Michael9614 wrote:

I hadn't heard of Splashtop. For a small business, I've used Jump Desktop for years just because it was one of first solutions designed for Mac, and it's free for an individual account. Managed access under their Teams tier is like $60/year per user. Splashtop looks like a much more mature product, and the cost seems about the same as Jump Desktop Teams, which is actually affordable. I'll look into it. The cost on LogMeIn, GoToMyPC, and TeamViewer are just crazy expensive. And I notice SecureLink requires me to request a quote, which means this business can't afford it.

Mark, if I add a user in Splashtop, does it email an invitation to the user with a preconfigured file for them to install?

Thanks for the input, guys.

Thanks for giving Splashtop a test drive. Yes, through Splashtop console at my.splashtop.com website, you can create a custom, pre-configured Streamer (agent) and then easily invite users (or deploy the agents/streamers through GPOs). Invited users will have one click install of the pre-configured streamer (agent). I'm here to answer questions. By the way, we are still offering offer Spiceworks community discount of 15% (Limited time).... just contact our sales for a Spiceworks 15% off code so it will be $50/year per user. Thanks

Does the accountant need regular, recurring access? And would the accountant be the only one accessing this computer on your network?

Many different solutions to this, as you mentioned, here's a simple one...

If the answer is (or could be) yes, then one solution could be to install Chrome, and Chrome Remote Desktop, and have the accountant log into to the Chrome remote desktop and Chrome Browser on the remote machine (he'll need his gmail or GSuite account). Afterwards, he'll be able to reach this machine from his machine (or any other machine he installs chrome remote desktop onto) securely, and without any firewall modifications. This solution won't work well on a shared computer, or one with multiple local accounts. Essentially it's very similar to the Teamviewer solution you mentioned, but without any cost associated.

Here's the support page from Google on this topic...

https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/1649523?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en

Have you thought about a Citrix setup? That way they can log into the Citrix server and they can only get to what you want them to and if they need more its easy to change out what they can get to?

Splashtop Business Access is a high performance, secure, and cost effective solution to enable remote access to a locked down PC. Over 200k businesses large and small are using Splashtop today. Splashtop Business Access starts at just $5 per user per month ($60 per year, billed annually) so it's very cost effective. The solution support 2FA, device authentication, session recording, optional SSO, etc.. You can enable / disable file transfer, remote print, etc. No port to open.

Would it make sense to look at quickbooks hosting? It's secure, and the accountant never needs to touch your network.

Assuming you are a Windows shop, RDP through gateway using AD credentials. Set the AD account to expire so they have to request access when it is needed.

In terms of limiting access to applications/network, use the same AD account and security settings you would to limit any other user.

Each day I have half of the Town Office running remote through Logmein.com while the other half is in the office..

we've set up an Web Browser based SSL vpn for precisely this purpose, some (most?) firewalls offer a similar tools (we've used: Adito, SonicWall, Checkpoint, Sophos SG..).

External user has an account, that account is allowed to logon to the SSL VPN , which then grants them access to assigned resources - that could be an RDP session to a box, access to a file share, SSH access to a defined end point etc etc etc.

Only resources that they can access are those that are explicitly published to them, only tool they need installed is a Web browser (though the checkpoint solution does require an agent installing which is a pain)

https://wiki.amahi.org/index.php/Aditogives the idea

We set them up with a very limited AD account to which we assign username and the 16-digit random password they are to use. Then they are required to use our VPN client on a tunnel that is separate and more locked-down than the employee one and arerequiredto use 2FA with that VPN connection. From there, they RDP to the server they need access to. All 3rd party account's activity is thoroughly logged. If it's a regular, such as our ERP consulting company who is in the system around once a week, we leave the account up and they are to inform us on staffing changes so that we may change the password. If it's someone who connects seldomly - like the printer support company needing to connect to the print server once or twice a year - their account is only activated as needed and must be scheduled with us.

Itcan be a pain when the ERP consultants go through a high employee turnover period, but it's not too bad to manage other than that.

RDP server access and a vendor network account.

Is the accountant on the payroll, or just checking in now and then (external party)? If it's the last, it's safer to let him/her come in once in a while instead of distance work.

It would be best to not put the accounting machine on internet continiously. Better safe then sorry.

JCass78​ mentioned Chrome. However, I stay as far away as possible from anything Google / Alphabet related. They are to fund to get more information about everything (doesn't matter what they state in their terms, an "oops" is easily made by those kind of companies).

Mark (Splashtop)​ mentioned something as well that might work (never tried). However, $5 a month heer, $10 a month there, another $8 a month somewhere else will build up pretty fast! Keep that in mind before going with a subscription based solution. As you might figured out yet, don't like those as well. Especially for smaller companies and / or when you only use it once every 2 or 3 months for example.

Or skip the access altogether and push the QuickBooks files online and have them looked at through Intuit's online services.

Depending on your budget, you could use something like SecureLink

TeamViewer Host works pretty well for me as we already have a TeamViewer Enterprise license. For just file based access, we use MicroFocus Filr as a https-gateway to access our file server.

Or skip the access altogether and push the QuickBooks files online and have them looked at through Intuit's online services.

This is obviously the best solution. I've talked to them about this, but it never gets any traction. This is one of those things where if a company has used the desktop version of a program for 20 years, they can't seem to wrap their heads around paying a little more and using a web browser. Microsoft 365 pulled it off by offering both, so I've found the transition feels gradual to the user. I'll shoot them an email to see if they might think about it again.

RDP through gateway using AD credentials.

I don't know how you guys do it. In my experience, one open RDP port = >10,000 failed (hopefully) password attempts per day.

Each day I have half of the Town Office running remote through Logmein.com while the other half is in the office..

I force remote employees to use a VPN installed on their devices.

I hadn't heard of Splashtop. For a small business, I've used Jump Desktop for years just because it was one of first solutions designed for Mac, and it's free for an individual account. Managed access under their Teams tier is like $60/year per user. Splashtop looks like a much more mature product, and the cost seems about the same as Jump Desktop Teams, which is actually affordable. I'll look into it. The cost on LogMeIn, GoToMyPC, and TeamViewer are just crazy expensive. And I notice SecureLink requires me to request a quote, which means this business can't afford it.

Mark, if I add a user in Splashtop, does it email an invitation to the user with a preconfigured file for them to install?

Thanks for the input, guys.

Michael9614 wrote:

I hadn't heard of Splashtop. For a small business, I've used Jump Desktop for years just because it was one of first solutions designed for Mac, and it's free for an individual account. Managed access under their Teams tier is like $60/year per user. Splashtop looks like a much more mature product, and the cost seems about the same as Jump Desktop Teams, which is actually affordable. I'll look into it. The cost on LogMeIn, GoToMyPC, and TeamViewer are just crazy expensive. And I notice SecureLink requires me to request a quote, which means this business can't afford it.

Mark, if I add a user in Splashtop, does it email an invitation to the user with a preconfigured file for them to install?

Thanks for the input, guys.

Thanks for giving Splashtop a test drive. Yes, through Splashtop console at my.splashtop.com website, you can create a custom, pre-configured Streamer (agent) and then easily invite users (or deploy the agents/streamers through GPOs). Invited users will have one click install of the pre-configured streamer (agent). I'm here to answer questions. By the way, we are still offering offer Spiceworks community discount of 15% (Limited time).... just contact our sales for a Spiceworks 15% off code so it will be $50/year per user. Thanks