6 replies to this topic

[SLBunge]

The 10+ year old eMac of an 88 year old family member died a week or so ago. This past weekend when we were visiting we got her a new Windows laptop and set her up with a wireless router so she could sit in her kitchen and get her email, surf the web, or Skype her grandchildren or great grandchildren.

In an effort to provide her some level of technical support I installed GoToMyPC which is a Citrix solution for remote access to the computer. Not terribly cheap at $10 per month, but it seems to work really well across multiple platforms even allowing you to copy/paste files from device to computer and vice versa. The monitored computer can be either Windows or Mac. There's an iPad app for monitoring with a really cool way to mimic her two-button mouse. I can get in from any web browser. There's probably an iPhone app but I haven't looked.

So far I helped her organize her photos and show her again how to log into Skype. When I'm online she can see me move the mouse around so she can track what I'm doing.

Of course it's not foolproof. I just got off the phone with her because she had inadvertently turned off the wireless transmitter on the laptop.

[splinky]

i should make my mom get this and end the tortured phone calls where she calls me and claims not to see where i'm telling her to click or tells me that her screen is different from every other mac user's.

[Sneakeater]

I don't have any children, but if I did, I can't believe that I would think that giving them full access to my computer and its files was the answer to anything.

[Orik]

I guess now that you have full access you could install vnc server and use dynDNS for the price of approximately $0/month, but it's a hassle.

[SLBunge]

I thought about looking for a free solution with VNC but I didn't feel like dealing with the hassle.

This morning I had to help her figure out that she had inadvertently hit the mute button so Skype wasn't really working out.

[Lauren]

My Mom calls us constantly with computer issues/questions. My co-worker recommended Log Me In, the free version, which she uses to support her Mom's computer. I'm going to give it a try. Hopefully it will save me the 45 minute drive to reinstall her printer... yet again.

[squids]

I have GoToMyPC on my work computer, so I am able to work from home. In the past two years, another coworker had gone the route of LogMeIn (free version) for the rest of the office's computers for work by remote access and to be able to troubleshoot repairs, and found that the paid version is what was really needed. I don't really know the difference between the two versions, nor do I know the difference between the two brands, but do know that in the early yrs of using GoToMyPC there were a lot of connectivity issues*, but have had no problems whatsoever for, at the very least, the last 5 yrs or so. And I know one of my coworkers has these same type of connectivity issues now, with using LogMeIn.

*can always blame that on Comcast--we are with FIOS now.