The Best Tools To Use To Get Remote Help, Or Remotely Help Someone

Sometimes packing up your computer and taking it somewhere to get repaired can be quite inconvenient to you and it can take up a lot of your time. Asking someone to come over to help you for just 5 minutes would be inconvenient them. The solution is to use remote tools to get remote help, and to allow people to help you remotely without inconveniencing them as so much. These are my favourite tools to remotely help someone.

Team Viewer

If you have never used Team Viewer before, you’ve missed out on a lot. It’s my favourite tool to remotely control my friends and family’s computer to provide them with support all over the world. If I’m not at my computer, I can even use it through my Android phone. Not only do I use Team Viewer to help my friends and family, I also use it to control my own computer for when I am away and I need access to it.

The reason why I like Team Viewer is because it’s very easy to use, it’s free and for users who need remote support, they just have to run an .exe file and provide you with the ID and Password. Nothing is ever installed, and you don’t need to open ports on your router, unlike other remote support applications which can be annoying for some people. Unless of course, you want to connect to a remote computer.

Crossloop

Before I started using Team Viewer, my favourite application was Crossloop, however it was completely different from when I started using it to what it is now. The company has taken the software in a different direction. Crossloop is now more focused on being a marketplace where people who need help can get it from people who offer it, and usually, it’s not free. It’s been a while since I’ve used Crossloop, but Team Viewer just better meets my needs.

LogMeIn

I’ve tried LogMeIn a few years ago, I am sure it’s different to what it is today, but my first impression wasn’t that great of it. Reasons being it wasn’t completely free, and the free version was very limited in what you could do. The application also seemed to be quite heaving on the installation, and you have to register accounts before you can start using it, which is something I don’t really like.

I haven’t used it since, but I often see other people use it, which I guess is a good thing.

TightVNC

Again, back in the day, I used to use TightVNC to control my computers from other computers in my home network. It worked quite well, but having three computer monitors to connected to one computer and accessing this computer on a 10inch netbook, it wasn’t that user friendly. The Windows version I had installed didn’t allow Remote Windows Connection, and I wasn’t aware of Team Viewer at the time, so TightVNC was what I used. It did the trick, but was a pain to setup, especially for remote support outside your network as you had to configure your router and open up ports which can be a real pain trying to give these instructions to someone who is asking for help remotely. But for an organisation, TightVNC is a good program.

Have you had experience with any of these programs, or even others? What has your experience been with them?

Make sure you also read my article on MakeUseOf.com Top 10 Sites For Computer Troubleshooting and Tech Support.