of both by using UNC addresses and smb connections. I had no problems with those connections.

Using TeamViewer, all I ever got was the most useless error message I've see in recent times.

"A connection could not be established.
Reason unknown"

So briefly put; do not waste your time on teamviewer

Sorry you had probs with Team Viewer.

I never have and Mr Whoopee's link above, confirms it is one of the best.

HarryPutnam,
Your initial post does not state how you will be using the remote administration tool (rat), so it is kind of hard to say if Microsoft's Remote Desktop Connection (RDC/RDP) will be best for you. RDC has very good features and the way that is handles refreshing the remote content is better than UltraVNC or TeamViewer. However, I would only suggest using RDC while on the same network (e.g. inside a company, behind a firewall). If you want to use RDC over the internet, then I would suggest finding a VPN tool that you like first.

The directions on the face of the tool when started indicate you will be using 182.940.xxx network. Not one word about which ports may be in use or where to listen or perhaps how to get a verbose helpful response on an attempted connection. None of the normal kind of things one needs to make a network connection.

You approached TeamViewer with the VNC mentality. You need not concern yourself with what ports to open or listen on. TeamViewer is not making a direct connection between your two devices (at least not at first). TeamViewer connects to the TeamViewer servers to find your other device. [Much the way MS's NetMeeting used to do, only much more secure.]

Can you please provide a screenshot of what you saw when you started TeamViewer? Feel free to blur out any info that you don't want to share. Point an arrow (or something) to this 182.940...... number that you saw. Becasue that sounds like a computer ID number, not an IP address.