Remote desktop help

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Hello,
I have Mac OS version 10.6.8 with no way of upgrading that as it is a work computer.

I had been using teamviewer to log in from home where I have a newly purchased Windows 10 machine, but that became incredibly dodgy lately with a 5 minute time limit and now doesn't work at all between home and work.

All other software I have tried won't work through the MAC work computer old OS either. I can't upgrade the work OS or any of the browsers so the Chrome options for remote desktop won't work either.

Free would be nice as work is not paying for it.

Any help will be most appreciated.
 

Cory Cooper

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Hello.

I am afraid there probably isn't a solution, due to the age of Mac OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard.

Can you give the exact model of the Mac:
-Click  > About This Mac
-You can enter your serial number at this link to get the actual model name - like MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2009):
Check Your Service and Support Coverage

Did you discuss this with your work's IT department?

C
 
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Hi Cory. Thanks for your assistance.
We don't have an IT department. It is a very small office.
TEAMVIEWER reset my license back to personal, but now when I try to log in I get the error "Connection Failed. No Route." I think this might have something to do with running Teamviewer 9 at the work computer and Teamviewer 14 from home. I am going to try an older teamviewer at home and see if that works.

Someone suggested the app Jump Desktop (I get the feeling the age of my work MAC will be the issue, but Teamviewer was working fine, but it sounds like Teamviewer is starting to phase out support for the older versions)

Here is the information (I think) you were requesting.
Hardware Overview:

Model Name: iMac
Model Identifier: iMac8,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 6 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz
Boot ROM Version: IM81.00C1.B00
SMC Version (system): 1.29f1
Serial Number (system): QP827019ZE3
Hardware UUID: 94E880F8-2474-5A94-82E9-4BBDD24BD7DE
 

Cory Cooper

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No worries.

Yes, that is an iMac (20-inch, Early 2008). It does support up to Mac OS X 10.11.6 El Capitan, but it is getting harder to upgrade since the older version of Mac OS X aren't directly available in the App Store. But, you may be in luck:

How to upgrade to OS X El Capitan

Of course, your would have to be an admin user to perform the upgrade. After upgrading (make sure you have a Time Machine or other backup up of your data first), you would be able to run later versions of software. You would have to check with TeamViewer about their supported Mac OS X versions. The current version of Jump Desktop requires at lease Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite.

Hope that helps,

C
 
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Bless you, my friend!!!

I installed El Capitan today. It is still a little slow and dodgy, but the new OS seems to be settling into place.

I had to install a JAVA upgrade to get my Adobe products to work. I had a "catastrophic" error. I had a sudden automatic shutdown.

I hope I can get things to speed up a little from where I am at now, but TEAMVIEWER now works for me to log in from my phone app, so I assume I will also be able to log in from my home computer when I get home to try that.

I didn't know I could update past my old MAC 10.6.8. When I would click on update the old computer APP it would say there were no updates, so I figured that was as upgraded as I could get. I didn't know I had to go through the APP STORE to get OS upgrades.

I am now at 10.11.6.

Any suggestions on improving the performance of the new OS? It has been kind of slow going so far...


Thanks again for all your help.
 

Cory Cooper

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Hello,

The Software Update mechanism only looks for updates, not version upgrades, that's why you didn't see anything past 10.6.8.

It may run a little slow initially, as Spotlight has to reindex everything, and other caches and things update and settle in. It should get faster and smoother after a little use. Because it is running on slightly older hardware, there are a couple of things your can disable to speed things up slightly:

- > System Preferences... > Accessibility > Display > check Reduce Transparency
-Add a 2 GB (200-pin PC2-6400 (800MHz) DDR2 SO-DIMM) stick of RAM to the empty slot to bring it to a total of 4 GB
-Check  > System Preferences... > Users & Groups > your user > Login Items and remove any unknown or unneeded

Let us know how it's going.

C
 
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Thank you again so much for all your help.

I already ordered the extra RAM to bring it up to 4GB. I am at 2 GB now with 1 GB in each slot. That should get here sometime in the coming week, and I hope this really helps make the new OS run even better.

I was reading up on El Capitan and what I read also recommended reducing transparency, which I just did.

The new OS seems to be settling in, and speeding up (as you said it might).

The only error I have gotten (a couple of times) that is of cocnern is "AMT subsystem failure the licensing subsystem has failed catastrophically". It seems to be connected to the Adobe suite of Photoshop, InDesign, Acrobat, etc. It seems connected to the folders where the software was installed. I suppose this will work itself out as well as time passes, but so far everything seems to be working fine, and speeding up...

Thank you again so much for your help. I think the coming RAM upgrade will really help!

I remember my first computer in 1995. The tech guy told me I would never fill up my 1GB hard drive. I suppose they felt the same way 10 years ago that two 1GB slots of RAM would be enough.
 
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Thanks again. I did not move any of the Adobe folders. I think it is just the new OS settling in. I worked all day today without any such errors or a sudden restart (that happened on Sunday without an explanation).
Things seem to be working fine now, just a little slow probably due to the more demanding OS El Capitan.
My new RAM order arrived today. It two of the following — Product description 2GB DDR2 800MHZ MEMORY MODULE.
I assume this is the type I need. I will attach a screenshot of the type my MAC says it takes.

Screen Shot 2019-06-24 at 8.14.26 PM.png
 
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Alright!
I finally got my new RAM installed and it shows 4GB now instead of the old 2GB. It seems to be working better, but the one issue is the new RAM shows it is running at 667MHZ while the original RAM showed that was running at 800MHZ.

The RAM I ordered was advertised at 800MHZ...

Is this a big deal? Is there a way to change the new RAm somehow so it runs at 800MHZ?

I'll include a screenshot. The old RAM was 2GB and the new RAM is the 4GB picture below...
 

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Cory Cooper

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Hmmm...that is curious.

Can you post the link to the RAM you purchased?
Also, can you post a screen shot of what it says in  > About This Mac > System Report > Memory?

Here is the iMac I am on now, which is an iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2009) iMac10,1:
3045

3044

C
 
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Here is a link to Amazon where I purchased the RAM. The company insists it definitely is 800MHZ. I bought it because all the numbers seemed to match my imac report and it was very inexpensive.

I am totally happy with the much better performance with the new OS upgrade and 4GB RAM, so am not sure how much of an issue this 667MHZ is. I am just wondering why it would run at 667MHZ instead of the advertised 800MHZ. Not sure it is worth the hassle of returning the RAM.

Thank so much for all your help. I no longer sit at work for 5-10 minutes waiting for websites to load and programs to open.
 

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The RAM all needs to work at the same speed, the fastest common speed of your RAM is 667MHZ ( They can work at a slower speed than their rating, but not faster.), if you want it to work at 800MHZ you need to swap the other RAM to 800MHZ
 
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Thank you. I bought two sticks of the same RAM for the two slots that I have in my iMAC.

I took out my two old sticks of 1GB each RAM totaling 2GB and replaced them with two sticks of 2GB each RAM totaling 4GB,

Even at 667MHZ, the 4GB has greatly improved my computer performance.

Thanks again. I appreciate the help very much!
 

Cory Cooper

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Thanks.

Not sure why it is running slower. The link didn't come through in your post - can you repost it?

If it is indeed PC2-6400, then it should be 800 MHz. If it is actually PC2-5300, then it will be 667 MHz.

Glad things seem to be working better.

C
 
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Thank you very much for all your help! I greatly appreciate your help to no end!!!

I now have a work computer that lets me install updates and doesn't hang forever on the spinning wheel of death whenever I try to browse websites, open programs, etc.

As you can see in the picture, the stickers on the RAM I bought don't indicate if it is PC2-6400 or PC2-5300. The company has offered to exchange it, but at only $9 I am not sure it is worth the hassle. I might just buy the RAM in the link you showed me above, or just keep what I have as not sure how much more improvement I will see going from 667MHZ to 800MHZ.

On a separate topic, I thought my MAC could only be upgraded to 4GB RAM total, but I think I saw at OWC my MAC can go up to 6GB RAM with 4GB in one slot and 2GB in the other slot. Any thoughts?

I am very much grateful for all your time and assistance!
Luke

IMG_20190630_093800 RAM 1.jpg
IMG_20190630_093145522 RAM 2.jpg
 

Cory Cooper

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No worries.

Yeah, it doesn't state that it is PC2-6400, but 800 MHz would indicate that it is. There might be a slight benefit to getting the correct RAM, as that is what the iMac was designed for. It's really up to you.

As far as the 6 GB unofficial limit, it will work, but you won't get the full benefit of interleaving with two different size RAM modules. You probably wouldn't notice a difference between 4 GB and 6 GB, unless your run numerous RAM hungry applications simultaneously. As a rule, I don't recommend RAM outside of Apple's official maximums. It's a personal preference thing, and I feel that they would have giving a higher limit if the hardware design would benefit.

Hope that helps,

C
 
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Hi Cory,

Just an update..I bought the RAM you recommended (since it was also very inexpensive).

I just installed it, and my computer is now running at 800MHz, so the problem must be with the first set of RAM I bought, which ran at only 667MHz.

I can't tell you how thankful I am for your advice. I am giving my 667MHz RAM to another guy here at work on an old IMAC. Should help him some as he now has only 2GB.

Thanks again for all your help!

I'll attach some pictures to show the old RAM at 667MHz and the new RAM I got today running at 800MHz.

Screen Shot 2019-06-28 at 1.46.34 PM.png
Screen Shot 2019-07-11 at 5.02.16 PM.png
 

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