Site: https://anydesk.com
Rating: Good
- Features – 3/5 (fair set of features)
- Pricing – 5/5 (best bang for buck)
- Ease of setup – 5/5 (one of the easiest to setup/instruct on use)
- Address book – 3/5 (uncertain of limit – search is tedious)
- Customization – 3/5 (customization a bit tedious)
This review was done on 2021-02-06. More details may be added later on. This was a quick writeup and solely based on my usage of the product.
AnyDesk has come up out of Germany much like TeamViewer. The product is priced cheaper than TeamViewer and has very similar features. IMO – the product is more geared towards managing a few organizations with the option of immediate support. I say this because of the way the address book is structured. Of all the different remote connection tools I’ve used, AnyDesk’s address book isn’t the best but also isn’t the worst. The main issue is the inability to search across the entire set of addresses – searches are restricted only to the category you’re in. Let’s say I have “FAMILY” separate from “BUSINESS1” and “BUSINESS2”. I need to know exactly which group the system I’m looking for is in before I can do the search – or else it will constantly turn up blank.
Remote Connections
AnyDesk is one of the fastst to get going. The program runs portable by default and gives you the connection options immediately. By “runs portable” that means you don’t have to install or setup anything. Just download. Run the file. That’s it.
Meetings
There are no meeting options available at current from what I’ve seen.
Address Book
I don’t know what the limit is with the address book in AnyDesk, but I’ve not exhausted it so far. The way it works is a bit tedious – and the search is limited to the group you’re viewing. This means – if I have BUSINESS1 – BUSINESS2 – HOME – and I want to search for a computer that I can’t recall where it is, then I’ll have to switch between each category and then search. No centralized search. Other than that – it works well enough. The customized names in the address book don’t remain when you connect – it changes to the connection ID/number.
I’ve not seen any filtering options – no way to hide offline systems. While it supports using tags to categorize the systems, these tags are also limited to the group you are viewing. This makes it tedious to find specific types of machines. For example – you’d want to have “DELL LAPTOP” as a tag across multiple categories, but filtering by that tag will only display for the category you’re currently viewing.
Annotations
The annotations in AnyDesk seems to work better than others I’ve tested. It’s easy to draw and make shapes on screen. It’s a bit limited in comparison to others, but it’s more than enough to get the job done.
Screenshots
There doesn’t seem to be an option to take single screenshots. You can record a video of the session, but not take single screenshots. You’ll have to use a third-party application to get that done.
Recording
AnyDesk supports video recording of the session – but it’s a bit disappointing that you can’t take single screenshots. The format is a proprietary one that plays back from within the app. There is no option to export so again a third-party app would be required to export for clients or others to see.
Auditing
Connection audits are available from the web console. This can be exported to an Excel file, but the customized names of the systems won’t be included. Only the ID numbers are shown. Still, it gives you enough to know who connected when – and there’s an option for making notes at the close of a connection. This bit of detail is recorded in the audits, so you can place as much info as you need.
Exporting audits will only do what is visible – not the range you specify and not the entire list. So you would have to be searching for a SPECIFIC incident with a specific client to locate the one with the comments you need.
Conclusion
Overall AnyDesk is a great solution if you only want to do remote support. As a MSP it’s a bit difficult to navigate, but not impossible to do so. Regardless of the tool in use, bear in mind that unscrupulous persons will use different methods to attempt entry into your system. A call pretending to be from Microsoft or some other company – someone pretending to be from your office who needs to connect and install new software or do troubleshooting. The best thing to do is use safe practices, because MSPs (Managed Service Providers) and individuals alike have been attacked by hackers, and scammers have used the tools to gain access to systems. Regardless of the tool in use – please ensure you thoroughly check out who is providing support. Never grant access to anyone that you haven’t confirmed is supposed to have access.