Non-commercial or personal use of TeamViewer is free of charge. To start working in remote access mode, just download the program and connect to another computer. But the capabilities of the free version are not unlimited: the developers have provided for a number of restrictions that are available only when purchasing a license.
Functionality
TeamViewer is the best remote device management software available today. Thanks to the program, users can take control of other computers remotely without connecting to a local network. TeamViewer allows you to share presentations, create multimedia projects and manage an entire network of devices at the server level.
In addition, TeamViewer provides the ability to transfer files directly between computers. Users can independently specify a new location for a document, application, or an entire folder on someone else’s PC, after which the file will be copied in a matter of seconds.
What are the limitations in the free version
The non-commercial license of TeamViewer provides for a limitation on the time of working with the program per month. The total time of use within 30 days should not exceed 15 hours. This limit is more than enough for comfortable daily work.
The free version of the program can be used in accordance with the rules of TeamViewer to provide a little help to relatives, friends, and also to control your own devices. The general functionality is preserved, except in cases where there is a suspicion of commercial use of the software.
In the case when the program recognizes a violation of the rules, a “Commercial use detected” error occurs. In such a situation, the minute limit provided by the TeamViewer developers is introduced. After that, you can use the program only for 5 minutes, then the functionality becomes unavailable.
How to remove restrictions
It is unreasonable and unprofitable to purchase expensive licenses for personal use (the price of the cheapest version is $38.90 per month). A simple reinstallation will not help to fix the problem: during the first installation, the program gains access to the MAC address and transfers it to the servers. Fortunately, there is a small security vulnerability that can help remove the time limit in TeamViewer.
The procedure of “treatment” of the program will take 10-15 minutes. It consists of several stages:
- Complete shutdown of the program. To do this, it is not enough to close it: you need to open the task manager and “kill” the “TeamViewer_******.exe” process, where ****** is the version of the program.
- Removing the program and its traces. The first step is to uninstall TeamViewer through the Programs and Features interface. Then you need to erase two folders of the same name:
- In the AppData directory. It is available via the %appdata% request in the Run application (Win+R).
- In the Program Files directory. If you installed the 32-bit version on MS Windows x64, you should look for it in the Program Files (x86) folder.
- Change the MAC address of the network card. This will require several steps:
- Open File Explorer (Win+E).
- Right-click on Manage and select Device manager.
- Right-click on the adapter for which you want to change MAC address, and select Properties.
- Open the Advanced tab and select Network Address.
- In the Value field type a number that starts at 1-8 and ends with the characters 2, 6, A or E. Click “OK” and close the window.
- Change the creation date of the Program Files folder. To do this, you can use the Attribute Changer utility or a similar program.
- Restart your PC and then install TeamViewer again.
The limitations of the free version of TeamViewer are mainly related to the use of the program for commercial purposes. A simple algorithm will help to avoid them, which makes it easy to deceive the developer’s security system.
