Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2014 December 25

= December 25 =

TeamViewer
I do a lot of travelling (for my freelance work), and am a musician (of sorts) doing music on my computer. Whilst on the train (or waiting for it), I connect to my main PC using my Mac and I will do whatever I have to do. When making music, however, it annoys my mother (I live with parents, looking after them) because my PC suddenly starts playing music when I am hundreds of miles away. Is there any way to turn the sound off the PC, whilst still being able to hear it on the Mac via TeamViewer? KägeTorä - (影虎) (Chin Wag) 00:04, 25 December 2014 (UTC)


 * All sorts of ways:


 * 1) Use external speakers with a volume control, and turn it all the way down.


 * 2) Use an external speaker plug, with no speakers attached. I use this method on my laptop, as it's a lot quicker to plug and unplug a jack than bring up the volume control panel and pick the mute icon.  When using the laptop late at night, this time can be the difference between waking up others or not.


 * 3) Plug in headphones. Even at full volume, they will still be quiet unless on your head.


 * 4) Mute the PC. Not quite as good, as some software can unmute it. StuRat (talk) 00:11, 25 December 2014 (UTC)


 * Un-install what ever operating system you have and install Linux. On top of that, reinstall what ever operating system you have on your / parents PC in a virtual machine. Your parents and you, can still surf the web, email and make beautiful music together. But it stops Microsoft from controlling your computer – which you own – from doing whatever Microsoft wants it to do.--Aspro (talk) 00:21, 25 December 2014 (UTC)


 * StuRat has the correct answer. --  Gadget850talk 01:20, 25 December 2014 (UTC)
 * I don't think any of StuRat's answers are really necessary. If the OP is using Windows on the computer in their shared house, you can just enable one of the other outputs and make it the default device even if there's nothing plugged in. It should still work on the OP's laptop since it's mostly irrelevant to the audio stack which TeamViewer is I presume connecting to whether anything is plugged in or not. I also have doubts that muting the parents computer will work. I suspect it will also disable audio on the OP's Team Viewer session. I suspect you will have the same solutions and problems for most other OSes. Aspro's answer seems particularly silly since Microsoft Remote Desktop (although only available on the high end versions of Windows) has supported what the OP wants for a very long time. VNC probably the most common traditional alternative on Linux doesn't generally support audio in any form. Now Remote Desktop has a number of annoying limitations (depending also on OS), but ultimately unless you're coding your on software there's always a strong chance it does something you wouldn't want and doesn't do something you do want. It is true with any commercial software, particularly one made by a company with which also does other stuff, the limitations may relate to the company wanting to convince you to pay for something. In any case, there are of course alternatives on both Linux and Windows which support (like TeamViewer the OP is using) and don't support audio or playing the audio remotely only (I imagine tunneling X over SSH may work) so it's ultimately a matter of choosing what best meets your needs. But there's no evidence the OP is particularly interested in looking at any of these alternatives so I wouldn't have even mentioned RDP were it not for Aspro's stupid suggestion. Np>Running stuff in virtual machines may help in some cases, but I'm a bit uncertain it will help here. For starters, if you're actually playing music with a keyboard and some other stuff, you often want very low latencies which mean running something in a virtual machine in probably a bad idea. Obviously this is a moot point for the remote session but it'll be fairly annoying to have one OS for the remote sessions. Also, it's unclear to me whether this is actually a shared PC or whether it's just the OP's PC which is in their shared house, the OP never actually said anything about the parents using this PC. If only the OP uses this PC, then there's also less reason to worry about VM. Nil Einne (talk) 03:17, 26 December 2014 (UTC)


 * "If" the OP has the high end versions of Windows. “Now Remote Desktop has a number of annoying limitations”. I'm  suggesting to the OP that he is not compelled  to jump though all the hoops that Microsoft demands. There is more than one way to skin a cat.--Aspro (talk) 16:52, 26 December 2014 (UTC)
 * Telling the OP to uninstall Windows and install a different OS just for this issue is not useful.
 * Remote Desktop has nothing to do with this issue. Although it has the same purpose and many of the same features, it takes more work to access it from outside your LAN, especially with a dynamic IP.
 * I will do some testing in a day or so. --  Gadget850talk 18:14, 26 December 2014 (UTC)
 * Just updated all my systems to TeamViewer 10, so YMMV. This is quite simple: After logging in, set the remote system to mute. Then click off of the remote session (anywhere on the local screen) and adjust the local volume as desired. If you don't click off, then you will be adjusting both remote and local volume. I'm using a knob on my keyboard for volume but it should work using the mouse. --  Gadget850talk 23:47, 26 December 2014 (UTC)

How to find an Apple Authorized Service Provider near Hastings, UK.
I have Googled but can only find actual apple stores. I prefer to go to mom and pop repair shops but still have applecare plan so need to find someone who honors that. Any help appreciated.  S a u d a d e 7  01:01, 25 December 2014 (UTC)


 * This looks promising. You should probably phone ahead and make sure the place can service your particular machine, and accepts Applecare, of course. (I hope that's the right Hastings, I'm not very familiar with UK cities.) Horselover Frost (talk &middot; edits) 14:01, 26 December 2014 (UTC)
 * Hastings is a town, not a city. It's on the south coast, 50 miles SE of London. Best remembered for the Battle of Hastings, 1066. And, I kid you not, there's a small town called Battle nearby :-) Igor the facetious xmas bunny (talk) 16:01, 28 December 2014 (UTC)