Remote access to another computer

I, like a lot of others here (I guess) have to give tech support to family members. In a moment of weakness I bought a computer for my mother and now I have to frequently get her out of trouble. The problem is that she lives interstate and there is a big stretch of water between us so going to see her only happens once or twice a year.

Is there some product that I can use to remotely access her computer to regularly run through some maintenance stuff, update virus checkers and clean for spyware, in addition to being able to run through screens as she watches? Now, to all you hackers out there I'd prefer a legitimate product rather than something that is a bit underhanded.

She's on a dial up so obviously I've have to get her to dial in first.

Thanks,

 

Here are a couple: RealVNC and TightVNC. Both are completely free and work great. If she is running Windows XP you can also use its built in Remote Desktop. Where she is on dialup I would recommend running in a reduced color mode.

 

if you need more features than TIGHT or READL give you.. then buy NetSupport Manager!

 

VNC is definitely a good program (either one). And you can't beat the cost

 

VNC is good, and should work well in your situation. I don't suggest it for business use (security issues) but for home use it's a decent package.

 

This is taken from the RealVNC site so it looks exactly like the thing I need. Thanks for the recommendations.

 

Do they offer control of the home machine from work say? Applications etc.... I use VNC for demonstrations and have found that it allows users to login and see what I am doing and follow me around. I can give them access to mouse and keyboard control, BUT DON'T. I just am not sure if through VNC a user can control another user's PC.

I have had trouble getting remote desktop to work on my machines. So I was looking at gotomypc, but I don't think I should pay for a service that allows me to connect to another machine (that is called the internet and I already pay plenty for that ability).

 

If the computer has XP pro on it, you can just use the Remote Desktop client from M$ for free to log in remotely...with full control. You can also use their remote assistance setup to log in and give her help side-by-side as I understand it.

 

VNC does allow for complete control if configured properly.

 

Me, of the computer specialist variety, has had nothing but problems configuring my remote desktop. First it was my router, dmoz and then it was the actual IP address. Man, I have read 100 articles on how to do it. No go.

 

That has nothing to do with Remote Desktop.. in fact there is nothing to configure for Remote Desktop, you just turn it on. As far as your router - add rules to allow TCP port 3389 and you should be golden.

 

I know how easy it 'should' be... but for whatever reason it will not work. I can ping the IP, but no connection. Trust me here locke, I have been trying this for many moons. I have even had more tech savvy guys try to figure it out, nada.

 

I use Dameware and PCAnywhere. Although they are not free they are very good products.

 

Just to clarify one thing, the above is not available on XP Home Edition. According to the MS website, "you will need to upgrade to the Professional edition".

Cheers,

 

you really should try NetSupport Manager - used o use both of them and NSM is much beter

 

That is too bad. I have been using Citrix (the people M$ license the Remote Desktop setup from) and now the RDP client for years...with zero hassle. The fact that it comes installed on all windows XP editions (the client) is a bonus and allows me to jump on a computer, type in my tzo.com address and be on my machine in seconds.

If you are trying to connect from work (client machine), your company may not allow traffic to come in on one of those ports. If your machine (server) is sitting behind a router, I know there are a couple of articles that address this in the M$ knowledgebase, but why not just have the machine sitting out on the internet rather than behind a router? I know why, but configuring that machine to be secure is not that hard and mine has been "out in the open" since the early days of XP pro and I have had no problems.

I am sure your gripes are legitimate, but honestly, I have never encountered any problems (and I have recommended the setup to over 10 people who use it) before. You sound like you know what you are doing and it could just be one of those crazy things.

For a newbie though or someone who wants to be able to control everything, use your local printers, ports, hard drives, etc...the XP pro setup is hard to beat.

 

Hi

I am using Remote Access solution called "RemotePC" (http://www.ibackup.com/remote_access/)
It has direct desktop access, as well as file transfer and may other things.
It works very efficiently from dialup connections to LAN setups.
They have a free trial version, so you can test it and then buy it if it suits your needs.
Its very secure ,easy to use and also cost effective.

regards

Jones

 

www.remotepc.com

 

You may try using GoSupportNow remote support tool. It is easy to use and allows you to access Windows and MAC computers remotely.