We're collecting comments from users. Most of the freeware users we spoke to were using attended access only, but we realize that some may have been using unattended access. I can't guarantee it's going to come back to the freeware version but it's possible. We want to hear from all our customers who are using it and whether or not this change is impacting them in some significant way. So I appreciate your comments and I'll add them to the official list of those who would prefer to see that feature come back. Thanks.

Possibly good news about it coming back. If nothing else, maybe a cheaper option for those who don't need 25 addresses, but need the unattended access.

Sorry to say but the unattended remote access in the free version is essential for me in a public scientific environment. If it will come back in a future version some months later it will be too late. So I would have to look for another solution. The program has made good progress over the last years but now it seems to become worthless, sorry.

Just curious, and I realize I may be putting you on the spot here, but what would you pay with an annual subscription to get unattended access back in the product? I'm not suggesting we're going to have a fourth edition of that product. But I'd be curious to know what you think your price point is to have that feature based on your use. Feel free to DM me instead of posting it to the forums if you'd prefer your answer to be private. And feel free to describe your use case in as much detail as possible. I'm collecting all this information to make the product better. Thanks.

Are you saying that the Pro version is too expensive for the company / university you work with? What's a workable price point for your particular use case?

I'd be more looking into the $20-25 range or even a higher one time purchase. Again, I mainly use this for various computers around the house. What I like most about the unattended usage in this program is the encryption key. For example using Teamviewer, there is no security outside of just having the password to login.

I can't tell what fee would be acceptable as licence deals are done by a different unit and they usually order campus or volume contracts. And even if your offer would be affordable, it must be clear that it would then be re-evaluated against all other commercial remote management products and there are a lot in the market. So it would not be sure at all that your product will then still be awarded the contract.

It is OK that not everything can be free but if one decides to offer a Pro version additionally to a previous free version, one would expect that new features and "bonus tracks" will then exclusively come for the Pro version. To remove features afterwards from the well established free version leaves a nasty taste.

I only use this product in unattended mode. I do basic support for my wife's business after hours and removing the unattended access is a large blow to a good product so far.

Thanks for the feedback.

I understand your need to make money, especially in the current market, and thank you for all the free years of free access! I would prefer to have an "ala carte" service level, where I could fund an account with maybe $20, and every day that I used the product (regardless of the count of computers connected to), my account would be deducted $2.00 . After 10 days or usage I would need to replenish the account. After 45 days of usage, it would be smarter to purchase the Small Business product at $89 . But this requires additional programming on your part, so I understand if you don't want to do it. A quick scan of the Connect.log file, shows I have been under 30 days of usage for a rolling year. Otherwise, I'll just need to pass along the cost to clients. thanks again.

When I went to start the program and look for the diagnostics, I noticed the old program had been removed / auto-upgraded. So next time that i need to use this, do I need to register for the free trial, to be able to access remote computers, and will the ID value and encryption keys still be valid, or will the remote computers need to be upgraded to match the new version?

I look forward to testing the new version and speed when I can. One thing that bugged me was when ding a reboot for the remote computer, if a windows dialog box popped up after clicking restart, (for example "Windows is waiting for program XYZ to shutdown..." Remote Desktop was already disconnected, and I could not reconnect while windows was in that state. I never reported it because I know I was using the free version and had to live with it, but I wonder if that is fixed in the new version?

It may depend on what type of dialog came up. If it was a UAC dialog, then that could override a new connection. Do you have any details on what type of dialog came up that was preventing a new connection?

And please report any issues in freeware on the forums here. We want to hear back from all our customers, both freeware and paid, about their use of the product and any issues they're having.

I think all versions are going to be auto-updated and you would need a trial or pro in order to connect to anything unattended from this point on. Some notice of the change would have also been nice, versus signing into the computer one day and seeing a new icon and no longer being able to access anything.

You can disable auto update from Options. Only if you have the setting enabled would the software upgrade automatically.

Bad news for me. I only use this product in unattended mode. Attended mode access is unusable for my use.
The removal of features from the previously free version has disappointed me. I understand that you need to make a profit, but I would have expected an expansion of the features of the paid version rather than a reduction of the features of the free version.

I am one of the others who use this product primarily in unattended mode (I mainly use it to remotely access my computers and my relatives' computers, usually when no one is at the remote computer).
Removing unattended mode from the free version makes this product unusable for my use.

I want to also add that the firewall rule issue still hasn't been fixed, so I would certainly expect that to be resolved if paying for unattended access usage.

I'll check for you on the firewall question.

A sad moment. I have been with the product from start, sent in bugreports with descriptions and screenshots as well as improvement suggestions. Reducing the featureset and removing the unattended feature is a huge set back.
I am using it for setting up the race computers of my track and field club before and during the race. We sometimes also use these for collecting laptimes during the race where we connect over a 4G modem. Very neat to have the mobile version. Over the years this has been improved a lot and is working very well. But I never thought that this would happen - for me the unattended feature is key. Sadly as I do not want to move back to Teamviewer.

Would you and / or the racetrack support a Connect Pro subscription?

Thanks for your reply. The main setback is that the feature is removed. Also as I have and others have brought user feedback, in my case specifically on the unattended access feature usecase descriptions which I believe ended up with the option "Join an existing session" in the product as this was actually removed during a version update.
I understand that you want to make money and as unattended access seems to be a highly requested feature I guess it is tempting to get a pricetag on it. I did not realise that you planned to remove it from the free version though. That is sad. The Pro version is too expensive and I dont use it that regurlarly to motivate the cost. If not free I would think a pricetag in the 20-30 range could make sense. Or remove the annual pricing to do the purchase once. I am happy with the latest 2.0 version so for me I could stick with a one-time purchase.

very unfortunate that we now need to pay for unattended access. I don't know if I'm willing to pay. Can I ask why it was removed from the free version? do you guys spend more time fixing problems etc due to unattended access or something?

Update: just checked out the cost and there's no way I can pay $AUD130/year just to get unattended access again. Gotta be honest...this sucks.

Bummer. I was using Remote Assistant from home to connect to four different computers at our non-profit organization's location. This was a great program for my purposes. But now, Remote Access, what I need the most, is not $100 per year.

Further, I went ahead and paid for the PRO upgrade, and installed the license on one of the computers at our location. BUT --- I really need to connect to those computers from my HOME PC, and I can't. Apparently the first computer the license gets installed on is the only one that can turn on Remote Access to another computer.

If that's the case, I need to deactivate the license on the computer I just installed it on, and reinstall the license on my home computer instead.

This also means that I cannot log into one of my on-site computer from another on-site computer. THAT REALLY sucks.

Too bad you broke the best remote access program on earth.

If I can't use this tool to remotely access my other PCs from any of those PCs, this product instantly became useless. I can't even tell the other PCs I have, to use the license.

And, I can't see a way to release the license from the existing PC so I can reinstall it on my Home PC, I think I just wasted $100 on what used to be a great bit of freeware.

That should have said "now $100 per year" instead of "not $100 per year."

I was surprised by the instant update that took away remote access, with no warning. I am now also very upset that I paid the $100 fee, only to find out that only one of my PCs can start the remote access session. And I need to be able to connect to my other PCs from any of them.

I could do that in the previous version. Now, I'm screwed, I made the purchase believing I could access up to 25 PCs -- any of those PCs to one of the others. But I can't. Only one seems to be the "master" and none of the others are any good now.

I may have to ask for a refund and dispute the charge with my credit card company.

As long as you have Pro installed and licensed on all the PCs you should be able to use unattended access from any of them. Please reach out to support if you're having trouble and they should be able to resolve your issues.

I bought a license for Pro that should allow me to work with up to 25 computers. However, I can only install the license on a single computer. If I try to install the license on a second computer, I get a message telling me I am out of installs. How do I install my license on all the computers that I will be using?

I’m checking on the actual license implementation. I’ll get back to you by tomorrow.

I'm a little sad, and a little ticked that after updating, I quickly learned that the app is no longer free for unattended usage. I mainly use it to connect to my home computer from work and a home storage device. It's a great product, but I can't justify the cost to connect to (2) computers remotely.
I have to agree with others, if it's primarily free for attended usage it's useless to me. I've used it for many years now only connecting to less than (4) computers at most.
If there's no intent to bring it back, I'm going to have to search for an alternative, which is really disappointing.
Why was it removed? I've never had to contact support of any kind. Was it a huge hit on your servers?

Some companies don't really know their target audience and think just because someone uses a free product that they will pay if the main feature it taken away. What they just end up doing is pissing off people who could have been potential customers by forcing the removal of what they need most.

What you're seeing is actually an implementation mistake. I'm speaking to the team now about addressing it for the next release. You should be able to use Pro from multiple endpoints to connect to other endpoints that you're managing in unattended fashion.

To get you going in the interim, go ahead and DM me your contact information and also your current license number (please do not post this information directly on the forum) and I can have the team get you some additional licenses until the problem is addressed.

I will message you directly, but first, please make sure that with PRO, I should be able to do the following:

I have six computers. Each one would have PRO installed. I have the license for PRO. With this situation, I should be able to start an unattended Remote session from any of those six computers, and have unattended access to any of the remaining five. It should not matter from which computer the unattended remote session is initiated. This WAS the case with the free Remote Assistant version. No matter which computer I was at, I could contact and work with all of my other computers.

As it currently stands, with the license, I can ONLY initiate an unattended remote access session from THE computer that has the license installed. The remaining five computers cannot do so. I have been told I need to buy a license for each computer I have, and/or there is a managed version that is horribly expensive, and I still am not certain it will do what I wish.