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I am a beginner in terms of my computer knowledge. Recently I have been finding the need to log onto my girlfriend’s computer and was wondering if there were any good methods.

Just to be clear—it is authorized use—and I have her login information, if needed. We both have Macs, which should make data transferring easier, I would assume. Ideally I would use some terminal command like ftp, telnet, or something similar. I don’t pretend to fully understand those terms; they popped up while I was searching for an answer to this problem.

For example, I learned that you can send files through FTP by doing the following:

ftp IP_address

although, when I try, I get

ftp: Can't connect to `IP_address': Permission denied

And was wondering what is a solution to this. My goal is to gain access so that I can help her change settings for simple tasks such as move directories to better organize her computer or create a text file that has instructions for doing computer-related tasks on her own.

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    Since you are beginner and you definitely need something user friendly you can try TeamViewer. Its easy to use, you just need to install it in both of your Macs. After that communicate the ID and password and you are good to do all the things that you mentioned.
    – Ayan
    Mar 4, 2015 at 8:52
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    I assume you’re not living together; if you were, you wouldn’t need remote access. If you’re trying to connect between separate local networks (in separate residences), you’ll probably need to configure her router (i.e., her router’s firewall) to allow you to connect. And you’ll probably need to open hole(s) in her computer’s firewall, even if you’re in the same home. Mar 4, 2015 at 9:51
  • To establish a connection with an FTP server, you’ll need to know your username and password, in addition to the server you’re connecting to ****** . To open a connection in Terminal (located in /Applications/Utilities), type the following command, replacing the underlined portions with your server: ftp YourServerHere.com After a few seconds, you’ll be prompted for your username and password by the server. Type those in, pressing enter after entering each piece of information.
    – BDRSuite
    Mar 5, 2015 at 14:29

2 Answers 2

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The Chrome Remote Desktop addon for Google Chrome is one of the easiest and most newbie-friendly ways to access another computer remotely.

Chrome Remote Desktop allows you to remotely access one computer from another over the Internet. For example, you can use the app to securely access your files or applications from another computer. Or you can give a friend temporary access to your desktop so they can help you solve a computer problem.

Alternatively, you can try TeamViewer, one of the most used software applications for this kind of situation.

Whether you provide spontaneous remote support, administer servers or work from your home office, TeamViewer gives you the possibility of being able to control computers remotely as if you were sitting right in front of them. You can provide technical support to mobile devices such as iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch and Android devices. You can do all this conveniently from your work station.

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If you want to use utilities that are already present on Mac OS X systems, you can use Secure Shell (SSH), which is a more secure means to log into a remote system than telnet, since SSH connections are encrypted. First you would need to configure her system to enable it to function as an SSH server. You can do that through System Preferences by going to Sharing and checking the box next to Remote Login to enable the SSH server service. Then on your system, you would need to open a Terminal window (you will find the Teminal program in Applications/Utitlities) and run the ssh client program on your system. You would use something like ssh [email protected] if the userid on her system was jdoe and its IP address was 192.168.0.3. If you are accessing her system remotely, she can give you its current IP address by visiting a site such as www.whatismyip.com, which will display the IP address from which a visitor has connected, so would tell her the IP address to which you would need to connect. For the userid when logging in by SSH, use the "short name" for the account, which can be found by going to System Preferences, Accounts, then clicking on the lock icon, and then selecting the account.

An SSH connection will give you a command line interface, which is what you get with telnet as well. You won't get a graphical user interface (GUI) which may be more familiar to you, but you can move files and directories from a command line interface and edit text files, though you will need to use a text editor, such as vi or nano, which should already be on her system. But you can configure her Mac to function as a VNC server to get a graphical interface for remotely managing her computer. You can enable that functionality through System Preferences by selecting Sharing then Remote Management. You could then use the VNC client software on your system for remote screen sharing. You can use VNC from your system by opening the Safari web browser that is present on OS X systems, but then, instead of typing http:// followed by an address of a website, you specify VNC as the protocol followed by the address of the remote system. E.g. vnc://girlfriend.example.com or vnc://192.168.0.3.

You can also enable both SSH and VNC connectivity and "tunnel" the VNC connectivity over SSH for better security. You would need to tunnel port 5900. Note: for you to be able to access her system remotely, i.e., from outside the router/firewall at her location, you or she would need to configure the router/firewall to allow remote connections on ports 22 (SSH) and/or 5900 (VNC) through to her system. If you do so, you must ensure that the account or accounts on her system to which remote access can be gained have strong passwords. That should be true before you enable any type of remote access method to her system, since there are nefarious individuals throughout the world constantly scanning the Internet for systems with weak passwords which they can compromise either to look for credit card or other financially useful information or to use to hide the true origination point for their attacks on other systems.

TeamViewer, which has already been suggested, will be simpler to get working, e.g., you won't need to worry about configuring the router/firewall on her end to allow remote connections through to her system, and is free for personal use, but the above are options that will allow you to use software that should already be present on both systems, if you both have Macs with OS X, and can commit more time for getting remote access functioning.

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