What are good alternatives to the Windows builtin remote desktop client?
I have tried Terminals and it is great but I've have run into numerous bugs with the latest release (currently 1.7e). Can anyone recommend an alternative similar to Terminals?
EDIT (in response to Adam Gibbins' answer): One of the biggest things I'm looking for is session management and a tabbed environment similar to the Terminals interface.
Not really your best "tabs" solution (I guess), but you could just create a multi-session applet using MMC. Just add the 'remote desktop' snap-in and add servers that way. The sessions will stay open and you can go back and forth between them through that MMC applet, make sure you save it though and put it somewhere easily accessible.
Good Luck!
There is RoyalTS, I tried this years ago and gave up because of the bugs. Maybe they have been ironed out.
However, if you create .rdp file for all your connections and choose group related items on the taskbar you are almost there. We now have all of these in a shared folder so all techs can use them.
The built in remote desktop client is one of the best available in terms of performance. If you're really looking for an alternative though, you may wish to try some form of VNC...although its not multi sessioned which could be a let down depending on your situation.
It might help if you could explain exactly what's missing in the existing remote desktop client?
Windows built-in MMC snap-in "Remote Desktops" perhaps? ^^ (note the plural form)
We used to use RAdmin (http://www.radmin.com/) - it was (a few years ago) way faster than anything else on the market. Could be it still is...
I use RD Tabs. It does the job very well, and it is free. Both x86 and x64 versions are available.
Stumbled upon the continuation of the mRemote in open source space: http://www.mremoteng.org/
Was looking for UltraVNC support because the last free edition of mRemote didn't seem to work well with it. mRemoteNG is working out great so far!
I agree about the bugs in Terminals, I really hope they get them sorted out. But to be honest, Terminals has so much potential I've been using it even with the bugs...
I use terminals for all remote desktop sessions - unless they require the additional authentication that Vista and WS2K8 ask for.
In fact, I would go as far as saying that terminals has made my life much easier. Having multiple sessions connected without lots of different windows has been great. I especially like the ability to resize the window contents!
I tried it for VNC and SSH, but it didn't work. If I had the time, terminals is a project I would love to help out with!
Another remote desktop solution that I know of that allows Ctrl+Alt+Del functionality on a remote computer is RHUB appliance. It is one of the few solutions that combine convenience with advanced features. You get complete remote PC control, and can also perform remote reboot and remote lock.
My suggestion is to use Remote Desktop Manager. It is a great tool, polished and the standard edition which is free, is quite feature rich. Download it from - http://remotedesktopmanager.com/ and get the standard edition.
A bit late to the party, but now there is MS's own Remote Desktop Connection Manager http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=21101 which seems like a better version of the mmc solution mentioned here
Remote Desktop Connection Manager rdcman
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=21101
I've used Kavoom!, which is billed as a "virtual" KVM switch. I've used Crossloop, copilot, and the built in Remote Desktop (Win XP) and Kavoom is the most productive.
It's great with a multi monitor setup. You get a little window with a 2 buttons (Local, Remote, etc. you can name them). You click on it and viola, that montor is your remote computer. Mouse and keyboard work normally on it. It's pretty fast (about like Win Remote desktop). You can even copy and paste in/out of the "remote window"
Costs about $40.00
