Does phonemypc just not work?

[wellsej]

Wifi

To clarify my previous question:

* I have it installed on one PC at home
* I connect via WIFI at home and it works
* I connect via 3G and it works
* I go to my friends house and connect to their WIFI, but cannot access MY PC at home via their internet. I can see the name of my computer, but when I click it I get the error "Authentication failed". My friends do not have the program installed on any of their computers (I almost have them talked into getting the program though).

Thanks for the quick response, I love this program and its support!

 

[SoftwareForMe.com]

Hi Wellsej,

Here's what I know. I think we have a fix for this that will be out soon, but let me explain.

When you run the app, it connects to our servers and gets a list of your PC's.

Next, you select a PC, and the phone starts trying to connect directly to your PC, to get you the best possible connection performance.

1) it tries the local subnet.
2) Failing #1, it tries through your PC's apparent internet address.
3) Failing #1 & #2, it uses the already existing connection through our servers.

It's step #3 that sets PhoneMyPC apart, because you don't have to configure your router if you don't want to, and you don't need to know your PC's IP.

Now, the bug is this: if it successfully connects on the proper port in steps 1 or 2, it will try to authenticate. If that fails, it shows the error you're seeing, and stops there.

But, consider this...

a) You're PC is at home on 192.168.0.x
b) Your Phone is at your friend's house using WIFI, on 192.168.0.y
c) SOME device is on your friend's network at 192.168.0.x, and is using the same port

PhoneMyPC will successfully connect in step #1, but of course cannot authenticate as the protocol is different and even if it's another PC running PhoneMyPC, it cannot have your credentials.

So, the bug is simple: if authentication fails in steps 1 or 2, the process should continue on to the next fallback, rather than giving you an error. In your case, the phone should fail on step #1 (because your phone and PC are NOT on the same network when you are at your friend's house), but succeed on step #2 through the internet.

This is probably a lot more verbose (and detailed) than is necessary, but some Droid geeks will understand and might appreciate seeing the bug.

We'll have this fixed soon.

The work-around is simply to fall back to 3G by turning off WIFI.

SoftwareForMe.com
Makers of PhoneMyPC

 

[Sleeve]

Is there a way to tell if you are getting a direct server to client connection vs. a proxy through SfM's servers? Is there a setting to require SSL and notify me that SSL is not available? I'm a bit concerned by the current state of your SSL protection and your casual attitude toward it. I can't use this app with my work laptop until you have endpoint to endpoint protection and you're unable to decrypt the content.

What prevents someone from packet sniffing your client protocol, building an emulator, and using captured PmPC usernames, passwords, and host GUIDs to gain access to computers that your customers enable via your servers? Do you at least somehow obfuscate the data passed to your servers to activate a session? You are using something abstract like GUIDs to identify hosts, right? Like Slingbox does?

 

[SoftwareForMe.com]

Hi Sleeve,

You have two questions here. Let me answer them one at a time.

Security
We most certainly do not have a casual attitude towards security! On the contrary, we started with first-rate SSL, but temporarily backed off in favor of risking a temporary outage. It will be back, along with a thorough white paper describing all the things we do to keep your data safe.

As we've said, a packet sniffer and a smart job reverse engineering our protocol could allow someone to see your session, today, using our Beta. That will be fixed soon, and we'll be loud and clear when it is.

However, your PhoneMyPC credentials are safe, as they are never passed over the wire. The worst someone could do would be to implement a man-in-the-middle attack and inject commands in your active session (when you have one), but that would require taking control of your DNS server, and a few more things.

I designed the protocol, I have access to our servers, and I can not control your PCs.

Nonetheless, please do not log into your Department of Defense PC's until we are out of Beta

Determining if your connection is direct

A couple people have asked for a clear indicator on the phone; we'll do one eventually, but it hasn't been high priority (as indicated by user request rate).

Here's how you can do this now.

** On the PC
Double-click the PhoneMyPC icon in the System tray.
Look at the title. At the end, it says (Connected).
Now, run the app on your phone and select the PC.
If the phone is able to connect, either directly through WIFI or through the internet, the title will end with (Connected Direct).

** On the Phone
Run the app.
If you've changed your Quality settings, make sure one of them is set to Auto. For example:
* Press Menu
* Select Settings
* Under Quality Settings, choose Snapshot
* Select Auto

Exit the settings menu.
Select a PC.
Choose Shapshot (or whichever feature you set to Auto quality).
Press the Menu button.
Next to the Quality option it will say:
Medium if the connection is hosted
High if the connection is direct through the Internet
Highest if the connection is direct through WIFI

SoftwareForMe.com
Makers of PhoneMyPC
& Imagine Multi-touch

 

[kev83202]

I have windows 7 64bit and it says it won't install, I have it installed on Vista 64bit and if works great. Is windows 7 unsupported?

 

[Big Lou]

This works over 3G, correct? Also, how much more will the full version cost?

 

[SoftwareForMe.com]

I have windows 7 64bit and it says it won't install, I have it installed on Vista 64bit and if works great. Is windows 7 unsupported?

Hi,

Can you take a snapshot of the window that says it won't install and send it to [email protected]? I personally have installed on 7-64 many times without any problems.

Looking forward to figuring this out

SoftwareForMe.com
Makers of PhoneMYPC
& Imagine Multi-touch

 

[kev83202]

I have windows 7 64bit and it says it won't install, I have it installed on Vista 64bit and if works great. Is windows 7 unsupported?

Hi,

Can you take a snapshot of the window that says it won't install and send it to [email protected]? I personally have installed on 7-64 many times without any problems.

Looking forward to figuring this out

SoftwareForMe.com
Makers of PhoneMYPC
& Imagine Multi-touch

Ok I re downloaded from the link you sent me and in installed fine. I'm really impressed with how smooth this app runs. Thanks!

 

[KBrizzle]

I love your program, and am currently using it. I am just wondering when your next update will be? I see that you haven't updated in a month and a half. Will Audio support be included in this update?

 

[coondogg97]

I love your program, and am currently using it. I am just wondering when your next update will be? I see that you haven't updated in a month and a half. Will Audio support be included in this update?

I was thinking the same thing.

Welcome to the boards.

 

[SoftwareForMe.com]

Greetings,

Audio will not make it into this next release.

We are targeting the end of this week for the next release. It will include many networking bug fixes, better keyboard support, more user-configurable input methods and some performance improvements. We will also be deploying the remote-login feature to a small group of selected customers in preparation for a general release.

We lost a large share of three weeks worth of productivity due to illness in the office, and have been dedicating most of our resources to the more recent user issues and requests: keyboard issues, networking bugs, a couple of Windows 7 issues, etc.

SoftwareForMe.com
Makers of PhoneMyPC
& Imagine Multi-touch

 

[egridley]

Feature Request

One thing that I would LOVE to see is more security on the phone itself. Perhaps some type of password required to run the app. If I lose my phone or someone is playing around with it, I would rather them NOT have the ability to see and/or control my PCs. Perhaps this is already possible somehow and I have missed it. If so, how?

Thanks.

 

[MJ5150]

SoftwareForMe.com
Makers of PhoneMyPC
& Imagine Multi-touch

Hey cool....you guys are in Washington. Where at? I'm down by Olympia.

-Mike

 

[SoftwareForMe.com]

One thing that I would LOVE to see is more security on the phone itself. Perhaps some type of password required to run the app. If I lose my phone or someone is playing around with it, I would rather them NOT have the ability to see and/or control my PCs. Perhaps this is already possible somehow and I have missed it. If so, how?

Thanks.

Nope, it's not possible.
Yep, it's coming; you're not the only person to request this, so we're working on it. Honestly, the password protection is a snap. What takes time is figuring how how to re-enabled your software after you FORGET your password! (we have to think of these things, so that you don't

@MJ: We're in Vancouver, just about 100 miles from you.

SoftwareForMe.com
Makers of PhoneMyPC
& Imagine Multi-touch

 

[someone]

Great app, and because of this thread (responses from developer and customer feedback) I purchased it.

I would be willing to beta test your future releases.