Remote support for my folks

[WhiteD3]

Hi,

Well after years (Decades would be more accurate) of indecision my parents have decided to get a PC and nominated me for the job of purchase, installation and support.

They're in the 70s, don't have clue about PCs and think IT was a character in the Adams Family. God help me!

But, that's what good sons do, right? :(

Anyway, I'm taking the chicken option and buying a Dell with 2 years support, having it delivered to my place for setup and signing them up with the same ISP as I use.

I'm in Brisbane and they're on the southern Gold Coast.

My questions are:
Can I use the freeware version of RealVNC to remotely support them?

And if so, how secure is it from their end?

Is there a better option? They'll have Vista home premium but I run XP Pro.

Cheers,

Mark

[scrambler]

Do the remote assistance options built into the OS work between Vista and XP?

[WhiteD3]

Do the remote assistance options built into the OS work between Vista and XP?

That's what I don't know but you can imagine how good it would be if they can ring me and I can connect in and help them.


They might just surprise you once they get started

Yes they might and I hope they do but.....I want to make it as easy as possible for them to surprise me.:angel:

[dmdigital]

Just use Windows Live Messenger, that's how I support my folks. May not be perfect but lets you take full control of the PC and works between XP and Vista no problems.

Good luck and hope you don't get as frustrated as I do with my folks!

[George130]

Good luck. I have the opposite. My dad is one of the original computer geeks:eek:.

[cockie55]

Pay a bit extra for XP instead of standard Vista package unless of course you know vista bakwards

[WhiteD3]

Pay a bit extra for XP instead of standard Vista package unless of course you know vista bakwards

There's one problem. I've got 3 PCs at home, all on XP. Never really used Vista.

[WhiteD3]

Just use Windows Live Messenger, that's how I support my folks. May not be perfect but lets you take full control of the PC and works between XP and Vista no problems.

Good luck and hope you don't get as frustrated as I do with my folks!

dm_td5...more info please? I use messenger but only to gasbag to mates. It's got remote control capability?

[jik22]

If you're not familiar with Vista, you wouldn't want to support it remotely....I'd put them on XP, and then just use the remote control within that. Oh, and use a router instead of a modem, and open it up only to your IP address (Or range from your ISP if you're not statically assigned) for remote access through to their PC.

[Grizzly_Adams]

dm_td5...more info please? I use messenger but only to gasbag to mates. It's got remote control capability?

Just had a look at my Windows Live Messenger and along the top is a icon labeled "See a list of Activites" and some of the activities are Offer Remote Assistance and Request Remote Assistance.

So I guess the answer is yes. If you are using XP and it doesn't have that functionality try "upgrading" to MSN Messenger instead of the default Windows Messenger. MSN Messenger is available from http://messenger.msn.com

Personally I would let them run Windows Vista and upgrade at least one of your PC's to it. Ok it's not perfect but you're gonna have to upgrade eventually anyway so now is as good a time as any. Either way I'll leave that up to you.

Hope this helps.

btw I run 64-bit Windows Vista Home Premium.

[dmdigital]

Sorry got distracted (Dr Who was on and I'm preparing for a rather long trek tomorrow in the Defender:)).

Windows Live Messenger is a better alternative than the Windows Messenger or MSN Messenger, and will also work XP to Vista and visa-verca. You are best supporting any system from Vista though as it works much better from your end than XP does. From the client (XP) end there's no change.

If they're getting a Vista PC all you need to do is talk them through signing on to windows messenger in Vista. What I'd recommend is setting up a hotmail account for them yourself and then tell them the username and password.

There's also this nice piece of middle eastern software that you can run for them that wipes all the ad's and other junk out of Messenger. http://apatch.ikhost.com/downloads.php

If you need more info let me know. I won't be around the PC until lat tomorrow evening though.

[WhiteD3]

Thanks Gents, that all makes sense.

I actually have a copy of Vista from a failed attempt to get my HTPC to run on it so I can install it on my desktop.

Jik22, good point re the IP and router. I don't have a static IP and niether will they.

Cheers.

[Grizzly_Adams]

Windows Live Messenger is a better alternative than the Windows Messenger or MSN Messenger

If you go to messenger.msn.com you'll notice it redirects you to Windows Live Messenger anyway. I've been using MSN for years as it was loads better than the standard Windows Messenger and it looks like they've upgraded / migrated MSN Messenger to Windows Live Messenger now and done away with the standard windows messenger...

[djam1]

Why not use Hamachi (google it) set yourself up a vpn
then use vnc but restrict its access through the firewall to only work through the VPN interface
Then the user can turn Hamachi on when they want you to access. This works well and is more secure.
VNC passwords are easy to crack so don't expose it to the internet

[jik22]

Jik22, good point re the IP and router. I don't have a static IP and niether will they.

Cheers.

For connecting to them, you can use a Dynamic DNS provider (Such as DynDNS.org) which most decent routers will actually keep updated for you as they have an option in their settings, BUT most only allow you to specify IP addresses for firewall rules and remote management, so you'll probably still have to enter the range of IP's your ISP can assign from...

[djam1]

If you use Hamachi this wont be a problem as it transcends NAT

[Pedro_The_Swift]

This is great,, I have the same task,, setting up a PC for my mum and dad,,

[WhiteD3]

Thanks guys.

Some excellent suggestions. I've ordered the PC from Dell today and signed up the ISP.

As soon as it arrives I'm sure I'll have some more questions.

Thanks again.

[WhiteD3]

If you go to messenger.msn.com you'll notice it redirects you to Windows Live Messenger anyway. I've been using MSN for years as it was loads better than the standard Windows Messenger and it looks like they've upgraded / migrated MSN Messenger to Windows Live Messenger now and done away with the standard windows messenger...

Hey Grizzly, I've installed Vista on my PC (Still waiting on Dell for the new one) and installed Messenger Live. But it won't run. Task manager shows a process called msnmsgr.exe running but no application running.

I've rebooted the router, reinstalled, rebooted, etc with no joy. Any ideas?

Cheers,

Mark

[Grizzly_Adams]

G'day Mark,

That's the right process allright. Sure it's not minimized in the corner somewhere? Should be a little green half-man symbol somewhere in your systray.

If he's down there then either double-click or right-click on him to see the options available.

Apart from that I'm not sure as the first time you run it the main window should normally be displayed...?

If it's still not showing then try killing the msnmgr process and restarting it but if it's set to hide then it'll probably disappear again :(

[WhiteD3]

Nope, definitely a problem. I've done a quick search on the net and other people have reported the same issue.

I've logged the problem with MS Messenger tech support so we'll see what happens.

Cheers.

[WhiteD3]

Couldn't get WM Live working but the PCs installed and on the net at Mum & Dad's. As usual there was drama as Netspace sent the wrong modem, in that it wasn't compatible with Vista.

Rung around till I found one of Dad's old crony's with a PC, downloaded the right driver and we were away.

Painful to watch them get their heads around the PC and the net. Dad cracked the s#@! and went off in a sulk:mad:, Mum just sat and stared as if I'd asked her to take over the controls of a Jumbo to save the lives of the passengers! :eek:

...but we are progressing.....:D