Using Desktop Sharing
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Chapter 3. Using Desktop Sharing

It is very easy to use Desktop Sharing - it has a simple interface, as shown in the screenshot below.


Desktop Sharing main window

When you want to allow someone to access your desktop, you can create an personal invitation using the Create Personal Invitation... button, which will bring up a window containing the information needed to access your desktop. An example is shown below.


Example Desktop Sharing personal invitation

To increase security, the invitation is only valid for an hour after it is created, and of course the person connecting has to have the correct password.

Since you may want to invite someone to access your desktop by email, Desktop Sharing can create invitations as email messages. You can create such an invitation using the Invite via Email... button on the Desktop Sharing main window. This will usually bring up an email message that looks like the following, ready for you to type in the email address of the person you are sending the invitation to.


Example Desktop Sharing email invitation

Warning

Desktop Sharing will warn you about the security implications of sending this information across an insecure link. You must heed those warnings.

If you cannot encrypt the email (or otherwise secure the link), sending invitations by email is a very serious security risk, since anyone can read the password and address from the email as it passes over the network. This means that they can potentially take control of your machine.

If you cannot encrypt the email message, it may be better to use a personal invitation, telephone the person you are giving access to, verify the identity of that person, and provide the required invitation information that way.

Managing Desktop Sharing invitations

Having created an invitation (either a personal invitation or one that was sent by email), Desktop Sharing allows you to manage those invitations. The dialog to control these is available using Manage Invitations... on the Desktop Sharing main window. If you select that button, Desktop Sharing will bring up a window as shown below.


Desktop Sharing invitation management

The invitation management window allows you to create more invitations (using the New Personal Invitation... and New Email Invitation... buttons, which have the same effect as the Create Personal Invitation... and Invite via Email... buttons on the Desktop Sharing main window.

The invitation managment window also allows you to delete existing invitations. To just delete one of the invitations, select it with the mouse or keyboard tabs (it should become highlighted), and then select the Delete. To delete all invitations, just select the Delete All button.

Selecting Close closes this dialog.

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