RSSTeamViewer – A Slick Remote Support Tool.
Jun 26
At times, I have the need to help a user to remotely solve PC related problems. The difficulty with the built-in solution for Windows (Remote Desktop), is that it requires port mapping in your firewall and configuration that the user may not be efficiently capable of. A similar situation exists when trying to use VNC or other remote support tools.
There are ways around this. MSN Messenger users can invite other MSN Messenger users to assist them, and XP has a couple other ways to invite someone to help. Again, these solutions often suffer from network access (port mapping) issues. More importantly in my case, I am on a Mac, and none of those invite based solutions are feasible.
One evening, I found myself needing to help someone in another state (using a Windows XP machine0, but not capable of getting set up for remote access with the built-in solution. After several failed attempts at walking this person through some problem resolution steps, I gave up, and started looking for a Plan B. After a brief Google search, I found TeamViewer. As usual, I am a bit nervous about applications that give this sort of machine access. It could be some sort of malware/spyware, that creates more problems while it solves others. I did a bit of digging on TeamViewer, and everything I found confirmed its legitimacy.
It’s a secure RSA authentication system, that utilizes a TeamViewer server as a middleman. TeamViewer provides the technical details of how it establishes connections HERE. The setup is incredibly easy, and it works on mac and windows machines. The user downloads the client app, and just double-clicks to open it. No install, no mess, just an executable.
On your machine, you run the full application. The user provides you a client id, and a unique session password. You enter those two pieces of information into the application on your machine, and it establishes the connection. From there, you have full desktop control of their machine. You can see some presentations of that setup here.
I have now used it several times with different people. It has worked without issue every time. It’s free for personal use, and has some licensing costs associated for businesses. The download is free either way, so businesses can experiment before buying.
