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Nerwin

By Nerwin
in Networks and the Internet

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prx984

prx984

Posted
Posted (edited)

IIRC you can either share files, or you can bridge the two networks and he can see your full network. Even use your internet if you configure it with ICS.

Your basically creating a small network between the two computers, so whatever you can do on a real network, you can do with Hamachi.

Edited by prx984
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CoffeeFiend

CoffeeFiend

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It's NOT totally free. There are many restrictions and features missing on the totally free version.

Personally, I dislike Hamachi. It looks simple and good enough at first, until you try it.

Want to use it as a service (so you don't have to be logged in for it to work)? Paid version only (or install service manually with 3rd part apps, copy stuff manually, etc)

Want it to do routing (have access to full network at the other end, w/o installing Hamachi on every PC)? Gotta make a hamachi-override.ini file by hand.

Tons of little things that add up quickly. It's as much work as setting up any other VPN in the end. And the the crippled features and limitations are annoying (a VPN not installed as a service, you gotta be kidding!), trying to force people to pay for something that's essentially free if you use competitor's products.

I far prefer to use a more standard, fully free and uncripppled VPN such as OpenVPN, even if that requires me know hot to open the ports in my firewall (vs auto firewall hole punching). Right now I use Windows' built in VPN (PPTP and L2TP/IPSec), and couldn't be happier.

Hamachi is VERY overrated, except perhaps for the auto firewall hole punching (more n00b-friendly). I suggest you also look into other VPN solutions and not blindly pick Hamachi.

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prx984

prx984

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I don't think any of those features the average user will miss. For instance, the run as a service? I have no use for that as I only use Hamachi once in a while to connect to my computer from school. And needing to have it installed on every computer doesn't bother me much either, it's only about 5mb to install. So I don't care about that.

I realize there's other people, but I'm just saying that what you said sounds like its trying to start some kind flame war. Hamachi is good software thats actively developed. It's simple for the average person to use too. Thats why I and so many other people like it.

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CoffeeFiend

CoffeeFiend

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I don't think any of those features the average user will miss. For instance, the run as a service? I have no use for that as I only use Hamachi once in a while to connect to my computer from school. And needing to have it installed on every computer doesn't bother me much either, it's only about 5mb to install. So I don't care about that.

Well, someone has to be logged in at home while you're at school trying to connect to it. Nobody logged in? No VPN. That's a VERY significant problem by me. I just went away for a couple weeks, and I wanted access. Not only did I want to be forced to be loggged in on every PC before leaving, but things like having to reboot (or power bump or anything) would leave you with no way to reconnect. All VPNs should be services and do routing IMO. I do think this would affect most people a lot.

I'm not starting a flame war at all. But realize their business model revolves around crippling their VPN product enough to force people to pay for it so it's usable. So I wouldn't call this totally free.

Perhaps you never looked at other VPN solutions. Many are better, unrestricted/non-crippled, secure, and TOTALLY free (gratos) & Free (open source, under GPL v2), such as OpenVPN. And most of these ARE using well established industry standards that work on any platform and using almost any 3rd party products, unlike Hamachi. Theres lots of documentation, support, guides and all too.

Hamachi surely isn't the worst product out there, but it's not the end all be all application that everyone says it is. It's main advantage is being n00b friendly.

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gamehead200

gamehead200

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Posted
I don't think any of those features the average user will miss. For instance, the run as a service? I have no use for that as I only use Hamachi once in a while to connect to my computer from school. And needing to have it installed on every computer doesn't bother me much either, it's only about 5mb to install. So I don't care about that.

Well, someone has to be logged in at home while you're at school trying to connect to it. Nobody logged in? No VPN. That's a VERY significant problem by me. I just went away for a couple weeks, and I wanted access. Not only did I want to be forced to be loggged in on every PC before leaving, but things like having to reboot (or power bump or anything) would leave you with no way to reconnect. All VPNs should be services and do routing IMO. I do think this would affect most people a lot.

Or you can do what I do:

- Setup your computer to auto-boot every morning at 7AM.

- Set it up to auto logon once it has finished booting.

- Run Hamachi at startup.

Bam! No problems connecting, restarting, and reconnecting! :D

The hell with this, I'm so tired of people always s***ting on my answers.

computerMan as long as your happy, I'm happy myself.

prx984, no need to get mad. crahak said he didn't want a flame war. He's not starting one. He's only listing the downsides of using Hamachi and suggesting others that computerMan might be interested in taking a look at. If it doesn't fit his needs, he'll go on to the next one.

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CoffeeFiend

CoffeeFiend

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Or you can do what I do:

- Setup your computer to auto-boot every morning at 7AM.

- Set it up to auto logon once it has finished booting.

- Run Hamachi at startup.

Bam! No problems connecting, restarting, and reconnecting! :D

That works well, as long as you're the only user of that system, and that you're not afraid of people just walking by and have fun with your PC while it's already loggged in ;)

Either ways, I'm sure Hamachi works just fine for a lot of people (especially being user friendly). But all I'm saying is that someone should evaluate other alternatives (which are very good) before settling on a proprietary/closed-source/not totally free solution.

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gamehead200

gamehead200

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Posted
Or you can do what I do:

- Setup your computer to auto-boot every morning at 7AM.

- Set it up to auto logon once it has finished booting.

- Run Hamachi at startup.

Bam! No problems connecting, restarting, and reconnecting! :D

That works well, as long as you're the only user of that system, and that you're not afraid of people just walking by and have fun with your PC while it's already loggged in ;)

Oh, I forgot to mention... It locks itself after a minute! ;) And I'm usually present during that one minute, so no one can touch it. :)

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CoffeeFiend

CoffeeFiend

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Oh, I forgot to mention... It locks itself after a minute! ;) And I'm usually present during that one minute, so no one can touch it. :)

Good call, but it still has to be a single user system ;) Otherwise people will reboot it (and kick you off) to login...

I don't know... Perhaps it just seems more natural to me to have a VPN starting as a service on my server (along with everything else server related - IIS, SQL Server, RRAS, VMWare Server, etc), and not have to deal with an app like that.

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