TeamViewer backend handshaking delay

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I’ve been a long, long time user of TeamViewer (TV) – both commercially and privately, despite occasional blips when it thinks my private use of it to support family and friends is ‘business use’ (which I have resolved several times via email).

I still use it very occasionally (currently using TV v15.6.7) – again, for private use – but have noticed a recent change.

I’ve automated TV connections to family and friends using AutoHotkey scripts. These AHK scripts now fail to connect and hang at the handshake phase.

I’ve had to revert to manual connections… only to find that manual connections now take ages to handshake compared to previously. What used to be immediate turned into seconds… and now takes minutes.

Have any other TeamViewer users noticed this issue recently?

Replies welcome before I contact TeamViewer.

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Rick,

Just guessing here…probably slowing things down to coax you into a paid account.
I gave up on TV when they constantly gave me hassles about commercial use when I was supporting Friends & Family (quite a large group). I’ve switched to using MS QuickAssist and it works well for me. The only thing I really miss is the file transfer but I accomplish that via my OneDrive account with our much problem.

Hope you’re doing well!

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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Rick,

Long time TV user also. Never had difficulty I couldn’t solve either by reading a bit on the TV Forum or their AI Chat,

If all else fails; 800 638 0253

I haven’t called yet, but might after an email requesting TV session, but it wouldn’t accept PW. though PW was correct. Aggravating.

They don’t seem like a company that would arbitrarily slow a connection that uses the free version as an enticement for a paid version. Typically that maneuver is reserved for less than desirable apps.

Who knows,RG might be right.

BTW, TV has reduced file transfer size to 25mb in free version.

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No problem with connect times here in the northeast with several different connections.  The nags do seem to have increased lately tho.  My use is very light – almost never, only as a plan B if chrome remote desktop fails to connect.

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Bluetrix wrote:

BTW, TV has reduced file transfer size to 25mb in free version.

Many thanks for this info. I hadn’t noticed the change. You have to wonder why, since after the three-way handshake, the TV server drops out and the connection is just between TV source and destination.

If the 25MB limit for file transfer also applies to LAN-only use then this may be the final nail in my own usage.

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Bluetrix wrote:

Long time TV user also. Never had difficulty I couldn’t solve either by reading a bit on the TV Forum or their AI Chat,

Good links… thank you.

It’s disappointing to see the increasing number of complaints and the growing number of posts with no replies, especially one about ‘connection latency’ which is what I’m experiencing.

I’m beginning to suspect that my previously-working AutoHotkey scripts may now fall foul of TV’s ‘Brute Force Protection’ inasmuch that there is no delay between the entering of TV ID and password. If correct, the TV handshake server sees this lack of delay between ID and password as a ‘brute force’ attack so sticks the session into a delayed mode.

Having said this, it’s still a guess… but for now I’ve had to go back to manual connections rather than scripted. 🙁

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You could always add a timer to your script (set to use a random value each time it runs) to “delay” the timing between sending the ID and the PW so it would appear to the TV servers as if a real person was entering the values.

BTW, I’m also a long time TV user (v11.0.93231 for both commercial and private since 2015) and, while I’ve also noticed the recent increase in popup nags @georgea mentioned, I haven’t noticed any delay in establishing the connection.

Last time I used it was was Mon 10/24/22 to help my Aunt fix a problem she was having with her HP Envy 7640 printer and there was no noticeable delay between entering the PW and actually connecting to her PC.

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alejr wrote:

You could always add a timer to your script (set to use a random value each time it runs) to “delay” the timing between sending the ID and the PW

Many thanks for the script ‘delay’ suggestion.

Can I ask if you’re using TV for Windows and, if so, what version?

It occurred to me that the handshaking delays I’ve noticed have been TV connections to the same person in the last few weeks. I need to check what version of TV she is using.

I’m also going to set up some test connections to check. I’m currently using TV 15.6.7 but notice the latest is 15.35.5.

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Rick Corbett wrote:

Can I ask if you’re using TV for Windows and, if so, what version?

As I indicated in my post, it’s TV 11.0.93231. It’s approved for “business use” as part of a 3 user TV license my Uncle purchased for his company back in 2015.

I use it to support the S/W he sells to various product manufacturers and to help when his family has problems with any of their 6 personal PC’s.

It was initially installed on a Dell D830 laptop (Win7 Pro) but was transferred to the Asus Desktop I built back in Nov 2018 which was upgraded to Win10 Pro in Dec 2019 using the old Win7 Pro license key (currently running Win10 Pro 22H2.)

BTW, even though it’s now 7 years old and doesn’t include some of the newer TV features, my Uncle has seen no reason to upgrade to a newer version because the license is still valid and it still works for what we need it for (remote support of user PC’s.) He also doesn’t like the fact that, like a lot of other new S/W, it now uses a “subscription model” instead of being a one-time purchase.

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alejr wrote:

As I indicated in my post, it’s TV 11.0.93231

Sorry… I saw that and thought it was the first version you had ever used, not the version you are currently using. I’m surprised you don’t get messages about not being able to connect ‘cos the version is too old.

I’ve done some testing. I set up TeamViewer on a test laptop, made sure TV’s ‘Incoming LAN connections’ is set to ‘deactivated’ (so it HAS to go out to the internet to handshake with TeamViewer‘s backend servers) then amended an AHK script to connect to the test laptop using the TV ID/password combo… connection within seconds.

I did the test again an hour later using a stopwatch (and whilst test laptop was churning away with CPU almost maxed out transcoding a home video)… from double-clicking my AHK script to viewing the test laptop’s desktop took 12.5 seconds.

I carried out a test connection to my brother’s PC (130 miles away)… from double-clicking my AHK script to viewing his desktop took just under 11 seconds (with the handshake screen remaining on view at my end for just over a second).

So… I’m confident it’s not a problem with my AHK script nor the version of TV that I’m using nor TV’s ‘Brute Force Protection’.

It looks like it’s an issue at my friend’s end – either laptop (Dell Latitude E7440 running Windows 10), TV version, internet connection or a combination. She now lives ~150 miles away so I may need to use an alternate remote access solution whilst I do more tests.

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Rick Corbett wrote:

I’m surprised you don’t get messages about not being able to connect ‘cos the version is too old.

Don’t know if it’s still an available option but, back then TV allowed you to create a “customized” version of their standalone TV Quick Support S/W that matched the version you purchased.

We used it to create/download a customized Quick Support version 11.0.80697 which we placed on our website.

If a user needs TV support, we send them a link to it so they can download/run a supported version of QS on their PC which avoids the whole “version mismatch” issue.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Rick Corbett

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