10.6: Take advantage of automatic Screen Sharing shortcuts

Feb 05, '10 07:30:00AM

Contributed by: Anonymous

Snow Leopard only hintThe old Bonjour Browser hint for Screen Sharing was disabled in a 10.5 security update, and was missing completely in 10.6. However, a new workaround seems to have been built into 10.6, and it might even better than a browser window.

When you connect to any system via Screen Sharing in 10.6, a .vncloc file is automatically created within your user's Library/Application Support/Screen Sharing folder. (Copying this folder to any 10.5 system will also work, but you'll need to manually update it.) Clicking on any of these .vncloc files immediately launches Screen Sharing and connects to the selected system.

To make these shortcuts really easy to use, drag that Screen Sharing folder to your Dock, and now you've got an instant shortcut to any one of your stored Screen Sharing connections. New systems you connect to via the Finder are automatically added to this folder. Just pop up the folder from the Dock, then click the icon for the system you wish to connect to. Screen Sharing will launch and connect, assuming you saved the login info to your Keychain from the last time you connected.

[robg adds: I dragged the folder into Butler's configuration window, assigned it a hot key, and set it to display a menu near the mouse. Now I've got screen sharing connections available via a keyboard shortcut and pop-up menu - nice!]

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