TeamViewer to the Rescue!

For helping out remote users, whether they may be your friends, family members, co-workers or heck, even strangers, there has to be a way for the computers to easily communicate with each other via the Internet. I did write about Window 7′s Remote Assistance feature but I then later realized that the set-up process could have been simplified even further. Also, the Remote Assistance feature didn’t always work for some strange reason. Consider me late to the party but TeamViewer is what I am currently using for remote computer support and I love the damn thing. The process is much more simplified and best of all it doesn’t take much to get started, even if the other party member you are helping have limited computer knowledge.

TeamViewer is a powerful software that allows you and others to easily connect with one another. It is free for non-commercial/private use, although you could purchase licenses for your business needs. By being able to connect with other users scattered across the globe or even if just across the street from you, many possibilities arises. TeamViewer features remote support, meetings and presentation collaboration, and remote access. Here, I’ll be going over the remote support capability to show you how easy it is to help users with their computer problems no matter where you folks are located at any given time.

TeamViewer

TeamViewer is much more than just a remote support tool, which is the feature I will talk about here. There are many things you can do with it. For a more in-depth look at TeamViewer’s features and what it can do for you, please refer to their manual.
You can download TeamViewer from here.

The cool part about TeamViewer is that you can either fully install the software onto your computer or simply run it like a portable application. This makes TeamViewer fully portable and allows you to use the software on pretty much any computer you may be working on. For remote support sessions, we can run the software without having it fully installed.

You should then see TeamViewer’s main menu screen. Here, the screen is split into two sections. On the left side under “Wait for Session”, you’ll see your unique 9 digit ID number and password. This is the information you give to your partner should you require assistance on your end. This allows the other party member to connect with your computer via TeamViewer. On the right side under “Create Session”, you can reverse the role and connect to the other party member instead. Likewise, the user you are supporting needs to give you their unique 9 digit ID number and password in order for the connection to be successful.
You have four different options to choose from based on what you want to do with the remote user. Remote Support is basically like Window 7′s Remote Assistance in that you can to control that user’s computer. Presentation gives you the ability to share your computer screen with the remote user. Need to go over a PowerPoint presentation with members of your team before presenting it to your bosses? Then the Presentation feature within TeamViewer is an excellent way to collaborate. File Transfer is exactly that: transferring files between your computer and the remote user or vice-versa. You can also initiate a file transfer while in Remote Support mode as well. VPN allows you and the remote user to connect together in a way that the computers will “think” that they are both on the same network locally (LAN).

Alright, so now that we have TeamViewer up and ready to either join or create a session, the real fun begins. Because we are the helpers, we need the unique TeamViewer ID and password of the remote user we are helping. This is the most important part because if this process is to complicated, the user might not be able to complete it and therefore, ruin the whole remote session even before it begins! Luckily, the only thing the remote user is required of is to download and run a small piece of software by TeamViewer. This little software helps generate the unique ID and password in which they then communicate back to you, the helper. Simply direct he remote user to the TeamViewer’s main website. Rather than having them download the entire TeamViewer software like you did, direct them to download the guest piece instead by clicking the “Join a Session” link which is directly under the Full Version link as seen here:

It still baffles me how some users have no idea even where their downloaded files from the Internet are on their computer. You’ll have to then guide them to their Downloads folder and if it’s not there, then I wish you luck explaining to them how to open their browser’s Option menu to figure out the location for the downloaded files.

Once the file has been downloaded (luckily it’s only about 2.5MB in size), instruct the remote user to open it. No installation is necessary. The software will quickly do its thing and the remote user will be presented with their unique 9 digit ID number along with the password. Have them communicate this back to you.

Make sure you have selected the Remote Support option on TeamViewer and then enter the ID number you have been given. Immediately, you will then be asked for the password. Once the info have been entered correctly, you should then be able to see the remote user’s desktop! Easy right?!

By default, you should automatically be able to control the remote computer. The remote user at any given time however can take that privilege away by clicking on the mouse symbol in the lower right corner.

On the helper side, there are many configuration and options to play with.

Under Actions drop-down menu, you are allowed to send special keyboard commands to the remote computer among other things such as locking and rebooting the computer.

Under the View menu, you can configure how TeamViewer renders the remote desktop. If the connection between you two is really slow, you’ll definitely want to lower the quality by removing the wallpaper and toning down the color depth.

One neat feature with TeamViewer is the ability to either chat, talk via VoIP or video conference with your remote user! This is a big advantage over Windows Remote Assistance which I believe only allows both parties to chat via text. This makes the remote support session that much more easier because both parties can communicate using whatever means comfortable for them.

As mentioned earlier, you can transfer files between computers very easily as well via the File Transfer menu button.

TeamViewer is so awesome that you can even choose to record the remote session anytime you want! You can then transfer this video recording to your remote buddy in hopes that they will never bother you again with the same problem! It’s a really neat and simple feature of TeamViewer that I instantly fell in love with.

Once you are finish with the remote session, simply disconnect by pressing the big red X button at the top left corner to exit.

 

In the End…

TeamViewer is truly an excellent utility. The fact that they make it free for non-commercial use is even more awesome. If you are the person whom many people come to for their PC woes, do yourself the favor of using a remote support application such as TeamViewer. The best part is that it is so easy to setup for both sides of the party. Whether you are the helper or not, the process is dead simple. TeamViewer has their own technology that makes it easy for remote users to communicate over the Internet whether they are behind a firewall or not. This is similar to the Logmein service. Once you have the full version of TeamViewer installed or downloaded on your computer, you can literally connect with any of your clients from then on. Simply have them download and run the small client piece from TeamViewer’s website, have them communicate back to you the connection info and you’re in business. Can it get any simpler?