TeamViewer? Copilot? Remote helpdesk support.

[Fearless]

Anyone used the TeamViewer or Copilot Application service?

TeamViewer
http://download.cnet.com/TeamViewer/3000-7240_4-10398150.html?tag=contentMain;contentAux

TeamViewer is an excellent screen-sharing and file-transfer app that can be used to facilitate business collaborations, remotely access a second computer, or help distraught relatives diagnose and cure computer problems. Along with being free for noncorporate use, it gives users precisely the tools they need to share screens securely, send files with a minimum of hassle, control access rights, and even flip which user has control.

Copilot
https://www.copilot.com/

What is Copilot?

Copilot helps you fix someone's computer problems by letting you connect to their computer, see what they see, and control their mouse and keyboard to help fix the issue.

There is nothing to install, and nothing to configure—even if your computer is behind a firewall, proxy, or NAT. It's secured by 128-bit SSL encryption, and we preconfigure everything for you to make sure that it just works.

Considering using it commercially when working with clients but I haven't even used either yet... might get my first try tomorrow morning when I hook up to a clients' PC but I am just putting this out there to see what other people use if anything.

The reason why I was looking at TeamViewer to start with was because of the CNet download ranking:

# Price: Free
# Operating system: Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/2003/Vista/Server 2008/7/NT
# Date added: July 08, 2010
# Total Downloads: 15,184,583
# Downloads last week: 340,745
# Product Ranking: #1 in Remote Access

So even if I buy the commercial version, my clients only need to download and run it for free for the time it is needed.

So yeah, but then looking at copilot too now as you can buy day passes for $5 which is very reasonable for my needs and looks like less hassle for the end user.

Throwing it out there...

Cheers in advance.

[Fearless]

In that 2 mins, you failed to locate pron!

[Sir Patrick Crocodile]

There is UltraVNC's "Single Click" (http://www.uvnc.com/addons/singleclick.html) solution, which happens to be free.

Only downside is there is no audio.

[BETELGEUSE58]

I personally haven't tried those you have mentioned but thought I would suggest looking at LogMeIn if you haven't already. I use it regularly and it suits my purposes well. They have free non commercial versions and pay versions as well as other very useful programs.

[cyclist]

I've used VNC so that I can connect to my mum's and brother's PC if they need Technical Support. They don't have the client running unless I ask them to launch it, so it isn't a security risk.

James

[Secme]

Problem with getting friends to run VNC is if they are behind a router they need to forward port 5900 to their machine, and if there internal IP changes next time they call they need to change the routers rule. I have and still use reverse-vnc to get around this for friends. It initiates the VNC from their end to you, where you can have the port you are using setup to forward, and have the listening server at your end. Once the .exe is packed it can even be made to look proffesional with company logo etc, and best of all it is all free and open source. See here; http://www.uvnc.com/pchelpware/sc/index.html

[Fearless]

Thanks for the replies. I have used copilot a few times now and even used it last night for 30 mins quite successfully walking a client through a few things... It is quite jerky as I said but has been successful so far... well apart from it knocking out my wife's background image when I was testing it on her laptop.

[Secme]

Knocking out the background is a usual technique for these remote control apps. The reason is that basically the screen you are controlling is being sent in its entirety down the wire using compression, kind of like loading a 1280x1024 jpg everytime you move a window or even move your mouse a sufficient distance. If you use something like VNC, turn the wallpaper off and drop the colour depth that is sent to you, it will use less bandwidth and be more responsive. Or you can use something like terminal services (although this usually locks the remote session unless you use remote assistance), as terminal services sends the screen to you once then sends changes and individual windows only.

[Fearless]

Thanks for the info Secme :)