TeamViewer

TeamViewer

TeamViewer is a proprietary computer software package for remote control, desktop sharing, online meetings, web conferencing and file transfer between computers. The software operates with the Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X,  Linux, iOS,  and Android  operating systems. It is possible to access a machine running TeamViewer with a web browser. While the main focus of the application is remote control of computers, collaboration and presentation features are included.

TeamViewer GmbH was founded in 2005 in Uhingen, Germany. TeamViewer is now owned by GFI.

Establishing connections

TeamViewer may be installed with an installation procedure, although the 'Quick Support' version will run without installation. To connect to another computer, TeamViewer has to be running on both machines. To install TeamViewer administrator access is required, but once installed it can be run by any user. When TeamViewer is started on a computer, it generates a partner ID and password (user-defined passwords are also supported). To establish a connection from a local client to a remote host machine, the local operator must communicate with the remote operator, request the ID and password, then enter these into the local TeamViewer.

To start an online meeting the presenter gives the Meeting ID to their participants. They join the meeting by using the TeamViewer full version or by logging on to http://go.teamviewer.com/ and enter the Meeting ID.

It is also possible to schedule a meeting in advance.

Linux port

TeamViewer for Linux is based upon the Windows version using Wine. Additionally, /opt/teamviewer/teamviewer/$tv_ver/bin/teamviewer contains links to a wrapper of a Windows executable:

export TV_BINDIR=/opt/teamviewer/teamviewer/$tv_ver/bin

exec "$TV_BINDIR"/wrapper "c:\Program Files\TeamViewer\Version$tv_ver\TeamViewer.exe" "$@"

Security

TeamViewer uses RSA private/public key exchange (1024-bit) and AES (256-bit) session encoding.

In the default configuration, TeamViewer uses one of the servers of TeamViewer.com to start the connection and the routing of traffic between the local client and the remote host machine. However in 70% of the cases after the handshake a direct connection via UDP or TCP is established.