Do you do computer support for your friends and family?
Are you tired of phone calls that sound like, “Read me what’s on your screen now. Are you sure? Is there a Disable button? Check again.”?
Wish you could take control of any computer, anywhere, regardless of firewalls, for free?
Here’s the answer: LogMeIn.com. You set up a free account, install their app on the computers that you support, and it runs at all times as a service. (Works with Macs too.) When you log in, you get a spiffy dashboard showing your list of computers.
LogMeIn.com Dashboard
You can click on any computer and take control of it. Works regardless of whether the user is behind a router, behind a firewall, whatever – as long as it can access the web, it seems to work.
I love it for family tech support and for offices with flaky VPN’s. At my last company, the VPN servers went down more often than power poles after Hurricane Ike, but I could always get to my trusty in-office workstation via LogMeIn.com.
And it’s freeeeeee. They have pay-to-play upgrades that offer things like file copies, remote printing and whatnot, but just start with the free edition. It’s awesomely powerful.
I also use it in my home lab: I’ve got a VMware server running a dozen or more virtual servers at any given time. I often need to remote control them for demos at remote locations, like conferences or seminars, and I’m not able to VPN into my house. With LogMeIn, I can control any of my servers just using a web browser.
The only down side is that the LogMeIn client is considered a potential piece of spyware by some versions of antivirus software. For example, Symantec/Norton reports it as a problem, and warns the user every single hour. You can disable it, but it’s a pain.
All in all, two thumbs up. Go check out LogMeIn.com.
I’ve used this for my parent’s computer for a year for the very reasons you mentioned. Gotomypc is a similar product, but it is fairly expensive.
+1 for LogMeIn
I use it to remote control computers in Asia (I’m in Canada)
Although there are still cases that LogMeIn can’t get through, behind firewall/proxy
Beats Messenger Remote Assistance
Their Free version is good for personal use but if you need to help out your customers, the functionality becomes limited. Their Rescue product is ridiculous in price. I’m currently using Techinline Remote Desktop (www.techinline.com) which is a fraction of the price and is probably the easiest tool to use on the market. It doesn’t require any installation on either end, and even my computer-illiterate customers find it very easy to use. For what they charge, it’s a steal of a product!