Ammyy Admin 3.9 Review

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. However, before using this program, know that some virus scanners have flagged it as a threat.

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.

That said, it's been reported by some that the program itself is safe. The issue is that at some point, 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 Edge.

Ammyy Admin Features

• Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP users can all install Ammyy Admin. It also runs on Windows Server 2008, 2003, and 2000
• Unique ID numbers are used for connections so no router changes need to be made
• Local keyboard shortcuts can be sent to the remote PC
• It supports unattended access by optionally being installed as a service to always be ready for remote connections
• The 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 changes
• A list of contacts can be stored in Ammyy Admin so that you don't have to remember IP addresses or IDs
• In 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 connection
• A 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 accessible
• You can 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 to make a connection with another computer. Both the host and client PC receive an ID when they first launch the program.

From the host's 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.

Ammyy Admin Alternatives

If you want to risk it, use the link above to download the program. However, know that there are plenty of free alternatives to Ammyy Admin that I recommend instead, either because of their features, the developers' willingness to keep the software up to date, or the fact that they're not reported as malicious by virus engines.

Our list of remote access software at the top of this page provides more detail about these tools, but if you want to jump right into my recommendations, consider DWService, Chrome Remote Desktop, or Getscreen.me.