11/07/2007, 11:35pm, EST
Wednesday, November 7th
Getting 'Back on your Mac' without .Mac
One Mac user has cleverly figured out a way to deliver Leopard's "Back on my Mac" feature without using Apple's subscription-based .Mac service. Apple's new Leopard operating system introduced a new feature called "Back on My Mac" that allows .Mac subscribers to retrieve files from from their Mac from any remote remote location; however, the feature requires a subscription to Apple's .Mac web service, which provides email, internet disk storeage and other integrated functions to the Mac desktop; it costs $100 per year. All Forces has outlined an alternate method of accessing a remote Mac using Leopard's advanced iChat, thereby circumventing Apple's .Mac requirement.
The "back door" utilizes two iChat accounts and a slight modification to an auto-accept script. The workaround requires decent knowledge of iChat's functions and scripting, but once the setup is complete, it works without any advanced knowledge.
The first step in the process is to limit which users will have access to the desktop, through iChat's 'Accounts' preference panel. If the permissions are not set, then a user will create an open door for anyone who has ready access to that user's iChat handle. Once the definitions are in place, the necessary script – Auto Accept.applescript – must be selected in iChat's 'Alerts' preference pane. The user is then required to modify the contents of the script, located in Macintosh HD/Library/Scripts/iChat/, and nullify part of the script using the AppleScript utility.
After saving the script, the user needs to ensure that the computer remains active for the period of time that is required, which is done by disabling the sleep functionality through the Energy Saver System Preference pane. Once this is complete, the last step required is to initiate the screen sharing session from the second computer, as all of the previous steps will enable iChat to automatically start the screen sharing session.
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secondly. this is a poor substitute. it only offers remote desktop support, which could be had just as easily with a DYNDNS type service and any VNC viewer. what about remote file access, including SPOTLIGHT?
The biggest selling-point about BtMM is that, in theory, it should be a simple as a button click. Unfortunately, with .Mac having issues, it's not working for a lot of people, including me.
Although, before we all say it, I do wish dotmac was less expensive. Yes, it offers some very useful utilities, but it's still pretty pricey for what it does.
Here's to hoping for that someday...
Man, that was hard...
DynDNS is a service for power users. Novices wouldn't even know to go there, much less what to do once they did. Not only that, most users have a hard time configuring their router to open ports.
Those who post here are pretty savvy so they could do it, but it's beyond the skillset of most Mac users.
Downloading a script and setting it in iChat is much easier.
I have tried the dyndns method but had difficulties. By the way, Lighthouse.app is invaluable for very easily dealing with port forwarding.
Received my 10.5 DVD but have yet to find time to install it. Am looking forward to trying the 'official' Back to my Mac.
This article/person was just sharing a perfectly viable and safe alternative to continuing to shovel money in to Apple for features that are and have been built in to this and almost every OS for 20 years!
Get with it...