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Hamachi is a tiny app that lets you create a virtual private network between multiple computers. These direct links work over the internet, but is recognized by your computer as a local network connection. LAN emulation is useful for many reasons, including adding multiplayer gaming capability to games that either best support LAN games (classic games like Duke Nukem 3D) or modern games that for some reason or another just have poor internet support (Demigod at its launch comes to mind).
In addition to gaming and file transfers, Hamachi can also facility a secure remote network connection between two computers. To do this, we're going to combine Hamachi with another free networking app, UltraVNC.
Hamachi should be installed on both computers that you want to network together. Just download the installer from the link in the header above, and run the executable. In the install wizard, you'll come across a prompt that asks if you want to disable Windows File Sharing. Leave the checkbox empty.
Once Himachi has finished installing, launch the program and click the power button on the lower left hand corner. Windows will give you a prompt asking you if you want to block or unblock Hamachi from accessing Windows network services, and you should click 'unblock.' Hamachi, when powered up, assigns each computer a IP in the 5.0.0.0 range. For example, in the screenshot below, the local IP Hamachi has assigned is 5.18.250.56. Each computer should have a different IP.
Next, click the Networking menu that's the second from the right on bottom of Hamachi's interface. Select the "Create a new network..." option. It doesn't matter which of the two machines you do this on, but that machine will be the host. Follow the instructions to create a name and password for this network.
After you're done setting up a new Hamachi network, join that network on the second computer using the Networking Menu. If the machines successfully connect, the name of the system will pop up in the Hamachi window with a green star next to it.
At this point, the two machines think they're connected on a local network, and you can browse shared folders, play Starcraft LAN games, etc.
The other component to this combo is UltraVNC, an open source remote networking frontend that uses Windows' VNC protocol to control the screen of networked computers.
Download and run the Ultra VNC installer. In the installation wizard, make sure to check the boxes that asks if you want to download specialized Windows drivers that lower remote control response times and optimizes CPU load.
On the machine you want to access remotely, the version of UltraVNC you should install is the UltraVNC Server, though you can install the entire package if you want. The installer will also ask if you want to run UltraVNC as a service, which means it launches as a part of the Windows startup, before any user even logs in. This is completely up to you. Since we're relying on Hamachi to provide the network connection, and that has to be launched after you log into Windows, we chose to install UltraVNC as just a plain application.
Once UltraVNC finishes its install, it'll automatically show you a Server Property Page. Leave most of the settings as their defaults, but input your own VNC password in the Authentication section (highlighted in the screenshot). Minimize UltraVNC to the taskbar notification area.
On the other machine, go through the UltraVNC install process again. If you're only going to be using this system for remote viewing and access, just install the UltraVNC viewer app.
When you launch the viewer, you'll be given a prompt to input the VNC server IP. This is where you want to type in the Hamachi IP of the PC you want to access (which should be running the UltraVNC server). Hit the big Connect button, and enter your VNC password in the prompt.
If everything goes smoothly, the viewer will pop up with a Window that shows you the Desktop of the host machine. Here, as long as the mouse is inside the viewer window, you can interact with the system as if you were sitting in front of it. Aero is turned off by default, and the VNC viewer renders in 256 colors, but you can max out the screen fidelity in the Viewer options.
UltraVNC also sports a handy File Transfer option that lets you moves selected files from the remote machine to the local one. It's better than using Public and Shared Files with Windows, since you have access to every file on the remote system, not just ones marked as shared. Feel free to mess around with UltraVNC's viewer settings, since it's a pretty powerful app.
If there's anything Halo 3 has taught us, it's that hardcore gamers are also exhibitionists. Gamers love to show off their exploits by sharing demo files, but the easiest way showcase that 20-kill streak in Call of Duty or that rare crab-walking spy to the masses is with video sharing sites like YouTube or Vimeo. But unless you have a premium account for those services, you'll likely have to wait in a long queue while your game footage is processed into a low-res flash file. But you want to show your friends NOW to earn those e-props! We give you a way to automatically optimize your video for sharing sites.
The first thing you'll need is Fraps, which is the de-facto screenshot and video-capture utility for PC games. Fraps requires a license to unlock all of its features, but the free version will still let you capture video with a small Fraps watermark embedded in the frame.
Download, install, and open up the Fraps tool. Navigate to the Movies tab and direct Fraps to save movie files to a staging folder. Here, we called ours "to be processed". Bind a hotkey (default is F9) for video capture, and set the framerate to 30fps or 29.97. Depending on the speed of your CPU, set Fraps to record in full or half-size video. Let Fraps detect and pick the best sound input option to also record game sounds.
The next time you want to record a game video, just load up your favorite game and hit F9 to start recording. Fraps outputs a large AVI vide file in the designated folder once you hit F9 to stop the recording session. This video is uncompressed and full-resolution, making it not only massive, but impractical to upload to Youtube.
Sites like Vimeo recommend that you upload videos that are already encoded in H.264 compression, with AAC audio and a resolution no higher than 1280x720 for HD and 640x480 for SD streams. Here's where a nifty program called iPoifier comes in handy.
Like some of the other apps in this feature, iPodifier monitors a specified folder and automatically processes it based on your chosen settings. In this case, we want it to process full-resolution AVIs to smaller H.264 youttube-optimized videos that can also be shared on your iPod or iPhone.
After you download and install iPodifier, run through its setup wizard. The settings here can all be changed later, so don't mind what you select.
From the main window, enter the Video source parameters settings. Create a source named Fraps and direct it to the staging folder you created before, where all your full-res AVIs are held. Let iPodifier know that you want it to look for files with the *.avi extension.
Next, select h.264 as the codec, mark quality as "best", and choose "custom" for resolution. Here, you'll need to decide the dimensions of the new video. 640x480 is recommended for standard Youtube videos, but if you're playing games on a widescreen monitor and want to upload in HD, select 1280x720 or 872x480.
Make sure you choose not to delete the source video after transcoding if you want to save the original full-res video for posterity.
Here's the cool part: you can set iPodifier to only transcode at certain times of the day, and only when your CPU is idle has under low load. This way, it won't automatically start recording as soon as your're done recording and playing a game, and can just automatically run overnight or while you're at work. Modify the Transcoding options to tweak these automation settings.
Comments are closed on this article
allie_valenza
May 16, 2011 at 9:59am
Good list! It is worth trying some of the things you've done here. I didn't know much about them and i 'm surprise but it really seems easier than i expected. I like o find out new things about software and learn how different programs work. The last post I read was about common file Extensions and it was helpful as well. It's nice to see how they all link together.
cuKrista
December 28, 2009 at 12:39pm
That’s undisputed that the expert essay order service will compose the best customized essay for persons which don’t have writing skills. That could be the most simple way for such kind of people, I think!
Sparx10
December 22, 2009 at 9:47pm
Cool combos, reminds me of Kirby :P I never knew that Hamachi was for VPN, I just thought people used it for pirated game servers and such. I'm gonna try the gmail one. And I might try the HotKey one too. Although I already have AutoHotkey, and am not really a fan of mouse gestures.
Edit: tried CookiePie. screwed stuff up.
levenberg@veriz...
May 23, 2009 at 1:09pm
Nice work, but what about Portable Firefox and Tor? You gave both of them very warm reviews, and I use them together to securely get pass content restrictions. Where I'm from, they don't even let me check my email, so I use these two apps together to get what I need off my email. They've never let me down.
KaylaKaze
May 21, 2009 at 10:55pm
Hard and symbolic links are functions of NTFS, not Vista or Win 7. They work perfectly fine in XP. You can use the free program Winbolic Link to make them (since XP doesn't have mklink).
Sp3ctre18
May 21, 2009 at 2:24pm
Very nice list, I didn't know about many of these and I might try some of them.
However, I'm confused about the mashup with Hamachi. You did not mention at all the main service / application of the creators of Hamachi: LOGMEIN, as their domain implies. Logmein is a free service to do just that; access your PC remotely, and even better: from ANY computer. You simply install the logmein progam on the clients, and you use the logmein website to access it. Very simple, very easy to use. The paid servies adds a few things for ease of use such as file transfer and even getting sound.
So why use Hamachi and UltraVNC? unless you wanted more control over the secure connection, but again, I think you should have mentioned it and tell us your arguemtn, why go through the hassle of setting up Hamachi and UltraVNC instead of simply using logmein.
Composer of Film / Cinematic music
g2
May 21, 2009 at 7:54am
Awesome set of free utilities, a couple others that I find very useful and should make the cutoff
Crossloop – remote pc control
Argali - phone number lookup
gamzu07
May 21, 2009 at 6:34am
You can already sync firefox profiles without using Mklink. Just create a new profile and browse to the dropbox directory.
lunchbox73
May 21, 2009 at 6:27am
I gave up on Hamachi quite a while ago. I always get a relayed (slow) connection no matter what I try. Different computers, different locations, ISPs, didn't matter. I never did figure that one out.
I currently use RealVNC + port forwarding on my router + encryption for my VNC stuff. Not as secure as a VPN I know but the connection is rock solid and speedy.
metric_inch
May 21, 2009 at 7:06am
Did you try setting Hamachi to use a specific port for tunneling?
Pref > Status > Detailed Config button. Then set ports under the Connecting thru NAT, then make sure the firewall is forwarding those ports to the box running hamachi.
I had one site that needed to have ports entered, and forwared from the router. Home, Office, and Job site 1 all see each other just fine, but Job site 2 needed to have specific ports set. The idea of sending VNC traffic in plain text is way to scary.
Denis63
May 21, 2009 at 6:13am
One thing about uTorrent i want to share is that it will look in a specifird folder for any torrent files and it will automatically add them into utorrent with the default settings, then delete the torrent file. Also, it can download stuff to a "Pending" folder then when they're done it'll copy them to a "Completed" folder. What a fantastic program. -Denis
Defiant
May 21, 2009 at 7:33am
They already mentioned both those Denis, but I agree they are quite useful features
bytor7
May 21, 2009 at 5:25am
I have been using Hamachi and UltraVNC
to remote into and troubleshoot my relatives computers from the
comfort of my home for years. Hamachi and FreeProxy is another
great combination to securely browse the web wherever you go.
Creating a Hamachi network with
FreeProxy on a home computer turns it into a secure proxy server.
Log into the Hamachi network from a laptop when you are not at home and
change the proxy settings of your web browser. Enter the Hamachi IP
address of the computer running Freeproxy and use port 8080. Now
your web traffic will be running through the secure Hamachi network.
It's great when using open wifi at a hotel or coffee shop. It may
slow you down a bit, but it's better than having some latte sipper
snooping in on your IMs.
spentnickles
May 21, 2009 at 3:55am
Nice little mix here... I must say, things like this are the reason that I'm a MAXPC magazine and online reader... Keep up the good work...
kiroshimasylvia
July 02, 2010 at 10:14pm
I think that you need to check and see, my understanding is that flood insurance is available. One of the problems that the public may encounter is an agent that has not been to flood insurance education to sell it. That might have alot to do with it.. I think he said the other day that 33% of the claims for flood, were not in the flood plain. But, most people will not buy due to paying another premium….=========================<a href="http://useabletechnology.com" rel="dofollow">Useable Technology</a>
