NoScript makes Firefox unresponsive

[Tom T.]

Tom T., while generally speaking you are right, I seriously doubt it has anything to do with it.
First of all, RDP is natively supported on MS platforms, so I don't really want the hassle of dealing with third party replacements.
Next, I didn't post an issue with my virtual computer or desktop experience - I simply don't have any.
Firefox used to work perfectly fine and it will work perfectly fine if I uninstall NoScript. I am just looking for way to be able to use this wonderful add-on.

The reason I threw it out there is that from your OP, the only salient difference between your wife's satisfactory experience and your unsatisfactory experience was (apparently) that your wife accessed the machine directly, while you accessed it over RDP. Diagnostics looks for differences that correlate with different results, right?

It may not be connected. But nothing else, from several very knowledgeable sources, has helped. So if all else fails ... otherwise, it was just the most glaring usage difference, that's all. Sorry if it wasn't worth the time.

FWIW, I used to have to administer *everything* for an elderly relative who lived some distance away and had barely achieved computer literacy. I found third-party tools that were quite effective, quite compatible, easy to install, and much, much safer than RDP. IMHO. YMMV. And GL.

[Hadministratora]

therube, those were very interesting articles, but they describe problems that are quite different from mine.
I do not have a crashing browser, it just freezes. And the only freezing thing is the browser, not the wholes OS or RDP session.

Thanks for trying!

[Hadministratora]

Tom T., I got the point even from your first post. I just do not believe it is related.
I didn't say or even think that it's not worth the time. And you are absolutely right that nothing else seems to help. I guess I'll just have to give it a try.
What would you recommend me to try? Or what are you using?

[Tom T.]

Tom T., I got the point even from your first post. I just do not believe it is related.

It may not be, but stranger things have happened... After three years of doing support, *trust me* -- especially when it comes to MS stuff.

I didn't say or even think that it's not worth the time. And you are absolutely right that nothing else seems to help. I guess I'll just have to give it a try.
What would you recommend me to try? Or what are you using?

First, my lawyer insists that I say the obvious: that neither I, this site, Giorgio, or anyone else here is in the business of endorsing third-party products. We can't control how they're made or how you use them, and so cannot be liable for your use or the consequences of using them. If you do not agree to these terms, then do not read or use the following *personal experience*.

OK, the pesky lawyer is happy.

First, I set up what was then a Hamachi (now part of LogMeIn) VPN, which uses the 5.x address space and AES-256 encryption, with myself as sole Admin, of course. There is a free trial available, and at one time, there was a fully-free version for peronal home use. I believe there still is.

Then I added Grandpa to the network. Note that while my public-facing IP changes occasionally (or I force a change, to mess with the data-miners), the Hamachi address is of necessity static. This will prove to be useful.

Then I tried free trials of two remote-administration tools, Dameware and Radmin. Both proved satisfactory. I went with Radmin as the main one, but kept Dameware, which proved useful when Granddad accidentally undid the auto-start-at-boot for Radmin. I used Dameware to reset Radmin without having to get on an airplane. Your situation may not need this level of redundancy, of course.

What I liked about Radmin: You could configure *two* passwords to access the remote client, with *both* required to authenticate.
You can set the client to accept remote connections only on a given port chosen by the admin, typically in the 5,000-60,000 range.
Of course, certain firewalls can add another layer of protection if they can be set to allow only certain ports for access by a certain remote program.

It was fairly fast, after some user-configurable optimizations of refresh rate, etc. IMHO, speed was more affected by GP having a DSL connection that might have been only 750Kpbs down, and surely not more than 1.5 Mbps, with the usual 1/10th of that for upload speed -- which is what affects how fast his screen shows up on mine. If he'd had my cable speeds, 10 M dn and 1 M up, the performance would probably have been even better.

Mostly, I felt safe. Any scam artist preys on the elderly. To get into GP's machine via remote administration (lots of other ways, of course), he'd first have to crack into an AES-256 encrypted VPN with a crypto-strength pw, then get my express approval to be added to the network. (Or compromise my machine, of course, but that was much less of a concern.) Then he'd have to obtain, crack, or guess two more crypto-strength pws, *plus* guess, in a reasonable number of tries, a random port number from among 50,000+ possibilities. Sound more secure than RDP?

Please note that this was several years ago. Gramps gave up on the Internet a couple of years back, which was a relief, actually. So I don't know how those programs work now, their cost structure, etc. But based on previous experience, the Radmin people seemed to have thought it through pretty well. FWIW. YMMV.

[dhouwn]

There might be another remote controlling solution from Microsoft but I am not quite sure how separate from RDP it is, it's the Windows Live Devices Service with which machines that have Windows Live Mesh installed and configured for this can be remotely controlled.

[Hadministratora]

Thanks for the detailed description Tom T.
Unfortunately I am not going to pay too much attention to the VPN and firewall part because I am accessing my virtual computer in my local network.
Anyways, I'll look into Radmin and Dameware (which by the way uses RDP in some cases) and I will let you know if it makes any difference.

[Tom T.]

Unfortunately I am not going to pay too much attention to the VPN and firewall part because I am accessing my virtual computer in my local network.

I kind of got that idea, but you'd asked what I had done, so ... Agree the VPN is unnecessary in your case.

Anyways, I'll look into Radmin and Dameware (which by the way uses RDP in some cases) and I will let you know if it makes any difference.

Just saw that Dameware uses parts of RDP. Don't remember if that was so when I used it some years back. As said, overall I preferred Radmin. There are many others as well.

It will be interesting to see if it affects anything. If not, then all that's lost is a little bit of easy installation time, and the free trial.

And then it will go back to square one, with no one seeming to have an answer .... GL.