Download TightVNC 2.0

There are several programs to control computers remotely. TightVNC is such a program and as the name implies it uses VNC. Tight refers to the fact that compression is used, so that the program also performs well over slow connections. After two betas, the final release of version 2.0 is now available. Version 2.0 is currently only available for Windows and then only for Windows 2000 and above. Windows 9x and NT and Unix and Linux users should continue to use version 1.3.10. The most important improvements are listed below for you:

What’s Changed?

Below is a list of major improvements in TightVNC 2.0, as compared to the previous stable version of TightVNC, 1.3.10:

• Introducing new file transfer subsystem based on new protocol extensions. Multiple files and directories can be copied at once, directories are processed recursively. Data compression is used to speed-up copying. Files can be renamed or removed, new directories can be created. File sizes are not limited by 4 Gb any more.

• Implemented new server architecture which separates service code from the user interface. This enables service-mode operation under Windows Vista and Windows 7. Also, this fixes all known problems with multi-user features of modern Windows systems like Fast User Switching and Terminal Services.

• Screen updates have become reliable. If something went wrong and the picture in the viewer is garbled, incomplete or outdated, it will be recovered in reasonable time. There should be no more hidden menus or destructive window movements. If fast update detection methods fail, full-screen polling will keep updates going.

• Featuring new secure administrative interface. What was called “TightVNC tray icon” in previous versions is now a separate process which acts as a control interface to the TightVNC service. Control interface can be optionally protected with a password to make sure users cannot reconfigure or shut down the service unless they know the password (or have administrator privileges).

• there should be no more confusion between “default settings” and “user settings”. In TightVNC 2.0, there is only one service-mode configuration and it is not affected by any per-user settings. The “Configure…” menu item of the service always shows the effective configuration. From the other side, TightVNC Server can be started as an application, and in that case each user has his/her own configuration.

• Featuring IP based access control for incoming connections. Previous versions of TightVNC did allow similar IP filtering, but now everything is easily configurable. You can even test the rules on specific IP addresses, prior to applying new rules.

• TightVNC 2.0 distribution has been packaged with new installer. It’s smarter and more efficient. It tries to prevent reboots whenever possible. It invites to set passwords so that TightVNC Server would be ready to work right at the moment of finishing the installation. From the other side, it can operate silently (when run with /S option in the command line). Finally, the complete self-installing TightVNC package (both server and viewer parts, and the uninstall tool) is only 550 kilobytes in size.

• Keyboard handling has been improved. Older versions of TightVNC had problems with passing characters that do not fit in the Latin-1 code space. TightVNC 2.0 adds full support for different national codepages and keyboard layouts.

• This list of changes is not complete. TightVNC Server 2.0 for Windows has been completely rewritten by the TightVNC team. It does not include old TightVNC 1.3 code. So the right answer to the “What’s Changed?” question must be “Everything!”.