Remote Control

[natrat]

Re: Remote Control

now i've used logmein rescue i second that. its AWESOME. also expensive depending on your volume. From another thread:

For remote support I'm now using LogMeIn Rescue, which is expensive but utterly brilliant. I'm paying for it with another local firm to halve our costs until i get the volume of remote work to justify its expense. It's over $1000 a year which isnt much when you do heaps of paid for remote work but i don't quite have the volume yet. You can do a 30 day trial, check it out. You can reboot customers machines and auto log back on, get to safe mode, log off as one user and log on as another, and the session can be started lots of ways, my fave is giving the customer a 6 digit pin and they go to logmein123.com and type it in and thats it, i can connect.

[sgtinc]

Re: Remote Control

GoToAssist Express gets my vote. Hard to beat the single technician license. Even tougher if you did beta testing for them and git it for even less.

May not be as slick as LogMeIn but definately less expensive. Easy for customers to user - www.fastsupport.com, enter their name ans support key you give them and run the software.

[springcity]

Re: Remote Control

Go To Assist Express is the best one. I have used LMI Rescue and use VNC SC. GTA Exp is cheaper than LMI and supports up to 8 sessions @ a time.

[g2computersolutions]

Re: Remote Control

I vote for: http://www.screenconnect.com/

You get to OWN IT, install it at your own place, and simply have the user click on a link to give you control.

[pyro77]

Re: Remote Control

We still use Crossloop once in a while, but the popups to register are getting more annoying. Ultra vnc worked well in the days of xp. Mikago takes too much effort to reliably manage clients.

www.screenconnect.com pricing seems pretty reasonable to me but we have had some issues connecting to Mac computers with from our PC's. Rebooting into safe mode for virus removal/etc works great!

Logmein and GTA are out for us because it is nice to be able to actually pay off a program and make some extra money. The Teamviewer software sounds interesting as you can keep a client list and login as needed without any interaction from the other party!

[sgtinc]

Re: Remote Control

I tested ScreenConnect and I am seriously considering dropping the GotoAssist Express in favor of it. It is not as slick of an interface but it is very functional. I want to test a couple of the other options as well but if you have not checked it out yet, it is worth a look.

I have tested internally on Windows, Mac, and Linux and they all worked for me. We also gave it pretty extensive testing with my clients (mostly on Windows) and once I had it set up correctly, it worked pretty much flawlessly.

[lpopejoy]

Re: Remote Control

We tested it too, but it seemed like the screen refreshes were about half the speed of what we currently use (TeamViewer). It had the feel of VNC based solution. Perhaps it has improved a lot since then, and if so, it would be a very nice solution. Very low cost is a big plus!

[pops1000uk]

Re: Remote Control

I use REMHELP http://www.gidsoftware.com/remotehelpdesk.htm
EXCELLENT software and you can set it up so that the client connects to your office (ignoring firewall rules) Very cheap to!
You can also design your own screen etc...

[crazyjncsu]

Re: Remote Control

ScreenConnect got really fast with one of their releases a few months ago. True color was the quickest of any solution we tested. And they added a greyscale and hybrid mode that kicks in for slow connections. I can't say enough good things about this product. I'm kicking myself for paying so much for so long for gotoassist, etc

[nattivillin]

Re: Remote Control

I will have to have my techs give screenconect a go. Pricing looks nice.

[racassel]

Re: Remote Control

Recently ran across AMMYY.COM. Interesting and quick, free access. Very affordable customization capability. Odd database of tracking PC's but it works good. Set up your own router or use public routers for connecting.

[bkendall]

Re: Remote Control

I use SimpleHelp. It is easy to setup, simple to use for clients, and there is no monthly fee. I wrote a blog post on it here: http://bradkendall.ca/?p=130

Brad Kendall
www.bradkendall.ca
bkendall@ccrtech.ca

[natrat]

Re: Remote Control

Looks nice, but one of the great features about products like LogmeIn Rescue is that you don't need to set anything up on yours or anyone elses router - it allows technicians to connect to clients from wherever they happen to be with an internet connection. this has proved very important for me in particular when i'm away form the office for extended periods. Of course I could remote in to my office then remote to the client but multiple remotes starts to get a bit slow and messy and the web based ease of Rescue makes it perfect for roaming staff. It's just a shame about the cost.

[pyro77]

Re: Remote Control

After using ScreenConnect for the last two months, we still love it. Works great on Mac as well (which we are seeing more and more of). Another similar software I found that may work and is slightly cheaper is: showmypc.com .

[Hattontech]

Re: Remote Control

If you have a fixed base of clients, I have found LogMeIn Central to be really cost effective.

For the yearly subscription (300 USD) you can have an unlimited number of computers with the LogMeIn host software installed.

I have one ignition licence on the main support pc, ($20 after discount) and 2 pro licences for logmein.

The ignition client gives you a nice frontend to connect to any pc on your LMI central account.

The free logmein does not allow file transfer, sound or remote printing, but you can move licences around at will, aka if I need file transfer on a pc, i transfer the pro licence to it, do the job, and then transfer it back into the pool of 2 licences.

It also has user and group support, so you can allow a client\user to access their own pc, via LMI, and they cannot see any others.

LMI central also lets you create install packages, per client with web links to install, or msi/exe packages - This lets you auto add the pc to a specific group, define computer name, etc, etc.

https://secure.logmein.com/US/products/central/

If you google for logmein coupons, you can get upto 50% discounts on it, making it $150 a year!

http://www.retailmenot.com/view/logmein.com

There are also coupons for LMI pro licences as well, dropping it from <> $80 to $50 or 60




The other day, I had a customer call me to say his 3G dongle wasn't working, buy was in Sydney (300Km away) - I got him to go to McDonalds, jump on their wifi, and i remoted in from there, and fixed it. LMI works over any link that allows HTTP....

It's not as flexable as Rescue or similar, as it needs to be installed - but very quick and reliable..I use joinme to get in, then install the LMI host software, when dealing with a technically challenged client.


There's my 5 mins :-)