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.
