List of good screen sharing software solutions (free!)

[Ben Stones]

There are many different screen sharing solutions to choose from, many with different degree of features from one another. Below is a list of worthy screen sharing solutions to choose from - and yes, they are free (subject to applicable terms - for example, some may not allow use for commercial purposes).

LogMeIn

A popular solution is LogMeIn. Now this isn't any good if you require someone else to see your screen, as the free version is made so you can view your screen on another computer through your LogMeIn account. So if you trust the person who needs to see and/or take control of your screen, LogMeIn is a good option. LogMeIn works on both Windows and Mac OS X.

TeamViewer

I personally use TeamViewer myself - it's great. It also works on Linux too, as well as Mac OS X and Windows. There are Debian packages available for Ubuntu and other Debian-based distributions and RPM packages for other respective Linux distributions.

The difference with TeamViewer to LogMeIn is that it is free to use subject to the applicable terms and that it cannot be used for commercial purposes. When the application has launched, you have an numeric ID along with a 4 digit "PIN" that another person uses to connect to you. And this allows the other user to control your computer.

RealVNC

RealVNC is another alternative, and there is a Free Edition too. However, it requires you to set up port forwarding (generally a simple task) so for some people it may not be as simple as using TeamViewer or LogMeIn.

Free Edition is Windows-only. However, there is a Mac VNC client called Chicken of the VNC.

Ubuntu/GNOME VNC clients

Ubuntu uses the GNOME desktop environment. So for Ubuntu and other Linux distributions that use the GNOME desktop environment, a good VNC client is Vinagre.

[Ben Stones]

TeamViewer will be my top bet. It's really easy to use and I don't encounter any problem from it. RealVNC, is annoying at some point because your Admin can see everything that you're doing with out permission from you.

I agree. I always use TeamViewer and I'd thoroughly recommend it to others. It's free for non-commercial use and works on Windows, Linux and OS X, which essentially makes it a cross-platform solution to use.

[Stan]

TeamViewer definitely is one of the softwares that is used widely. Though couple of years ago I remember using NetMeeting for that purpose, did its job pretty well.