Software & Apps Backup & Utilities Ammyy Admin 3.9 Review A Full Review of Ammyy Admin, a Free Remote Access/Desktop Program by Tim Fisher General Manager, VP, Lifewire.com Tim Fisher has 30+ years' professional technology support experience. He writes troubleshooting content and is the General Manager of Lifewire. our editorial process Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Tim Fisher Updated on February 14, 2020 Tweet Share Email Backup & Utilities Design Cryptocurrency MS Office Windows Linux Google Drive Apps File Types Backup & Utilities View More Ammyy Admin is an entirely portable and free remote desktop program that's used by tens of millions of people. It can be run from a portable USB drive or installed as a service for unattended access. This program has all the features you'd expect in a good remote access tool, like file transfers, chat, and spontaneous support. What We Like No setup required (completely portable) Supports file transfers Voice chat Supports full-screen mode Spontaneous support Clipboard sharing Small download size What We Don't Like No text chat Not free for commercial use Doesn't support Wake-on-LAN (WOL) Can not connect remotely through a web browser Website is flagged as malicious Is Ammyy Admin Safe? Ammyy Admin's official website has been reported by various sources to contain malware. You can try searching for a valid download link elsewhere, but we don't recommend using their official website at ammyy.com. If you already have, consider scanning your computer for viruses. Because of this, you can't download Ammyy Admin if you're using the Firefox or Google Chrome web browser. However, even if you use a different browser, the program itself has been identified by numerous virus scanning engines as containing threats. With that being said, it's been reported by some that the program itself is safe. The issue is that at some point in the past, the official Ammyy Admin website was abused by hackers where they either inserted malware into the program so that anyone who downloaded it during that time actually downloaded a malicious version, or the software was used so often by scammers that antivirus programs simply identified the whole program has malicious. Either way, Chrome and Firefox have blocked access to downloading files from there. So, if you want to download Ammyy Admin from their site, you have to use a different browser like Opera or Internet Explorer. Ammyy Admin Features Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP users can all install Ammyy AdminAmmyy Admin can also run on Windows Server 2008, 2003, and 2000Unique ID numbers are used for connections so no router changes need to be madeLocal keyboard shortcuts can be sent over Ammyy Admin to run on the remote PCAmmyy Admin supports unattended access by optionally being installed as a service to always be ready for remote connectionsThe host can start a connection in read-only mode so that they can just see the screen of the host but not actually make any changesA list of contacts can be stored in Ammyy Admin so that you don't have to remember IP addresses or IDsIn the program's settings are options to enable/disable the desktop background during a remote session as well as toggle visual effects on and off, which can both be used to improve the overall speed of the connectionA custom path can be set so that users remoted into the computer can only access files from a folder of your choosing. Or, if left blank, all the files on the computer are accessibleAmmyy Admin lets you control access permissions on a per-contact level. This means you can prevent select users from doing things like taking control of the screen or copying clipboard content, or even remoting in at all, even to simply view the screen. You can also deny a user from transferring files and voice chatting How Ammyy Admin Works An ID number is used in Ammyy Admin to make a connection with another computer. Both the host and client PC receive an ID when they first launch the program. From the hosts perspective, there are two basic things you could do. The first is to set up unattended access. This works by running Ammyy Admin as a system service so you can always connect to it. This is done through the menu item Ammyy > Service > Install. Or you could simply launch the program and share the ID with the client. The client just needs to enter the host's ID into the Operator. Create session section of Ammyy Admin (the right side of the program), in the Client ID/IP text field. Whether the client is connecting to a host that's installed as a service or one that's just running in portable mode, the connection method is the same. Once the client makes the connection, it can transfer files to and from the host, start a voice chat, etc. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Email Address Sign up There was an error. Please try again. You're in! Thanks for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. Thank you for signing up. Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit